The Girl from Arkanya | A pixel art treasure hunting RPG
Created by Arkanya Games
A top-down, 2D action RPG following the journey of an ambitious young treasure hunter and her capybara companion.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Thank you all for an incredible campaign!
over 3 years ago
– Tue, Sep 08, 2020 at 12:13:14 PM
It's over, its finally over! Apologies for the wait, we took a short break after the campaign ended but now we're back and ready to get to work!
Word of advice for those who hope to run their own campaign some day, it's HARD! We had everyone telling us it was going to be hard and we still weren't fully prepared. Before you start, make sure you'd ready to dedicate your entire life to your Kickstarter campaign for a whole month.
So we really did it, we passed every single stretch goal!
You continued support has made Kapi all the more powerful.
Quite a few payments didn't go through (so check to make sure yours did if you want your rewards!) but even with that, we comfortably crossed the final goal. For those who aren't up to speed on it, we have a planned expansion for Arkanya which will include a new overworld map, two new dungeons, and many new quests! When this releases, everyone who backed the campaign will receive the update for free!
We're going to be continuing to provide updates for Kickstarter backers right up to when the game releases and probably for awhile after. I'll be putting out a survey very soon to ask if you'd rather see small but frequent updates, or bigger updates once a month or so.
We're currently figuring out how exactly we want to handle getting everyone their backer discord ranks. I'll be honest with you, we were not expecting there to be 1300 of you, but it's our #1 priority for next week! Many of you should have your rank as early as Monday, so look forward to it!
For those who purchased the beta tester tier, our current schedule puts early testing in mid to late October. Testing will be organized via Discord, though we can make other accommodations if necessary. However, it certainly makes our lives easier if you're in the discord server.
We also have exciting news! Lots of folks have requested it, so we will be doing a Backerkit! We can't say which physical rewards will be available for purchase quite yet, but it should be the majority of those that were available during the campaign, and maybe a few surprise ones? Physical reward fulfillment will be timed with the games release, and we will be updating on Kickstarter with previews of said products whenever we feel they are ready. If you have any questions about this, please feel free to ask. Otherwise, be on the look out for the Backerkit email to go out in the next few weeks!
Today we're featuring Vigour Games, who just recently started a Kickstarter for their game Growl!
Its a sort of psychological, social deduction card game about werewolves, where humans trade bites and wounds during the day, and the werewolves give bites anonymously at night. It's a fast-paced game that's perfect for parties! Check it out here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/vigour/growl-madness-and-plagues?ref=73wy3q
Their trailer is pretty funny, so at the very least go give that a watch!
Rob and I are a bit pressed for time at the moment, so we're going to be back early next week with more info. Thank you all again so much for the amazing support you've given us, and please have a wonderful weekend!
-BeanBandit, Lead Arkanya Developer
Just two days left!
over 3 years ago
– Sun, Sep 06, 2020 at 05:28:10 AM
Hello again you outstanding people! I can't believe we're finally here. The final 2 days. We are fantastically close to our final stretch goal and getting all our wonderful backers their free expansion! That's a new overworld map, two new dungeons, and all sorts of new quests! So please, spread the word!
I have some great news, Pinkedalink, otherwise known as Kale, will be joining the team as a dedicated artist! That frees me up to focus more on the technical side of development, and it's thanks to your overwhelming support that we are now able to do this! So thank you all for giving us this amazing opportunity! In case you are concerned, Clozy will still be producing all major promotional art for Arkanya, as well as the majority of the art book. Kale's main focus, aside from creating the game manual, will be in-game art such as the dialogue portraits mentioned in our stretch goals!
Here's a portrait of Ari she sent me just this morning, in fact. One down, a whole bunch to go!
Check this out!
Capstone from the Arkanya discord made this awesome bead picture of the Arkanya cover art with his girlfriend! They even framed it! How cool is that?
I'd go as far to say it's the best-looking thing in the room!
The costume contest is ending soon!
This coming Sunday is the last day to get your entries in! DM them to us or email them at [email protected]. Or better yet, join our discord and post them to the contest channel!
So one of our goals with Arkanya, especially now that we're working on couch co-op, is to have it be a game that parents play with their children. So it really made our day when one of our fans, Chris, reached out to us to tell us how excited his son Dominic was about the game! And better yet, Dominic had lots of entries for the costume contest!
Thank you so much, Dominic and Chris! I really hope that one day you look back on Arkanya as one of the games you loved growing up!
We also have an outstanding entry from Totostuck on twitter! This one is a combination traditional art/pixel art entry, which I always absolutely love to see!
I think Marisa looks super cute as a brunette, and Kapi is wearing little mittens on his feet! How can you not love that!
Did you know Sunday was Marisa's birthday? You do now!
Ari's birthday is 4/10, if you're curious. Kapi has transcended beyond the concept of time and therefore does not recognize birthdays. He does, however, love a good cake!
LightBreak, and The Red Opera
We have TWO kickstarter campaigns to show you today! First up is LightBreak, a game that looks super cool but I'm not sure I fully understand! So I'll let the game's creators describe it instead!
LightBreak is a narrative driven aural game that uses music as a core gameplay element and encourages players to listen while they play. LightBreak is inspired by Ludomusicology principles as well as games like Monument Valley and GRIS. The dev team is being mentored by the Producer of Harmonix's PS2 Hit; Frequency.
I have no idea what Ludomusicology is, but these folks are doing something very impressive here! The creators asked me to put in another gif here but you know I like to go off script, and this is a music game! It should be heard! So I tracked down their trailer on youtube, please give it a watch
Next up we have The Red Opera! Who are my Dungeons and Dragons fans here? What about metal lovers? Now I'm more of a power metal guy myself, but I do enjoy some good symphonic metal from time to time! Well The Red Opera is a D&D 5e campaign based on a stage show by the band DiAmorte, and each chapter of the campaign is set to a track performed by the Budapest Symphonic Scoring Orchestra! To top it all off, the project is sponsored by the Heavy Metal Hall of Fame!
Check out the animated trailer
The Red Opera has already passed its funding goal within 40 minutes, which is just absurd to me, but good on them! If tabletop RPGs are your thing, this is definitely one worth checking out.
They have some really neat art, thought you guys might find that cool.
Well that's all I have for you today! I'll be back most likely Friday to do a bit of a postmortem on the KS campaign and give you a bit of info on how we'll be proceeding from here. Thank you all, and lets finish this out strong!
-BeanBandit, Lead Arkanya Developer
One week left, one stretch goal to go! And we've started work on the game manual
over 3 years ago
– Sun, Sep 06, 2020 at 05:26:19 AM
Hello once again! For awhile there it felt like this campaign would never end, but here we are in the final week. And better yet, we have only a single stretch goal to go!
Arkanya Game Manual
Those who have followed the project for awhile may remember that Pinkedelink, the in-game voice actress for Marisa (not to be confused with EllieQVO who played Marisa in the trailer) also does quite a bit of Arkanya fan art. Well, she and I started talking awhile ago and we decided that she would be assisting with the creation of the Arkanya game manual! So today we have a rough draft of a page from the manual to show you!
Isn't that ridiculously cute? Now keep in mind, the sketches in the finished product will be in full-color! Probably. Really its all up in the air right now, because we want to hear what you think! We want this to be a manual that will be both informative, and also a fun collectible item!
The premise behind the manual is that it's Marisa's adventuring journal, meant to teach other aspiring treasure hunters how to be as great as she is! This journal will of course contain instructions for the game, but also maps, secret hints, and story info! So tell us what you think in the comments, or ping me on discord! I'd love to hear from you!
Featured Contest Entries
Just going to repost the contest info for today. Look forward to lots of new entries next week!
Please don't procrastinate, it makes my job harder!
Check out Lost Ruins on Kickstarter!
I know most of you came here for the capybara, but for those of you craving games about cute girls in spooky dungeons, consider checking out Lost Ruins! It's a side-scrolling action game packed with loads of weapons, spells, and awesome light effects! Altari Games did a wonderful job of combining modern particle effects with retro pixel graphics to make a very intense and beautiful aesthetic!
They have a demo out now, so you can check that out too! But they've only got 6 days to go, so don't wait too long! Here's their kickstarter page: http://kck.st/2PhaA5V
Well that's all I have for you today, see you next week and please have a wonderful weekend!
-BeanBandit, Lead Arkanya Developer
Coming in to the final stretch!
over 3 years ago
– Sun, Sep 06, 2020 at 05:25:41 AM
Hello everyone and thank you for joining me once again for another Arkanya update! It is super early, oh God why are we doing this at 5am? The final week is almost upon us, as of 2pm EST this Thursday as a matter of fact. Things are starting to pick up a little bit with the fundraising again, and for the most part the mid-campaign slump didn't hit us as bad as it could have. Our project budget is looking strong, and the final stretch goal is within reach! But first we're gonna talk about the one we're much closer to.
Bonus Dungeon
This area is very much still a work in progress, so please excuse the mess!
Sadly I can't show you the inside of it because it'll probably be the very last thing we make. But Rob has been hard at work on the exterior! Those of you who played the Arkanya demo/prototype might have an idea of where this is going to be. If not, this is the church in Arkanya, and the bonus 9th dungeon lies beneath it!
The story behind this dungeon will take a look at the history of this church, which actually predates the city of Arkanya. Though the surface is a place of peace and serenity, Xolotl's necromancy has corrupted the catacombs below. That's all I'll say about that, though!
This will be a no-holds barred dungeon for players who have already beaten the rest of the game. Every obtainable item will be fair game when designing puzzles, even those from side quests. Enemies will be brutal. And you can bet it's gonna be long! But the rewards will be greater than you'll find anywhere else, as this post-game dungeon will follow the same philosophy as the rest of the game: Greater dangers give greater riches.
More Featured Contest Entries
Today we've got several entries from both BulletPetit and Hto_TheCL, both of whom you can find on twitter. I'm starting to think these two are in a competition to see who can overload the contest with the most entries. Or possibly who can get us sued the fastest, as you'll see below. But we'll figure that one out if and when they get selected.
I love that Hto has started getting Ari involved too! She really deserves it!
The clock is ticking, so get your entries in! The official last day of the contest is Sunday, Sept. 6th. Whatever is in my inbox when I wake up Monday morning will be voted on! You may post your entries to our contest channel on Discord, DM them to us on twitter, or email them to us at [email protected].
Dwerve has launched on Kickstarter!
What the heck is a Dwerve? Well I'm glad you asked! You all always have the best questions when I imagine myself talking to you. Dwerve is a dungeon crawler mashed together with a tower defense game!
So not only are you exploring dungeons, looking for treasure, and advancing a story like you'd expect from a typical dungeon-crawling RPG, you're also laying down traps and turrets to fend off endless hordes of enemies!
Best of all, in my opinion, it has some of the finest pixel art I've seen in quite some time!
They sent us steam keys about a month ago. It's super fun, I promise you!
Dwerve literally just launched on Kickstarter like two hours ago so don't miss out on those early backer bonuses! Check it out here: http://kck.st/2YzMkB4
I couldn't find a way to make Dwerve about capybaras. I'm sorry, I really did try. Although dwarves are kinda like... no, I can't. It's still great! Please go check out their page at the very least, they really deserve it.
That's all I've got for you today, please check back Thursday when I'll be showing off a page from the rough draft of our game manual! Thank you all and have a wonderful week!
-BeanBandit, Lead Arkanya Developer
Backer tier discounts and we hit a stretch goal!
over 3 years ago
– Thu, Sep 03, 2020 at 02:47:19 AM
Hello again! I hope you're all doing very well today! Let's skip straight into the big news this time:
BackerTierAdjustments
Yup, we're slashing some prices on the upper tiers!
So first off, we're completely deleting the Design a Capybara tier. Instead, everyone who has purchased or is going to purchase the Kapi pillow will now also get to design an in-game capybara! This includes making decisions about their name, their color, their outfit (yes, they can have clothes!), and their personality. That's double the capybara for your money!
The other changes are that we're discounting DesignanEnemy by $250, and DesignanNPC by $300! Both of these tiers also come with your own in-game capybara, so you won't miss out on the real prize there.
For every pillow you buy, we are one huge step closer to our final stretch goal. But also another Kapi pillow enters the world, which is perhaps the greatest reward of all!
Stretch Goal Reached: Pixel Art Cutscenes!
We talked about this one previously when we first revealed it, but let's go ahead and go over it again for old time's sake! There are multiple key points throughout the Arkanya story which we would like to represent in cutscene form. Some of you may not know what we mean by pixel art cutscenes, because honestly the name isn't very clear. This video of the opening from Oracle of Seasons will hopefully give you an idea of what these will be like:
Now, not every single one is going to be that elaborate. Some will be panning shots of large pixel art pieces, with a bit of animation to them. We're already starting to plan those out more in-depth and I really think you're going to love them and be more immersed in our world because of them!
A Preview of Some New Arkanya Art
We now have the official concept art for Ari! This will be featured, along with other incredible Clozy art, in our upcoming art book!
Just cannot believe how cute she came out, I hope you all fight extra hard to protect her!
Follow Clozy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ClozyOzy, he posts cool art all the time!
More Featured Contest Entries
As usual, I have some more contest entries I'd like to show you all! If you don't know what contest I'm talking about, please check out Update #2!
From our good friend Lou, creator of Dusk Tactics (@DuskTactics on Twitter), it's a crossover costume!
It's Marisa and Kapi dressed as Emma and Alton from Dusk Tactics!
Next up is a pirate costume from DubniumGames, creator of Leafvale!
And finally, we have an entry from Kirstie Rutter (@KirstieRutter on Twitter) that includes both pixel art AND a sketch!
Some of y'all are just insanely talented, I don't even know what to say sometimes.
Featured Spotlight: Cafe Chaos
Woah, we have a card game to show you this time!
Cafe Chaos has raised over $300,000 so far, and deservedly so! It's a family friendly card game about the world's most chaotic food fight. You'll have to dodge, hide, and throw epic food combos to avoid being eliminated! Who will reign supreme in this chaotic food frenzy? Could it be you? That's a rhetorical question, all Arkanya fans are winners so obviously it's gonna be you. Click HERE to check out the Cafe Chaos Kickstarter page!
Well this was a long one but we made it, that's all I've got for you today. Thank you all again and I'll be back Thursday for our mid-campaign update as we begin the second half of our Kickstarter campaign!
