No, Dynacorp is not the corporation from that movie you can’t put your finger on, rather a game with a new Kickstarter campaign. Developer Rox Flame and team are creating a 2D adventure platformer, starring a cute little delivery robot with a death ray. Really, aren’t we all delivery robots with death rays deep down?
The conceit of Dynacorp is simple: you are a Dynabot, a robot created by Dynacorp to deliver goods across the galaxy. You’re sent to deliver a package one day, probably some combination of drugs and porn, when you take a wrong turn and end up on an unknown alien planet. For the rest of us, it’s Tuesday. It’s your job to explore several levels and find a way to get Dynabot off the planet and deliver the package. Oh, and get back I home.
But it doesn’t end there, as Dynabot was programmed to be a friendly delivery robot. That death ray is merely a mining laser, don’t you see? All delivery vehicles in this universe also happen to be coal miners on the side!
Adorably Programmed
Dynacorp has me interested, because it’s not the standard 2D Metroidvania exploration-fest. More accurately, it is, but with a slight twist. The plot is built around Dynabot’s personality, and how he was programmed to be super friendly and cute. In turn, most of the aliens you meet are the same way. In fact, all of the aliens are 100% good and wish no harm on you whatsoever, frolicking and enjoying life. They just want you to be happy to.
That’s where the twist comes in. It’s not desperately well explained or expanded upon on the Kickstarter page, but you’re going to have to hurt these little creators. As the page says: “You must balance empathy and mayhem to gain—or betray—the trust of the adorable alien inhabitants, who can help or hinder your journey back home.”
What exactly this means from a gameplay perspective is hard to tell, as the description quickly moves on from there. It sounds like you’re going to have to cause mayhem on this peaceful planet if you want to escape, using that mining death ray to do so.
Beautiful 1’s and 0’s
As well as an interesting concept, Dynacorp is backed up with some incredible art. The planet and its inhabitants look properly alien, with their multiple limbs, tails, and bright colors. The planet itself is the star of the show, as the page says “even the clouds seem sentient,” and that “It’s not unlikely that the planet itself experiences emotions.” I’m not sure if they’re just saying this to build up the atmosphere (no pun intended), of if the planet is literally alive, but that could create some great gameplay opportunities.
It’s surprising that the campaign hasn’t cleared the $2,000 mark yet. As you’ll notice, the Kickstarter page isn’t the most detailed in the world, but the game looks and sounds good enough on its own that I wouldn’t normally expect that to matter. Regardless, it still has 31 days to reach it’s $29,315 goal.
Oh yeah, Dynacorp was the mining company in the Star Wars expanded universe!
good review, agreed that seems odd raising low volumes on kickstarter even still in these days, the game mechanics looks promising from the videos.