[This unedited press release is made available courtesy of Gamasutra and its partnership with notable game PR-related resource GamesPress.]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Brno, Czech Republic – March 1, 2013 –
CBE software announces start of a crowdfunding campaign targeted at
creation of an enhanced edition of J.U.L.I.A., narrative driven,
interface based PC videogame released in 2012.
Jan Kavan, CBE software director, explains why yet another
crowdfunding appears on the game industry map: “When we've
released J.U.L.I.A. back in 2012, the response especially from the
adventure gaming community was amazing. Even if we knew that this
is a new video game format, we've been well accepted and especially
the story, music and game flow was generally praised.
The game was also just recently nominated for the best gameplay
and the best character (Mobot) by Adventure Gamers - the largest
international website specialized on adventure games. This came to
us as a big surprise because we've been working on the game for
more than 3 years in only two persons. The fact that we've invested
only our time and my personal budget however negatively influenced
some of the game aspects.
Originally we planned to use the sales budget for the enhanced
edition but what we were able to obtain from our former publisher
covered merely the legal expenses to reclaim back J.U.L.I.A.
rights.”
Regardless of CBE software further fate, CBE software wants to
iron some of the rough edges through the community based events
tied to this IndieGoGo campaign:
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/j-u-l-i-a-enhanced-edition
“J.U.L.I.A. is for me an extremely personal game and
regardless of what happens next, I want to have the game really
polished. I also perceive the crowdfunding process as something
more than just getting some cash. We want the community to actively
participate through polls, voting and feedback. We’ve set us
very modest and realistic goal for this campaign as we want to
eliminate the worst problems stemming from our former zero budget
situation. That’s why it’s now too early to speak about
other exciting possibilities this campaign could open for
J.U.L.I.A. One of our primary goals is to let Rachel Manners climb
out from the uncanny valley, where she’s now settled
in.” explained Jan Kavan.
Among the goals for the enhanced version are:
• Recreating Rachel Manners from scratch
• Redesigning some of the game interface
• Introducing easy mode for problematic puzzles.
• Making some of the game parts optional (eg. material
harvesting)
• Polishing some of the puzzles responsiveness and
descriptions
• Extending some of the looping music tracks.
• Refine a few parts of the script when the game gets
ridiculous / over the top.
The campaign is set for a fixed amount of $5000. It will end up
on Friday 12th April 2013 at 11:59 PT. If CBE software
doesn’t reach the target by that time, the money will return
to contributors automatically. CBE software believes that this is
more fair approach concerning the associated risks of the
contributors.
About J.U.L.I.A.
J.U.L.I.A. is an innovative, narrative driven PC game. The story
centers on Rachel Manners, a 35 year old astrobiologist. She is a
member of an elite group of scientists, chosen to embark on one of
the most critical missions ever conceived on Earth. Now Rachel is
alone, orbiting an unknown planet. Her only companions are
J.U.L.I.A., the space probe’s artificial intelligence and
Mobot, a huge reconnaissance robot. Together, this unlikely trio
will explore the mysteries of the solar system of Salia. But are
they prepared for what they will find?
About CBE software
Founded in 2006 by Jan Kavan and Lukas Medek, a duo of creative
independent developers from the Czech Republic, CBE software has a
clear mission: To bring strong stories to life, and explore new
possibilities beyond the traditional gameplay paradigm. CBE
software's has succesfully released the video games Ghost in the
Sheet (PC), J.U.L.I.A. (PC), J.U.L.I.A. Untold (iOS) and Vampires
(PC, Mac, iOS, Android).
www:
www.cbe-software.com
www:
www.juliathegame.com
email:
jan.kavan@cbe-software.com
tel.: +420 732 626 402
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