Indie studio Threadbare Games launches Shifts: A survival strategy game in space for the iPad

OAKLAND, Calif. - Dec. 5, 2013 - PRLog -- December 3, 2013 —Oakland, California— Humans have been exterminated from the known universe. Armed with creation bombs, the last survivors travel through the unexplored regions of the universe in hopes of colonizing new planets.

View the Shifts teaser trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWlZ-nf-f04

Starting today, iPad gamers world-wide can travel the stars on a desperate mission to save our species by downloading the turn-based, strategy-survival game Shifts for free from the Apple iTunes App Store.

“Space can kill you,” said Zach Larson, Threadbare Games CEO and co-founder. “We made Shifts so the player would feel that. Yes, you’ve got to accomplish the mission but you’ve got to be really careful about how you’re going to stay alive if you’re even going to have a chance.”

“It’s a fragile situation that you’re in,” explained Jamie Lewandowski, Threadbare Game’s designer. “Every decision is meaningful. You want to just explore space like it’s your backyard? Go right ahead. But guess what? You’re going to die.”

Shifts lets you choose five of ten potential officers to escape Earth with and then puts you in command. Each turn, two of these survivors must pilot the ship through interfacing (communing with their half-alien spacecraft). Each interfaced crewmember grants the ship a unique special power.

Meanwhile, the remaining three crewmembers go “on shift” to deal with a ship crisis suited to their expertise with the help of drones called BRObots. As the crisis list grows, the player must prioritize the need for a special ability against the need to keep crises from reaching life-threatening levels.

Every new play starts with a randomized map, guaranteeing a fresh and deadly challenge. As Zach Larson explained, “Ultimately, Shifts is about dealing with the unknown by being resourceful with a very limited toolbox. It’s not easy but you feel awesome when you get it right.” The addition of new officers offers up a whole new dynamic and many more playstyle options.

Why we went Free-to-play

Free-to-play is an amazing business model when done correctly. As the quality of games continues to increase, so does the sophistication of the user base, which means that gamers will be less and less likely to pay for a brand new unproven title without seeing if they like it first. When you release a game for free it removes all of the friction that would stop someone from picking it up and giving it a try.

Recovering development costs is a matter of monetizing the game intelligently and fairly. Shifts accomplishes this by charging for new content. This money is then reinvested into making the game we love even better.

About Threadbare Games

Threadbare who?

A handful of nerds quit their day jobs a year ago and created a mobile gaming company. Now, they've grown to be a fully-fledged indie studio searching for their first hit.

Why?

Because they’ve wanted to make games since they were kids. They recruited some friends and locked themselves in a garage.

Hell bent on creating fun strategy games and turning a profit, Threadbare Games vows to release a new game every few months. With two games in the works this rework of their first game is just the beginning. Check their site (www.threadbaregames.com) for more details.