After more than a year of virtual silence, the development team behind the Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs game finally provided an update on the game earlier this month, sharing a video of the Ramrod model that will used in the game.
Following the update, Siliconera got in touch with developer Chris Strauss to ask where the game was at, and how things were going at Firehazard, the studio Strauss manages, which was developing the game.
For starters, Strauss informed us, Firehazard Studio doesn’t exist any more. The team now calls itself the “Saber Rider Game Team,” since this project is their sole focus. The intent behind releasing the Ramrod video was to let people know that the game is still alive.
“We had some mayor hurdles to take on,” Strauss said to me in an e-mail. “There where some problems… not on our side, and i cant say much about it, but they affected us very much. We had to put development on hold for a long time because of this.”
After things went south, Strauss said that he and a small team of others continued to work on the game, but that development naturally slowed, and at one point, they were unsure if they would even be able to continue development. The plan is to hopefully release Saber Rider in 2015, once everyone is happy with the end product.
There are still challenges to overcome before they get there, though. At the moment, the team is considering options for funding, such as Kickstarter and Steam Early Access. The goal is to get the game out for PC first, likely using Steam, and then port to other platforms, such as the Nintendo 3DS, which is Strauss’ personal goal.