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Nostalgia and Kickstarter have proven to be quite a potent combo as developers and gamers alike look to rekindle their love for genres, mechanics, and styles seemingly forgotten by AAA developers. Poi is the latest chapter in this ongoing trend, proudly wearing its influences from the likes of Super Mario 64 and other titles from the glory days of 3D platformers. But one thing that makes Poi stand out is that a Wii U release isn’t a stretch goal, it’s a major focus.
Poi will allow players to choose a male or female adventurer and hop aboard a world-traversing air ship in search of new places to explore and adventures to be had. A brief glance at the included video should be more than enough to ring a few bells for Mario fans as jumping, swimming, sliding, and climbing look like they came straight out of one of Mario’s 3D adventures. But that is by no means a slight against the developers, Polykid, as Poi quite obviously has its own style and gameplay mechanics. The simple yet colorful world and characters have a look all their own, and the player’s ability deploy a parachute to float along longer looks like it should add to the joy of exploration.
Polykid says it currently has three worlds up and running after a year of development, but with the $80,000 goal the team hopes to add three more, alongside more character models and a broader variety of textures. Of course, there are also a slew of stretch goals as well, with the most relevant for Nintendo fans being the addition of another world at $100,000, New Game + mode at $125,000, and local co-op at $150,000. There is also a stretch goal for $200,000, but the content remains a mystery for now.
As for what you’ll get for you contributions, any amount over $20 will get you a digital copy of the game on Wii U or PC. Rewards will add up with the more you give, so $40 will get your name in the credits, access to the beta, and a Poi postcard. $60 will add a “Making of” e-book and digital copy of the soundtrack. $80 nets you a t-shirt and exclusive desktop wallpapers. The final tier, $125, will get you a special collectors edition of the game alongside everything mentioned above.
Sometimes it pays to be skeptical going into a Kickstarter, but from what it has shown so far, Polykid looks like it has a very solid foundation to be building on. Be sure to checkout the Kickstarter for more details to help you decide whether or not you want to throw your money behind what could be an interesting entry in the far too dormant 3D platformer genre.
Source: Kickstarter
The more of these 3D platforming titles that are in the pipeline, the better. At least when they look like this.
What excites me about this project is that it seems to have a good amount of work put into it already. The different environments and the art style are definitely giving me good vibes. One to watch for sure.
And heck, if Lobodestroyo can get funded with their cringeworthy trailer, I have hope for this project.
It looks pretty promising, I might contribute to it especially with the improvements they plan to make to it. It looks a bit plain, but so was Super Mario 64. It’s in the gameplay and level variety, that’s what counts.