How would you react if someone discovered a sentient alien civilization that challenged everything you knew about biology, chemistry, physics and religion? And what if the alien civilization was in a state of violent civil war?
Welcome aboard The Station, a first-person exploration game being developed by TWU alumnus Kevin Harwood and a team of experienced industry professionals.
Harwood, who hails from Fort Langley, has a Bachelor of Business Administration from TWU. He says he’s grateful for the finance and leadership principles he learned during his degree, which he’s been able to bring to the business of games development.
“Everything from the accounting and finance to the marketing and communication has been critical to how I’ve been able to develop this project,” he says.
Until just recently, Harwood’s team was self-financing the game, but they’ve just started a Kickstarter fundraising campaign so they can work on the game full-time.
Harwood emphasizes that the campaign isn’t just about money—it’s about collaboration.
“We want to get feedback from the community—not just their financial support,” said Harwood. “We’re excited to publicly announce what we’re doing so we can co-create with the community.”
The campaign has a $10,000 goal, and they’re already more than halfway there.
Harwood started working on The Station nearly three years ago. After he started pre-production for the game, Harwood pitched it to Dave Fracchia, the former studio head of Radical Entertainment.
“He loved the idea and jumped in on the project with me as a partner,” Harwood said. “We reached out to old colleagues from gaming projects we had worked on, and before we knew it, we had a team of veteran game developers from projects such as Destiny, Bioshock Infinite and Prototype.”
Les Nelken, Duncan Watt and John Costello then joined the project.
Harwood and the team plan to have The Station ready for next July. They will also post content to the website they created for Axiom Space Agency, the company responsible for the mission that is the basis of the game. For more information about The Station, visit thestationgaame.com.
By Julie Bertrand