Trademark Forces Supernatural RPG, Hellhunter, To Become HellSign

Australian indie developers Ballistic Interactive just announced that, due to a trademark issue, their supernatural role-playing game, Hellhunter, will now be known as HellSign.

This makers of this upcoming investigative action RPG that pits you against the horrors of the afterlife in the small town of Australia, found out some unfortunate news when they attempted to trademark their game name.  

"We looked into trademarks early in development. But as we were on a small indie budget, and found that many successful indie games didn't have a trademark on launch, we decided to take the risk and instead put the money toward making a better game," Ballistic Interactive's Pete Skyking said. "Unfortunately, when we finally did decide to trademark, we found that 'hell hunter' had been trademarked by Rebellion. We took legal advice and were told this would be a problem."

However, even with the disappointing name change, Skyking has nothing but love for Rebellion, and their CEO, Jason Kingsley, who they spoke to directly about the name issue. 

Skyking said: "Given the sticky situation, Jason was awesome. He not only personally replied to us, but handled it like a boss! He was open to working something out and helping us through the situation - but unfortunately, at the end of the day, as indies operating out of our savings our only two options were to change our name, or cut content. Needless to say, we had to change the name."


With all this behind them, Ballistic Interactive is now focused on finishing development on HellSign, which is due to release via Steam later in 2018. 

HellSign is a supernatural investigative hunting RPG, where you assume the role of a freelance hunter building his career towards uncovering the ultimate terror. Players must investigate each haunting location to suss out what they are facing, and to determine which tools to use against the spooks. 

After waking up with the vague memory of having died the night before in a drug-induced state of delirium while on a dangerous job, you find a fresh brand on your skin that you don't remember getting that you are not happy about. Searching for answers, you follow the bloody trails to where some strange, supernatural activity has been reported, from spectral women seductively beckoning people into a dense fog, dog-sized spiders and other things that go "stab" in the night. 

Features

• Tricks of the trade - Start your journey with a flickering torch, rusty gun and a whole lot of guts. Complete jobs to develop your skills and learn more about the monsters that haunt the night. Develop your character and build your arsenal through a detailed RPG and job system. Become an elite hunter and get your revenge.
• Choose your contracts - There are all manner of creatures prowling the streets, from ghosts to hellhounds, monstrous spiders and demons. Which order you take your contracts is up to you, but each monster you slay brings you closer to unearthing the dark truth.
• Hunt, or be hunted - How you clear the town is up to you. You can go in guns blazing and let your shotgun do the talking, or you can plan and research your targets to use their weaknesses against them.
• Study your prey - As a hunter, knowledge is one of your greatest weapons. By reading your environment and uncovering the weaknesses of the creatures you're hunting, you can make it a little easier to slay them. The Cryptonomicon is your hunter guidebook, tracking the creatures you’ve slain and the clues you’ve collected.
• Use your tools - From shotguns and booby traps, to silver nitrate rounds and high tech gadgets - there are many tools in your arsenal that can help you fight the darkness. Choosing what to bring with you, and when to use it can be the difference between victory and a grizzly defeat.