Last night, a crowd-funded award ceremony celebrating Real Gamers® made its shining debut. Allegedly raising over $25,000 in funds, the pre-recorded event featured its host filming himself in some sort of barcade. Between glorified PowerPoint slides announcing such legitimate categories as “Shitty Ass Game” and “Best Jiggle Physics,” the show also featured trailers of lesser-known titles, seemingly unbeknownst to the developers. Altered Orbit Studios, creators of indie FPS Selaco, aren’t too ecstatic about being a feature in the clown show.
Developers of indie FPS ‘selaco’ didn’t know their trailer would be at an award show
Fans of Selaco were indeed quick to notice its inclusion in the award show. Confused as to why Altered Orbit would connect with the show’s problematic presenters and racist caricatures of Hideo Kojima, they then took to X. Nexxtic, lead developer of Selaco, would swiftly quell the claims.
“We paid for nothing. I do not even know about this show,” Nexxtic writes on Bluesky. “The more I’m looking into this the more I want to distance myself lmao.”
Posting from the official Selaco X account, however, the indie developer later responds to some dork ridiculing them for seemingly complaining about free advertising. “When it comes to potentially damaging the brand we built from nothing? Yes, absolutely – and that’s perfectly justifiable. There’s more to my life than making money, and I’ll gladly sell fewer copies if it means not being associated with a hateful individual.”
So, since releasing into Early Access in May of 2024, Selaco has sold more than 105,000 copies. Following its success, the entire team at Altered Orbit Studios received a raise.
Yikes! When indie devs, a portion of the industry that arguably benefits from promotion the most, don’t want to associate with you – that’s saying something. Anyway! You should totally play Selaco.
Anyway, ‘selaco’ is rad
Selaco is an indie FPS in the GZDoom engine, harkening back to classics like F.E.A.R. and Half-Life. Featuring a lengthy story campaign, its voxel-based objects are entirely destructible, leaving gunfight aftermaths looking like something out of the office lobby scene of The Matrix.
“Selaco is a brand new original shooter inspired by classics. Featuring thrilling action set pieces, destructibility, smart enemies and a fleshed out story taking place within an immersive game world,” reads the game’s Steam page description.
So, in the face of rampant adversity from a specific sect of gamers, it’s refreshing to see indie developers standing on business. I have a feeling there are a lot of new Altered Orbit Studios fans today. Selaco is available now on Windows PCs, Linux, and GeForce Now.
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