Parabole, a young indie studio based in Quebec City, Canada, turns to Kickstarter to fund their new project.
The company, co founded by Alexandre Fiset, Maxime Charbonneau and Etienne Lemieux, introduces Gridlock Tactics, a multiplayer Tactical RPG seeking to redefine how the genre is played. “Almost everyone here at Parabole were fans of PlayStation era strategy games, especially Final Fantasy Tactics. Since we never had a true spiritual successor to those games, the idea of creating one ourselves was very compelling.”, says Fiset, Gridlock’s producer. It is exactly what they are trying with this new project, which they try to fund on Kickstarter.
The game that Parabole is developing put emphasis on multiplayer cross-platform play. It will be available for Windows, Mac and Linux if the base funding goal of $50,000 is reached, but several stretch goals aim to include more platforms, including tablets, smartphones and consoles. With cross-platform play, gamers using different devices will be able to play with each other. “Before getting the idea that would become Gridlock Tactics, we were searching for a multiplayer gameplay style that was well-suited for playing on tablets and smartphones, but would appeal to experienced gamers like us.
Then we thought about the turn-based Tactical RPG genre and realized it was suitable not only to mobile devices, but for almost any platform. Think about the Draw Something app, but with biopunk tactical warfare instead of drawings. From that moment, we knew what we had to do”, says Charbonneau, the game programmer.
The game is set in a biopunk universe and opposes different groups, called Factions, which fight against each other for different reasons. Three of them, the Free People, Titan Corp and the Dez Experiments, are planned for launch, scheduled for the end of 2014. The game’s visuals are rendered in full 3D, and will get different layers of quality to be compatible with a maximum of hardware configurations. “With Gridlock, we wanted to create a gritty but colorful art style. We used toon shaders to give the game an interesting non-photorealistic appearance. So far, we are confident people will like the art style we gave to the game”, says Lemieux, art lead for the project.
The $50,000 goal of the Kickstarter campaign needs to be reached within 30 days to be successful, or the team will have to turn to other means to fund their project. To get updates on the game, follow Parabole on Twitter (@Parabole) or Facebook (facebook.com/StudioParabole). Pay $25 on Kickstarter (http://kck.st/1atMupM) to be one of the first to get this game, or pay even less to get parts of it.
If you’d like more information about Gridlock Tactics, or if you’d like to schedule an interview with one of the creators of the game, please email contact@parabole.ca or send them a tweet @Parabole.
