Like retro style games or muds? Check out the Harmonia Kickstarter.

[Ayrahvon]

Shameless post for my friend who is the developer of this game. He originally built it as a mud client, but is now converting it over to a retro game client and is looking for backers.

There is a fully functional online demo of the game that allows you to see the old visual mud along with the current progress on the game itself.

Here's the kickstarter page.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/21693645/harmonia

Simon is a fairly active forum user but isn't on anandtech. If there is enough interest or questions regarding the game I'm sure he'll be up to making an account to answer a few questions!

If not I'll be happy to relay them to him.

 

[Kalmah]

It looks interesting. I just can't imagine donating to a game that may or may not ever get finished and may or may not suck. It's an investment that I could instead throw at something already finished and ready to play, no gambling involved.

I wish him luck. This type of thing is right up my alley. He might be better going Minecraft style and releasing a free limited alpha version of the game, getting everybody hooked on updates... then right when the big one hits, throw a charge on it. He's going to have to earn trust before this point though.

 

[Arkadrel]

That guy looks like a hardcore gamer, designing a game for gamers (which is usually good).
It might not look that impressive but I actually think this could be a decent game when its done.

Like Kalmah, I dont plan on donating to it though.

 

[Synival]

Hey, I'm Simon mentioned in the OP. Ayrahvon told me he started a thread here, so I figured I might as well toss my two cents in. Although I'm disappointed you won't be donating, I can see why, so no worries.

First of all, here's the download link for the demo on the website:
Harmonia v0.0.1a (Windows / Linux)

I wish him luck. This type of thing is right up my alley. He might be better going Minecraft style and releasing a free limited alpha version of the game, getting everybody hooked on updates... then right when the big one hits, throw a charge on it. He's going to have to earn trust before this point though.

That guy looks like a hardcore gamer, designing a game for gamers (which is usually good).

In all honestly, I wish I was developing a much simpler game right now. It would be a lot more practical to make something quick and fun, like a platformer, then build up a good reputation so I can tackle ambitious stuff.

So why am I making this project instead? Basically, I'd already been working on it for five years, but it was a hobby project all that time and never anything serious. I made a post about it on reddit back in May on a whim, and the response was pretty huge, and I personally think the game is fun, so I decided to start working on it full time. But, it's really inaccessible because of the text-based environment, so I'm overhauling it to 3D so it actually gets played by people

The Kickstarter is basically so I can finish that, hire out an artist (art is expensive!), make a soundtrack, and have the time to polish it and make it good. It might be overzealous, but I figured, what the hell? Might as well go for it

 

[Ayrahvon]

I've been playing this game for most of those years via telnet. The gameplay has always been rock solid, it's not just converting it to something a little more visually interesting!

 

[RPD]

Interesting, I played a MUD type game for probably 8-12 years off and on.

 

[Synival]

For anyone interested in the project, I've just released the Mac OSX port, and updated the Windows build for compatibility:

Harmonia v0.0.2pre2

Still working on supporting a wide variety of video cards and different Mac OSX versions, but I don't have too much time to develop while the KS is still active.

Hey, here's something exciting - it looks like the team is expanding to 5 members from 2 with the addition of two artists and a PR guy! That should give the project some much-needed momentum and a visual facelift. Plus I'll be able to reduce my lethally-high caffeine intake in order to stay on top of things almost by myself

 

[Ashenor]

Sounds cool, i like supporting games like this with Kickstarter i will check it out when i get home tonight.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Seem old school & fun, I'll donate once some extra cash arrives. Set up another kick starter to see if you can get some funds to make dwarf fortress more like your controls.

 

[Synival]

Haven't really played Dwarf Fortress yet... It looks like one of those games that would absolutely wreck my productivity once I learned how to play it. Plus, the fact that this exists absolutely terrifies me: http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920022565.do

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Yeah I know there are multi hour tutorials on YouTube, I'd love to play it but man no mouse, super basic visuals and multiple layers/heights without displaying them man its tough to get your head around it.

 

[Kalmah]

I played Dwarf Fortress for about a year a year ago. I must have watched hundreds of hours of tutorials on youtube. In the end it was worth it though. I really want to play again but forgot all the key combinations and don't feel like going through the trouble to figure them out.

 

[Ayrahvon]

New demo build coming up http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ImlFpx5J9s

They have found some artists that are now helping them out and the project has been gaining some steam. Hopefully it makes it before the deadline!

I got to play the original build of the mud many times with our friends and can say that it absolutely has fantastic game-play and combat. Really exciting to see the project progress so quickly!