About
Howdy, y'all! This is your ol' pal Moe Bill Holmes. We here at Zygobot thought it'd be more fun for me to explain to you myself about my new game "Moe Bill Holmes: Redneck Detective" (subtitled "A View to a Roadkill") than it would be for someone to write out some borin' ol' corporate description. Seein' as how I was valedictorian of my second year of kindergarten, I figured I was just the person to lay it all out for you kind and good-lookin' people. You, sir, the one in Idaho, you're particularly handsome. I'm just sayin'.
[Editor's Note: We at Zygobot did NOT approve this format nor Holmes' shameless and obvious plea for money.]
But I digress. Here's the skinny: I'm an amateur freelance investigator and I do my best to keep the peace in my rustic and quaint lil town in Greenwood County, USA. These boys are lookin' to make a game based on my life and heroic adventures but may be a little shy on the funds...that's where you folks come in.
[Editor's Note: It's true, we are in the process of making a game in the spirit of the classic point-and-click adventures, one which is a parody of many genres and relies heavily on its inspirations for theme ...but we'd hoped to address the potential financiers with a classier approach.]
See, together with my dog Watson, I defend the innocent and protect the citizens of my little neck of the woods from injustice. The game makers want to give the player the opportunity to take on the role of me in one of my earliest and toughest cases. Like all point-and-click games, you'll be able to walk around and explore Greenwood County, talk to suspects, and examine clues. But here's the twist: you'll need to switch back and forth from me to Watson to be able to solve the scenes and the larger mystery. I can talk to people and manipulate items...but I can't talk to animals. That's where Watson comes in. Watson also sees in black and white (with red items standing out) and from a lower perspective. I, however, in my superior human capacity, can utilize items from my inventory cooler and create tools that will help us, putting them together in clever and dare I say unthinkable ways.
[Editor's Note: As we like to say around the offices: part British secret agent, part Victorian sleuth, part hard-boiled detective, mostly redneck, all idiot. Let's just say: Holmes ain't the most carbonated can in the 6-pack. But we have to admit: the character and the comedy are really the stars of this game.]
I heard that. Hey, y'all, here are some details:
Platform: PC, mobile devices
Format: 5 downloadable episodes
Target Audience: anyone who likes a good laugh and a good puzzle
Rating: PG/Teen
They say they want this thing to go viral. Whatever that means, it don't sound fun to me. I went viral one night after an intense session at the Area 151 Day-Old Buffet. I did. And I tell you, friends, it wasn't pretty.
[Editor's Note: Good people, please ignore his internet ignorance.]
Anyway, my employers, the good ol' folks at Zygobot, have believed in me for a long time. Heck, I been around for several years but never had the chance to get out into the spotlight. I started my life as a silly sketch comedy notion about a Southern secret agent that would make devices for his adventures out of standard country items. Then I became an idea for an animated short...til one of Zygobot's buddies said, "hey, why don't you make a Moe Bill Holmes point-and-click game instead?" Now, of course, my mama thinks I have the face that should grace every billboard from here to Oxnard, but the boys at Zygobot are big fans of those types of old-school games and thought that the point-and-click idea had legs, so here we are.
[Editor's Note: Keep in mind that his "mama" donated NO money for this endeavor.]
What we are tryin' to do here is widen our ring of buddies and good ol' boys network to include you and anybody else that wants to jump in. Get in on the ground floor of the Moe Bill brand, as it were. We like you, you got an honest face, so we want to make a deal with you. I'm not much in the way of "tech-nology", but the Zygobot boys (who are mostly artists) tell me that we could use a little scratch to acquire the services of a like-minded software engineer for a few months. Any contributions you see fit to sending our way would also do a variety of other things as well, like pay for development tools, audio/music by our buddy Rockin' Rob Warren, ambitious marketing materials, and perhaps some creative support. And would just plain help to get the thing done. In return? You’ll get both the satisfaction of helpin' some true hard-workin' Americans (though one of us is Canadian) and some pretty rockin' swag.
[Editor's Note: Holmes actually got that last part right.]
It's alright, y'all -- one of the guys who started Zygobot is Southern, so all comedy is handled with affection and deference. There ain't a lick of ill will or negativity in this game. 'Cept for the poor sap who gets killed that kicks off the whole adventure. He probably didn't like it all too much. It's just that your grandma ain't gonna blush if you get her to play it, is what I'm sayin'.
[Editor's Note: On the contrary, we really hope that your "grandma" laughs a few times and enjoys herself thoroughly. Oh, and clamors for a sequel!]
By the way, y'all, I am certifiable. Meaning as a property, I have been officially copyrighted, registration number PAu 3-811-005. So there's that!
But I reckon that's it. For now. Don't you worry, there will be add-ons a'plenty and stretch goals down the line. Til then, let's get this thing kicked off and blowin' up! Yeeee-haaa!
[Editor's Note: Yeeee-haaa!]
We founded our company Zygobot in 2013 with equal parts Canadian and Southern ingenuity. Having spent over 40 combined years in the game industry at such companies like Electronic Arts, Zynga, FanDuel, and Full Sail University as artists, managers, and instructors on everything from triple-A titles to serious sims to casino games, we believe that our varied experience has given us a unique perspective on development that we decided to put to good use by creating our own games and multimedia projects.
“Divey Jones: Ocean Odyssey” was our first foray into the iOS and Android markets, and we are very proud of this initial effort. We think that what took two (non-technically-minded) developers 10 months to achieve (while maintaining full-time jobs and families) says a lot about our drive, enthusiasm, tenacity, and stick-to-itiveness. We plan to continue the tradition of hard work and stop at nothing to bring you the crazy adventures of Moe Bill Holmes as well as several other new games that are currently in our development pipeline.
Risks and challenges
Game development is always a tricky venture as iterative design is required to "find the fun" along the way. This fluid process can sometimes cause unforeseen delays and occasional revisions.
Thankfully, "Moe Bill Holmes: Redneck Detective" is not a game filled with unproven mechanics. Most of the gameplay is familiar to both fans and the game's creators. So the tech should not be terrifically challenging to any engineer worth his/her salt. Implementing the design requires at least one solid engineer. Money raised during this campaign will go toward securing a programmer who can semi-dedicate his/her time to the effort.
From a design perspective, the story is written and the majority of the episodes are ready to go. However, games like this require an abundance of art. We at Zygobot (designers/artists) will be working tirelessly to realize the visual objectives of this game.
And indie game development is, as its name implies, and independent pursuit. The stakeholders involved all have day-jobs and families, so their actual dev time can be unpredictable. But we eat, sleep, and breathe games, comedy, and fun, so we won't give up until "Moe Bill Holmes: Redneck Detective" is in the can!
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Funding period
- (30 days)