New game in development: Binding (update 1)

Lighstromo as a company has always been focused on smaller client-centered projects. This means we have been working mostly on mobile games, with an exception of a project we did with Eyemobi and SeeCom, which was a small PC game using the hand-tracking technology to teach sign language.

After releasing our first IP on Google Play Store Birds of New Zealand, which was subsequently adopted by ZEALANDIA in Wellington to become Birds of Zealandia, we have decided to finally switch it up a little bit, and start on the journey of PC/console game development.

Enter The Binding, a post apocalyptic survival game about a young boy named Billy, and his dog Tessa. 

The world of The Binding, which is developed in Unreal Engine 5, is a lonely place filled with unspeakable horrors. Between mutated monsters and unfriendly militarist groups, Billy is trying to piece the fragments of his past life back together. When Billy hears a familiar voice on the radio he picked up from the streets, he decides to leave the comfort of his hiding spot deep in the woods, to save the last surviving member of his family - his older sister T.

So, what is so special about Billy? Why this character? What is the significance of the dog? We thought that in way too many games, the character we play as feel like a super hero from the get go. This is not a case with Billy. He is just a lonely and scared boy, and relies on his animal companion for many things. Tessa is his guardian angel, and a lot of gameplay and mechanics revolve around her character. As avid animal-lovers, we know too well the emotional bond owners tend to share with their pets, and we want to explore this bond and we hope to do it justice.

Of course, Billy won't be a completely clueless and weak character. He will still be fighting off hoards of monsters, and finding courage to do so, and to do the right thing will be a motif you will experience not once or twice playing through this game. Billy is also a quirky and funny boy, we hope his personality will strike a chord with many of us.

Uncovering truth about Billy's past will not be a light-hearted journey, but we hope to make it a wholesome one. While trying to rediscover connection to his own family and past experience, Billy will learn a lot of things about himself, his views of certain life events, and memories. Some of this will be what we call 'uncomfortable truths', which is nonetheless something that the boy will have to learn to understand and accept as a part of him.

The world of The Binding is not your typical zombie-filled world. It has certain peculiarities about it, and the deeper into the story the boy goes, the weirder and more bizarre his surroundings will become. For instance, we wanted to show you a concept of one of the key characters Billy and Tessa will meet throughout their rescue mission adventures: Kai.

Kai will accompany our protagonists throughout some of the more difficult missions, by offering them guidance, protection, and well... pure determination. Kai is neither good or bad, but he is a force to be reckoned with, an unpredictable and at times terrifying, yet graceful force. We are very happy to announce that Kai will be voiced by an Auckland-based voice-actor Maxc Teinangaro.

What are the current difficulties behind the project? Well, firstly, switching to Unreal 5 was quite a challenge, we momentarily lost all existing Billy animations and animation logic (Billy is running on Metahuman technology, which can be tricky), but thankfully, we have managed to restore it. The development is currently focused on enemy AI and fighting system, which can be a challenge to make feel 'nice'. Additionally, as all the developers work full-time to support this project, finding time itself is also quite a struggle, although we are actively looking at funding options, so that we can dedicate ourselves to what we love the most: bringing wholesome stories to people.

Stay tuned for more updates on The Binding, and follow us on Twitter here: @BindingTheGame and @elliejayliquid