Third-person shooter adventure First Wonder has been confirmed for Linux upon successful funding on Kickstarter. The spiritual successor is being developed in Unreal Engine 4 by a team of veterans, including designer on MDK and Giants: Citizen Kabuto, Nick Bruty. Here's their Kickstarter pitch video:
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A confession: I never actually played either of the classics this game builds upon. Both games were released at a time when I almost exclusively played every Age of Empires, Command & Conquer and point-and-click adventure I could get my hands on, and anything else went by largely unnoticed. So why does this game have me so excited?
I'm absolutely in love with the style and scale of the game. It looks like a gigantic toy world come to life, and I can't wait to explore that space to uncover all its secrets, romp around it and cause all kinds of destruction. You will be able to both fly around as the jetpack carrying Cargonauts, and go on a rampage as the hulking brute Monstro. It looks like a game world to get utterly lost in, and it's that quality that has made some of my most memorable video game experiences.
The game is set on the intergalactic resort planet Majorca, where the Cargonauts have been hired to put the huge fossilized Monstro on display, but unwittingly ends up unleashing the monster upon the population. In the story-driven single player mode, you will try to stop Monstro's rampage and protect the resort goers by using your jetpacks and towing cables to break and move huge objects to put up obstacles for the monster. Monstro, on the other hand, is determined to fulfill a legendary prophecy, and while he doesn't have any particular interest in the Cargonauts, he won't think twice about reducing them into pulp if they get in his way. There will also be a goal-based match mode where you can choose to control Monstro against those pesky Cargonauts in asymmetric multiplayer. Both modes are sure to be full of humor, and will encourage both exploration and creativity.
Developer Rogue Rocket Games consists of a team of veterans who have many decades in the game industry between them and have worked on several successful games, like MDK, Giants: Citizen Kabuto, Earthworm Jim, Star Wars: Republic Commando and Escape from Monkey Island. In spite of their track records and this highly intriguing concept, they have struggled to get the word out to the video games press. The news value of Kickstarter campaigns seems to have waned over the last couple of years, and many of the bigger sites will only write about a campaign once it's funded. It's a catch-22 since most smaller developers have a hard time reaching even their base goal without any notable coverage in the press. And First Wonder is suffering from that lack of exposure, since they have yet to reach even a tenth of their $500k goal.
As a member of The Funding Crowd I regularly contact developers both to get clarification on their ambiguous use of the PC term and to get a feel for how committed they are to delivering a promised Linux version of their game. These guys are professionals, and in spite of early interest from many Linux users, they didn't feel comfortable with promising a Linux version until they had the game running well on their Linux machines. They have now managed to get a Linux build running on their Steam box, and they announced in their latest Kickstarter update that they will support Linux upon successful funding of the game. This isn't their first venture into Linux game development either, as their previous game, Gunpowder, is available for Linux on Steam.
Unfortunately, it's not looking too good for the current Kickstarter campaign, but if you're as excited about this game as I am, I suggest you back it anyway. It's the best way to show that you want to see this game made, and it will also ensure that you get updates about the project directly from the developer whenever they have something interesting to share. Besides, they're committed to make this game, and with 10 days left of the campaign, it's not over yet.
Sounds like Evolve. I cannot see its connection with my childhood's beloved MDK.
As far as I understand, it's a spiritual sequel in the sense that it's the game Nick Bruty would have made if he had continued expanding on the principles of MDK and Giants. I could have sworn I saw this exact concern addressed somewhere, but I can't for the life of me find it. Anyway, it's not a game that encourages direct confrontation, like most shooters and what I understand Evolve to be: As the Cargonauts you don't actually stand a chance up against Monstro and have to find clever ways to manipulate your environment to trap and divert him. Monstro, on the other hand, doesn't particularly care about the Cargonauts, and is only interested in fulfilling his prophecy.
I'll ask the developer to clarify.
They are planning a DRM free version for distribution on e.g. GOG, but they have also gotten the game greenlit on Steam, so a possible contingency plan they're considering is to first launch the game on Steam Early Access to fund development.
It does seem like Tim Schafer is quoted on a few too many Kickstarter campaigns, though.
Sounds like Evolve. I cannot see its connection with my childhood's beloved MDK.
[...]
I'll ask the developer to clarify.
I've received word back from Keith-Kit, developer at Rogue Rocket Games, and he provided a very extensive explanation of the planned game mechanics of First Wonder that he allowed me to share unedited:
First Wonder takes some inspiration from Giants: Citizen Kabuto, a title released back in 2000 and it was designed by our lead designer and co-founder of Rogue Rocket Games, Nick Bruty. Since then, a few games have revisited similar ideas of having a hulking beast pitted against smaller scaled human/humanoid type characters such as Black & White and in more recent history, Evolve. A majority of the game's premise will derive from the single-player, story driven campaign where the players uncover the story behind everything they're doing and why. These elements will be incorporated into the multiplayer.
I did not play Evolve so I cannot speak on behalf of what it does or does not do, but I can provide you more detail about the gameplay elements in First Wonder and maybe that will help you see where our games differ. Monstro will eventually know the goals it has to achieve, which will be dispersed throughout a multitude of islands. The path and objective the Monstro player decides to take will differ due to personal preference. The Cargonauts on the other-hand are stacked with a number of dilemmas such as: gathering enough resources to upgrade their gear, protect/save the villagers from threats which may or may not have been caused by Monstro, scout for Monstro and tag it with camera drones to keep an eye on it, devise elaborate ways to impede Monstro, and eventually stop it. The Cargonaut players' roles are defined by their intent and how they utilize the gear they have on them. It is also worthwhile to note that the resource used to upgrade the Cargonaut gear is can only be detected with the Cargonaut gear. Monstro cannot easily detect the resource, but can utilize it to become more powerful in various ways. We're aiming to create a vast number of environmental pieces for each player to interact with and creatively use to their advantage. Right now our prototype allows you to pick up a large bolder to block off a volcano, which prevents Monstro from blasting off to the other island, and trees can be plucked from the ground to extend Monstro's range and bash booby traps from a safe distance. Eventually all of these pieces will allow additional functionality and there will be more objects to play around with. It might also be important to note that we intend to create additional modes, but at the moment we'd like to remain conservative about that thought as it will highly depend on our overall funding.
They have since posted an update saying that they've decided to cancel the campaign, but they'll give it a day or two so that anyone interested in updates from the campaign will have time to make a pledge (which won't cost you anything, since Kickstarter campaigns are all-or-nothing).
Gunpowder seems like it could be fun, first time I hear about it.
I meant to write about it, but I think I was on vacation when it was released and never got around to buying it either.
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I run the Hidden Linux Gems group on Steam, where we highlight good indie games for Linux that we feel deserve more attention.
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