Trippy retro shooter Vektropolis reappears after two year absence

Vektropolis, the trippy retro shooter from Leeds-based indie outfit Dark Computer Entertainment, has re-merged with a Kickstarter calling for £50,000.

In Vektropolis you defend your city from alien invaders in fast-paced arcade gameplay drenched in an 80s sci-fi aesthetic. When you complete a round you're rewarded with a payment, which you can spend on growing your city or improving your craft. The more the city grows, the bigger the population and the bigger the bonus.

DCE said it will use the Kickstarter funds to create the "twitch section" of the game. That's the single-player experience, which includes ship upgrades between rounds and Oculus Rift support. If the Kickstarter is successful this will be complete in October 2014 and released as a Steam Early Access title, the developer said.

After that co-op and competitive multiplayer gameplay will be added. Here, each player has their own city to defend from invasion, and players can decide whether to co-operate or destroy their own teammates.

Then the developer will work on city upgrades, which can be done between attack phases. You can grow and build your city and buy defenses, such as surface to air missiles.

Designer and producer Steve Morris said Vektropolis will end up as "the Counter-Strike 1.6 of vector games".

Vektropolis was announced two years ago with a December 2012 release date, but it never materialised. Daniel Gallagher, who programmed the home console version of the Star Wars Arcade Game on the Commodore 64 in 1987, developed the tech in his spare time. They now want to raise money to complete the work.