“We tried to make sure there were no expectations from fans who’d be disappointed if it wasn’t what they were hoping it would be. “We very consciously did not announce it,” Ma explains. That’s why Into the Breach, a mechs versus kaiju game that came out early 2018, released out of nowhere. I don’t want to hurt them and I don’t want to expose us to any problems.” People get so invested and they care so much about these things. The pushback you get from people is terrifying. “I would rather promise nothing than to make a promise that doesn’t come through. This is as close to marketing as we do,” Ma says, referring to the interview we’re having. Despite the success of FTL’s launch, this is a feeling Ma and Davis are unlikely to pursue again.
INTO THEBREACH FREE
It was before the days of stretch goals - another mercy - but they went from developing a game in their free time to being watched by the whole industry pretty much overnight. The new developers were pleased with their crowdfunding success, but that success came with added pressure. We could have maybe mentally prepared better, but the reality of adjusting post Kickstarter was a challenge.”
INTO THEBREACH HOW TO
So figuring out how to adapt to that, seeing how we're going to actually have a beta with thousands of people and not 15. It was incredible, but it was also a huge stressor. “Then suddenly the whole industry seemed to be turning their eyes to crowdfunding and we were one of the very few games on the platform. “We had pictured the process to be sort of a way for family and friends to support us,” Justin Ma remembers as we chat during Reboot Develop. By the end of the campaign, they had secured $200,000 in funding. When Subset Games went to Kickstarter shortly after, the idea was to raise some money for Ben Prunty, music and sound designer for FTL, who had been working on the game for free. The duo were also lucky that they were developing a game as the crowdfunding boom began, just after Double Fine first tackled Kickstarter. It was also fortunate that some big names in the industry took notice, raising the game’s profile. FTL, the debut release from Subset Games, was born from a set of “perfect coincidences”.Ĭo-designers Matthew Davis and Justin Ma just happened to submit an early build of the spacefaring strategy game to the IGF at GDC China, and it just so happened that people loved it.
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