I mentioned prior to our recent trip down to San Diego that one of my main goals (there or at any other event we attend) was to find some hidden gems, maybe a few games in odd places. Imo Ekong and Jon Clifford of Endeavor Bros. turned out to offer  just that. The Canadian-based iOS developer duo were on hand to chat with me about their upcoming effort Retrobot. Imo and Jon’s mix of eagerness toward and total knowledge of their game was well met. Specifically after talking mostly to producers, PR representatives, and floor help for the majority of my Comic-Con stay–at last! I had finally located some true blue indie developers.

That was all fine and good, but what’s Retrobot? That was the biggest question I had walking into our sit-down. Going in I didn’t have a clue about the back-story, how the game played, what platform it was being developed for, nothing. Imo began by excitedly explaining a collaboration of game and comic book, with arcade-style tank shooter gameplay and a story full of both originality and parody.

A robot created and programmed to be best friends and play a lot of video games. A tale of friendship and forced separation between socially-inept nerd, robot, and monkey. There was a lot to like. Such scribbling such as “Retrobot sees the world as a video game, as that is how he was programmed”, “gaming references abound!”, and “Nailgun to start!” can be found in my notebook to prove it. They had so many different ideas on how to make the game funnier and better, or what else they had in mind for the comic going forward. Just talking with them it was hard not to want to get on board.

A Kickstarter launch for the game has just gotten underway. I’d highly suggest you take a look at their campaign video and consider making a donation if any of it happens to capture you as well:

The developer seemed confident and intent on finishing at least the first title’s development by any means necessary, but they’re seeking help to give the game better artwork/graphics polish, retina display graphics, added content, multiple platform releases, and more. The guys plan to use iOS as a launch platform, along with Android and PC/Mac releases at or near the same time. If things happen to go well after that, they’re more than interested in bringing it to additional platforms including XBLA, PSN, WiiWare, PSP, and 3DS as well.

Regardless of whether the team reaches their KS goal, you can expect to see some form of Retrobot in the near future, likely this fall.

[Kickstarter Page]

[Endeavor Bros.]