Over recent weeks our Kickstarter summaries (which will resume this weekend) have featured Animal Gods, an intriguing project from US developer Still Games. Though listed for PC, Mac and Linux, as is the norm on the crowdfunding platform, the developer has also included the Wii U in its core goal, placing Nintendo's system as the primary home console for the project. As the title takes inspiration from '90s RPGs and SNES classic The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, that decision to include Wii U becomes less surprising.
As a title with mythology partially based on real-world history, with plenty of fantasy besides, we caught up with the studio to learn more. Kara Myren and Peter Harmon explain more about the storyline, development approach and the studio's inclusion of the Wii U eShop as a target platform.
To start off, can you introduce yourselves and Still Games?
Kara Myren: We’re a two-person video game studio located in West Virginia. Not quite Silicon Valley, but it’s been a great location to develop game ideas. Overall, I do the programming and Peter Harmon develops the feel, flow and content of the games. We also pull together all the stuff in between, sometimes collaborating with other artists, other times selling our soul to devil at 4am.
Animal Gods is currently seeking funding on Kickstarter; before we get into detail, can you provide a basic concept outline of the game?
Kara Myren: Animal Gods is an open world, action / adventure game set in Bronze Age Europe — mixing the core combat of classic Zelda with an intriguing story surrounding the great Animal Gods and the new coming of bronze metals. Monsters are in lots of video games but they’re usually not explained that well. We wanted to tell a story surrounding the Animal Gods themselves.
The setting is rather striking, with a 17th Century BC Bronze sword, a 1500BC England setting and clear fantastical elements. How did that come together, and is the setting based on travelling to locations such as Stonehenge?
Peter Harmon: We’ve researched mysteries, mythology and folklore surrounding these areas. There’s a good bit of fiction and fantasy like you’ve mentioned — but all of the fiction is grounded in reality. Grounded in History and established folklore. For instance — there are some fictional dungeons and temples you explore in Animal Gods. From a gameplay perspective, that means things can stay abstract and lead to fun level design. Whereas key story pieces & scripted events can surround Stonehenge and some other famous places you’ll discover.
We’ve done our research stateside — we don’t have the budget for a European vacation. Books, Google maps tours, images, reading travel blogs have all contributed to the feel we’re getting across. Most of the research surrounding the period and time was done on a computer, stateside. We haven't had the chance to visit, unfortunately.
Is the Animal Gods idea, of rescuing these Gods, based on any established mythology or lore?
Kara Myren: No, we haven’t found a mythology that features a human character rescuing gods. In most myths, the gods help the hero, or trick the hero. The gods are usually all powerful. Animal Gods takes place in world that is going through a shift, which means that we get to shift the power structures of the world as well. Your character, Thistle, is needed to help the gods. The atmosphere of the game features familiar elements of European paganism, but the storyline — the fact that YOU are called upon to save the GODS — is unique to the Animal Gods myth.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is cited as an influence, which is also evident in early footage, but was A Link Between Worlds (3DS) also an influence in terms of an open world and tackling areas in the order that a player chooses?
Peter Harmon: Yeah, that’s right. I think A Link Between Worlds did some pretty great stuff with giving players a choice in dungeon design. From a story perspective, the Elder Scrolls series has also done a great job with open world story telling. As a player you choose a direction and you go along your way. On your path, you discover some really cool side-stories and characters. They feel really personal, as if you're the only one who knows about them. That’s a great feeling and those moments can be powerful.
What other '90s titles have had an influence on Animal Gods?
Peter Harmon: Chrono Trigger & Final Fantasy VI are pretty big influences. The whole top-down, village thing might feel similar — but more than that, those games had a lot of character reflection and soliloquies. You might find a character looking off to distant skies thinking about personal turmoil and/or impending doom during a scripted event. These moments of introspection are something that classic JRPGS did really well. Some of that will be in Animal Gods, too.
The confirmation of the Wii U as a core platform is pleasing, but what prompted this decision by your team? Is it nostalgia for the company, solely a business decision or a combination of factors?
Peter Harmon: All nostalgia aside, I think Nintendo is one of the most consistent & high quality developers around. I’m honored that they verified us to develop on their own platforms. Nintendo has always been making good games.
On the business side, the Nintendo eShop is quite friendly — the eShop gets more use than it does on other platforms — Wii U owners use the eShop. Indie games show up on the front page, and players know they exist.
From a design perspective, I think players will find Animal Gods has some core gameplay elements in line with Nintendo’s, so Nintendo fans will find Animal Gods to be an enjoyable experience.
If funded, do you have any particular plans to utilize the Wii U hardware in unique ways, such as the GamePad?
Peter Harmon: We’re still mulling around with the ideas for touch-input, but Animal Gods will definitely offer off-screen play.
Are you using an off-the-shelf development tool-set, such as Unity or Game Maker?
Kara Myren: We’re developing the core game in Unity, which is compatible with Nintendo hardware. So far, the software has suited our needs in the development process. Unity is a robust, packaged engine that makes it relatively easy to port to other devices as well.
How optimistic are you, at this stage, of hitting your funding goal?
Kara Myren: Kickstarter feels a bit like the Wild West! Anything can happen. We are now over 75% funded — but we’re not there yet. There’s a little mystery & magic surrounding Kickstarter, and we’re enjoying the ride.
Do you have a final message for our readers regarding Animal Gods?
Kara Myren: We need your help to make Animal Gods. We’re super pumped for this project and hope that you are too. We want your help and we want your thoughts, so please back us! Without your help now, Animal Gods won’t be possible.
At the time of writing the Animal Gods campaign has raised nearly $21,000 of its $26,000 goal, with 7 days to go. We'd like to thank Kara and Peter for their time.
Comments 18
Still Games? Are they fans of Dr. Dre?
As much as I would like to support this, I'm done with Kickstarter. I've backed 13 projects in the past three years and only one has released (Shovel Knight) and only one more has put out something but lacked the platforms it promised so I cannot play it (Rex Rocket). The other 11 have all passed their due dates aside from Mighty No 9 and every one of them has been VERY quiet. I'm not wasting my money on something that may not come out
Looks a lot like Hyper Light Drifter. Cool though.
@yuwarite Still representing gamers all across the world.
I've been keeping an eye on this one, and it looks very intriguing. I hope they make it, but I'm afraid I won't be able to contribute at this time - my gaming budget is already 100% allocated for the remainder of 2014, sadly.
I do think they will reach the goal, and I'm definitely going to be getting it when it's released.
noooooooooooooooooooo im broke, I spent all my money on smash, i want mother 3 and xenoblade chronicles, and hyrule warriors. I guess itl have to wait till 2015.
I can see why people call it a rip off of Hyper Light Drifter, but is that such a bad thing? Also I like the cut of this developer's jib, her answers were more profound, interesting, and straightforward compared to some interviews I've seen.
Really appreciate Wii U as a core goal for this project, and the game idea seems interesting. I'll back it!
@Jayvir Sorry to hear that you hadn't any luck with your kickstarted projects. I have personally not had that much problems with the kickstarted projects regarding the "quiet" part. The majority of them send out update info quite frequently (such as Hex Heroes or Red Goddess). However, I expect virtually all indie projects to get delays, based on the current Wii U indie history.
I don't get why the Wii-U pledge is $25
I'll buy it when released
@vonseux Well, if you don't back the project there is a chance it won't fund and therefore it might never be released at all.
As for the Wii U being included at $25 and higher, well, Wii U download codes cost devs money, and if there is no money left to develop the game after that cost and KS and Amazon fees are taken...
@EdEN Every Kickstarter I backed so far had the Wii U at the same price point as the other platforms. Having it as a premium addon here, sadly, will lose them quite a few Wii U backers, especially since chances are the game will cost less than $25 when/if it's released on the platform (keep in mind that the $25 tier also includes a PC game on top of the Wii U code, meaning the standalone Wii U game itself would be cheaper than that).
@ricklongo As stated at the KS, the game will retail for $15.
And as you've said, the $25 isn't just for the Wii U copy, since it also includes a PC/Mac/Linux copy copy AND a download for the soundtrack. Out of a $25 pledge, $2.50 is instantly gone thanks to KS and Amazon fees, so they're down to $22.50 from a $25 pledge. Add the cost for getting a Wii U code to a $25 and higher backer, and you're down to waaay less than $20 to develop the game.
$25 gets you two copies of a $15 game and a copy of the soundtrack. Having backed as many KS campaigns as I have, the $25 tier offers great value (and I'm already at a higher tier than that at Animal Gods in order to get several physical rewards).
Btw, which KS campaigns have you backed where Wii U is at the same slot as PC/Mac/Linux? Can't remember many that did that.
@EdEN Quite a few games, actually: Lobodestroyo, Earthlock: Festival of Magic, Hive Jump. There were also others that I didn't back, but followed closely, like Shovel Knight and Mighty No. 9, and all of those had the Wii U tier at the same level as other platforms.
In fact, I think this might be the very first project I've ever seen that has the Wii U at a higher tier.
About the specific addons for the $25 tier, I do know it gets you more than the Wii U game. Problem is, there is no reason for me to pay extra, because I just want the Wii U game. I was surprised when I realized they didn't have an option for that. Like I said, it's the first time I've ever seen a Kickstarter project go this route.
@ricklongo To be fair, Lobodestroyo had a $35,000 main goal (Extra $9k over AG), Earthlock was at $150,000 (looking forward to playing this one!), Shovel Knight was at $75,000 and Mighty No. 9 had Wii U as a $2.2 MILLION stretch goal.
On the other hand, Animal Gods is set at $26k with Wii U along with the main goal.
And I've seen other projects with Wii U as the main goal but not as part of the "just the game" reward tier. Warlocks comes to mind as a recent success story that was set like that.
And I'm a console gamer as well, so for me the extra PC copy will be used as a gift. I see it as getting the soundtrack for $10, so it works for me. Sure, I'd always like it to be lower, but after backing so many projects I know how much it costs devs to develop a game and how much it costs to create the extra rewards they offer on a KS.
Anyway, Animal Gods has 5 days to go and is $4,700 away from funding so hopefully it makes it. The more Wii U games, the better!
@Captain_Gonru Full chorus:
Sill representing for the gamers all across the world,
Still hitting them buttons on controllers, girl,
Still taking the time to perfect the bytes,
And they still show love for 2d sprites.
Need to see more, it looks pretty but sluggish. I love the idea of dungeons based on real locations though!
I like the concept for the game, I like the graphic style and the music in the trailer is very moving/nostalgic as well. However, watching the gameplay I'm concerned it won't feel good. As that's one of the most important parts of the game, and referencing the quality of Nintendo in their interview they should know it has to move/feel good. Something about the walking animation plus speed of walking seems disconnected to me. Same with the attack animations. Maybe they have more to fix there, though. I wish them luck, I don't trust the kickstarter thing but if they finish their game I'll buy it on the eShop.
@Mommar It's in pre-alpha (which you can download and play), hence why they NEED the funds from the Kickstarter to fully develop Animal Gods).
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