Scotland boasts a large number of developers and development studios, 94 at our last count. Yet few of the games emerging from the development community are actually based in Scotland itself. So it was a delight to find Beeswing a new Zelda-like 2D RPG game currently seeking crowd funding for development.
Set in and around the small borders village of Beeswing, the project is the work of local developer Jack King-Spooner. While the genre and the user interface may seem familiar, the game promises far more in terms of ambition, content and scope. As the Kickstarter page promises:
It is a story about the past, about community and childhood, attachment and growing up. Scottish folk tales, morally dubious parables, cloudy anecdotes and more contemporary stories of homelessness and immigration all combine to create a truly dynamic narrative.
- Rich, hand-made graphics, crafted or painted.
- Hundreds of people to meet and stories to uncover.
- Good endings and better endings.
- Extended metaphors.
- Stories that may well challenge your preconceptions.
- Tree-houses, mums, baby animals, old people, love and more love, truth, lies and questions that are allowed to remain unanswered.
Jack’s also promising a great deal in terms of the artwork and style of the game, as well as the music and soundtrack. Moving away from the pixel art and retro 8-bit style of many indie titles, Jack’s focusing instead on water colours and a hand-painted/drawn approach which is found rarely in the games world.
The campaign has already exceeded its target of £2,250, which is a ludicrously low amount of money for such an ambitious game. However, there are six days to go and Jack’s already exploring the options of using additional money to bring Beeswing to Mac, Linux and perhaps other platforms including iOS and Android.
Just a wee note to the writer of the post to let you know that the village of Beeswing is in Dumfries and Galloway, not the Borders. 🙂