Maniacs: Thimbleweed Park Kickstarter Funded In A Week
Broken Age was trapped between two posts: its need to satisfy the nostalgia of the people who funded it via Kickstarter, and its desire to be accessible and reach a modern audience. The former group seemed displeased with the results, which is maybe what's pushed Thimbleweed Park beyond its own $375,000 Kickstarter goal in just a week. It's from the creators of Maniac Mansion, Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick, and they're creating a point and click adventure that feels like "opening a dusty old desk drawer and finding an undiscovered LucasArts adventure game you’ve never played before."
Here's the Kickstarter pitch video, unless you missed it last week:
Retromancy it may be, but the game is at the very least learning the lessons of previous Kickstarter efforts: make your goals and limits clear; if you're selling the game based on nostalgia, deliver on that nostalgia; and keep the physical rewards to the absurdly expensive tiers.
Putting my grumpiness about rose-tinted views of the past aside for a moment, the one advantage of an old, SCUMM-style interface is the space it leaves for jokes as you push, push, talk to and pick up every damn thing you can see. There's also plenty that remains interesting and uncommon in those old design forms, including the ability to switch between multiple player characters at any time and multiple endings.
There are still 23 days to go on the Kickstarter, with stretch goals including translations, mobile ports and full voice.