Spellirium, from Ponycorn Adventure dev, out in alpha now
Spellirium is a mix of classic graphic adventure game Loom and word scrambler Boggle, and it's available for pre-order now on developer Untold Entertainment's site. Pre-ordering Spellirium grants instant access to the alpha version for PC or Mac, which is almost complete but is missing sound and some ending cut-scenes, as creator Ryan Henson Creighton explains in the above video.
Spellirium has classic point-and-click adventure mechanics, but the core gameplay involves swapping letter tiles in the Spell Caster to create relevant words, rather than standard item manipulation. The word-find game goes deeper than spotting full words on a grid, sometimes asking players to look in specific directions or colors to complete puzzles. Pre-orders will go toward the final push on Spellirium's development, with different tiers and rewards. It's a "Kickender," as Creighton describes it.
Creighton is the father of Cassandra Creighton, the 5-year-old mastermind behind Sissy's Magical Ponycorn Adventure, 2011's breakout point-and-click oddity on the indie scene. Ryan Creighton has been developing games for 13 years for children's television shows in Toronto, but Spellirium is his first game for a broader public audience. He's trying to get it on Steam Greenlight, and it's due out "when it's finished."
