LEXINGTON — Lexington High School graduate Kent Reese, a game developer, has completed Duck and the Land of Flightless Birds, a 2D action-adventure game.
The game had early backing from the Richland Area Chamber and Economic Development through its student-based Young Entrepreneurship Academy.
“Duck represents years of persistence,” Reese said. “It started as something I drew in sketchbooks as a kid.”
What began as a childhood idea more than 13 years ago evolved into a game that follows a determined and flightless duck on a quest to recover stolen eggs.
The gameplay is reminiscent of classic action-adventure titles like Kirby, Super Mario, and Mega Man. A casual playthrough lasts approximately three to four hours.
Reese started with a small passion project but saw it grow into a fully realized commercial release. The game’s creator simultaneously juggled development, a full-time career, and completed his bachelor’s of science degree program along the way.
Development of the game began in 2013 when Reese was in Lexington Junior High School. In 2016, he lost the entire project’s source code and stepped away from game development for a period of time.
“Losing everything nearly ended it, but the support of my community pushed me to keep going until the finish,” Reese said.
After encouragement from mentors within Ohio’s development community, he restarted the project from scratch in 2017. The game was showcased at the Ohio Game Developer Expo (now known as GDEX).
Reese has been an active member of the Central Ohio Game Dev Group, a regional organization supporting independent developers.
The game will be available for purchase on the Steam store on March 16th retailing at $7.99 https://store.steampowered.com/app/1735030/Duck_and_the_Land_of_Flightless_Birds/