Scott Easley — one of the original core eight staff members working at Oddworld Inhabitants, the makers of the Oddworld game series — recently released on the iOS a game called Robot Race, wherein players took control of futuristic foot racing robots. Now — with that already under their belt — his personal game development firm, entitled Easly-Dunn Productions, began gearing up for their next big project: 3×3 Wildstyle Basketball. The game’s intent was to be a fast-paced homage to such arcade classics as NBA Jam, wherein players could compete online — street style, sans the official NBA rules — upon various courts all across the planet.
Whereas the iOS already contains plenty of what Scott called ‘flick-shot’ style Basketball games, his team was appalled at the complete and utter lack of fully 3D street style experiences. In their game players would be able to — at any given moment — fully control each member of their three man team, letting them know when to go for a dunk – when to pass to an ally — and when to clown around with the opposition. They would afterwards — using the experience collected during each session — then decide how to level up the skills of their various team members, eventually creating the ultimate street team in existence.
Furthermore — beyond these basics, and perhaps also the entire concept’s most defining idea — is the existence of 3×3 Wildstyle Basketball’s Power Card packets, which contain the ability to radically alter everything. Every time a player wins a match in game they will not just shame their opponent, they will more importantly rake in a pile of valuable “Cred” with which to purchase Power Card booster packs (also obtainable with IAPs). These packs will contain cards that gives your team various passive and/or active boosts (complete with cool downs), permit you access to special secret all-star players, or even unlock one of may super special fantasy themed basketball arenas.
However — before you worry that such a set up would lead directly to a Pay-To-Win scenario — everyone online would be tiered to ensure they’re always up against people of comparable skill, and/or gear power. Scott Easley and team have already spent many months pouring over spreadsheets and statistics in order to ensure that the launch state of their ranking system is as close to fair as they can possibly be. In the end — rather than letting players buy victory — the cards aim to ensure that every team has a very different set up, challenging each player to best use whichever particular power cards they own.
Unfortunately — after spending 6 whole months of effort, all on their own dime — Easley-Dunn Productions eventually hit the point where they no longer had any funds remaining, leading them to turn towards Kickstarter for support. Their request for $5,000 in extended development funds was then matched, practically at the buzzer, by a grand total of 32 people chiming in with $5,106 at around the fundraiser’s 11th hour. Now, with the ability to spend extra time polishing up their NBA Jam homage, Scott Easley and crew expect to have 3×3 Wildstyle Basketball fully ready for gamers everywhere later this November.