Wireframe – Issue 20, 2019

wfmag.cc \ 25

Interactive

Interface

Interactive

Interface

FUELLED UP

If you want a taste of what

Kiefer’s making right now, then

head over to his itch.io page

(benstar.itch.io), where you’ll

find a selection of his smaller

games. Our pick of the bunch?

Definitely .FUEL, a cracking

little shooter tailor-made for

playing with a mouse: it’s like

Atari’s venerable Asteroids,

except your ship loyally follows

your mouse pointer as you

roam the screen, blasting

encroaching aliens. An ever-

decreasing fuel bar (topped

up by picking up icons from

the husks of your enemies),

a combo meter, and a huge

scoreboard in the background

makes for an addictive

quick fix.

 Kiefer’s .FUEL is an addictive

top-down blast in the mould

of Atari’s Asteroids.

So the goal is to climb the tower and figure out
who, what, and where you are, and why you are
in the situation you are in.”

BALANCING ACT
What it all boils down to, though, is a hectic loop
of blasting, collecting the souls from downed
enemies, and using them to improve your
weapons in order to progress higher up the
clock tower; Kiefer cites the likes of Flinthook
and Enter the Gungeon as inspiration for its
roguelike mayhem. The process of actually
creating Revita’s procedurally generated levels
has, however, proved to be one of the aspects
that Kiefer’s worked hard to figure out. “In Revita,
each combat room you enter is completely
[procedurally] generated,” he says, “which gets
really tricky if you want to have fun and exciting
rooms that look like they could have been
designed by hand. So that must have been the
trickiest challenge so far.”
Balancing the game has also provided a
challenge, Kiefer tells us – partly because he’s

been developing Revita largely by himself.

“As someone who’s playing the game way too

often for testing purposes,” he says, “it gets

very tricky for me to judge when it comes to the

difficulty, so I usually have friends testing the

game and telling me what they think. Maybe an

item is too weak, maybe an enemy is too strong

• I base my decisions on that [feedback].”
  Not that Revita’s entirely the product of one
  person; while Kiefer is handling the design
  and pixel art side of things, he’s also found a
  composer and sound designer to help him
  create the game’s sonic landscape. “They’re
  both fantastic, and Revita wouldn’t be what it is
  today without their help,” he tells us. “When it
  comes to finding the right people to work with,
  social media is a big help. There are lots and lots
  of artists and programmers on there that are
  looking for work. So you’ve just got to keep your
  eyes open and get in contact with people.”
  Fittingly enough, given that we first
  encountered Revita when someone tweeted one
  of its animated GIFs into our timeline, Kiefer’s
  keen to point out just how effective Twitter can
  be for indie developers. “I probably wouldn’t
  be where I am with the game today if it wasn’t
  for Twitter and the countless connections I
  made there,” Kiefer says. “I heavily recommend,
  especially new developers, to get their stuff out
  there. Social media is essentially free marketing
  when it comes to financial means. If you have the
  time to use social media for marketing purposes,
  do it. It’s more or less the easiest and cheapest
  way to market yourself to an audience.”

 The blue-haired protagonist’s athletic from

the beginning, but enemies appear to pose

a threat due to their weight of numbers.

 Revita may be 2D, but Kiefer’s use of lighting
and blur effects provide a real sense of depth.

 The souls of slain enemies can be

sold on to a masked dealer, who’ll

exchange them for useful upgrades.