Moon Hunters Team Assessment

Moon Hunters – Team Assessment

Summary:

“Kitfox Games is a small and vibrant team with passion and drive, matched by a high level of ambition. They seem to be hard-working, diligent and professional and Moon Hunters looks engaging, unique and accessible. Square Enix Collective is very happy to support the team’s crowdfunding campaign, and we believe that Kitfox have the skills and capabilities to make the game they’re describing in this pitch.”

[The full team assessment can be found at the end of the pitch]

Full Assessment Report:

Moon Hunters – Kitfox Games

Before any project can go live on the Collective campaign page, senior development staff at Square Enix will perform a Team Assessment, which looks at the skills, tools and experience the team already has, plus what funds raised will be used on, the development timeframe, and so on. This is followed up by a call or visit to the team, after which the Assessment Report is created based on some of the details shared.

Please note: featuring a game on the Collective campaign page IS NOT a guarantee on the part of Square Enix that Kitfox Games will deliver what they say they want to – the developer is entirely responsible for raising and spending funds, and creating the game; but we have checked the team and believe that they have the capability to build the game they say they want to.

Team

Kitfox Games is based in Montréal, and currently consists of four full time team members plus some freelance staff (audio, narrative design etc). Key team members are relatively new to the games industry, but have been part of the Execution Labs incubator, and they already shipped their first game earlier this year - for iOS, Android and PC.

Tools

Moon Hunters is being built using Unity 4, plus Adobe Suite (mainly Illustrator and Photoshop) as this is a 2D, pixel-art game. Other tools the team is considering investing in include Wwise, TortoiseSVN and Pyxel Edit (Beta)

The team’s pipeline is fairly straightforward, and the team has had significant experience with this toolset having delivered Shattered Planet.

The team pursues a minimum viable product policy for feature creation, which are then iterated on, and this approach appears to be working well.

Funding

The funding target of $45,000 is intended to see the game development through from its current state into beta and then to the full launch. Based on our evaluation of the team, and the assessment of work remaining, I believe this is a realistic budget; additional funding will allow the team to add more content and polish to the game overall. The team has been encouraged to add more meaningful game content to each level of the Kickstarter campaign, rather than offering T-shirts and 3D printed figurines.

Progress

The game is still in its early stages, but the concept, art direction and core gameplay systems seem to be very solid (in concept). Their ambition level is high, and the timeline for delivery is aggressive yet achievable.

Assessment summary from Square Enix Montreal’s Game Director Ollie Sykes:

·  The game is in its early stages. Not much is playable at the moment, but the concept, core design and tech pipeline are solid and in-place.

·  The team have a very strong world design, with strong characters and compelling storytelling opportunities.

·  They may benefit from assistance in terms of some systems design (combat etc); Square Enix developer mentors may be able to offer support here.

·  Their level of ambition is great, but the engagement level of their procedurally generated content is a crucial part of the game and will have to be closely monitored as the game progresses.

·  Art style is engaging and vibrant, blending traditional pixel art with 3D lighting and effects.

·  The team is talented and smart, and answered all of my questions to my satisfaction.

Square Enix Collective would be happy to support Kitfox Games as having the ability and expertise to deliver the game they say they want to build. However, it must be noted that Square Enix cannot offer any guarantee on funds pledged, as both the money raised and game development process is the full responsibility of Kitfox Games.