On the 17th of November, 2023, I began writing a script for what will be a remake of Ray: Part 1, or ‘Raymake’ as I like to call it.
What Is It, and Why?
My publisher suggested to me, years ago, that doing a Ray remake might be a good idea. At the time, I threw water on it as I only wanted to focus on Repella Fella. Why now, though? Well, I don’t quite have enough time or resources to develop a sequel to Repella Fella, not in the way I had planned to do it. There’s no way to do it justice in terms of production value or game length without steady, long-term financial backing.
In the past, I have written about my hesitation to do anything Ray-related. The old games were very basic, the story wasn’t coherent, and there wasn’t much thought put into anything. In the years since a remake was suggested to me, I’ve thought about how that could change.
The Raymake will essentially follow the same story as the original, though it will be more fleshed out. It’ll be fully voiced, everything will have a reason, choices will have flow-on effects, and new mechanics will be implemented to make the game itself more interesting.
There will be new characters, two perks to pick from at the beginning, additional steps to each mission, and multiple endings that branch out. Your choices and endings will carry over to the sequel.
Doing games in an episodic format is better for me, as a solo developer, as it will allow me to continue doing what I love, and I’ll be releasing parts more frequently. Plus, I had been working on the episodic format well before other games! It’s nothing new to the series.
They will certainly be quicker to develop, they’ll be much cheaper, and there’s a FAR bigger pool of voice actors to sift through compared to when I was mostly hiring Australians for Repella Fella.
When Can We Expect It?
When it’s done™. I can’t work on it full time, so it’s mainly down to weekends and nights.
You Got a Publisher?
Nah. Not this time. I didn’t plan on having one for my previous game either, but at the time I needed funds or development had to cease altogether. I appreciate 2LeftThumbs for all his support on Repella Fella.
This time I will be using my own resources, but the game is a lot simpler. There will be no areas to walk around, it’ll be like the original Ray – mostly choice-based. There will be mini-games and some areas you can investigate, but nothing beyond that. If the first remake is a success, I will happily expand upon it in future installments.
Where Can We Find It?
There’s a placeholder page on Steam! A trailer will come closer to the game’s release. I am targeting PC/Mac/Linux, Xbox, and Android. I already have a prototype working on all of these platforms. If you wishlist the game, that would help tremendously.
Anything Else?
One thing I lamented with Repella Fella was the amount of time I had to dedicate to appeasing YouTube. Finding music tracks that aren’t flagged by copyright, censoring areas of the game, and worrying about what might not be able to be shown altogether. And even then, music still gets flagged and you’re continuously chasing after these issues.
Fuck that noise. Seriously. Diluting what is already hard to create without a budget for original music is soul-crushing. There will be two versions of the game – retail + pirated edition. Beyond that, I will make no other changes.
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy what will eventually be Ray: Part 1.