Causal Bit Games' Chris Obritsch and his young daughter Madelyn are developing Battle Princess Madelyn, a Ghouls N Ghosts-styled retro platformer that was born from Madelyn's love of watching her father repeatedly defeat the sidescroller's first Shielder boss. It's been successfully crowdfunded and, at the time of writing, has racked up just shy of CA$120,000 with 24 days to go—having asked for just half of that total from the off.
"[Maddi] has this thing for the boss in the first Ghouls N Ghosts level, and she would make me play it over and over again," says Chris Obritsch in the following Kickstarter campaign video. "Finally one day I was playing and she said: 'daddy, I wanna fight Greenhead,' and I was like, 'what do you mean?' She said: 'I wanna be in the game, and I want to be the character fighting Greenhead.'"
Obritsch was then forced to explain Ghouls N Ghosts is someone else's game and that this can't be done. He then suggests building their own game, whereby Madelyn takes centre stage. Madelyn replied: "But Daddy, girls can't be knights", to which Obritsch responded: "Pfft, what colour do you want your armour?"
Already Greenlit, Battle Princess Madelyn now has a Steam page and a "TBA" release date. With 24 days to go on its Kickstarter campaign, and fast closing in on 200 percent of its original ask, the scope of BPM is sure to grow—particularly as it continues to hit successive Stretch Goals in turn.
Whenever it does land (Kickstarter rewards for digital copies are, for now, expected in February 2018), players can expect ten levels each with up to five stages, ten weapon types which change alongside the game's three armour sets, up to ten unique enemies per level, and a ghostly dog companion named Fritzy, to name but some of the platformer's features. Here's a glance at Battle Princess Madelyn's latest teaser:
And here's the devs on what it's all about:
"Battle Princess Madelyn is a game that follows the journey of a young knight in training, Madelyn, and her ghostly pet dog Fritzy. They set out on a journey to save her kingdom and her family from the clutches of an evil wizard.
"Set in the vein of Ghouls N' Ghosts and Wonder Boy 3: The Dragon's Trap, the instantly classic and familiar gameplay will transport old-school gamers back to their heyday. The self-adjusting difficulty will allow for even the most novice of gamer to pick up and play.
"Join Madelyn as she battles through graveyards, swamps, castles, countryside and more! Polished gameplay, breathtaking visuals, jaw-dropping dual soundtracks and epic adventures await!"
Fancy any of that? Battle Princess Madelyn has a free pre-alpha demo. Head this way to download it on Steam, and over here to do so on IndieDB.
