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The Joystiq Indie Pitch: The Secret Castle
Indie developers are the starving artists of the video-game world, often brilliant and innovative, but also misunderstood, underfunded and more prone to writing free-form poetry on their LiveJournals. We at Joystiq believe no one deserves to starve, and many indie developers are entitled to a fridge full of tasty, fulfilling media coverage, right here. This week, John Francis of Platronic Games is way too humble when discussing the outstanding 3D graphics of his hidden-object title, The Secret Castle. Seriously, watch both of the included videos for a full run-down of the truly amazing tilt-3D mechanics. What's your game called and what's it about? The Secret Castle is a 3D hidden-object and puzzle game that follows Jonas Lyons, a young boy who begins to have strange dreams about a mysterious castle after moving into a new home. How exactly is The Secret Castle "reinventing the genre" of hidden-object games? I can't say I exactly planned this but a lot of things happened when we instituted the 3D system. There's not really any easy way to spam the screen just hoping to find things, which is one way to play traditional hidden-object games. Also, the 3D really makes the player engage in a whole new way because the game is constantly giving feedback as the player looks for stuff. Also, it's the only hidden object game I know of with a boss fight.
