Kickstarter Focus: Full Bore

Looking like a combination of Terraria and the digging minigame of Okami, Full Bore is one of the most polished games on Kickstarter at the moment, and they even have a demo available as proof of their current investment in the game. With a sharp but simple pixel art style and solid gameplay mechanics available right from the start, Full Bore looks like a unique puzzle game that would be a refreshing change from the recent plethora of 3D platform puzzles. The game also boasts more character than anything I’ve seen on Kickstarter, and it’s comparable to major games like Fez, Limbo, Bastion, and Sword & Sworcery. The most surprising price about the game is its low Kickstarter goal—just $12,500, well below the average asking price for a game of its caliber.

In Full Bore, you play as the average boar who’s hit some tough times in life and needs to find treasure underground to support his family. The underground area is huge and open-world. Although it’s not randomly generated (as far as I can tell), it’s still incredibly complex and should be fun to explore around for fans of Terraria in particular. You use your strength to dig through the underground, avoiding hazards such as falling debris and…lasers. The game developers seem very happy about those lasers, so I expect some kind of Super Meat Boy-level-difficulty to happen with them in the late game. Ancient technology deep underground starts to hinder you as you dig deeper, but power-ups and abilities will allow you to explore more and more.

The animations and graphics for the game are very complex and detailed, for a game that is only in its demo stages. The character animation when Frederick looks up at a falling block is especially comical, and shows that the artist and designers have put a lot of thought into the small things of the game. The character designs for the other boars have an impressive amount of variation, making exploration even more fun as you meet these other characters. This kind of polish on a Kickstarter game is a bit unprecedented, and shows that the team not only knows what they are doing, but they are also very confident and invested in their project.

There’s a level designer that may or may not come with the final game, and it shows that the game is in its very last development stages. Coupled with the huge variation of blocks, unique puzzles, fun gameplay, and lasers, this game has plenty of content to put out a regular game, and can only improve from here. Their goal with their Kickstarter campaign is to support the developers, finish the game, and see what people think of the game. The game would theoretically be finished by March 2013, if they meet their goal (which, again, is very conservative for what they are trying to attempt—it shows that they already put a lot of their own funds into the game). Their stretch goals include Linux and Mac support, as well as expansion packs for the game. If you enjoy 2D puzzle platformers, be sure to check out the Full Bore Kickstarter campaign page and support them!