Originally conceived of as an animated series, Karma. Incarnation 1 is a visually unique point-and-click adventure game that is currently featured on Steam Greenlight, as well as the crowdfunding website, IndieGoGo. We took some time to talk with Audrey Sharapov, the head producer at AuraLab, and here is what he had to tell us about the game:
Could you tell us about using Indiegogo as a way to get your game funded?
Andrey: We really wanted to remain independent. We’ve had proposals from various investors and publishers already, but we are currently trying to get funded without a third-party, so that we can make the game without any cuts. However, if we are unsuccessful with crowdfunding, we will go that way.
What made you decide to create a point-and-click adventure game?
Andrey: All of our team love to play these kinds of games, so we got together and decided to create a game we all dreamed of. I can count all of the really good point-and-click adventures published over the last 5 years on one hand, and all of them had great commercial success.
What inspired “Karma. Incarnation 1”, and who thought of the name?
Andrey: At first, Alexander started to do an animated series about the laws of karma. However, when he looked at the results, he decided that he would create a game instead. First, the prototype was built with his colleague in Flash, which was then submitted to a game contest. I found the game there, I really liked the amazing graphics and concept, but I saw that the team had no game production experience and proposed to help as a game producer.
We had worked on the concept, game-design, and production plan for some time now, and we were very happy with results. In turn, we decided to create the game together and founded AuraLab. After that, we employed a programmer with Unity3D experience, Yury Kuptsevich. Yury had worked on Outorce, one of my previous games, and built a 2nd (current) prototype in Unity3D. I also asked Roman Povolotsky to help us, he’s another very experienced game producer; we had worked together previously, as well. He loved the visuals and idea of Karma. So, here we are!
How would you explain “Karma. Incarnation 1” to someone unfamiliar with the game?
Andrey: Karma. Incarnation 1 is a psychedelic 2D point-and-click adventure that tells the story about an incarnation of a strange creature named Pip in a surreal world.
What has been the biggest challenge since you’ve been working on “Karma. Incarnation 1”?
Andrey: My personal challenge, as a producer, was having to cut some great ideas for locations, characters and art. Essentially, this was because we can’t put it all into one small game, otherwise, it would require eternal development.
Could you tell us a little more about the gameplay, as well as the objective of the game?
Andrey: If we are talking about the objectives assigned to the player in this game – at first, Pip just wants to figure out who is he and why he is here, but as you progress through the storyline, he learns that his mission on this incarnation is actually to save the world. How does the gameplay look? – there are classical point-and-click quests, which you can see examples of in the gameplay trailer. I think it’s much easier to understand when seeing it in action.
Have there been any mechanics that you wanted to include, but didn’t make the cut?
Andrey: Yes, many actually. This is Pip’s first incarnation, with Incarnation 2 to come; assuming Incarnation 1 will be a success, of course. Pip will be a more advanced creature than the worm (1st incarnation), he’ll have legs, for example. It was planned to do locations in Incarnation 1 where Pip had temporary forms and abilities, but we cut this because it’d cause a great deal of problems for 1 location, decided to leave it for the next incarnation.
The art style of the game is very unique! Can you tell us some of the methods you used?
Andrey: It’s a question for our art director and ideologist Alexander Kuvshinov, I think he has some kind of astral vision like Pip and he takes images right from the cosmos or astral world =) And a some of sources of high inspiration were the animated series by Zumbakamera and Adventure Time.
Can you share something new about the game with us as an exclusive first for GameCloud?
Andrey: Okay, I can tell you something new about the storyline: there are three base races within the game. They will look like triangles, squares and circles, you can see two of them in gameplay trailer. Objective for Pip will be to bring them together to save the world he incarnated in, this is his mission in this incarnation.
Finally, how can we help, and when will our readers be able to go hands on with the game?
Andrey: If you like our project and want to see a full version of the game without any cuts in the release, you can back us on IndieGoGo http://igg.me/at/karma-inc1 (and get some additional materials, of course), vote for us on the Steam Greenlight, or just tell your friends about the campaign. We will be grateful for any help and will not disappoint you. =)
The release planned for around the end of 2014 – early 2015, but we will create a demo before this – I think about 3-4 months from now, so stay tuned to our updates on IndieGoGo.
IndieGoGo Campaign: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/karma-incarnation-1
