On being a Spark in a world of MAD SCIENCE!
over 3 years ago – Thu, Sep 10, 2020 at 11:11:15 AM

Being a Spark in a world of MAD SCIENCE!

Agatha is a Spark, and you, the player, get to experience the power of being a genius in a world of MAD SCIENCE. As Agatha certainly can pack a punch in combat if need be, she has other strengths too. Inventiveness, a sharp wit and a powerful inner energy are also exciting properties of being a Spark. A magnetic personality and charisma creates strong bonds between people, and minions bend to your will. As you explore Castle Heterodyne, Agatha's power as a Spark will grow, inventing new tools to handle problems, solve puzzles and fight enemies.

We certainly want to capture the Spark experience, particularly in "Spark Moments", where Agatha goes into a trance-like state when inventing or solving problems & puzzles. We are considering how this should play out in gameplay. An example of a direction for this i've thought of:

Agatha is building a Grapple Gun on the workbench. Initiate Spark Moment. The world slows down around you, and the camera is laser focused on the workbench in front of you, with a focused vignette on the camera. There are parts strewn on the workbench; cogs and wheels, screws, a gyro accelerator... They glow  in golden light, and... sing to you, in their own way, also when you interact with them. Follow the blueprint "in your head" presented as a design, floating in air above the workbench. Place the correct items available into the correct "slots" of the design, and do it before the Spark Moment runs out of time, and create a Grapple Gun.

We want to be careful with issuing too much of the ideas unto official paper right now, since parts of these designs need to be playtested further, in the early stages of game development. It is important that we don't promise too much of the features at this point, since we need to test and find the most fun mechanics, while not overscoping the project.

In short; we want to allow certain tools to have different useages. For example the Grapple Gun, which allows you to traverse over gaps to a grapple point, but also, for a potential upgrade, allow you to pull back drawbridges that are closed. Ideally, this item would also be useable in combat, as a ranged attack that pulls an enemy closer to you for example.

I also think that the player should have different tools for different situations. For example, bombs that can both break weak walls, and again; be useable in combat as a damaging weapon.

We've discussed the upgrades and modifiable items system internally, and it's still a little bit loose, which is fine for now. My most important guideline for now, is to create an engaging Metroidvania experience with a strong focus on Exploration and Discovery using different items and character abilites.

Also, remember the Dingbot, which gives it's unique flair to Metroidvania exploration, with it's smaller physical size, and component upgrades for new ways to explore and solve spatial puzzles.

In the end, we want the players to feel cool and smart when exploring, with an interesting toolbox of items and abilites, and giving the players the experience of being a Spark in a world of MAD SCIENCE!

Thank you for reading, and for your support so far! <3

 If you want to explore this world as much as I do, and make this game come to life, please help share the campaign in your communities, with your friends and on your Social Media. Please follow us on Twitter where we post regularly as well, and help retweeting. Thanks!

- Kenny

Twitter: @raingames_kenny & @rain_games

Rain Discord: https://discord.gg/vS3pydZ

See the Zola Malfeazium sculpt in remarkable 3D!
over 3 years ago – Wed, Sep 09, 2020 at 03:41:45 PM

Zola Anya Talinka Venia Zeblinkya Malfeazium - The Sculpt!

Our most magnificent, multitalented champion of the craft, Lead Artist Lars Erik Helgemo, has put his hands on the oh-so-fabulous villain Zola, sculpting her in magnificent 3D.

 So sit down in your own timebubble and feast your eyes on this glorious creation of MAD SCIENCE in this TIMELAPSE video!

Thanks for watching! Please help share the campaign in your communities, with friends and on your social media! Thanks!

Timelapse music courtesy of Jørn Lavoll and Linn Kathrin Taklo, Bear And Cat Music Production.

Check them out here: https://bearandcatmusicproduction.bandcamp.com/

 

Yay! We've been selected as "Project We Love" by Kickstarter!
over 3 years ago – Tue, Sep 08, 2020 at 09:04:20 AM

Great news everybody!

We've been selected as a "Project We Love" by Kickstarter, which helps the campaign be seen by more people. And we might also get featured on the main spots on Kickstarter, e.g the Games section headline spots. The campaign is also highly rated in the "Trending" section, which is great!

Please spread the good news and share the campaign with your community, friends and on social media! 

Thank you all current pledgers. You're awesome! <3

Rain Steampunk Bundle Reward Item
over 3 years ago – Sun, Sep 06, 2020 at 11:07:35 PM

Rain Steampunk Bundle:

We made a small mistake when entering Reward Items into each Tier, and the Reward Item: "Rain Steampunk Bundle" were missing from some of them. Sadly, we can not edit this in at this point, as it is not allowed by Kickstarter.

 Every tier above Steam Clank (30$) will receive this Reward Item as well, if the Reward Item is missing from that tiers list.

Sorry about that, and thanks to a pledger for giving us a heads up on Twitter. Thanks!

FAQ
over 3 years ago – Sat, Sep 05, 2020 at 06:31:33 AM

Thank you all for a wonderful start of the campaign, and thank you to all current pledgers!

Frequently Asked Questions:

What platforms are you targeting?

• PC / MAC / Linux
• Consoles TBA, please check back here later into the campaign as well, since some platforms are currently dependant on stretch goals, like Playstation and XBox. We want to target Nintendo Switch, but need approval from Nintendo first.

 What is the Physical Collector's Edition?

• The Physical Collector's edition is the physical boxed version of the game to a platform, similar to our previous boxed editions, as seen for "Teslagrad" for example. https://limitedrungames.com/blogs/news/exclusive-distributor-of-physical-vita-copies-of-teslagrad 

Will I be able to select which platform i get a game copy for?

• Physical copy; yes. Please see FAQ for which platforms will be available, depending on if we meet stretch goals or not.
• Digital copy: only available for PC/MAC/LINUX.

What is the minimum specs required to run the game on PC?

• In short; fairly low end specs, but should have dedicated graphics card. Our intent is to make the game run on consoles as well as PC, which require a well-optimized game.
• Minimum System requirements as given by Unity Game Engine:

Operating system:

Windows 7 SP1+
macOS 10.12+
Ubuntu 16.04+

CPU: SSE2 instruction set support.

GPU: Graphics card with DX10 (shader model 4.0) capabilities.

DRM-free version of the game?

• The Digital version from GOG is DRM-free.  You will receive a key for both Steam and GOG when we send out digital versions of the game.

Is a controller required to play the game on PC?

• No, we want players on PC with mouse and keyboard be happy with the controls as well.

How is the camera view in the game? Topdown, or over the shoulder camera view?

• In "World To The West", the camera is slightly tilted, fixed topdown perspective view. We want to do similar for Girl Genius, but we also want to experiment a bit with this in the early design period when starting game development, to see if we can do camera slightly differently. Please see "World To The West" trailer to see how this works in action : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDljLocLbX4

Which playable characters will be available in the game?

• Agatha and her Dingbot minion.
• Tarvek and Gilgamesh for parts of the game if stretch goal is met

Any multiplayer features planned?

• No sorry. We want to focus on the singleplayer experience for this title. Would be fun though!