At the end of last month, we wrote about Teku Studios’ project for the gorgeous-looking Candle. The Kickstarter campaign for this dynamic graphic adventure is set to finish on 16 August 2013 and the developers need your help to see it succeed.
We became official backers for Candle here at 1001-Up.com after seeing the stunning hand-painted artwork on Steam Greenlight, becoming intrigued and then heading over to Kickstarter for more information. We also noted previously that Programming Lead Miguel Vallés is wearing a The Secret of Monkey Island t-shirt in Teku Studios’ promotional video. It’s something that Tim Schaefer has now also noticed, with a glowing endorsement coming from the renowned game designer: “Candle is a cool-looking graphic adventure by a guy with Metal hair and a guy in a Monkey Island t-shirt. Back it!!!”
The title centres on Teku, a shaman pupil who begins his journey after his village is attacked by the rival tribe of the Atipax. He has a very specific ability that is key to solving many puzzles and uncovering lots of secrets: instead of a hand, he carries a candle that can be lit at certain points. Our protagonist must do whatever he can to prevent this from being extinguished and, during his quest to rescue survivors, he will unveil the long-forgotten truth about his past.
Teku Studios’ enthusiasm for their project is admirable and they’ve been keeping backers up to date with regular and informative updates. They’ve also divulged more about Teku himself, with his name being an interesting story. During the early stages of development the team decided that they wanted to bring an Aztec influence into their game and found out that Xiuhtecuhtli was the ancient god of fire, day and heat; after using the central part and changing one of the letters, they came up with the perfect handle for their protagonist.
Stretch goals have now been announced also, with the first being Mac and Linux support set at $43,000. There are a few that are particularly intriguing: a secret unlockable level at $60,000 and an epilogue with a new playable character at $80,000. Perhaps the most ambitious aim is that for next-generation support at $85,000, with Vallés saying: “We will have to learn how to deal with the new consoles’ SDKs, and that’s why we need extra funding for this goal so we can make a longer development cycle for consoles and correctly port Candle into those systems, since we want to adapt the game, its menus and inventory to their controllers.”
Teku Studios have confirmed that their protagonist isn’t a potato.
Something we picked up on previously was the fact that not much has been revealed about the gameplay so far. With 57% of the $40,000 goal being received so far and only seven days left on the clock, this could be something that potential backers are waiting to see before grabbing their credit cards. But fear not: Teku Studios have said that they’ll be revealing more this, the story and level screenshots over the coming week.
When a game looks this good and it’s coming from a new and exciting studio who are clearly passionate about what they do, it’s hard to see how anyone could fail to be captivated by this project. Head on over to the Kickstarter page to give Candle your support before 16 August 2013 and give the title a thumbs-up on Steam Greenlight.
