Barkwursts and Kickstarter Info!
Hey everyone! Got a bunch of stuff to talk about in this post, so let’s get rolling! If you aren’t already on the discord, I’d recommend joining it by clicking this link. This is by far the best way to get in touch with me and keep track of development.
Around 2-3 years ago, during The Fantabulous Game’s development, I announced the existence of Spheredogs. These dogs would serve a similar purpose to Jinjos, giving Capboy a sausage if he collects them all in a level. Initially made as a reference to the original Le Fantabulous Game, I’ve decided to change that plan. After all, the new Spheredog design wasn’t even a sphere, but rather more of a sausage with legs! So, I present to you: Barkwursts!
(left-to-right: Tico, Cosmo, Jim, Goobert, Eyedog)
Barkwursts are the exact same as Spheredogs were in TFG, just with a new name. Though they aren’t designed as of right now, Spheredogs will be returning as small, kickable, gremlin-esque Spherefriends -- just as they were back in the very first iteration of Le Fantabulous Game. The Sausage rewards will be doled out by a new character, interested in collecting Barkwursts to help his own Quest for Sausage...
The first new Capkin design in Fantaria’s history, I present to you: Ecapresu, the Farmer! Living in Home Sausage, Ecapresu uses Barkwursts to help facilitate his peaceful harvest of Sausages. To thank Capboy for bringing Barkwursts to him, Ecapresu shares a portion of his harvest with Capboy. Additionally, Capboy will be able to learn more about his own species from Ecapresu, as well as get information on the Barkwursts that he has brought.
(kickstarter art by Scandre)
The aspect of Barkwursts that I’m the most excited about, however, is their integration into the Kickstarter. The Barkwursts you see above are actually created by members on the testing team, hence their fantastically varied designs! Also named by these testers, these fellas will serve as the five Barkwursts found in Fantaria’s demo level. On that note, I’d like to move on to talk about the Kickstarter’s stretch goals and reward tiers!
Fantaria: The Quest for Sausage is going to have a variety of reward tiers, focusing on digital rewards. Every tier has its own title in the credits, and your name will be listed alongside all of your creations (if you’re okay with it!) in the credits as well. I won’t be going into incredible depth on all of them here, but here’s a quick lowdown:
$5: Coolfriend. Have your name put in the credits, and receive a wallpaper pack. Every further tier has the wallpaper pack as well!
$15: Digital copy of the game on release.
Backerfriend title in credits.
$25: Deluxe copy of the game on release. In addition to the game, this features the soundtrack and access to (potential, not guaranteed!) DLC released in the future. Every tier beyond this point also has the deluxe edition of the game.
Deluxe Backerfriend title in credits
$60: Design-a-Spherefriend. Similar to the build-a-spherefriend tool I released many years ago, design a Spherefriend NPC by choosing color, size, name, and customized headwear. Also, you can name your spherefriend, pick a combat unit archetype, and write a small dialogue blurb to be translated into Spherespeak!
Designerfriend title in credits.
$120: Design-a-Barkwurst. With much more freedom than Spherefriend designs, you can have your own Barkwurst design put into the game, along with a name and a bio! As seen with the example 5 above, Barkwurst designs have a lot of freedom, so this will be your chance to really get creative.
Dogfriend title in credits.
$150: Designer Dogfriend. Design both a Spherefriend and a Barkwurst! The next two reward tiers give you these privileges as well.
Designer Dogfriend title in credits.
$300: Design-an-NPC! This tier will let you get your own unique NPC design into the game, with at least one encounter in one of the games’ levels. Note that due to the larger universe impact of a proper NPC, some restrictions will apply -- see below.
Deluxe Designerfriend title in credits
$600: Design-a-boss! This tier will let you design your own unique boss encounter for Capboy and Friendwoman to face, featuring its own unique fighting style, difficulty, arena, personality, and rewards upon defeat! Note that due to the larger universe impact of a full bossfight, some restrictions will apply -- see below.
Ultimate Designerfriend title in credits.
Kickstarter Reward Limitations
To help make sure Fantaria: tQfS is a cohesive experience that fits my vision, there are some limitations on “design-an-x” reward tiers. Note that these are guidelines, not hard refusals! If you have a character that you’re concerned will be affected by these limitations, I want you to reach out to me to talk about it! I’m always willing to work to find a compromise if you’re interested in seeing your character or design in Fantaria..
I reserve the right to have final say on small tweaks of all backer designs
You must legally own the rights to the characters and/or designs you request! For example, a direct lift of Mario’s outfit on a Spheredog wouldn’t be okay, but a design which clearly falls under parody would be. This applies more strictly to the higher tiers (see below).
Spherefriends cannot be made super massive, and their headwear shouldn’t be excessively vulgar or otherwise go counter to Fantaria’s aesthetic (i.e. no hyper realistic textures).
Barkwursts must always have the same silhouette, and make the same SFX as each other, to ensure the player can easily identify them despite the varied designs.
NPCs and Bosses have some further restrictions:
No humans. Friendwoman is the only human presently in Fantaria’s universe, and this is a very key component of the universe. If you have a human design that you’d like to see, I’d be thrilled to work with you on creating a variation of it that fits into the universe! (i.e. a capkin or PBot version).
No parodies/memes. Unlike Spherefriends and Barkwursts, which don’t weigh much on the plot or universe, NPCs/bosses should not blatantly be referencing real-life jokes or personalities. This does not mean that they all have to be serious, they can be wacky and silly! Just...no ugandan knuckles parody, or trump parody, or other designs like that.
No characters with explicit and consistent ties to adult material. It’s totally fine if your character is generally slightly lewd or attractive, but if all they’re associated with is porn (either vanilla or fetish), they won’t be a good fit for Fantaria.
I retain final say on the power level of your character in relation to the cast of Fantaria. This is mostly to make sure that no characters become more important to the plot and events than pre-existing characters like Capboy and Friendwoman...unless, of course, I think the design can fit into such a role! Naturally, you still have control over your character’s personality and attitude, and I will run any story events they are involved in by you to make sure you’re satisfied with the way they react.
Kickstarter Stretch Goals
Now that that’s out of the way, the final thing I’d like to talk about here are Kickstarter Stretch Goals! I’ve budgeted these all fairly thoroughly, as I’ll explain in more detail when the KS itself launches. These are as follows:
$25,000 -- Initial Goal. This provides me with the living costs needed for the estimated year and some change of remaining development, as well as to commission Scandre and Viv for art and music, respectively.
$30,000 -- Local Deathmatch. This tier will add a local deathmatch option to the main title, where you can fight with up to three of your friends in brand new arenas inspired by the couch competitions of old!
$35,000 -- More levels. This tier will add four fully-featured secret levels, pushing Capboy to the limit and providing special new rewards. These levels will each come with a unique ability, melee weapon, and bossfight
$40,000 -- The Fantabulous Arena. This tier will add a special arena to the game, allowing Capboy to fight endless enemy waves and challenge bosses that he’s already defeated again! In addition to being able to have fun experiencing these fights, the Arena will have special challenges restricting Capboy to certain weapons, with even more sausages being rewarded for completing them. Finally, post-release, all bosses will receive an additional Fantabulous version of themselves, unlocking potent new weapon upgrades for Capboy!
$50,000 -- Nightmare Mode. This tier will add a second campaign, inspired by the brutal NG+’s found in oldschool games. Play as Capboy’s ally Friendwoman, travelling backwards through a distorted and damaged version of the main game’s story. Face brutal platforming challenges, intense battle arenas, and mindbending puzzles, using with all of the main game’s weapons and unlocks to overcome the odds! Naturally, this mode will also feature every single Fantabulous boss in place of their standard versions. Nightmare Mode, if funded, would release as post-release DLC free to all backers of the $15 tier and above.
$60,000 -- Local Co-op. Friendwoman will be able to join in with Capboy in the main quest, with the game dynamically adjusting challenges and obstacles to adjust for the additional player. When in multiplayer, bosses will gain new co-op exclusive mechanics, and co-op exclusive puzzles and battle rooms will block the pair’s route. This will also allow Friendwoman to be played instead of Capboy in the singleplayer main campaign. If funded, this tier will release alongside the main game, and will likely cause some slight delay to the current predicted release date.
$65,000 -- Nightmare Co-op. Friendwoman will be able to bring Capboy with her on her quest through the nightmare realm, enabling cooperation against the new threats and challenges of this brutal adventure. As with the main campaign, new unique co-op oriented challenges will be present when in multiplayer on this campaign! If funded, Nightmare Mode will have co-op when it is launched post-release.
$80,000 -- Online Multiplayer. If funded, all multiplayer modes will be able to be played with one another online! Releasing with the main game, Online Multiplayer will likely result in some further slight delay to the predicted release date if funded.
Whew, that was a lot! If you bore with me for all of that, you’re a superfan, and it’s great to know that there are people dedicated enough to read through all of that. As for when the KS and demo will actually launch, my current prediction is July 26th -- ironically, the same date (+4 months) as I wanted to release TFG’s kickstarter last year! Now that I’ve recovered from the issues I discussed in the last post, I’ve been diving deep back into development and making great progress. As we approach that date, I will continue to evaluate the amount of work remaining and let you guys know if that seems like it’s going to change.
As I said at the beginning, swing by the Discord if you haven’t already and want to talk about this stuff! I’m very eager to hear feedback on the price points of rewards and stretch goals, and am willing to listen to suggestions on any changes. See you guys soon with another chunk of progress!
