Over 25,000 people have played through it in that time – and we’re targeting an Open Beta launch this month (January 2013.) The game is 99% finished and has been in Closed Beta since late 2012. To respond directly to what was insinuated in the Kotaku article: myself and the studio are not out of money. That’s why we’re interested in Kickstarter-because it allows our audience to support goals that fall outside our ability to reach alone. It’s a situation that can force short-sighted decisions and make certain goals, though obviously worthy, impossible to reach. Ask anyone who’s been here what it’s like… success is the only thing that matters, money flows towards certainty, and publishers/investors run screaming from anything that hasn’t already proven itself. But like a lot of indies, we’re still clawing towards break-even and profitability. When I first arrived in Shanghai 6 years ago I was so broke I rode to work on the back of someone else’s bicycle! Truth be told, I’ve loved every moment of the fight because it’s led to incredible experiences, relationships and projects. In the 12 years since my departure I’ve fought tooth and nail, everyday, to be able to develop new games and often just to pay my rent. I wish Kotaku had written that article back when it was true! When I left EA after the first Alice game, I went into business for myself, which meant life without the comfort of a regular paycheck. And along those lines, how would you respond to a piece on Kotaku that says you’re just on Kickstarter because you’re out of money? (Note: in the time since I first asked this question, Kotaku published a second piece where McGee answered that question.) What brought you to Kickstarter? You’ve certainly had no problem producing and launching games without funding from consumers before. This is an area where we’re still exploring and learning.
DEMON HUNTER CHRIS PC GAME HOW TO
Though with online games the trick becomes how to continue the questions indefinitely without a final resolution to the story. When all else fails, narrative can provide the impetus for player to ‘turn another page.’ As with a good novel, you want the narrative in a game to pull you forward by creating questions and slowly delivering answers towards an ultimate resolution. Our experience with “traditional” console/PC games and now with online/mobile games has shown us that narrative is always critically important. How important is the narrative in the game? Is this a game for single players or people who like to play multiplayer? Because of rights issues it’d be difficult for me to return to the project, so my hope is that someone out there will someday create another dark retelling of the Oz stories in video game form. Having spent so much time exploring that world and its possibilities, I fell in love with all that might be done inside a video game presentation. Years ago I tried to tackle The Wizard of Oz, but our publisher ran out of funding before the project was finished. What’s a fairytale property you’d love to tackle in the future? Or see someone else do? By combining a “Red” character with the painful reality of man’s destruction of nature and sprinkling in some demons for spice, we end up with a brutal lesson in the necessity of harmony. nature stuff – a cautionary tale for wolves, though a pretty nightmarish fairytale. It details the destruction of wolves in Japan at the hands of Western cattlemen. With Akaneiro, the inspiration for drawing on Red Riding Hood actually came from my reading of a non-fiction book called The Lost Wolves of Japan. Given these elements, the properties provide an excellent way to invite players into fantastic adventures that feel familiar and surreal at the same time. And the stories often revolve around fantastic events impacting normal characters going about their everyday lives. The themes contained in fairy tales work well to capture basic facets of the human condition.
What draws you to these types of properties? And, more importantly, about your interest in retelling familiar tales, whether it’s Red Riding Hood or Alice in Wonderland. Talk about how the story of Red Riding Hood influences the game. If we hit our Kickstarter goals we’re also bringing it to tablets and platforms like Linux. It’s unique because players will be able to access it via a stand-alone (downloadable) client or play it inside their web browser. Set in Edo era Japan during a period when indigenous wolves were being driven to extinction, the story revolves around the Order of Akane, an ancient group of warriors who protect the world from demons and evil spirits. Where it departs from the expected is in the presentation of the world and narrative. People familiar with games like Diablo will find Akaneiro recognizable as a classic action RPG. For those that haven’t heard of Akaneiro: Demon Hunters, how would you describe the game?
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