The Black Tower : new videos and more news

Hi everyone !

The Black Tower is an indie RPG for PC and Mac (and maybe more). The game will feature a vast world to explore through various places that you reach from a Worldmap, with random encounters and turn-based battles. If it sounds quite "Retro" on the paper, we'd like to add some modern elements to make it sound "Neo" too. Neo-Retro gaming is something that fits perfectly to our vision of Indie games, and we really hope that you will enjoy TBT for both its old mechanisms and its new opportunities.

Crowdfunding :

Yesterday evening, we decided to start our crowdfunding campaign on indiegogo. You can see the page here and read a quite complete description of the project. The pictures and videos are based on a prototype, which means everything is going to evolve. We're really counting on you to give your opinion, and maybe someday TBT will hit Desura like its big brother ASA: A Space Adventure. You can also make a secured contribution via Paypal on Indiegogo, either with your credit card, or either with your paypal account. Every small help is a big help, and if you're not sure you want to contribute there's no hurry. Take some time to read the presentation, and share the project with your friends !

For the occasion, we shared 2 new videos : a new trailer (to introduce the campaign on Indiegogo) and a 10 minutes video of gameplay with voice comments.

New trailer (trailer 2) :

Long gameplay :

Trailer 1 :
don't miss the first trailer if you didn't see it when it released ! It's a condensed version of the long gameplay video !

Steam Greenlight :

We'd also like to inform you that The Black Tower reaches Steam Greenlight in the "Games" category. TBT was already on Greenlight, but in the "Concepts" category as a Prototype (pre-alpha).

Story of The Black Tower :

Somewhere in the Universe, there is a spaceship called The Ark, built long ago by scientists of another galaxy. Their Ark has a specific mission : finding planets on the verge to die. The Ark releases a mysterious black Cube on each of these planets until one of its inhabitants finds it. Through this chosen person, the aim is to gather the memories and knowledge of a whole civilization before it definetely disapears, and that without interfering with its future. Then the Cube sends the precious data to the Ark, thus repeting the cycle for thousands of years...

Something similar happened in 2011 on planet Terra (a fantasy world, not the Earth !). Astronaut Philip Forté was repairing the old Cobalt-5 satellite for the CSE, when he sunddenly noticed an unknown black Cube drifting in Space. Forté mysteriously disappeared and is now known on Terra as the crazy astronaut who sacrificed his life for an illusion.

21 years later, young Yan Forté - the son of Philippe - chose to live alone as a forest ranger. He doesn't want to hear anything about Space and trains hard to protect nature under the command of Jacob Leclerc, an old soldier who found a nice retreat in the woods. They have a rough life, finding their own food and fighting against wild beasts, but they like it. Everything will change when the Palak'us - pirates - start destroying the trees here and there for an unknown reason. During an investigation, Yan will meet a girl called Ellana, fallen from the sky in a cloud of Yellow Particles. The most disturbing is that she's got a black Die as a necklace, a Die that definetly reminds the Cube found by Philippe...

Your Questions/Our Answers :

Q : I would really like to see a good story oriented JRPG style game in the likes of FinalFantasy or Xenosaga on PC. So I hope this game is successfull, and I will probably contribute on the indeogogo campaign too. You are going to need all the publicity and help you can get, the 328.440€ goal is a lot to ask for on Indiegogo, it's a more difficult platform than Kickstarter to raise funds on when it comes to games.

A : Yes you're right, we're asking a (very) big sum and that will be tough ! It's true that Indiegogo isn't the best place, on top of that, but we're not US or UK residents, so Kickstarter was much more troublesome to use. However, we thought of this goal during more than a month before taking a decision, and what is sure is that we can't create a vast and interesting world in the game without this help. We decided to try instead of giving up the project, and we really hope we get a lot of support ! If we fail, we'll accept it. Well, I would personnally have some regrets of course, because I believe TBT can be an incredible indie game, but we know how difficult it is to reach this amount, and crowdfunding doesn't make miracles ! :)

Q : I actually feel a little uncomfortable just HOW CLOSE this compares to FF7. It is not just the town/slums. The main character feels like a recoloring of Cloud, the girl feels like a recoloring of Aerith, the big guy looks extremely close to Baret, the car feels like a reskinning of the little dune-buggy thing... there is more than just a PASSING resemblance.

A : This is certainly what I read the most. It is true that many elements shown in the gameplay prototype can remind FF7, in particular in the village of Bois. It has a similarity with the sectors of Midgar, and Yan owns a big sword like Cloud... That's true, and we assume this choice as a tribute to one of our favorite games, but please don't make a focus on FF7 because it would be a mistake ! You can find big swords in Monter Hunter too. You can go to Space in FF8. You can visit slums in Fallout... If you really want to make a comparison with a PS1 J-RPG, I think it's more Xenogears, even if we don't have gears in TBT. TBT is one new game with its own background and a personal story.
We were aware that the comparison with FF7 would be made, because J-RPG is often synonymous of FF7 for many people. However, I really don't want people to think that we are making a COPY of FF7. In all J-RPGs (or most of them), you have a worldmap, a hero with a sword (big or not), a hero with muscles, the beautiful girl, the bad guy, etc... The main structure of TBT follows most of these rules, because we think they're interesting. We're not trying to make an occidental RPG like Skyrim or Baldur's Gate. However, TBT will be new from its scenario (that I think is interesting, with a very strong sci-fi side), and new specificities in the battle system. I admit that, with this project, I'm very interested in telling a long and good story.

Q : I don't like the sword. The animation is horrible. The haircut is just awful. Please improve the music... There are so many things that I don't like !!! Will you do something ???

A : Well of course we will. If we are successfully crowdfunded on Indiegogo, we will work with more talented people that will improve many aspects of the game. This is also why it is important to ask for your support ! Tell us what you don't like : the pictures and video come from a Prototype, which means everything can change !

Thanks for reading ! Leave a comment if you have more questions, and we'll do our best to answer !