[Kickstarter] Project Giana

[TiLT]

Do you remember a game from the 80s called Great Giana Sisters, made for the Commodore 64? It was a blatant ripoff of Super Mario Bros, and the creators were quickly sued by Nintendo and the game pulled from the market. This supposedly made it legendary in the eyes of gamers, despite being a rather shitty game in my opinion. I tried to play it multiple times but never found it fun. It was like playing Mario without the polish and entertaining parts.

Cue 2012 and Kickstarter, and we're seeing a new Giana game about to be finished. I initially dismissed it without even giving it a look, but when I finally did read up on it I was glad I did. It's entirely different from the original, moving away from Mario and taking things in a unique direction. It's still a platformer, but the challenges aren't the ones you're used to. You play Giana who's gathering gems in a dream world. She can change between two personalities: One is the happy, cute Giana who feels most comfortable in a dark, twisted world filled with demons and death. The other is the punky, goth Giana who finds herself in a cute dream world with fluffy bunnies and bright colors, making her angry and aggressive. You can swap between these two worlds at will, and are often required to do so, even mid-jump. Much of the challenge comes from swapping between these two worlds at the right time. When you do, the extremely catchy music changes accordingly. In the happy dream world the soundtrack is metal, while it's more mellow electronica in the demon world (yeah, Giana is a bit messed up in her head).

I recommend giving the game a look. They've published a video walkthrough of one of the levels, and you'd be hard pressed to tell that this is a work in progress as it both looks and feels like a finished, polished product. If that's not enough for you, they've even released a 2-level demo version that you can play around with at will. The first level is easy enough, but the second one will truly challenge your reflexes.

The Kickstarter has reached its goal of $150,000, but it really needs $250,000 to get to the level of quality that the developers want. Most of the game is already finished, so the release date is very, very close (October this year). With only 38 hours to go at the time of writing, it needs all the help it can get.

So go take a look at their Kickstarter page right now!

[Laner]

I've got a floppy somewhere with Great Giana Sisters that has been modded to look like Super Mario Bros.  It was a decent enough clone for those who didn't have or want an NES.  Not sure if it's worth reviving at this point, but it does look nice.

[EngineNo9]

I noticed that it is also on the Steam Greenlight list, so if you're really into it go give it a thumbs up to see it on Steam someday.  

[TiLT]

Less than 10 hours remaining in the campaign now. Since my last post the developers have pledged to keep working on the game even if they don't reach the full amount of $250,000 (the Kickstarter succeeded at $150,000), and then release new content after the game itself has been released. This is actually DLC, but as the discussion boards have revealed, that word is so loaded that some people go into a fit of rage without actually reading what the developers are talking about.

Regardless, the first such "DLC" will be free for everyone (I assume it will bring the experience up to the level they had envisioned for $250,000 in funding), and then any further expansions after that will cost money. However, for anyone who pledges $25 or more on Kickstarter, all such DLC will be free forever.

Also, if the Steam Greenlight campaign succeeds (which it looks like it will do), everyone who gets the game through the Kickstarter will also get a Steam key for the game.