Starstruck Vagabond from Yahtzee Croshaw is Coming Spring 2024 + Indie Label Ambitions
Hey folks!
Today I'm very excited to share with you that Yahtzee and I have set a release window for his next game, Starstruck Vagabond, as Spring 2024. We've been working quietly on the game for the last year, and it is now content complete and entering the final polish stage, including figuring out QA testing and localization.
This trailer isn't exactly new though, and this may be the first time you're seeing it as we were not allowed to talk about it or promote it on Escapist due to conflict-of-interest concerns from the parent company.
Now that we're independent, you can expect Yahtzee and I to be on some streams soon to show you the game in action and also provide insight into its development.
INDIE LABEL
With the Patreon campaign exploding, our plans for Kickstarter being accelerated (to cover our salaries up front for the first year), and things overall just being way ahead of anything we could have predicted, we're now looking at - what's the next step of this dream?
Both Yahtzee and I had previously talked about possibly launching an Indie Label alongside Starstruck Vagabond, and now that we're independent, raising money, and have a ton of attention on us... we think now is our once in a life opportunity to do so.
Second Wind has big ambitions beyond just being a sustainable media group, we also want to have an indie game publishing arm where we help upcoming games from independent developers.
Curated by our team of critics like Yahtzee, Frost, JM8, Marty and myself, we want to help get games across this finish line and provide marketing support from our team and platform we're building, while also being extremely fair and flexible with costs to the developer.
We truly do just want to help cool games reach a wider audience and get them across the finish line. We're creatives first, and this is a mission we believe in making happen, and we hope you're on-board with it too.
Nick Calandra
Co-Founder & Director of Content
Starstruck Vagabond - The Next Game from Yahtzee Croshaw (YouTube)
Comments (35)
Yes and dev updated would be great to see
This sounds amazing! One very interested indie game developer here. I hope Yahtzee reviews his own game and doesn’t pull any punches. That would be a brilliant video to see.
This is amazing guys, I’m so excited for the future of Second Wind!
It was a game that looked cool on the Dev Diary and I am looking forward to it.
I can't wait for the Fully Ramblomatic review of this.
I'm telling you, it's so refreshing to have actual game enthusiasts come up with a busines model which supports the art it is focusing on instead of the money. I'm rooting for this to be succesful and in turn support fellow Indië titles get their games out to the masses
Exciting news on both fronts! I am eager to see how the indie label will come into being and into its own, as well as the games it will be supporting in the future. Who knows, maybe someday our small game jam enthusiast team will submit something too one day.
The trailer looks mostly fine (aesthetically) but it doesn't really give me a sense of what the appeal of the game is supposed to be. Like, what's the loop? What makes it distinct/unique, novel or "fun"? Etc.
Your speed is almost spooky! I hope you don't overwork yourselves.
Will it feature the appropriate amount of worship to Rond? (or R*nd if you want to get surrious about this)
This is why you guys are rhe best. So excited to get my hands on this game, and to see future projects. Big time congrats to you all, well deserved!
Oh wow, glad to see Yatzhee's still developing games. I remember playing some of his old ones. This honestly looks excellent, I'm looking forward to it!
Congrats! Your indie label has any criteria in mind? Was thinking on taking on a publisher for my next personal game and you guys are a no-brainer. Made me wonder what kind of games or teams would you be interested taking on?
Too early for that, but could be anything really!
Does this have anything to do with the space adventure comic Starstruck? It looks like it would totally fit in that universe. Looks excellent, regardless!
Congratulations! I'm so happy you guys can promote and talk about all this now.
I'm so excited for all the games from devs that are so deeply invested in the user experience!
congratulations! this seems like it could be a great steam deck title - any plans for compatibility in that direction?
Yup! That's the plan.
Will it be on steam, wouldn't mind playing it on my steam deck
Yup and definitely plan for Steam Deck compatibility.
I hope this trend of allowing people to promote their personal projects, whatever they are, on Second Wind continues. I think it can only be helpful for the creators and for Second Wind since, even if Second Wind makes no money off of the project, the creators feel more supported and are more likely to stick around and the audience can become more invested in the creators and bring people in that way. And the creators will get an additional platform to make more money off their projects than they otherwise would have. I'm really excited for what this group will do.
Another reason why going independent is a great move for you guys, even if you were somewhat forced into it; the freedom to focus on and promote personal projects. Been looking forward to Starstruck Vagabond since before it even had a title.
So excited for you guys!
As long as you dont post reviews of any of the games you publish im on board.
Course not. Though, we do have some ideas for a fun way to handle that.
Awesome, Nick! Just be careful— don't go too far too fast, we don't wanna lose you guys just after you barely started. Measured growth with transparency, and I think you'll do fine. Best of luck on that front, and I hope to be able to play a bunch of games from Second Wind one day! Kudos and break a leg!
No rushing into anything! Just with the amount we're raising alone on Patreon, as just one of our revenue streams, it's time to start thinking about where we can take this and the team is in agreement that an indie game publishing arm is what we want to do!
Just as an offer that I’m sure you’ll get a million times, I do have beta testing experience, most recently with Sodesco’s Airoheart. I can provide a reference from game’s producer if needed. Otherwise I know you’ll have a great team to test! You probably already know who you want, but I wanted to take a stab at it! Thanks for all you do.
You guys publishing games sounds like such a great idea and would surely lead to a lot of great games being made!! Can’t wait!
An indie label curated by the team and the "Directo of Content" would be great!
I can change it to the "PooPoo of Content"
*general applause and excitement*
Don't change the typo. Leave Nick as Directo of Content
If you didn't point it out, I wouldn't have fixed it. Now I HAVE TO.