#fantaria

Hey folks!

I’m excited to announce the release of a formerly backer-exclusive demo: the first Cerulean Vault!  Cerulean Vaults are a gameplay feature planned for Fantaria, which take the form of miniature challenge levels that Capboy encounters throughout his journey.  The world progression of Fantaria is current under some heavy renovating, but the vaults will be unlocked through rare collectibles found in the main levels - think along the lines of secret exits in Super Mario World.

This specific Cerulean Vault is focused on the sliprail grinding mechanic, a unique movement mechanic where Capboy utilizes his slipspace energy to grind along rails at high speeds.  While sliprails will be incorporated throughout the rest of the game, the high density of them in this Cerulean Vault really showcases some of the fun movement you can experience with them.

This vault was the testing bed for the first implementation of sliprail grinding, and with help from the backers I polished it into a state that people were quite happy with!  I’m excited to release this demo to the public and see what the wider community thinks.

You can find the demo by clicking here.  Note that this demo is primarily focused on the sliprail grinding mechanic, and some core mechanics such as leveling up and combat are not present at all in this demo.  However, a time trial mechanic exists for players who want to push the movement to its limits - share your times with your friends and compete to see who can beat it the fastest!

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While we’re here, lemme talk about the new project a bit too! Progress on it is going quite quickly, and I’m hoping to be able to announce it properly in the next couple of weeks.  For the time being, here’s a teaser for one of the NPCs you’ll encounter in it:

This NPC, who goes by the name of Harold, is actually one of the backer characters from Fantaria!  Created and sketched out by Alonaria, he’ll be present in both games, but you’ll likely see him in this new project first.  You’ll be able to encounter him as you play the new game and pay him to steal resources from other players...I guess I haven’t mentioned yet, this new project is focused on online competitive multiplayer!  We’ll take a closer look at Harold once this game is revealed and once he has a proper 3D model.

For any other backers who want to, I’d be very interested in working together to incorporate your characters into this new project as well - let’s cross that bridge once the project’s fully announced, however!

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Hey everyone!

Thank you all so much for your support -- thanks to you, as of yesterday afternoon Kickstarter has reached its funding goal!! I can now guarantee the release of Chapter 1 of Fantaria, and hope to use its profits to continue and complete the trilogy after its release.  

There’s still 30 hours left, so let’s keep spreading the word -- even if we don’t manage to hit the next stretch goal, more funds will still improve the experience - this’ll be via more awesome new music, more abilities, and more time to polish, just to name a few things!  Not to mention, if you want to see your character designs in action (be they spherefriend, barkwurst, or something entirely original), there’s still time to donate to one of the higher tiers!

Hey folks!  With 3 days left on the Kickstarter, 7k and I recently did a second interview recapping the game’s development history along with answering some questions about both the current state of the demo, and the future of its development!

Hey everyone!  Got a bunch of stuff to talk about in this post, so let’s get rolling!  If you aren’t already on the discord, I’d recommend joining it by clicking this link.  This is by far the best way to get in touch with me and keep track of development.

Barkwursts

Around 2-3 years ago, during The Fantabulous Game’s development, I announced the existence of Spheredogs.  These dogs would serve a similar purpose to Jinjos, giving Capboy a sausage if he collects them all in a level.  Initially made as a reference to the original Le Fantabulous Game, I’ve decided to change that plan.  After all, the new Spheredog design wasn’t even a sphere, but rather more of a sausage with legs!  So, I present to you:  Barkwursts!

(left-to-right: Tico, Cosmo, Jim, Goobert, Eyedog)

Barkwursts are the exact same as Spheredogs were in TFG, just with a new name.  Though they aren’t designed as of right now, Spheredogs will be returning as small, kickable, gremlin-esque Spherefriends -- just as they were back in the very first iteration of Le Fantabulous Game.  The Sausage rewards will be doled out by a new character, interested in collecting Barkwursts to help his own Quest for Sausage...

(fanart by ZackTheNerd)

The first new Capkin design in Fantaria’s history, I present to you: Ecapresu, the Farmer!  Living in Home Sausage, Ecapresu uses Barkwursts to help facilitate his peaceful harvest of Sausages.  To thank Capboy for bringing Barkwursts to him, Ecapresu shares a portion of his harvest with Capboy.  Additionally, Capboy will be able to learn more about his own species from Ecapresu, as well as get information on the Barkwursts that he has brought.

(kickstarter art by Scandre)

The aspect of Barkwursts that I’m the most excited about, however, is their integration into the Kickstarter.  The Barkwursts you see above are actually created by members on the testing team, hence their fantastically varied designs!  Also named by these testers, these fellas will serve as the five Barkwursts found in Fantaria’s demo level.  On that note, I’d like to move on to talk about the Kickstarter’s stretch goals and reward tiers!

Kickstarter Reward Tiers

Fantaria: The Quest for Sausage is going to have a variety of reward tiers, focusing on digital rewards.  Every tier has its own title in the credits, and your name will be listed alongside all of your creations (if you’re okay with it!) in the credits as well.  I won’t be going into incredible depth on all of them here, but here’s a quick lowdown:

$5: Coolfriend. Have your name put in the credits, and receive a wallpaper pack.  Every further tier has the wallpaper pack as well!

$15: Digital copy of the game on release.

Backerfriend title in credits.

$25: Deluxe copy of the game on release.  In addition to the game, this features the soundtrack and access to (potential, not guaranteed!) DLC released in the future.  Every tier beyond this point also has the deluxe edition of the game.

Deluxe Backerfriend title in credits

$60: Design-a-Spherefriend.  Similar to the build-a-spherefriend tool I released many years ago, design a Spherefriend NPC by choosing color, size, name, and customized headwear.  Also, you can name your spherefriend, pick a combat unit archetype, and write a small dialogue blurb to be translated into Spherespeak!  

Designerfriend title in credits.

$120: Design-a-Barkwurst.  With much more freedom than Spherefriend designs, you can have your own Barkwurst design put into the game, along with a name and a bio!  As seen with the example 5 above, Barkwurst designs have a lot of freedom, so this will be your chance to really get creative.

Dogfriend title in credits.

$150: Designer Dogfriend.  Design both a Spherefriend and a Barkwurst!  The next two reward tiers give you these privileges as well.

Designer Dogfriend title in credits.

$300: Design-an-NPC!  This tier will let you get your own unique NPC design into the game, with at least one encounter in one of the games’ levels.  Note that due to the larger universe impact of a proper NPC, some restrictions will apply -- see below.  

Deluxe Designerfriend title in credits

$600: Design-a-boss!  This tier will let you design your own unique boss encounter for Capboy and Friendwoman to face, featuring its own unique fighting style, difficulty, arena, personality, and rewards upon defeat!   Note that due to the larger universe impact of a full bossfight, some restrictions will apply -- see below.  

Ultimate Designerfriend title in credits.

Kickstarter Reward Limitations

To help make sure Fantaria: tQfS is a cohesive experience that fits my vision, there are some limitations on “design-an-x” reward tiers.  Note that these are guidelines, not hard refusals!  If you have a character that you’re concerned will be affected by these limitations, I want you to reach out to me to talk about it!  I’m always willing to work to find a compromise if you’re interested in seeing your character or design in Fantaria..

I reserve the right to have final say on small tweaks of all backer designs

You must legally own the rights to the characters and/or designs you request!  For example, a direct lift of Mario’s outfit on a Spheredog wouldn’t be okay, but a design which clearly falls under parody would be.  This applies more strictly to the higher tiers (see below).

Spherefriends cannot be made super massive, and their headwear shouldn’t be excessively vulgar or otherwise go counter to Fantaria’s aesthetic (i.e. no hyper realistic textures).

Barkwursts must always have the same silhouette, and make the same SFX as each other, to ensure the player can easily identify them despite the varied designs.

NPCs and Bosses have some further restrictions:

No humans.  Friendwoman is the only human presently in Fantaria’s universe, and this is a very key component of the universe.  If you have a human design that you’d like to see, I’d be thrilled to work with you on creating a variation of it that fits into the universe! (i.e. a capkin or PBot version).

No parodies/memes.  Unlike Spherefriends and Barkwursts, which don’t weigh much on the plot or universe, NPCs/bosses should not blatantly be referencing real-life jokes or personalities.  This does not mean that they all have to be serious, they can be wacky and silly!  Just...no ugandan knuckles parody, or trump parody, or other designs like that.

No characters with explicit and consistent ties to adult material.  It’s totally fine if your character is generally slightly lewd or attractive, but if all they’re associated with is porn (either vanilla or fetish), they won’t be a good fit for Fantaria.

I retain final say on the power level of your character in relation to the cast of Fantaria.  This is mostly to make sure that no characters become more important to the plot and events than pre-existing characters like Capboy and Friendwoman...unless, of course, I think the design can fit into such a role!  Naturally, you still have control over your character’s personality and attitude, and I will run any story events they are involved in by you to make sure you’re satisfied with the way they react.

Kickstarter Stretch Goals

Now that that’s out of the way, the final thing I’d like to talk about here are Kickstarter Stretch Goals!  I’ve budgeted these all fairly thoroughly, as I’ll explain in more detail when the KS itself launches.  These are as follows:

$25,000 -- Initial Goal.  This provides me with the living costs needed for the estimated year and some change of remaining development, as well as to commission Scandre and Viv for art and music, respectively.

$30,000 -- Local Deathmatch.  This tier will add a local deathmatch option to the main title, where you can fight with up to three of your friends in brand new arenas inspired by the couch competitions of old!

$35,000 -- More levels. This tier will add four fully-featured secret levels, pushing Capboy to the limit and providing special new rewards.  These levels will each come with a unique ability, melee weapon, and bossfight

$40,000 -- The Fantabulous Arena.  This tier will add a special arena to the game, allowing Capboy to fight endless enemy waves and challenge bosses that he’s already defeated again!  In addition to being able to have fun experiencing these fights, the Arena will have special challenges restricting Capboy to certain weapons, with even more sausages being rewarded for completing them.  Finally, post-release, all bosses will receive an additional Fantabulous version of themselves, unlocking potent new weapon upgrades for Capboy!

$50,000 -- Nightmare Mode. This tier will add a second campaign, inspired by the brutal NG+’s found in oldschool games.  Play as Capboy’s ally Friendwoman, travelling backwards through a distorted and damaged version of the main game’s story.  Face brutal platforming challenges, intense battle arenas, and mindbending puzzles, using with all of the main game’s weapons and unlocks to overcome the odds!  Naturally, this mode will also feature every single Fantabulous boss in place of their standard versions.  Nightmare Mode, if funded, would release as post-release DLC free to all backers of the $15 tier and above.

$60,000 -- Local Co-op.  Friendwoman will be able to join in with Capboy in the main quest, with the game dynamically adjusting challenges and obstacles to adjust for the additional player.  When in multiplayer, bosses will gain new co-op exclusive mechanics, and co-op exclusive puzzles and battle rooms will block the pair’s route.  This will also allow Friendwoman to be played instead of Capboy in the singleplayer main campaign.  If funded, this tier will release alongside the main game, and will likely cause some slight delay to the current predicted release date.

$65,000 -- Nightmare Co-op.  Friendwoman will be able to bring Capboy with her on her quest through the nightmare realm, enabling cooperation against the new threats and challenges of this brutal adventure.  As with the main campaign, new unique co-op oriented challenges will be present when in multiplayer on this campaign!  If funded, Nightmare Mode will have co-op when it is launched post-release.

$80,000 -- Online Multiplayer.  If funded, all multiplayer modes will be able to be played with one another online!  Releasing with the main game, Online Multiplayer will likely result in some further slight delay to the predicted release date if funded.

Whew, that was a lot!  If you bore with me for all of that, you’re a superfan, and it’s great to know that there are people dedicated enough to read through all of that.  As for when the KS and demo will actually launch, my current prediction is July 26th -- ironically, the same date (+4 months) as I wanted to release TFG’s kickstarter last year! Now that I’ve recovered from the issues I discussed in the last post, I’ve been diving deep back into development and making great progress.  As we approach that date, I will continue to evaluate the amount of work remaining and let you guys know if that seems like it’s going to change.

As I said at the beginning, swing by the Discord if you haven’t already and want to talk about this stuff!  I’m very eager to hear feedback on the price points of rewards and stretch goals, and am willing to listen to suggestions on any changes.  See you guys soon with another chunk of progress!

Hey everyone!

I’ve been hard at work on the demo over the past several months, and I’m happy to say that it’s nearly complete in an unpolished beta state -- currently, all that I have left to do is implement sausage leveling and polish up the geometry and effects...or at least, that’s what was left until a couple days ago.

Something I’ve noticed recently is that a lot of people seem to be mixed up on the purpose and the goals the game, mostly due to my own mistakes explaining it.  Some people think that I’m still working on the Dark Souls-Platformer Hybrid, named The Fantabulous Game, and others think that Le Fantabulous Game v1.0 is going to be a proper revisit of the egglike genre.  And, on top of this, there are people who dislike the (quite frankly, cringe-inducing) use of the word “Le” in the title.  This is something I hoped would be endearing to fans of the original v0.9, but even Vinny himself hid the word “Le” when he showed the trailer, accidentally hiding the fact that the game’s going to have a Kickstarter.  (As a sidenote -- I’m so so grateful that he mentioned it at all, let alone showed his viewers the trailer or mentioned it twice, especially since it’s brought this issue to light.)

So, long story short: I’m finding that the name of Le Fantabulous Game is confusing to people; at best, it causes people to mistake LFG for TFG...and at worst, results in people treating the game like a free egglike, or even worse, as shovelware and trash for those less interested in the genre.  I’ve been pouring my heart and soul into making a real game, and the title has seemingly been holding it back.  So, without further ado, I’d like to announce that Le Fantabulous Game is being renamed.  The new title?

Fantaria: The Quest for Sausage

I know some people are going to be upset about this change, but this is something I need to do both for my own continued passion for the project, and for its ability to draw in new fans who haven’t heard of the original -- I certainly don’t want them looking up “Le Fantabulous Game” and finding the video of v0.8 and thinking that’s all it is, after all.

So, to officially clear up the confusion: Fantaria is an FPS/Collectathon Platformer hybrid, named after the continent where the game takes place.  You play as a mysterious alien who fell from the sky in a capsule-esque egg, who the Spherefriends dub as Capboy.  Capboy quickly gets roped into the surreal politics and supernatural threats of Fantaria, and slowly begins to unravel the secret power of the Sausages which the denizens of the island find so alluring.  The gameplay’s inspired by games like DOOM16 and Banjo Kazooie, with my own unique gameplay elements to boot.

So with that out of the way, I’d like to give you guys the lowdown of what’s done for the demo:

Fightyplace-3, “Mount Sphonk Summit,” has a complete structure.  This level is what will comprise the majority of the demo, and features five separate enemy types along with a hybrid of platforming and combat gameplay.

FP-3 still needs some polishing both visually and audibly.

The boss of FP-3, who I’ll be keeping under wraps, is nearly complete and simply needs some slight polishing and a death animation.  Mechanically, it’s 100% complete, with two phases.

Four weapons (including melee), each with a primary and secondary fire

Three unique abilities: 

A tattle, where you get a small blurb about the enemy you’re looking at based on the spherefriend you have equipped

A slipdash, letting Capboy become invulnerable to all damage while dodging in the currently held direction

Mind control, allowing Capboy to seize control over a stunned enemy.  Note that this ability will not be present in the demo due to not quite being up to the stability standard I’d like it to be, and will instead be replaced with a new ability I’ll discuss below.

All of this content is being consistently tested for quality/enjoyability as I make it, so this should all be much more stable and fair than things in v0.9 were.

And, as for what’s left to do beyond the mentioned polishing:

Implement Sausage Leveling, where Capboy can spend collected sausages in a menu to upgrade his weapons and abilities

Implement corresponding upgrades for every ability and weapon -- note that skill trees will be very limited in the demo compared to the final version, due to only having one level’s worth of sausages, and will be more potent and generalized.

SFX and death anims for Vineborn enemies

Create skyboxes for FP-3 and FP-Boss

Write up kickstarter info

Record Q&A video -- this has been so delayed because my overhead light went out in my apartment, so I’ve been waiting for a day that I have time to record and have the sun lighting things up well enough.  The video’s scripted, and based on the weather it can be out hopefully tomorrow?

So, home stretch!  Due to this name change and general refactoring, there is a decent chance that the Kickstarter will be first week of May instead of April, but I’m sure you guys can handle waiting just a little bit longer.  If you’d like to join the server and talk about any of this, you can check it out here: https://discord.gg/Y4R8d3K

Hey everyone!  Not going to rewrite the whole post here, but I made a really important post on the Kickstarter’s campaign that I’d love if you all checked out.

Check out the post by clicking here!