KeeperRL is a sandbox style dungeon builder with roguelike mechanics currently seeking funding on Indiegogo. While KeeperRL is a commercial project, the software itself is open source.
Basic Information
Players: 1
Ages: 13+ (Our estimate)
Time: Unlimited
Estimated Delivery: December 2014 – May 2015
Location: Gdynia, Poland
Game overview
Forum: KeeperRL
KeeperRL is an opensource dungeon simulator game inspired by Dungeon Keeper and Dwarf Fortress. You become an evil wizard seeking the ultimate knowledge of destruction. You can control your minions, and explore and conquer the world in a roguelike fashion. Combat is turn-based and very tactical. The whole world is procedurally generated.
What’s already done?
KeeperRL is already playable. This is an alpha version, so it has an unfinished feel and a few bugs.
Main features already implemented:
- Digging and building a dungeon with 11 room types.
- 15 types of creatures available as minions.
- 4 races of enemies that dwell in villages or underground. Lure them to your dungeon or slaughter inside their homes.
- Full combat mechanics.
- Many items including armor, weapons, scrolls, potions, etc.
- Adventure mode.
Campaign Specifics
Goal: $5,000
Pledge Tiers: 6 tiers ranging from $7 to $600
End Date: May 25, 2014 (11:59pm PT)
Funding Type: Fixed
Chances of success
This is not the first sandbox dungeon simulator that I’ve seen, but that’s fine. This one seems to have a fair amount of features already available, and if the campaign is successful, will have many additional features. While Michał plans on going commercial, and specific content will be for sale only, the base software will remain open source. Maintaining an open source framework while pursuing a commercial software venture is a smart business strategy. Open source packages do not mean less revenue, they mean additional revenue because of a larger potential customer base.
One of the largest advantages the project has going for it is the fact that there’s an alpha proof of concept. It’s something people can get their hands on right now and try out. And that seems to be helping. It’s notoriously difficult to get support on Indiegogo, but the campaign is almost 20% funded and it’s only been about 3 days.
In addition, the campaign includes tiers for early access to the product. As I’ve mentioned in many other campaigns, having early access tiers is a great way to engage backers while also getting feedback on a product before its final release.