Beyond Shadowgate Kickstarter - ends March 20th

[Roostwick | 3]

Hey retro friends, I haven't seen any topics on here yet, but in case you weren't aware, some of the original creators of Shadowgate and its cousin games have launched a kickstarter to create a sequel game in the same art style as the NES game, called Beyond Shadowgate! 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zojoi/beyond-shadowgate/description

As a lifelong Shadowgate fan, I thought it looked pretty promising. It promises to be way bigger than the original game, and the stretch goals include chapters based on Uninvited, Deja Vu, etc. There seems to be a lot of flexibility in how you get the physical rewards too (one of them is a non-functional NES cart, for those that want it). There's 7 days left, and so far it's achieved all of its stretch goals! 

...and no, for the record, I'm not affiliated, just a lifelong Shadowgate fan

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

Thanks for sharing this.  I'm torn about backing this, as I'd be all in if they had developed an actual sequel on the NES, but they instead did it on PC, but in the NES style.  The various NES-esque rewards are cool (box, fake/placeholder cartridge, etc.), but they don't really take the place of having a real, playable NES version of the game.  They don't state anywhere that it was impossible to do so due to the scope of the game, etc., so it sounds like they didn't even think about creating a true direct sequel (not that this one isn't a sequel, but a true direct sequel would be on the same platform, IMO), not even as some sort of stretch goal.  At the moment they're showing as having generated nearly $86K, well over their $25K goal, but I feel far short of what true fans of the NES version would have contributed for an on-the-NES sequel.

I guess if worse comes to worse and I don't back it, I'll always have the option to buy a copy on Steam or GOG later on, since they're releasing it on both platforms.

[elprincipe | 142]

Are they aware there was already a Beyond Shadowgate game made?

Is this going to be a different game or a NES-ified version of the Duo game?

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

According to the video they posted about it, they are aware of the NEC version but had nothing at all to do with it, thus not considering it a true/direct/etc. sequel to the work they did.  They apparently had a design document created in the 90s to do a direct sequel on the NES and Mac but got sidelined into other things since the company they worked for turned away from those types of games, then games altogether.  Reading through the FAQs on the Kickstarter, they mention that there is currently zero possibility of them putting out an NES version as part of the Kickstarter and no current plans to do so, but do not preclude the possibility of it happening if the Kickstarter is popular enough, due to them having to re-code the whole game from the ground up.

It sounds like those of us wanting/hoping for a true NES sequel had our hopes dashed by them programming the sequel in easier, more modern languages versus the old days where the languages used between platforms were generally much closer, or sometimes the same, allowing for much less work needing to happen for a port to exist.  However, the fact that the new game is built from a design document they created when the intention was to release a sequel on the NES does make it sound like it's certainly possible for them to port the game should they choose to do so.  The question remains how many sales and/or how much uproar/fervor would need to be generated in order for them to choose to do so.