Ex-WayForward Yacht Club Games kickstarts retro action game 'Shovel Knight'
Yacht Club Games, the developer formed by Sean Velasco and other WayForward expats, has revealed its first game, Shovel Knight, a "hot mashup of new and old that may remind you of Mega Man, Castlevania, or Dark Souls!" The side-scrolling, "pumped-up 8-bit" action game stars a knight who wields a ShovelBlade against "The Order of No Quarter" on his quest to defeat an Enchantress.
"When thinking of the initial concept, we started by saying 'what if we built a whole game around a downward sword thrust? It would be great to sink into dirt, attack foes by stabbing from above, and maybe even bounce on hard ground,'" Yacht Club writes. "'Ok, digging as a major mechanic... how about it's a shovel instead of a sword? That way, we can have him use the flat blade of the spade to flip things over and slash!'"
Yacht Club seeks $75,000 on Kickstarter to complete the game. Digital copies of Shovel Knight on PC are awarded starting at $10. Other rewards include the official soundtrack album (by Jake "Virt" Kaufman) at $60, an invitation to "design meetings and hangouts" at $75 (really?) and, of course, a yacht party with the Yacht Club at $5,000.
