Outworlder

Outworlder is a collection of roguelikes with an interconnected world, narrative, and item pool.

Players find themselves on a strange planet with an ancient gateway that can seemingly connect to countless other worlds. While they build up their own homestead, they’ll travel the expanse, uncover the mystery of why the galaxy fell apart and, just maybe, how they can begin to reconnect it.

Testflight link: https://testflight.apple.com/join/skyYT8b5

What's the Game?

While there is a connected narrative across all experiences, each world is its own game, with a unique story and progression elements. Story progression is primarily depicted in the style of a point and click adventure on each world's homescreen, which will update as you play.

As players build up their home and play different games, they’ll find relics and armors that can be added to a collective upgrade pool used across all the worlds. You can discover a bullet-deflecting artifact while dungeon diving on one planet, and then use it on another world where you’re battling in a mech suit.

The current plan is to launch with 3 games + the central hub as a complete experience, and then continue to build more worlds over time. Each new experience added will introduce new items that can then be used across the other games. And I intend to add new experiences biannually.

Who am I?

KKyle Barrett

14+ years in the industry as a game designer, and former design lead at Lucasfilm Games,
Solo Indie Dev with 5 titles, 2 of which are GOTY nominees within their categories.

I’ve worked in the industry across all types of genres and platforms, from Star Wars to Hour of Code + edutainment apps. I have a passion for making single input, easy to use, but systemically complex mobile titles that look and feel great. I’m looking for a creative partner on my next chapter of indie development.

Ultra Blade

4.5 /5 Rating

2023 GOTY Nominee

App Store Editor’s Choice

Blast Waves

4.5/5 Rating

App Store Game of The Week

Immortal Rogue

4.4/5 Rating

2019 GOTY Nominee

App Store Game of The Week

End of The Universe

4.4/5 Rating

App Store Game of The Week

Ever Knight

4.8/5 Rating

TouchArcade Game of The Week

What are the Worlds?

NOTE: all games are one-touch, mobile-first experiences with gamepad support available.

Game 1: Ultra Blade 2 (90% complete)

Survivors-like with an emphasis on skill and melee hack n’ slash.

Rescue some wayward adventures, join their guild in the last city, take on quests, and gradually uncover the roots of how their world was poisoned.

Players complete quests and unlock a virtually endless combination of magic weapons to take on new runs and challenges.

What’s left to build? Minor environmental asset hookups to sell the “poisoned world” aesthetic and homescreen story beats.

Game 2: Mecha Rogue (70% complete)

Fast-paced roguelike mecha shooter in the vein of Metal Slug. Uncover an ancient weapon and help a ragtag resistance reclaim their world from an oppressive alien regime.

Launch, rapidly acquire new equipment, and salvage parts from your kills to add to your own customization options.

What's left to build? Homescreen story beats, mech customization flow (art is done), and zones 2-4 need to be configured and tuned.

Game 3: (TBD )

I (maybe we) have to decide on which one of 3 prototypes to execute first, leaving the rest for later installments. They range from 30-50% complete based on how much art has already been created.

1) A roguelike autobattler where players take on the role of a necromancer, reclaiming the world for its original inhabitants.

2) A match 3/merge space battler where matches activate weapon systems and become resources for actions. Players run blockades and ambush the Triarchy forces that have restricted space travel.

3) A classical turn-based, top-down roguelike where players customize their backpacks and item pool, hoping to reach the wizard’s tower and break a curse.

Is there an Audience?

Over the past 5 years, my titles have sold over 300,000 copies across iOS, Android, and Steam. This is primarily through critical reviews, featuring, and word of mouth (no publisher, adspend, or marketing).

My work has been favorably received on sites like TouchArcade (RIP) and Pocketgamer. I’ve retained fans across multiple titles, and generally get the sense that there is a real hunger for original premium touchscreen experiences that aren’t just ports from other platforms. Ultra Blade and Immortal Rogue in particular regularly rank in their categories and retain decent player counts while only receiving minor updates.

Release Window

This year, 2026. I need 3-4 months to finish the 3rd title depending on which one is picked.

Ai

Character portraits like the ones to the right were done with my sketches + Ai assistance, and will be replaced by an artist before launch. Everything else is hand drawn and coded by me or a hired artist.

Asks

Primarily, I’m looking for a creative partner to help me launch and sustain the next phase of my indie development career. Rather than continuing to launch small titles against the ever-growing wave of indies (and incoming tide of Ai titles), I want to create a single collection + compelling product that I can expand on for years to come.

The ideal scenario would be getting included in a subscription service that rewards player engagement and continued updates, since that’s what this collection is built for.

I’ve been gradually building up a codebase and roguelike engine for years, which I believe gives me a competitive advantage in that I can easily create modifiers and connections across wildly different projects and experiences in ways that make other devs sweat when I talk about it.

(Direct Arcade Pitch)

In terms of funding, I’m looking for $700,000 USD as an up front fee, assuming 2 years of platform exclusivity (which is negotiable).

I’m also open to a milestone-based deal with progressive funding if that’s preferred.

(Publisher Pitch)

In terms of funding, I don’t need up front cash unless we want to speed development up or increase the number of games in the initial launch. What I do need is:

Creative Partnership, Feedback, and Community Support
Marketing Support
Platform Support + Relationship management with potential subscription services this title would be a fit for. (Although a standard release with DLC is also an option)

Thanks for your time and interest,

-Kyle

kylewilliambarrett [at] gmail.com