Chris Bateman, designer of 1999 adventure game Discworld Noir and puzzle strategy title Ghost Master, is back with another project, this time creating a tribute to '80s ZX Spectrum adventure classic, The Lords of Midnight.
The new project is called Silk, a sandbox RPG adventure which isn't just serving as a tribute to The Lords of Midnight's epic fantasy gameplay, but also its creator, the late Mike Singleton. The game has just been plonked on to Kickstarter, where it hopes to generate £15,000 of funding to launch on Switch and other platforms.
The Kickstarter page states that "the engine used to produce the world of Silk has an identical design to the original ‘landscaping engine’ [Singleton] designed, although it uses 2D assets rendered in Unity to create a more vibrant feeling wilderness with retro roots and a contemporary lo-fi vibe". You can see it in action for yourself in the trailer above.
If you want to learn more about the project and pledge your support, you'll find the link to the Kickstarter campaign here. Bateman has also shared a second video to talk about the project below, as well as the following quote taken from a press release today:
“This is a game I've wanted to make for some time, but it never felt like the right time. But there might never be a good time to honour the influence Mike's work as a game developer had on me, and now is a great time to be trusting fans of indie games to support something innovative and unusual, that's not like anything else out there, and that pays tribute to a pioneer who sadly passed away in 2012 at the age of 61. I can think of no better way I can memorialise his achievements than to make a game inspired by what I loved in his classics."
What do you think? Will you be backing this one on Kickstarter? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Comments 8
This is unpleasant to look at.
Meh, if it is inspired by a ZX Spectrum game, make it on the ZX Spectrum.
Not for me
One of my all-time favourites on the ZX Spectrum. Heck, it was even better than the official Tolkien licensed games. A timeless gem, RIP Mike Singleton.
I know this game. I had it on the C64. Wasn't for me though. I was too young and The Lords of Midnight was too complex. It was intriguing but I never got far enough to see how the games mechanics really work. Troops around the deserts always ended my party.
I have Lords of Midnight on C64, you can get it on PC and mobile now too, was always too complicated for me as a kid, and it's not an easy game.
This looks quite interesting, hopefully they'll find a partner to get a Switch port published.
Isn't this also akin to Drakkken on SNES? https://youtu.be/09tgO72ROm4
I love Lords of Midnight, but I'm not sure I like the look of this one. LoM worked because it was largely monochrome - everything was covered in snow.
I'm not sure I see the advantage of using this technique now, in this way.
I appreciate a tightly controlled color pallette, so I hope to see the execution on this style really come through as development moves on.
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