The Indie Game Magazine July 2015 | Issue 51 | Page 8

GAME WATCH

Deep Space Trine

W

elcome back to Game Watch!
We took a brief hiatus last
month because a few of the
games in consideration for the segment
weren’t quite ready to debut their development, but we’re back this issue with a
shiny new installment. (As a special bonus
for being patient, Game Watch is twice the
size of a normal installment this month.)
We’ll check back in on Lost Ember very
soon, so be sure you’re subscribed to IGM
if you want to keep tabs on the game. In
the meantime, the fine folks at Flat Earth
Games have a new project they’d like to announce as the latest member of the Game
Watch family.

We first spotlighted this team when we
exclusively revealed their then-upcoming
game, Metrocide, to the world way back in
our June 2014 issue. But even prior to that
successful launch, Flat Earth Games was plotting our their next major release. I’m happy
to be one of the first to present Objects in
Space to the gaming audience with this early

8

by Vinny Parisi

look at the development process.
As a general overview of Objects in Space,
there are a few key points of interest. First
is that the game is referred to as a stealth
space-trading game. This is because encounters will play out differently than most space
game aficionados will be accustomed to. The
biggest change is that combat is much more
akin to submarine warfare, as opposed to the
traditional dogfighting style often presented
in space games. Objects in Space also has
a very intentional retro aesthetic, which
is something that feels familiar to the Flat
Earth Games team and fans of their previous titles. As you’ll see in the screenshots
presented in this feature, Flat Earth Games
originally prototyped Objects in Space in a
2D engine, but they are currently porting
the game over to a 3D engine, so players will
be able to navigate their ship’s computers
in a 3D-esque space. (When the game next
returns to Game Watch, you’ll get a taste of
the new look.)

this issue, because there’s a lot of really
exciting gameplay mechanics to report on,
so for now all we need to know is that the
game takes place in the future, in a cluster
of the universe far away from Earth. (Be on
the lookout for the next installment to find
out why the game features seven different
writers!) Players take on the role of a newcomer to the cluster, looking to find their
place amongst hum