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[Messofanego]

The Realm Kickstarter - Atomhawk Design + Lantern Interactive

An emotive visually stunning game set in a familiar but strange future - an imaginative reinvention of the point&click adventure genre

With music from Richard Jacques? That needs to be in the OP. Funded.

Daaaamn at that art!

The only bit of gameplay they've shown that I gif'ed:

I've always wanted more human/monster interactions like Majin in games. Since The Last Guardian is vaporware , I don't mind this.

The utterly generic, f2p sounding name won't help it, though.

We showed the game to the usual publishers and, even though they all loved the concept, they weren't able to provide funding for this type of game.

It just doesn't tick the convenient boxes, or incorporate the latest buzzwords - it’s not freemium, it’s not social, and it’s not a cheap mobile puzzle game or a multi-million pound first person shooter. The Realm is a good old fashioned adventure game, made with love and care by dedicated artists and creators.

We sincerely believe that you will want to play this type of game too - something unique, innovative and engrossing. With your support we can prove that there is a market for this and bring this exciting project to life!

 

[Gbraga]

Very, very excited for this! I really hope they make it, such a lovely game.

 

[Messofanego]

Totoro

I'm glad they mentioned Machinarium, because that also had super great art too.

 

[TripleSun]

Saw this on Adventure Gamers and really interested in this. The art is gorgeous! Bring on more innovative, beautiful story adventure games!

 

[Hofmann]

Looks gorgeous. I wonder why it is so difficult o find a publisher to fund such a project. The team is small, so it shouldn't be too expensive.

 

[DieH@rd]

Looks excellent.

 

[iavi]

With music from Richard Jacques? That needs to be in the OP. Funded.

 

[Messofanego]

Cool to see England overgrown.

 

[Superflat]

Shiiiiet, this looks awesome! Definitely putting on my radar.

 

[Messofanego]

With music from Richard Jacques? That needs to be in the OP. Funded.

Done!

 

[Jive Turkey]

I would have tried designing the monster to look a little less like Majin but otherwise the game looks nice. Too bad they're using Kickstarter though.

 

[Hofmann]

Since The Last Guardian is vaporware

How could you say such an evil thing.

 

[foobarry81]

I would have tried designing the monster to looks a little less like Majin but otherwise the game looks nice. Too bad they're using Kickstarter though.

My thoughts exactly. In the video they refer to Ico as an inspiration, but it reminds so much more of Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom.

 

[Gbraga]

With music from Richard Jacques? That needs to be in the OP. Funded.

Just googled him.

Oh my god.

 

[Messofanego]

How could you say such an evil thing.

Hey what happened to Ueda saying girls can't be the protagonist in such a game? XD

 

[Spring-Loaded]

Totoro

I'm glad they mentioned Machinarium, because that also had super great art too.

Is that a hint that if this sells well they'll make a totoro game???

 

[Messofanego]

Just googled him.

Oh my god.

Richard Jacques interview on BBC Radio 2

He did music for Sonic 3D, Headhunters, Mass Effect, Jet Set Radio games, Samba De Amigo, LittleBigPlanet 2.....damn!

 

[Hofmann]

Hey what happened to Ueda saying girls can't be the protagonist in such a game? XD

To err is human, and he's just looking for a bigger kennel (PS4) for his cat/dog creature.

 

[Hofmann]

Don't you think that she looks a bit Shrekish here?

Majin, Totoro and Shrek - they play it safe.

 

[foobarry81]

Don't you think that she looks a bit Shrekish here?



Majin, Totoro and Shrek - they play it safe.

This is one of the artists... you could ask her what her inspirations were: https://twitter.com/charliebowater ;-)

 

[Mister_Bubbles]

Oh, nice. Very nice. And I don't know what Majin or Totoro are, so fine with me.

 

[Danneee]

Love the logo. Game looks very nice too but I want to see some more gameplay.

 

[Messofanego]

They still have time to change the name, I hope they at least do that

 

[faceless007]

Looks very nice, I get some Longest Journey vibes from it. I'm a bit concerned they spend so much time showing off the art (which is gorgeous) but don't talk much about the game portion and what it will be like to play.

 

[Tizoc]

The big guy reminds me of Majin from Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom.

Will keep an eye on this thanks for the heads up.

 

[wouwie]

This project caught my eye when i saw the news on Adventuretreff. It looks gorgeous and interesting from an art direction point of view. I hope (and think) that they will show some gameplay further down in the campaign.

I'm not overly optimistic about this getting funded though. And i tend to agree that it's a bit sad to see that such promising projects need kickstarter funding to begin with. But i wish them good luck. It looks promising.

 

[Lime]

Wow, this looks good. I'll have to check it out later on.

 

[NZNova]

This sounds great. Keen as.

 

[desu]

This looks very awesome, pledged!

Game seems to be made in Unity.

 

[BraXzy]

Backed just based off the concept art, looks gorgeous! Got the last early bird tier with the documentary and concept doc.. love stuff like that

Hope it gets the full amount!

 

[Gbraga]

http://www.layerpaint.com/index_interviews_detailed.php?id=44&page=1#.UXheprWSmz4

Check this out guys, an interview with some mind blowing art.

 

[kitsuneyo]

Looks very nice. Is there an alternative to funding through KS I wonder?

 

[Elixist]

how can this not get a publisher? Sony or somebody hands off should of had a go. looks great.

 

[exmachina64]

*jaw drops*

Backing.

 

[Lissar]

The utterly generic, f2p sounding name won't help it, though.

When I first saw it I thought of this game, also called The Realm (though I guess now it's called The Realm Online, as if that helped make it sound less generic) which is a very old MMO (I played it when I was 14--about 15 years ago) created by Sierra.

I doubt many people would be confused by the name, but it confused the hell out of me.

 

[dreamfall]

So pretttty.

 

[Messofanego]

http://www.layerpaint.com/index_interviews_detailed.php?id=44&page=1#.UXheprWSmz4

Check this out guys, an interview with some mind blowing art.

These really grabbed my eye in relation to this being future England, back to farms. And then that second picture is just so charming.

We developed an art style that combines the finish and quality of lighting that you see in western fantasy art, and then combined it with the color palette, unusual location and heartwarming character relationships, influenced by Japanese creators like Miyazaki.

East meets west, I like.

The world features our local city of Newcastle, but significantly altered. The people of this world are our distant descendant. They haven't reverted back to being cavemen; they have just returned to simpler ways like farming, hunting, etc., but have taken some of the modern building knowledge we have today and applied it to rustic materials (very evident in our village designs).

Future Geordie accents incoming!

The story running throughout The Realm taps into recognisable human emotions, relationships and journeys. How important is it to give animated characters relatable human attributes and experiences when telling a story?

With the camera angle that The Realm will be played at, most of the emotion will be shown through body language and so we needed to be sure not to cover our main characters up too much with big clothes and bulky items. A lot of the emotion will come from how they interact with each other; for example, if Sarina is riding on Toru's back and then goes to climb down, he subtly takes her hand or puts an arm in a strategic place, ready to catch her if she falls.

Oh yes. We don't always need the face and cutscenes to express emotions, this is something cartoons or animated movies are really great at.

 

[A Human Becoming]

Looks very nice. Is there an alternative to funding through KS I wonder?

There probably will be after the Kickstarter has ended.

 

[PaulloDEC]

I'm on-board with this. Looks lovely.

 

[Gbraga]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnPapzoPGbk

A new video update

 

[Messofanego]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnPapzoPGbk

A new video update

I'm liking the talk about the mix of mystical and technology, it's why I loved the Longest Journey games.

 

[Gbraga]

http://jacehallshow.com/news/gaming...ve-realm-young-girl-golem-video-game-preview/

This is very interesting as they talk more about the game, and try to ease the concerns of it being dumbed down. I thought it would be, to be honest, but I didn't mind as I thought of it more as a narrative experience, but if it's a legit game, I'm fine with that too, and it might get more people onboard.

 

[Messofanego]

http://jacehallshow.com/news/gaming...ve-realm-young-girl-golem-video-game-preview/

This is very interesting as they talk more about the game, and try to ease the concerns of it being dumbed down. I thought it would be, to be honest, but I didn't mind as I thought of it more as a narrative experience, but if it's a legit game, I'm fine with that too, and it might get more people onboard.

Jace Hall Show still exists?!

Good interview, even with the typos Nice to hear that the puzzles will be taxing.

 

[inm8num2]

Really pulling for this project.

 

[desu]

New video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq0QLDTrR-w&feature=youtu.be

Shows how they build the game.

 

[Messofanego]

New video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq0QLDTrR-w&feature=youtu.be

Shows how they build the game.

Fascinating!

 

[TheLegendOfMart]

Looks gorgeous. I wonder why it is so difficult o find a publisher to fund such a project. The team is small, so it shouldn't be too expensive.

Because its not a first person shooter, no big dev/publisher wants to take a risk anymore.

 

[REMEMBER CITADEL]

My thoughts exactly. In the video they refer to Ico as an inspiration, but it reminds so much more of Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom.

Mistwalker's never released Cry On is also a very fitting point of reference, it was supposed to be a game about a girl traversing a fantasy world with a small creature that could turn into a huge stone golem. Alas, it was never finished.

In any case, I like the looks of this.

 

[Messofanego]

iGameResponsibly interview with Tom Szirtes (thanks, dzelly!). Worth reading the whole thing. Some choice quotes:

How they met

First off, the collective development staff working on The Realm has a renowned pedigree in the gaming industry. The portfolio the team has collectively worked on is superb. How did the stars align and allow everyone to come together to make The Realm?

It came from a meeting at GDC (Games Developers Conference). I met up with Ron who I’ve stayed friends with since we both worked at Computer Artworks on The Thing. It was just a social occasion but Ron showed me the amazing graphics to The Realm and I suggested we make a game as I was looking for a new venture at the time.

Then we looked around for a game designer to come on board. It made total sense to approach Andrew Curtis who was another The Thing veteran. The final member was Richard Jacques who I worked with at Sega – originally I asked him for estimates on what budget we should put aside for music but he loved the game so much he offered to do the music himself!

Female protagonist

You’ve chosen a strong, yet fragile female protagonist (Sarina) for your vision. Do you think that had any factor in the game not being picked up by a mainstream publisher?

Actually I’m not sure thats the case. Actually all the publishers loved the game as it was, I think it was just the business side they couldn’t get behind. That said I’m sure a focus group would show that we shouldn’t have a girl as a lead character if we wanted to sell x number of copies – but sometimes you have to stick to your vision.

Who did the concept art

The concept art for The Realm is absolutely stunning. Who at AtomHawk was principally responsible for the first pieces of artwork that were shared with you (Tom Szirtes)?

It was very much a team effort, not a single person’s vision and that’s what makes the art of The Realm so interesting. We’ll be showing some interviews with the art team later in our campaign.

UI

In regards to The Realm it seems you’ve definitely aimed to streamline the standard UI elements many adventure games employ. Do you find the typical layout of the genres inventory systems and object interaction cumbersome?

They can be if not done well. A lot of our decisions actually came from trying to imagine adventure games that could work on touch screen devices as well as PCs and the logic fell out of that way of thinking. The way people interact with them is different. Also we just remembered the things we found frustrating – like randomly trying every object in your inventory to try and solve a puzzle. So we’re trying to do something a bit different and make things a little bit more intuitive, more modern.

Inspirations

My next question is an absolutely loaded one, and may be hard to answer, but please try. With the countless titles under the studios’ collective belt. What single game, in your personal opinion, lends the most inspiration to the unique concept of The Realm?

There isn’t a single game – sorry. But perhaps I can mention a few references, but all for quite different reasons – Machinarium, Sword & Sworcery, Monkey Island, Beneath a Steel Sky and then games like Ico and even Limbo have influenced our thinking.

What is "agile development"?

The team will attempt to bring several new ideas to fruition with The Realm. Agile development is better known to those with a development background, or at least experience at a company that develops it’s own products. How important is it for the team to have the ability to say, “No, this doesn’t work, and we can’t cost effectively allocate the manpower to make it work”?

I’m a proponent of agile development and that’s definitely the approach we will take. You can’t go into project at the beginning saying ‘we know exactly what we want’ – its a creative process and one that evolves throughout – so you have to be flexible. That’s also why Kickstarter is great because we get to take our backers on that journey too. Crowd sourcing doesn’t end at the funding stage, its a fantastic way to tap into the vast wealth of knowledge and passion that the community has in order to produce a better game.

New art :O

 

[FreedomFighter]

What system(s) is this supposed to be on?