Jump, dash and twirl through a dual dreamscape and warp it at will. For PC. Read more
Jump, dash and twirl through a dual dreamscape and warp it at will. For PC.
About this project
PLAY OUR DEMO!
Project Giana now is on Steam Greenlight! Vote for us if you want to see the game on Steam!
WE MADE IT! But it's not over yet! Among other things, you can now pledge via PayPal! Go here for details!
A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL OUR BACKERS: If you pledged $25 or more, we'll provide you with all future aditional Project Giana content for free!
Subtitled version of the Kickstarter video on YouTube (EN/DE/FR)
Gameplay video on YouTube
Visit us on Facebook!
Project Giana is the grandchild of The Great Giana Sisters, a Super Mario Bros clone made by the now-deceased founder of our company in the eighties. Of course, Nintendo didn’t like that, and the sisters got pulled off the shelves. That’s ancient history now, and, in an ironic twist, a legit Giana game was released for the DS in 2009. That was a pretty awesome move from Nintendo, and we’re grateful!
Project Giana derives its name from our protagonist, a little girl stuck in a dream world. The “Project” part is a placeholder – the final title will be determined during the final stage of our kickstarter, and will take your feedback into account. Our game will initially be released on PC, with later releases on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network.
So… why does this new project exist? For Giana’s twenty-fifth anniversary, we wanted to do something of our own, with full creative control and no “dumbing down”. Publishers tend to avoid titles they can’t groom for risk and profit, which is fair enough for a business, so we had to finance Giana ourselves.
We’ve stuck to the classic core gameplay, but we’ve also expanded it with something new. Don’t worry – it’s not a random idea out of the blue, but builds on the central theme of our heroine transforming from “cutie” to “punky” within a dream world. You can now switch between both forms at will – any time, anywhere, and each form has its own abilities.
But that’s only half of the story… whenever you transform, you’re actually warping the entire dream world! Cute Giana likes it spooky, thank you very much, and can lightly twirl over obstacles and enemies as long as the dream is sufficiently morbid. Flip to her candyland nightmare, and angry Punk Giana takes over, smashing anything fluffy that dares bar her way. The dream and nightmare worlds look, sound and behave differently, and morph between each other in real time, enabling all kinds of tricky maneuvers and bonus puzzly bits for secret areas.
Chris Hülsbeck’s classic soundtrack seamlessly transitions to Machinae Supremacy’s Giana homage and back again as you switch between dream and nightmare. Check them out in the gameplay video!
Project Giana is nearing completion – we’ve got a running engine, smooth controls, twisty objects and monsters galore, and a bunch of finished levels. We’re currently designing, implementing and dressing more levels, tweaking and polishing completed ones, adding new enemies, objects and bosses, fixing bugs and finalizing the interface.
If all goes well, we’ll be releasing the game in October. But if things go really well, the release will take place one month later... with lots of extra content! You won’t have to wait that long to try out the game, though – we’ll also be providing you with a playable level or two in August!
As our pet project, Giana is being developed by a small, dedicated team. Project Giana doesn’t have a publisher, so the rest of the studio is taking on contract work to keep the ball rolling.
So, who are we? What does a company named Black Forest Games have to do with The Great Giana Sisters? Well, not too long ago, we were still called Spellbound. Spellbound was founded by a man named Armin Gessert, and that man made the original Giana game. Unfortunately, Spellbound went belly-up a few months ago, but we’re back on our feet with a new name. We're self-run now, with the most senior members of our studio at the helm (and that’s not just the management – we’ve got our top programmers and artists there too!)
On a brighter note, the composer of the original Giana music, Chris Hülsbeck, has joined us for Project Giana. With the support of the composer of the Giana Sisters DS music, Fabian Del Priore, he has been co-producing a special two-layered mirroring soundtrack together with the chiptune-centric metal band Machinae Supremacy. You can visit them under www.huelsbeck.com, www.delpriore.de and machinaesupremacy.com.
The kick-off concept art for Project Giana was made by Pikomi, who was also part of the Giana DS team. Check out his awesome artwork at www.pikomi.de!
Back in the day, we set aside a large chunk of our savings for Project Giana, but that took a hit from the insolvency. We had to re-buy most of our old assets, and we haven’t released a game as Black Forest Games yet that could cover the running costs.
The first thing we did was to head over to Kickst– wait. Actually, the first thing we did was to square our chins and approach a publisher, but the conditions weren’t... favorable. We could cut content, but to be honest, the game would be too short. We were about to shelve the game, hoping to complete it after releasing a paid project or two, but then the thought struck us – maybe people would already be interested in playing the game, and willing to pitch in? Project Giana’s budget would normally be too high for crowdfunding (barring the Kickstarter superstars), but we’re nearly done and would only need a fraction of the total to complete the game.
Worst case, if our project doesn’t reach the funding goal, you won’t have to pay your pledge and we’ll release Giana some other day, if we find a publisher with good conditions or save up enough money. But… should we hit our goal, we can afford another month of development right now, and complete the basic version of the game.
The basic version would give you:
Plus time attack mode and a total of sixteen levels.
We’ll be upfront: $150,000 is the minimum amount we’d require to complete a basic version of the game. The full version that we want to make would require a total of $250,000 to complete. That’s a sizable sum, but we think the game has what it takes for a chance of reaching this stretch goal.
Here’s what you’d get in the full version:
Two of the four new twisty creature pairs below (bringing the count up to eleven):
Plus a geyser for explosive acrobatics, a hardcore game mode and a total of twenty levels.
We are very keen on getting the full version of the game done, so if we only reach the basic goal, we’ll poke publishers again to see whether they’re interested in investing after all. Chances are that thanks to the publicity you gave us, we’ll get better conditions this time around (like being able to keep our IP).
If we don’t find a publisher to close the gap, you’ll get the basic version as normal. But if we do, we’ll keep working on the game longer, and the full $250,000 version will be yours after all!
NEW - OUYA Version!
We've received a lot of requests about an OUYA port, and we can deliver! If we hit the stretch goal of $300,000, we will provide an OUYA version of Project Giana, to be released in the first half of 2013. More details as soon as we hear back from the OUYA team!
FAQ
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We are currently planning to release Project Giana on PC (for Windows), with subsequent releases on XBLA and PSN, and we are open to additional platforms in the future.
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Yes! That's how we play it right now most of the time.
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OLD ANSWER: We plan to release on Steam. And we'd love to reward our backers with free Steam keys though we still need to negotiate the terms with Valve.
UPDATE: Giana is currently going through the Steam Greenlight process. If we pass (and we think we will), we WILL have free Steam keys for our backers! Those keys are a bonus, and will be given in addition to the DRM-free download.
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Of course you can! And as stated in the reward tiers we'll ship the physical rewards free of cost no matter where you live.
For our European friends without a credit card there are other options:
UPDATE: Now that we have reached our goal, you can also back us via PayPal! More details here:
http://www.project-giana.com/pledge-via-paypal
NON-PAYPAL OPTIONS:
One possible solution is to buy a Ukash voucher, then convert it into a Ukash NEO pre-paid Mastercard. From there, you can use it with Amazon's payment system.
Another option is to get a "Virtual Visa Card". This is a pre-paid virtual card designed for Europeans. You can find more information about it here: http://www.visaeurope.com/en/cardholders/virtual_cards.aspx
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The soundtrack will have over a dozen titles, with roughly a 50/50 distribution between Chris Hülsbeck and Machinae Supremacy.
FLAC format will be provided in addition to MP3 for the digital version.
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Yes, you'll be able to set in the options menu whether you prefer to hear Chris Hülsbeck's tracks, Machinae Supremacy's, or both.
Please note that the music and transitions are still a work in progress. The transitions are currently at an early stage and will be significantly smoother in the final game.
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Certainly! We can't change the reward text for obvious reasons, but the alternate costumes and the background customizer are yours!
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Due to popular demand, we've introduced upgrades - you can add $10 to any tier to get an extra gift version of the digital download in addition to your tier rewards and $20 to any non-digital tier (i.e. one that requires shipping) to get an additional DVD in an illustrated case.
You can also add $30 for both the digital gift version and the DVD. Like the $20 upgrade, this requires your tier to already involve shipping.
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We will support all common controllers in the final game. Giana is still a work in progress; we haven't implemented all the features yet.
Rewards
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Pledge $10 or more
2558 backers
A DRM-free digital copy of the finished game for PC.
A DRM-free digital copy of the finished game for PC.
Estimated delivery: -
Pledge $15 or more
502 backers
The previous reward tier plus three backer-exclusive alternate costumes for Giana: A Backer Giana in Kickstarter and Black Forest Games colors, an Angel/Devil Giana, and a Retro/Metal Giana to mirror the Soundtrack!
The previous reward tier plus three backer-exclusive alternate costumes for Giana: A Backer Giana in Kickstarter and Black Forest Games colors, an Angel/Devil Giana, and a Retro/Metal Giana to mirror the Soundtrack!
Estimated delivery: -
Pledge $25 or more
1824 backers
The previous reward tier plus a digital download version of the original soundtrack and access to an early sneak peek version of the game’s first six levels.
The previous reward tier plus a digital download version of the original soundtrack and access to an early sneak peek version of the game’s first six levels.
Estimated delivery: -
Pledge $35 or more
56 backers
NEW: CUSTOM BACKGROUND EDITOR - the previous reward tier plus a program that allows you to import any picture from your PC into your copy of the game, replacing the paintings in all indoor castle levels with the images of your choice.
NEW: CUSTOM BACKGROUND EDITOR - the previous reward tier plus a program that allows you to import any picture from your PC into your copy of the game, replacing the paintings in all indoor castle levels with the images of your choice.
Estimated delivery: -
Pledge $40 or more
256 backers
NEW: DIGITAL PACK - A DRM-free copy of the game, a digital version of the soundtrack, a digital version of the artbook and the early level sneak peek. This new reward tier is exclusive: it isn’t automatically included in later tiers and doesn’t contain previous tiers as normal. If the next tier refers to a previous tier, it will skip this tier.
NEW: DIGITAL PACK - A DRM-free copy of the game, a digital version of the soundtrack, a digital version of the artbook and the early level sneak peek. This new reward tier is exclusive: it isn’t automatically included in later tiers and doesn’t contain previous tiers as normal. If the next tier refers to a previous tier, it will skip this tier.
Estimated delivery: -
Pledge $50 or more
170 backers
The previous reward tier plus a digital download version of the art book, a physical copy of the original soundtrack and a Giana Backer pin, with free shipping world-wide!
The previous reward tier plus a digital download version of the art book, a physical copy of the original soundtrack and a Giana Backer pin, with free shipping world-wide!
Estimated delivery: -
Pledge $60 or more
256 backers
NEW: JEWEL EDITION - A jewel case containing the game, the soundtrack and the art book on DVD, plus a backer pin in addition to the contents of the DIGITAL PACK. (Free shipping worldwide.) This new reward tier is exclusive: it isn’t automatically included in later tiers and doesn’t contain previous tiers as normal. If the next tier refers to a previous tier, it will skip this tier.
NEW: JEWEL EDITION - A jewel case containing the game, the soundtrack and the art book on DVD, plus a backer pin in addition to the contents of the DIGITAL PACK. (Free shipping worldwide.) This new reward tier is exclusive: it isn’t automatically included in later tiers and doesn’t contain previous tiers as normal. If the next tier refers to a previous tier, it will skip this tier.
Estimated delivery: -
Pledge $60 or more
62 backers
The previous reward tier plus a mousepad featuring the cheeky Pikomi artwork visible in the preview on the main page. Free shipping worldwide.
The previous reward tier plus a mousepad featuring the cheeky Pikomi artwork visible in the preview on the main page. Free shipping worldwide.
Estimated delivery: -
Pledge $80 or more
28 backers
The previous (non-exclusive) reward tier plus a basic Giana backer T-shirt in one of the gem colors: blue, yellow or red – your choice! Free shipping worldwide as usual.
The previous (non-exclusive) reward tier plus a basic Giana backer T-shirt in one of the gem colors: blue, yellow or red – your choice! Free shipping worldwide as usual.
Estimated delivery: -
Pledge $90 or more
20 backers All gone!
NEW: GAMER PACK - A special, limited reward: a wireless F710 Logitech gamepad plus all the rewards listed in the JEWEL EDITION tier! This new reward tier is exclusive: it isn’t automatically included in later tiers and doesn’t contain previous tiers as normal. If the next tier refers to a previous tier, it will skip this tier.
NEW: GAMER PACK - A special, limited reward: a wireless F710 Logitech gamepad plus all the rewards listed in the JEWEL EDITION tier! This new reward tier is exclusive: it isn’t automatically included in later tiers and doesn’t contain previous tiers as normal. If the next tier refers to a previous tier, it will skip this tier.
Estimated delivery: -
Pledge $99 or more
3 backers
The previous (non-exclusive) reward tier plus a DVD of the game in a jewel case (free shipping worldwide). This new tier is included in higher tiers as normal and has been established to automatically provide the $100 tier with a physical copy of the game.
The previous (non-exclusive) reward tier plus a DVD of the game in a jewel case (free shipping worldwide). This new tier is included in higher tiers as normal and has been established to automatically provide the $100 tier with a physical copy of the game.
Estimated delivery: -
Pledge $100 or more
114 backers
The previous reward tier plus a printed version of the art book and a signed Project Giana poster with free shipping.
The previous reward tier plus a printed version of the art book and a signed Project Giana poster with free shipping.
Estimated delivery: -
Pledge $150 or more
135 backers
NEW: COLLECTOR’S EDITION - A backer-exclusive physical edition consisting of a DVD Digipack for Project Giana with all physical rewards from previous tiers PLUS two new physical rewards: a custom Giana USB drive containing all the digital rewards from previous tiers plus bonus goodies, and a Making of Project Giana DVD. (Free shipping worldwide.) This new reward tier is automatically included in all higher tiers as normal.
NEW: COLLECTOR’S EDITION - A backer-exclusive physical edition consisting of a DVD Digipack for Project Giana with all physical rewards from previous tiers PLUS two new physical rewards: a custom Giana USB drive containing all the digital rewards from previous tiers plus bonus goodies, and a Making of Project Giana DVD. (Free shipping worldwide.) This new reward tier is automatically included in all higher tiers as normal.
Estimated delivery: -
Pledge $250 or more
35 backers
The previous reward tier plus a Giana backer T-shirt (final design will be shown in a future update) with free shipping and your name in the credits. Send us a digital picture of yourself, and you’ll get it back with Giana herself kissing you on the cheek. Cute or punk – your choice. (Inappropriate pictures will need to be resubmitted.)
The previous reward tier plus a Giana backer T-shirt (final design will be shown in a future update) with free shipping and your name in the credits. Send us a digital picture of yourself, and you’ll get it back with Giana herself kissing you on the cheek. Cute or punk – your choice. (Inappropriate pictures will need to be resubmitted.)
Estimated delivery: -
Pledge $300 or more
23 backers
The previous reward tier plus a four-inch tall resin figurine consisting of Cute Giana, Punk Giana and a defeated owl. The figurine may take three to six months longer to ship. In such a case, it will be shipped separately, free of charge.
The previous reward tier plus a four-inch tall resin figurine consisting of Cute Giana, Punk Giana and a defeated owl. The figurine may take three to six months longer to ship. In such a case, it will be shipped separately, free of charge.
Estimated delivery: -
Pledge $500 or more
12 backers Limited (48 left of 60)
The previous reward tier plus original Project Giana concept art as a canvas print (signed or unsigned – your choice!) with free shipping.
The previous reward tier plus original Project Giana concept art as a canvas print (signed or unsigned – your choice!) with free shipping.
Estimated delivery: -
Pledge $1,000 or more
4 backers Limited (26 left of 30)
The previous reward tier plus a large hand-crafted Pillowl plushie, monogrammed with your name, a "thank you" message and/or the text of your choice. Please specify whether you want a red, green or blue owl. (Free shipping.)
The previous reward tier plus a large hand-crafted Pillowl plushie, monogrammed with your name, a "thank you" message and/or the text of your choice. Please specify whether you want a red, green or blue owl. (Free shipping.)
Estimated delivery: -
Pledge $5,000 or more
0 backers Limited (5 left of 5)
The previous reward tier plus a VIP invitation to our launch party, including behind the scenes insight into our game development and a signed Giana canvas made by our key Giana concept artist Pikomi himself, to be presented to you at the party. Includes a VIP airport shuttle from Frankfurt, Karlsruhe or Strasbourg and hotel cost for one night (travel costs not included).
The previous reward tier plus a VIP invitation to our launch party, including behind the scenes insight into our game development and a signed Giana canvas made by our key Giana concept artist Pikomi himself, to be presented to you at the party. Includes a VIP airport shuttle from Frankfurt, Karlsruhe or Strasbourg and hotel cost for one night (travel costs not included).
Estimated delivery: -
Pledge $10,000
0 backers Limited (1 left of 1)
The previous VIP reward tier plus… our only remaining copy of The Great Giana Sisters on Atari ST, to be presented to you in hushed tones at the launch party.
The previous VIP reward tier plus… our only remaining copy of The Great Giana Sisters on Atari ST, to be presented to you in hushed tones at the launch party.
Estimated delivery:
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Funding period
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