Games Freezer - KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK #1 - @dropsytheclown #gamedev

Dropsy The Clown - KickStarter Campaign

Don't Make Dropsy Cry!

 
A new GAMESFREEZER feature sees us take a look at a Kickstarter Campaign that really excites us here at The Freezer...

Dropsy The Clown is billed as a Surreal Exploration Based Adventure Game.

Dropsy Requires $25k to reach it's goal (as of 10th July 2013 it had achieved $6825 with 13 days remaining)

It caught our eye as we just LOVE point and click adventures such as Broken Sword

There's something quite different about this game though that seems to set it apart from others.

We set about discovering all there is to know about Dropsy by taking a peek at Dropsy The Clown Website & www.kickstarter.com

Here's what we discovered........

Dropsy's Unique Dialogue System

 

So What's It All About?

The game asks you to Guide a sweet but accident-prone clown through strange worlds in a fresh take on the classic point and click adventure.

Dropsy is an open world adventure game with an emphasis on surreal atmospheric elements and environmental storytelling. 

Dropsy takes major influences from  Monkey Island, Full Throttle and Grim Fandango and creates its own unique twist by placing Dropsy into a unique open ended exploration based framework.

The aim of Jay Tholen is to create an almost entirely text-free experience with colorful characters to communicate with, but the dialogue will be handled through the use of visuals. 

This is supplemented by expressive animation and some lovely looking detailed surroundings. 

 Rather than spoon feeding the player the narrative, the goal is to allow the player to discover the narrative at their own pace. 

Solutions to puzzles will emerge organically as more is learned about Dropsy's world. 

So this will hopefully eradicate those moments where you try to "USE" "SPANNER" with "HONEY" in an effort to solve a puzzle that just doesn't make sense.

As Jay Tholen puts it in one of the promo videos, "The Puzzles will be solved by having one of those EUREKA moments...."

The Story

The Story tells us of a deadly fire at Dropsy's family's circus, resulting in the tarnishing of Dropsy's image as a local hero. 

The BIG TOP tent now serves as a home for Dropsy and his family, Dropsy and his father get by through collecting scrap metal and the completion of odd jobs.

The player guides Dropsy and his dog "Eughh" on an adventure through humor, wondrous sights, and buried secrets. 

Some Bizarre & otherworldly events occur as the player discovers more about the BIG fire and Dropsy's mysterious past.

Wiithin the game there will also be the opportunity to explore Dropsy's Dream World for 10 minutes at a time when Dropsy goes to sleep, although this is entirely optional. This will enable players to discover even more about Dropsy's story if they wish to.

This sounds like a great twist on the usual adventure gameplay that we cant wait to see how it will pan out.

Overall this seems like a very different plot and gameplay than your usual adventure game fayre and we love the sound of it.

Music

Add to this the the soundtrack that will borrow from almost every relevant genre of the past 70 years!

Think Earthbound + Spaghetti Western + Anatolian rock.

We've had a listen to a sample track and it is sounding very cool and unique.

Take a listen here:  On Stolen Time

Who's Making This Game?

Jay Tholen is the guy from the USA, Florida driving this KickStarter campaign and here's his bio straight from the KickStarter Page....

"After years of relentless begging, our first computer was purchased in early 1997. My parents' tight financial situation meant that new games were a Christmas-only affair, so most of my early PC gaming experiences came out of the bargain bin. While I didn't like it then, I now appreciate that I was 'forced' to play older games. Had it not been for this I probably would've missed the entire Adventure genre.

Everything changed upon receiving a copy of Sim Tower for my Eleventh birthday. A demo of Klik & Play contained on the disc sparked a passion for game design in me that has never waned. I joined the 'klik' community shortly after and began pumping out retrospectively awful, but ultimately necessary, amateur games.

It was in these days that I met Justin, the programmer for Dropsy.

My creative gaze shifted toward music after discovering Prog Rock in my junior year of high school. This led to an intense period of consuming as many challenging, unfamiliar sounds as my little nerd ears could possibly handle. Discovering artists like Brian Eno, Albert Ayler, and Magma were important milestones for me. After graduating, I purchased my first mixer and MIDI controller and began concocting my own.

Inevitably, the two passions began to converge. In 2007 I became active in the Chiptune and VGM communities and have released Twenty-Five albums and EPs since."

What To Do Next

We urge you to do these 4 things:

1. Visit The KickStarter Page and pledge some $$$$ / ££££
2. Spread the word about Dropsy on Twitter
3. Watch the COOL Dropsy videos here Vimeo
4. DON'T MAKE DROPSY CRY!

 

Some Cool Dropsy Stretch Goals

The GamesFreezer Team Love The Look Of Dropsy, What Do You Think Of Dropsy?

What Point & Click Adventures Do You Really Love?

Will you be pledging any funding to Dropsy ?