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LAST FEW HOURS: We're so close! Please help us make Fargoal 2 a reality! Also watch Jeff live right now at kickathon.net (click the WATCH button in the upper right)
Update #19: Announcing our first-ever, 24-hour “Kick-a-thon” which will kick off Friday, October 12, 2012 at 3:00 pm PST. Because you — our fans & supporters — have given us so much, we decided to give back in a big way with a live, 24-hour celebration of Kickstarter and its projects, games, creativity, and other geeky goodness!
[FRI 3:00 PM PST TO SAT 3:00 PM PST — *LIVE* — FIND "WATCH NOW"]
UPDATE #16: We are swimming in T-shirt designs! Check out this update to see these preliminary designs and comment on your favorites…
>> Plus, consider upgrading to the “ROGUE” LEVEL, or “ADVENTURER” LEVEL and higher if you want one! >>
UPDATE #15: WooHoo! We just broke $33,000 — leaving $17,000 to go with T-30 hours for our final goal, thanks to you. Let’s try and reach our goal on Friday and go for stretch-goals on Saturday!! Also listen to over 20 guests on our Kick-a-thon for the last 24 hours!
UPDATE #14: Here’s a Sneak Peek at “Sword of Fargoal: The Board Game” — with box mock-up AND miniatures sketches by Charlie Canfield!
UPDATE #13: We’ve just added a new $1,000 “RETRO” LEVEL in which you will get all sorts of goodies, including one of only ten (10) original C64 systems & a copy of the original “Sword of Fargoal” on a new floppy disk!
UPDATE #12: Check out Installment #1 from our “the making of: Sword of Fargoal” hardbound book to learn more about the Fargoal 2 main interface.
Press Coverage:
Second only to our fans and supporters, the Games Press has been, and continues to be a *huge* help to our Sword of Fargoal 2 campaign! In fact, we are surprised and pleased to learn that many of the writers with whom we’ve spoken these past several days are indeed Sword of Fargoal fans!
JOSHUA VILLINES: “As inspired and addictive as [Jeff McCord’s] orginal creation…” (Former Gaming Editor, iPhone Life magazine)
BOINGBOING: “One of my favorite games for iPhone/iPad” (Mark Frauenfelder, founder of BoingBoing)
ROCK, PAPER, SHOTGUN: “I can see Fargoal sitting in a very desirable middle ground between the accessibility of Dungeons of Dredmor and the likes of ADOM and Stone Soup” (Adam Smith)
TUAW: “A really well-polished, well-traveled action RPG game” (Mike Schramm)
TOUCHARCADE: “This is a shining example of exactly how you should do a modern remake of a classic.” (Jared Nelson)
Full press coverage here! (29 to-date): http://far.gl/press-01 (a link great for tweeting — hint, hint)
We want to bring the next evolution of the 80s cult-hit retro dungeon crawler game Sword of Fargoal back — for Mac/PC/Linux/iOS — completely reimagined, reworked, and stuffed with awesome new features (which are detailed towards the end of this page, so keep reading!)
Hi, I’m Jeff McCord. Over 25 years ago I created the original Sword of Fargoal for the Commodore 64 (C64). It was an extremely popular “Roguelike” dungeon crawler game with random dungeon generation and tons of replayabily. Like a true retro game, Fargoal had a reputation of being extremely hard, and very few people were known to find the Sword and make it out of the dungeon alive! Computer Gaming World magazine even listed Sword of Fargoal as one of the “Top 150 Best Video Games of All Time.”
A few years ago I teamed up with ace developer Paul Pridham (a developer with 30 years of experience who created Saucelifter and the upcoming Punch Quest), Emmy award-winning animator Charlie Canfield, and noted British composer Daniel Pemberton (LittleBIGPlanet, BBC) to bring the game back for iOS and Mac OS. The remade Sword of Fargoal has won numerous awards, including “Best Retro Game (iPad division)” for the “2010 Best App Ever Awards” (“Sword of Fargoal Legends,” published by Chillingo/EA). Fargoal has even been recognized by the Guinness World Records 2012, Gamer’s Edition as “Most critically acclaimed ‘Roguelike’ for iOS.”
Now, a vocal contingent of Fargoal fans have demanded MORE. A reimagining of the game — with more spells. More monsters. More traps. Better graphics. More music. Animation. New characters types. New quests. A new dungeon-generation system, and much more. Basically to keep the fun and excitement of the original, but reinvent the game for 2012 & 2013, with more depth and rich gameplay; more adventure, exploration, mystery; plus new character classes.
That’s why we’re embarking on this quest to make Sword of Fargoal 2 — all new from the ground up.
While we have great relationships with major publishers, we really wanted to stay true to our indie roots and make the game the way the fans wanted. You guys have been giving us great suggestions over the years, and we want to be able to incorporate your suggestions. So, much like we did with the first version, we decided to keep our small team together and forge ahead. And so far, we’ve made great progress. 80% of the game is complete. We just need your help with the last 20%.
But I won’t sugarcoat it. That last 20% is very ambitious. It involves new animation, music, graphics, a new procedural map and item generation model, and new features like “Action Cards” — which allow you to mark your achievements and to save, export, and re-watch your adventure like a slide show, with an exciting Fargoal music track. Plus, there are hundreds of new weapons and items, with thousands of combinations. Once you’ve found a “bastard sword of troll staying,” we know you’ll be in love!!
Every piece of armor, weapons, amulets, etc. appear on your character in the combinations you choose as you explore the dungeon. Character classes — both male and female ― are customizable. Play as a Fighter, Ranger, Thief, or Magic User, with even more classes to come.
This Kickstarter campaign is only running for 30 days because if you tell us “go,” the team will need every minute to deliver the awesomeness of Fargoal 2 as soon as possible.
We plan to release the game in May 2013, as well as delivering all but one of the rewards by that date. (Super secret Fargoal "Project X" will follow closely behind in July 2013).
We’ve got some fantastic rewards (see right), including some amazing artwork by Charlie Canfield, music by Daniel Pemberton, backer-only forums (we want to hear your ideas!), beta access, plus (of course) iOS and Mac/PC/Linux versions of Sword of Fargoal 2 — and more, including a real-life Sword of Fargoal.*
*Evil wizard foe not included.
With your help, here’s what Sword of Fargoal 2 will be:
- Mac/PC/Linux plus iOS versions: Sword of Fargoal 2 in all its glory on multiple platforms.
- Everything rebuilt from the ground up!
- Over 100 procedural dungeon levels: Different challenges and rewards every time you play.
- New character types: Fighter, Ranger, Thief, Magic User, plus male and female versions of both.
- New combat and ranged weapons, armor, magic, and effects.
- More goodies: Potions, wands, rods, spells, rings, amulets, traps, treasures, and poisons.
- Everything new about monsters throughout the dungeon: All new intelligent monster behavior, new monster types, and graphics.
- New quests and side-explorations: You can explore in brand new ways throughout all-new dungeon levels and types.
- New interactive dungeon environments: You’ll be able to pick locks, break containers, unlock items, burn items, create chain reaction explosions, ‘tinker’ to make your own traps, and change your environment in other cool ways.
- New unlockable “Ruins of Fargoal” mode: If you manage to free the Sword and win the game, you will be able to return to the dungeon and see how it has changed. Hint: it will be even more dangerous and unstable, with new riches to be found.
- New “Action Cards”: Cut scene cards to show you when you’ve achieved different elements of the game. You will have the ability to save, export, and re-watch you adventure like a slide show with music.
- Plushies (Stretch Goal): What will they be? The Hero? The Sword? Ogre? Werebear? Dire Wolf? Wyvern? It’s up to you.
- Super Secret Fargoal “Project X” (Stretch Goal): We can’t tell you about this — yet, but if we hit this stretch goal, we’re building a [REDACTED]. All we can say is that the “X” stands for extra-awesome.
We’re not asking for hundreds of thousands of dollars for Sword of Fargoal 2. In fact, we’ve put a lot of our own money into the project and it is already 80% done! So if, due to your kind generosity, you propel us beyond our basic funding level of $50K, we’re going to put *all* of the additional money back into the game via several cool stretch goals that you can directly enjoy...
Over $50K Stretch Goals:
At anything over our $50K base goal, additional funding will give us the ability to hire a second pixel artist for more dungeon tile types; to have Charlie create more “Action Cards” to add to the story-capturing (we currently have 40 “Action Cards” and can continue to add more as we get additional Kickstarter support); add additional new music tracks (we already have more than ten, but we want to add more for greater variety on different dungeon level types).
Over $87K Stretch Goals:
If we fund over the $87K level we are going to create plushies. Yes, plushies! You will vote for whether we should make the Hero? The Orgre? The Werebear? Maybe the Sword of Fargoal itself as a plushie? You will decide!
Plus — for the more serious Fargoal gamer — we will be creating primo deluxe “making of” game book, which will also contain a full-color illustrated version of the Sword of Fargoal legend that inspired the game! We will also be able to add at least two additional quests and/or game modes, including a “Retro” mode in which will emulate the original C64 graphics. By helping us meet our Kickstarter Stretch Goals, you will give us the resources to add even more advanced monster intelligence, additional traps, treasures, potions, rings, wands, rods, weapon types, monsters, foe, etc.
Over $110K Stretch Goal:
Over $110K we will finally be able to afford the resources to create the Android version of the game which we’ve wanted to do for a while.
Over $140K Stretch Goal:
For funding over $140K we have an amazing, knock your chainmail off, super secret Fargoal “Project X” that we can’t even talk about. Yet. (But there’s a hint in the video).
And Beyond?
If we *really* overfund, maybe I can convince Paul to add up to five-player, shared-quest multiplayer!*
*Paul will kill me for leaving this comment in...
>>> We have a great selection of rewards detailed at the right >>>
Obviously the best reward is the game itself, but who doesn’t want an actual, jewel-encrusted Sword of Fargoal??
Several projects (including Double Fine, The Banner Saga, and Drifter) have figured out that people in countries where it’s tough or impossible to donate directly to Kickstarter can use a prepaid Amazon cash card to make the pledge. You need to add $1 more than the pledge amount to make sure the donation goes through. More info in the Double Fine thread.
Thank you for having a look and thank you in advance for your support for Sword of Fargoal 2. See you in the dungeon!
PS: Feel free to ask us any questions and we’ll answer in the FAQs section.
Check out our Gallery of in-progress Sword of Fargoal 2 screen shots. Many more dungeon styles and textures to come!
Questions about this project? Check out the FAQ
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Funding period
- (30 days)