We’ve done it! We have officially released The Chaser’s Voyage on Steam via Early Access! It’s been quite a voyage so far, but there’s more in store! We’re looking forward to adding in more features like fully voiced cutscenes, a crew journal full of lore, a practice mode, and a playable tutorial. We hope you check out and enjoy our game!
We also set up a Discord where you can receive updates on our progress and submit feedback. Join the Bright At Midnight Discord!
Hi everyone! We’ve reached a big milestone and finally have a release date for The Chaser’s Voyage on Early Access on Steam. September 17th, 2021! We’ve worked really hard to get here, but the voyage isn’t over yet! We’re gonna keep improving The Chaser’s Voyage and look forward to getting the game into everyone’s hands.
We’ve also set up our community Discord. You can join and get updates on the game as well as give any feedback! Join the Bright At Midnight Discord!
Hello everyone. Today we’re finally announcing what we call our “Starmap to Launch”!
Let’s discuss really quickly what each of these things means.
First, Early Access. We have been revamping our UI since about January and it’s been a ton of work. I’ve had to make all new UI assets from scratch, something I’ve never done before, and Cameron has been adding animations and flair that we previously didn’t have. Overall, everything looks way better, but it hasn’t been a simple job of just replacing one set of assets with another. This unfortunately meant we had to push back the release of The Chaser’s Voyage. In addition, we’ve been busy playtesting the game with every insignia on our Twitch (every Thursday at 4:30 PST) and would really like to get the game into more hands for feedback before properly launching the game. That’s why, since most of our UI has been updated, we’ve decided to put the game into Early Access as soon as we’ve checked off a few more things.
Keep your eyes on our Steam store page for when the game becomes available.
When we put the game up, there will be some big features missing that we will be steadily adding to the game. The biggest thing that’ll be missing is the Crew Journal. In case you don’t know what that is, it’s a collection of in-universe lore that we use to paint a bigger picture of the galaxy you find yourself in. Your crew will also comment on these entries, slowly revealing more and more of their backstories and personalities. It’s a really big part of what we would call the overall experience, but at the same time, not as important as actually getting the game up and running.
In addition, we also won’t have any of the surrounding story stuff, like opening or ending cutscenes, or the proper tutorial ready at the beginning of Early Access. The tutorial is always something we planned to make last, as we didn’t want to commit to any game mechanics that might change over the course of development or constantly be remaking the tutorial. As a temporary replacement, we have a video planned that will be in the Early Access build to explain how to play the game and will be removed once the the tutorial is in place.
Next, let’s talk about Discord. Since we’re finally ready to get this game into people’s hands, we thought it was best to create a central hub for discussions about The Chaser’s Voyage and to create a community around the game. Our goal with creating a Discord server will primarily be for receiving feedback, but we’d also like to chat and get to know people who are interested in the game. It will also be a hub for any future projects we begin after The Chaser’s Voyage.
Lastly, “Test Pilots“. We want streamers, Let’s Players, etc. We want to give those people copies of our game to help spread the word about it. If you are such a person looking to become a test pilot, send us an email at
br**************@gm***.com
(or DM us on Twitter) with some information about yourself as well as a link to your channel, so we can see what kind of work you do. We’re really interested in channels of all sizes and only ask that if we give you a copy of the game, that you do play the game to an audience (stream or Let’s play) in some fashion.
Well, that’s it for this update. We’ll be sure to let everyone know when the Discord server is created and when the game becomes available for Early Access. This is going to be such a major milestone for us and we’re both very excited and very nervous!
Hey, everybody! Sorry for going silent for a little while. Cameron and I were hard at work making some revamps to the game’s UI, as well as making a more compact and exciting trailer for Steam. To reflect our new UI, we’ve also updated the screenshots on Steam and on TheChasersVoyage.com (though we still have a few more to update).
Unfortunately, this small, but very important detour means we probably won’t make our initial release window of this year’s spring. We’re gonna try and release by the end of summer, but for right now, we aren’t committing to a release time more specific than just this year. However, I think improving our UI’s visuals is well worth the extra wait.
If you haven’t already, be sure to Wishlist The Chaser’s Voyage on Steam and follow us on Twitter @bam_gamestudio to stay up to date with our development. Also be sure to join our mailing list and get some cool phone backgrounds!
Hello everyone, check out the VOD of a livestream I did playtesting The Chaser’s Voyage last Friday.
Got some useful data to process regarding game balance. The plan is to livestream once a week and document any potential balance changes as well as answer any questions you might have regarding the game. We may have to move the livestream to Thursdays at 5PM PST instead of Fridays though, but we’ll keep everyone updated via our Twitter, @bam_gamestudio.
Also, if you want some of those cool phone backgrounds we made, just sign up for our mailing list here.
Happy New Year everyone!
We’re hard at work finishing The Chaser’s Voyage, but first, to start off the year, I got to chat about The Chaser’s Voyage with game designer Keith Burgun on his livestream: The Clockwork GameDev Show. We talked about the narrative of the game, influences, and dived a little bit into the necessity of good marketing. (By the way, if you haven’t wishlisted The Chaser’s Voyage on Steam, you really should!) Check out the stream below!
Check out Keith’s show every week at his Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/keithburgun
Follow Keith on Twitter: https://twitter.com/keithburgun
Follow us on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/bam_gamestudio
Here’s to a great 2021!
We are very excited to announce our first game: The Chaser’s Voyage!
In this side-scrolling, space-faring adventure, you become the captain of the Chaser and embark on a voyage across Sector 99, delivering clients from planet to planet in order to pay off your debt to a dreaded pirate lord.
As captain, your main duties are to manage the power systems of the Chaser and pilot it through all kinds of obstacles, while surviving attacks from pursuing pirates and bounty hunters. Thankfully, you’re not alone! Your crewmates operate the weapons, shields, engines, and auxiliary systems. They rely on you to allocate power to their systems and to order repairs when their component’s become damaged. However, power is limited so you must choose how much, or how little, each system gets. Will you fully power the weapons in order to blast enemies with a barrage of lasers, amplify your shields for better survivability, or take a more balanced approach and hope for the best? Learning which systems to focus on and when to switch strategies will be absolutely essential to surviving the dangers of Sector 99.
Your other duty is to pick the best clients to accept missions from. Each mission begins with selecting a client. Some may be refugees looking for a new home, while others might be criminals on the run. They all have their own reasons for employing your services, which can provide hints as to the kinds of dangers you might find on your trip. It will be up to you to calculate the risks and rewards of each client and choose the one you feel is best. You won’t always want to choose the person offering you the most money because, on this voyage, time is not on your side.
That debt you owe has a deadline. The notorious Pirate Lady Styx has given you only 100 days to pay her back 1,000,000 units. Fail and she will place a bounty on your head so large that it will attract only the most elite bounty hunters. If that happens there may still be some way to appease her, but perhaps it’s best not to let it come to that.
As you continue your voyage, a galactic war will enter the sector, bringing with it new obstacles and new clients. If you thought navigating an asteroid field while being chased by a lowly pirate was tough, try navigating that asteroid field while outrunning a massive battleship firing its particle disruptor cannon and sending in waves of fighter ships to stop you.
Enjoy The Chaser’s Voyage in your own way with three different difficulty modes. In Voyager Mode, you’ll have plenty of options to tailor the game to be as easy or hard as you like without having to worry about your trip ending early due to a miscalculation. If you prefer a less forgiving experience, try out Captain Mode, where the difficulty is set and you only get one life. Think of yourself as an ace pilot? Then test your skills in Ace Mode for an even greater challenge.
There’s lots of lore to collect in your crew journal as you voyage across Sector 99, as well as plenty of insignias to equip that can completely change your play experience. Survive this treacherous venture when the game releases spring 2021. Until then, we’ll be releasing periodic transmissions containing more information about your crew, the galaxy, and various game features of The Chaser’s Voyage, so be sure to wishlist it on Steam, follow our social media, and check-in every now and then!
We can’t wait for you all to experience this game which we’ve poured years into. It’s been quite an exciting voyage of our own just to get to this point and we hope you’ll join us soon!
