About this project
Beyond Madness & Genius is a group of three friends who came together to present their own vision in terms of video gaming. In short, video gaming is simultaneously about art and having fun. Moreover, it's a truly interactive art - the developers contribute by creating a world that is both visually and audibly immersive, and the players contribute by taking what the developers create and clearing through it in impressive manners, frequently in ways that not even the developers anticipate. And this interaction between developer and player, each time creating a distinct work of art between the two, brings enjoyment to all.
Our first game, Point of Descent, is a new take on the classic genre of top-down shooter, as well as the bullet hell subgenre of same. In it, you play as a person who descends through different fantastic locales, struggling against waves of fantastic and hideous creatures, with each level finishing with a fight against something just human enough to feel wrong. After each boss fight, the character realizes more about themselves, as they seek who they truly are in an increasingly unreal world.
The gameplay is distinctly different. You begin at the top of the play field, facing down as enemies approach from below. You start with all four in-game weapons, which you can freely switch between. The major difference is that you don't have lives. Instead, your score, just like your character, descends while you destroy enemies, while your score increases every time you are hit. In order to clear a level, you must reduce your score below a certain plateau - of course, there are extra rewards for reducing the score below said plateau. Failure results in a chance to replay the level from the beginning - allowing even the most inexperienced players the chance to see each level while granting a level of achievement for the most discerning and skilled veteran players.
A contribution to Beyond Madness & Genius is not merely a contribution to the development of Point of Descent. We are using donations to not only produce Point of Descent but also to lay down the foundation for future game development. Donating to this project also helps fund future independent games from our studio, and we hope to reward donations with quality productions for years to come.
Our first intro video is primitive in appearance, yes. However, that's because we have yet to add in the work that our incredible artists have already put forward into this project. We will be sharing more of their work as we progress, to turn this from a game of destroying red shapes with a yellow one to something worthy of anyone's time. We will also be producing more music from the same composer featured in our video, who is an up-and-coming artist with a wide range of skill and talent.
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21
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$2,595
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Funding Successful
This project successfully raised its funding goal on June 25, 2011.
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You will receive a personal thank you email from the team, as well as having your name in the credits of the game.
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In addition to the above, you will receive a single song from the game's soundtrack in MP3 format and a piece of digital art from the game in various sizes suitable for wallpaper.
Pledge $25 or more Pledge $25 or more
In addition to the above, you will receive the full soundtrack of the game in MP3 format, you will be able to choose the name of a character in the game, and you will receive a code to download the game to your Xbox 360 upon release.
Pledge $25 or more Pledge $25 or more
In case we run out of characters to name or free download codes, you can still get the thank-you email, name in the credits, full MP3 soundtrack and digital art with this reward.
Pledge $100 or more Pledge $100 or more
In addition to the above, you will receive a CD copy of the full soundtrack of the game, an art pack including high-resolution and wallpaper-size images, and a personal postal mail thank you from the team.
Pledge $100 or more Pledge $100 or more
In case we run out of characters to name, you can still get the thank-you postal mail, name in the credits, full CD and MP3 soundtrack and art package with this reward.
Pledge $500 or more Pledge $500 or more
In addition to the above, you will receive an original custom piece of artwork based on the game. Instead of naming a character, you will name one of the stages.
Pledge $500 or more Pledge $500 or more
In case we run out of stages to name or free download codes, you can still get the thank-you postal mail, name in the credits, full CD and MP3 soundtrack, art package and custom artwork with this reward.
Project By
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We are simply about making distinctive and unique games with their own vision.
This could mean simply tweaking something everyone takes for granted in a genre and making it work in ways nobody ever thought possible. It could be a story that isn’t often told in video games. Or it could just be bringing a style seldom seen in a digital format.
Overall, we find that video gaming, when done well, can be a form of art. And we all love video gaming, which gives rise to our slogan – “Creating art via the joy of gaming.” Not only can a well-made game be a work of art, but the act of playing a game well can also be a work of art. With that in mind, Beyond Madness and Genius invites you to use our art to help create yours.
As for the name of the company? There’s an old cliché that says that there’s a fine line between madness and genius. Some, like humorist Oscar Levant, sought to erase that line. Even before starting development, all three of us seemingly veered across the line multiple times on a daily basis. But just as we weren’t content to simply talk about what kinds of game we’d like to make, we weren’t content with merely dabbling in a bit of oddity or a bit of brilliance. We want to reach beyond that, and see what we’ll find. We hope everyone enjoys what results.
