Director(s) Leonard Mechiari Composer(s) Giacomo Langella Publisher Merge Games Ltd. | Artist(s) Leonard Menchiari Initial release date 2017 | |
 | ||
Designer(s) Leonard Menchiari, Marco Agricola Programmer(s) Marco Agricola, Fabrizio Zagaglia, Jendrik Illner (former) Writer(s) Leonard Menchiari, Noemi De Cicco, Leonardo Bianchi, José Antonio Sánchez Parrón, Mostafa Hovsam, Mattia Traverso, Gianluca Rubinacci Developers Danilo Catalano, Jendrik Illner Platforms Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows, Linux, Macintosh operating systems, Ouya Similar Indie games, Other games | ||
Riot is an upcoming indie video game about a riot simulator based on real events. The project started with an Indiegogo campaign in February 2014, which ended in a success. The developers went silent until 2014, whereupon the goal of the "second half of 2014" was given by the developers. As of January 2017, the release date (given by Steam) is "early 2017". The director of the game and previously an editor and cinematographer at Valve, Leonard Menchiari, has experienced riots personally and the game "Riot" was created as a way to express it and to tell the stories of these fights. The player can pick between playing as police or rioters. The game will be released in PC, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android. The producers are interested in bringing the game to how many platforms it is possible, but they can only support a certain number with the current budget.
Contents
Gameplay
RIOT is made of two game genres. If the player chooses to play as the rioters, they will find a game that is strategic, but it is mostly about fast-paced reactions to the situations happening all around them. There will be very little time for planning and it will mostly be about responding. This does not mean that the strategic component is cut out, but just that the response time will have to be short. This section of the game will be about controlling a chaotic (but not random) mass of people. The second genre belongs to the policemen. When played through this faction, the game becomes more similar to a strategy game. It is more organized, orders are sent through an actual "button-y" user interface (instead of the gestures used for the rioter), and the game is more focused on planning rather than fast response. Both components are still present, but the policemen faction is more organized and logical. The game includes six main campaigns set in: Italy, Greece, Spain, Egypt.
Other unlockable riots set across the world will be available as well. Each scenario will have its own background, background elements, props, police uniforms, and procedurally generated activists’ clothes. Each character will have different stats that will determine its own psychology and its ability to react in different ways depending on the situations they’re in, which means that each single person can react in unpredictable ways based on the elements that will happen in each riot. RIOT is planning to release an in-game level editor where players will be able to re-create the riots that are currently going on in the world and use the video game to spread awareness about them. The levels can be uploaded and shared with anyone in the world, and will be rated by the players based on quality and historical accuracy.
Development
The project started an Indiegogo campaign in February 14 of 2013 asking for $15,000, and after a month, in March 16 of 2013, the game raised $36,000, more than twice of the original amount. RIOT has already been Greenlit in Steam and its community has shown interest in the game. The game's launch date has been pushed back multible times and is currently over 3 years behind schedule.
Engine
RIOT emulates a 2D retro look even though the scene is 3D, which gives more realistic lighting, physics, and visual effects. All character movements are physics based. This means that rather than following just a path, the crowd movement will be influenced by the physical contact given by the rest of the crowd.