Project Blue Streak Revealed

Earlier this week, we were excited to inform you that Cliff Bleszinski, commonly known as CliffyB, has come out of retirement to start his own studio. It had been noted that his new studio, Boss Key Studios, had a project listed called Project BlueStreak, but very little information was released on it other than the name. Yesterday, he released information on the title, and also tossed out some Twitter teasers.

Today, CliffyB decided to hold an AMA on Reddit. His last reply was three hours ago, but there’s a great deal of good information. It’s quite a bit to read through, but I do have some of the highlights for you.

Project BlueStreak is set to be a free-to-play sci-fi arena shooter for the PC. Having spoken before about wanting to work on a first-person shooter for PC, this isn’t a complete surprise, especially coming from the mind that worked on Unreal Tournament and Gears of War 1, 2 and 3.

Boss Key Productions will be working on the game with the South Korean company Nexon. Some may recognize Nexon from other free-to-play games like MapleStory. The name Blue Streak isn’t finalized yet, but the jokes about snagging Martin Lawrence for a stunt voice role have already been rolling around. (CliffyB confessed that the name was actually reference to a Transformer, but he seems willing to go with the Lawrence jokes.)

While it’s too early to start planning your gameplay strategies, as the game doesn’t quite exist yet, CliffyB is already delivering some promises. He’s already stated that those curious about the project won’t be subjected to misleading CG trailers that look nothing like the actual game.

And no, there won’t be a fake CG trailer showing “Gameplay” because that’s not how @bosskey does it.

— Cliff Bleszinski (@therealcliffyb) July 8, 2014

There’s also the promise of a teaser very soon, prompting many to head over to the Boss Key Productions website to be placed on the mailing list, myself included. As far as other platforms go, or the subject of Steam, it’s all up in the air right now. According to CliffyB, Nexon will have the say where the game is initially platformed, and how it will be platformed. But the possibility of console releases isn’t out of the question. Those involved in the project will be watching to see how the initial release plays out before making a decision, as well as the consumer demands for other systems.

“PC First, and then we’ll see. PC is where the comments generally are, the community gathers, and it’s got that big global audience. In order to hit that global audience your game needs to look fantastic on the high end rigs but also run on a potato.”

An emphasis on story will be implemented, but not in the traditional sense. CliffyB also sees room for innovation in shooters, and holds Titanfall as an example of a game that took risks in a good way, describing it as the type of thinking the FPS needs to see, with less of a focus on ‘red dot iron sights’.

You can color me intrigued. We’ll keep you posted on everything we hear on Project BlueStreak, and anything else Boss Key Productions releases.

Sources: GameSpot, GameSpot again, Reddit

Kayla Swenson is an aspiring author and former DJ from Seattle, WA that procrastinates far too much with video games to get a book out. When she’s not gaming until carpal tunnel sets in, she’s working on dreams of being a voice actor as well as a published writer. Fond of RPGs, she will happily disappear into the void to tackle whatever bad voice acting awaits. Contact her at the email above, or on all major systems/networks as Beltravi.