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This is one of those odd Kickstarters that’s hard to define and makes the platform such a joy to go mining in. Troubadour bills itself as an interactive graphic novel, but also plays a little like a video game.
Players control Lu, a human(?) digital native of the future whose look is so pixellated and streaky glitched graphics-ed up one might fear their graphics card is fried for a few seconds. It’s mostly a narrative telling, promise the developers, that’s hoping to take a very high-level, artsy kind of look at how the world interacts with technology and the problems that arise out of it. What those are and how this is to be told, however, are being kept close to the devs chests in order not to spoil the game/novel.
It’s certainly succeeding so far in being very avant-garde and trying to draw us in. A look through the video gives us all sorts of nods to issues and worries one might have with the rise of technology, including the ever-present fear of Big Brother. The developers are also being upfront that a good chunk of their admittedly hefty asking fee of $15,000 will be going towards art and development to better tell the game.
We know because there’s a handy graph, and it seems to be working, with more than half of its funding already there as at press despite being just a few days into its campaign. While the game/novel doesn’t intend to be very long, just some 30 minutes is their intended length say the devs, they hope you’ll be interested in how they tell the tale of “accepting the responsibilities and expectations of life in a world of toxic distractions.” The
Also, if you’re not a fan of Steam for whatever reason, Troubadour intends to release via Humble Bundle for a DRM-free experience on PC and Mac. You can back it here.
