About this project
The creatives at Rockkiss DME have gathered together their long and illustrious experience in games design, story development and film & TV VFX creation for the development of a new vision in gaming. Inspired by the ground breaking games of the past like the wonderful Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee and the imagination and infectious fun of the multi-million selling Donkey Kong Country, we want to create a game that is both skill based and a feast for the eyes. Grump's Quest is that game, and we want to make it!
The concept for the game is the brain child of company creative Simon Hodgkiss, credited on Gerry Anderson's 'Captain Scarlet' and BBC TV's 'Jack Frost'. He is now working at Rockkiss alongside Will Rockall, who has enjoyed over 25 years of animation and VFX experience.
The aim of the London based company is to now create a multiplatform game with the best visual, and most entertaining experience possible. We have ideas for a host of great characters and some of the best game designers, digital artists, animators and matte painters in the business. Throughout this project you will get the opportunity to follow and comment on progress, taking a completely behind the scenes view of the production process and even having the chance to participate. Though for all that to happen, we need your help!
Grump's Quest is being developed using Unity3D's engine and tools. This will allow for a highly efficient multiplatform publishing workflow and give us the ability to deploy the game for a wide range of screens. Primary development will be for Windows PC and Macintosh OS X with lite versions for the iOS and Android mobile devices.
The two warring clans of the evil Elgar and the Demon King Drac are now out of control. Grump, a simple blacksmith, witnessing his village torn apart in battle must once again take up arms to defend his own.
Aided by two elves, Horif and Finny, and the ancient magic of Corath the Dragon, he sets off to seek revenge and reunite the broken shards of the Corath Crystal. Forced to create bigger and more powerful weapons against the two dominating empires he must crush the dark shadow that now engulfs him.
In 'Grump's Quest' you play our main protagonist Grump, our hero from a bygone era immersed in the fantasy of dragons, trolls and witchcraft. As Grump ventures out into the unknown world in search of revenge he must face numerous life threatening challenges whilst vanquishing a host of deadly beasts and demons.
Accompanied by several helpful companions, and some not so helpful, the games skill will be in your ability at harnessing their unique powers in combat to aid Grump in his quest.
The game will utilize detailed cinematic sequences animated throughout the levels to enhance the gameplay and to give clues as to what to expect and what is possible. At the moment all the designs are at concept stage and we will offer you the opportunity to give your input on the 'Grump's Quest' pledgers forum for ideas on design, names, creature traits and desired gameplay through the levels. Our aim is to keep the whole process as open as possible, so we will listen to your ideas and your creative participation in supporting the project will help make it the greatest game it can be.
We have BIG ambitions for this game and are in conversation with the agents of several famous names to provide character voices and narration, but more on that to follow..!
We aim to keep the background artwork and characters at the highest image quality possible. We will use multiple planes of artwork layered to create space and depth to give the greatest sense of immersive gameplay. Each character will have a vast selection of pre-rendered actions covering a complexity of combo moves to master.
The game levels will use a host of system driven animation techniques to explore including motion dynamics on swinging rope bridges and falling rocks for the player to negotiate and overcome. Skill and timing will be critical to ensure success.
This is a new game where we will create an awe inspiring but foreboding world filled with ominous and exciting new characters coupled with great action sequences. A landscape immersed in a wealth of lore, adventure and strategic gameplay.
Rockkiss Digital Media Entertainment are a computer animation creator, working in the cross platform development of digital content for TV, films, games, apps and ebooks. Founded in 2011 by William Rockall and Simon Hodgkiss we are a relatively new company, but with a wealth of past industry experience to call upon. Our animation has been on channels from the BBC and Discovery to Disney, with our games team lead by Simon Credland being credited on numerous titles published by Sony, EA and SEGA.
We have a busy year lined up developing our own projects. Not just in games, we are working on our own animated TV series, Raz & Benny and have just completed the VFX and co-production on a film based on Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis. Grump's Quest will provide a great opportunity for the creativity of the whole team and we aim to make it a lot of fun for ALL our backers.
We are participants of Brian Fargo's kicking it Forward initiative where 5% of future profits from Grump's Quest will go back into other projects on the Kickstarter community. http://kickingitforward.org/
There's been much written about crowd funding lately, and to a company such as ours the benefits really do make a difference. Having sufficient budget in advance means we can realise our vision by making the game we want and not be held back in taking any creative decisions we feel we need. We will also be able to retain the intellectual property rights. That means we can take the whole story in any direction we want in future, without compromising and with only ourselves, and you the players, to please.
As a backer you'll be able to get more out of the whole process. Not only being able to play the finished game, you will be able to watch and participate in its growth. Follow the whole production process along with the artists and programmers, even having the opportunity to help chose the final design.
We aim to make this game a REAL event for everyone involved. ALL backers will be able to view and discuss the development of the project and we will be making the beta version available to those that select it.
We have looked at ways we can offer as much insight and participation as possible for backers into the creation of the game, via the discussion forum, posting videos, updates on our website and of course on our Twitter and Facebook pages. There will be the opportunity to cast your opinion on a number of decisions and certain tiers can even collaborate on parts of the design process.
We also have a great selection of premium rewards in the form of collectable miniature models, personalised messages recorded by the voice artists, books and a large selection of art in the digital tiers. You could even find yourself immortalized in the game itself!
If you are interested in anything specifically keep an eye on our website where more reward options will become available. www.rockkiss.co.uk/Projects_Grumps_Quest.html. If you can't find what you're looking for let us know and I'm sure we can help you.
Risks and challenges
We have great ambitions for 'Grumps' Quest', with even talk of making it into a feature film. For the game though, we know how we want it to look and play and it's no small order.
We're creating a new world with new characters and opening up the process to all the players at this early stage is very unusual, but a great experience and will be a whole load of fun.
We're also really keen to get this game running on iOS and Android. Which alone will be a great challenge given the amount of artwork and coding and the now huge array of different spec device formats. We have a strong team of industry veterans though and feel we are uniquely placed to deliver a landmark game.
So if you love games and have an interest in how they are made, this ones for you!
Questions about this project? Check out the FAQ
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Funding period
- (30 days)