Vagante, That Spelunky-Style RPG, Is Now On Kickstarter
Don't tell Adam I'm using "roguelike"
When I last wrote about Vagante, I called it "Spelunky: The RPG". Well done, past me! That's a good way to describe the game - a procedurally-generated platformer with permadeath but also potions, item stats, hitpoints, etc. - and to do so in a way that will draw in the people who will like it. Are you one of those people? Then you might be interested to know that the previously free alpha build is now a demo for a just-launched Kickstarter project. The development team are looking to secure $50,000 to fund completion of the game.
Spelunky is probably my favourite game, and one of the reasons for that is the way it ditches the stats and lore of old roguelikes in favour of Miyamoto-style precision. As in, a bat is a bat is a bat, with an extremely simple behaviour and few properties. It's interesting though, now that Spelunky exists, to watch all these other games - Magicite, Catacomb Kids, et al. - walk back and forth within the same design space.
Put simply, Vagante walks further away from Miyamoto and back towards Rogue, Nethack, etc. There are unidentified potions to drink. Who can resist those? Plus classes, magic, a broader selection of enemies, spell effects and so on.
A pledge of $15 nets you the finished game, while $30 will get you early access via the beta. The demo is available on the Kickstarter page now though for people who want to try-before-they-buy/hedge-before-they-pledge.