Commander Keen Creator Kickstarts "Spiritual Successor"
If you've ever had the urge to make your own platformer but can't be bothered to learn a programming language, Tom Hall has just the thing - or, more accurately, he has just the idea for just the thing. Worlds of Wander is planned as a "platform game creation tool that lets you build and share levels, worlds, and whole game experiences with other players." It will include both a "simple mode," which lets users simply place objects and characters and then use the "Place 'n' Fiddle" interface to make it all work together, and an "advanced mode" that opens up access to far greater levels of control through the game's internal scripting language.
To help ease players into the experience, Worlds of Wander will include a full game called Secret Spaceship Club. Billed as a spiritual successor to the early-90s id Software platformer Commander Keen, Secret Spaceship Club will follow the adventures of Willie and Sheila Wander as they blast off to the world of the Bumbledybots to shut down the Bumbledybomb and save the galaxy from obliteration! That's right, obliteration.
This isn't Hall's first foray into the realm of Kickstarter, but his last trip through the system didn't go very well. Hall and fellow industry veteran Brenda Romero got together to take a run [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/119940-Wizardry-and-Anachronox-Vets-Jump-the-Kickstarter-Train] at an old-school role-playing game creatively entitled Old School Role-Playing Game, but pulled the plug three weeks into the Kickstarter when it became clear that it wasn't going to be funded. Hall decided to form a new, independent business entity for this project, "Tom Hall's Pieces of Fun," at the suggestion of Romero and her husband John, so that he wouldn't lose control of the Secret Spaceship Club IP as he did with Commander Keen and Anachronox. "They have been super supportive and awesome," he added.
For those more interested in playing games than making them, Hall said on Twitter [https://twitter.com/ThatTomHall/status/298828788005998592] that a stand-alone release of Secret Spaceship Club is a possibility. "It will be all together at the start I believe, but might have a lower tier for folks that just want the game," he wrote.
Worlds of Wander - and, obviously, Secret Spaceship Club - are being developed for the PC, Mac, Ubuntu Linux, iOS and Android tablets. The Kickstarter has a funding goal of $400,000 and runs until March 1.
Source: Kickstarter [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/368238381/worlds-of-wander-plus-secret-spaceship-club-game]
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Former id man Tom Hall is including a "spiritual successor" to the famed Commander Keen series as part of the Worlds of Wander "platform game creation tool."If you've ever had the urge to make your own platformer but can't be bothered to learn a programming language, Tom Hall has just the thing - or, more accurately, he has just the idea for just the thing. Worlds of Wander is planned as a "platform game creation tool that lets you build and share levels, worlds, and whole game experiences with other players." It will include both a "simple mode," which lets users simply place objects and characters and then use the "Place 'n' Fiddle" interface to make it all work together, and an "advanced mode" that opens up access to far greater levels of control through the game's internal scripting language.
To help ease players into the experience, Worlds of Wander will include a full game called Secret Spaceship Club. Billed as a spiritual successor to the early-90s id Software platformer Commander Keen, Secret Spaceship Club will follow the adventures of Willie and Sheila Wander as they blast off to the world of the Bumbledybots to shut down the Bumbledybomb and save the galaxy from obliteration! That's right, obliteration.
This isn't Hall's first foray into the realm of Kickstarter, but his last trip through the system didn't go very well. Hall and fellow industry veteran Brenda Romero got together to take a run [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/119940-Wizardry-and-Anachronox-Vets-Jump-the-Kickstarter-Train] at an old-school role-playing game creatively entitled Old School Role-Playing Game, but pulled the plug three weeks into the Kickstarter when it became clear that it wasn't going to be funded. Hall decided to form a new, independent business entity for this project, "Tom Hall's Pieces of Fun," at the suggestion of Romero and her husband John, so that he wouldn't lose control of the Secret Spaceship Club IP as he did with Commander Keen and Anachronox. "They have been super supportive and awesome," he added.
For those more interested in playing games than making them, Hall said on Twitter [https://twitter.com/ThatTomHall/status/298828788005998592] that a stand-alone release of Secret Spaceship Club is a possibility. "It will be all together at the start I believe, but might have a lower tier for folks that just want the game," he wrote.
Worlds of Wander - and, obviously, Secret Spaceship Club - are being developed for the PC, Mac, Ubuntu Linux, iOS and Android tablets. The Kickstarter has a funding goal of $400,000 and runs until March 1.
Source: Kickstarter [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/368238381/worlds-of-wander-plus-secret-spaceship-club-game]
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