Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr Describes His Top-Down Shooter ‘Crucible’ as “Gauntlet Meets Terminator”

photo-main

Some have said that humanity would eventually go out with a whimper, but the problem with that theory — as things currently stand — is that humanity never actually existed in the first place. All would have been lost, but a group of time travelers — all of whom were part of a project known as The Crucible — had been spared from the evil AI’s time tampering and consequences, meaning that they are now our very last hope. Your mission — as a surviving member of Crucible — is to travel across time, hunting down the very same machines that have eradicated mankind’s very existence, by way of maximum carnage.

Some of you might remember Davis Ray Sickmon as the man whom was also behind Jumpman Forever, which has so far been progressing rather nicely and should soon be nearing the end of its contractual OUYA exclusivity period. In his newest project — simply entitled: Crucible — he plans to further revive arcade style action, this time harkening back to the frenetic top down blast’em-ups such as Robotron and Gauntlet. The game is currently promised to have over 12 different playable characters — 45 planned stages, with more to be added later on — as well as one giant horde of unrelenting mechanical horrors to destroy, all coupled with a plot (that players can optionally ignore).

49e57a78dae1042293668617af488359_large

Although he furthermore plans for his game to contain RPG style leveling, Davis has promised that this mechanic will never once bring about a cessation of Crucible’s non stop robot blasting action. Rather than having a info box appear — halting all action — so that the player may decide how to divvy up their exp, all character upgrading — as well as weapon modding — will instead happen when their death returns them to the Crucible. Through this method players will eventually — across many failures — become strong enough to hunt down all of the Crucibles belonging to the dreaded AI menace, and in the process forever remove the machine’s retroactive influence upon mankind’s history.

However — same as before — Davis Ray Sickmon lacks the funds needed to throw himself fully at Crucible, at least not unless he were to pick up a full-time job after finishing Jumpman Forever (and then he still wouldn’t be fully dedicating himself all the same). To this end — since Jumpman Forever is soon nearing the end of its initial development — Davis Ray Sickmon has approached Kickstarter seeking $10,000 in development funds, of which nearly $6,000 has so far been secured. If fully funded, then his self described project of “Terminator meets Gauntlet” would be developed for PC — iOS/Android — and OUYA platforms (releasing on the OUYA first, as part of their “Free the Games” fund).

Currently for a donation of just $3 — or $2 if you move fast — you can secure your own launch copy of Crucible on any of the various planned target platforms, iOS included (with the iOS version specifically delivered a fixed period of time after OUYA’s edition). Those whom donate beyond this will furthermore gain access to expanded rewards such as: beta access, two backer exclusive playable characters, copies of Jumpman Forever and RetroBreaker, backer T-Shirts, the chance to name a playable character, and more! However — for the absolutely most ardent of backers — Davis Ray Sickmon will even be giving away advertising space in Fear and Trembling and Residential Aliens, two Sci-Fi magazines that his personal company — Midnight Ryder Technologies — currently owns.

Although Crucible has done well so far — with nearly 60% funding — the machines could still win if the remaining amount isn’t secured within the next five days, thus interested backers are implored to chip in their donations before the arrival of August 1st or else!