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A Brief Look At 'Artizens' - Yet Another Amazing Looking Indie Game On Kickstarter

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Artizens is an indie 2D monster-hunting game that takes customization and crafting to a whole new level.

Artizens is shooting for a modest $30,000 crowdfunding goal on Kickstarter. It's one of the most unique looking games I've seen on the site, bringing character customization, co-op play, and community-created content to the 2D monster-hunting action title.

Check out the Kickstarter pitch to get a feel of what the game is all about:

I love the idea of no two characters ever looking or playing quite the same way---unique snowflakes each and every one.

This is one of my greatest complaints with so many RPGs: I can customize characters to some degree or another in most of them, but even after I've geared up and customized my character, they still end up looking pretty much the same.

This is particularly evident in games like Diablo III or Path of Exile, with starting characters that are quite literally identical from one player to the next, and gear that never really does enough to set them apart.

Even in games like Dragon's Dogma, with its plethora of body types, one's character still drifts toward the generic.

Artizens remedies this with its enormous customization options. You hunt monsters and use items you find in your hunts to craft new items. You can even draw your own items, armor, etc. with the game's built-in modding tool. Or, if you don't care to draw your own, you can use material created by other players.

You can cobble together basically anything you want, giving your character customization basically unlimited freedom. It's sort of the "open-world" concept applied to your character.

Here's some gameplay footage, showing off the "intelligent" monsters you encounter, as well as the myriad customization options. It looks fun!

I'm a big fan of all the really innovative 2D side-scrolling games that have been coming out lately. It's basically a 2D renaissance emerging in an age of 3D gaming.

That being said, I hope that if this game is a success, the developers move on to create a full 3D version as well. The limitations of side-scrollers are precisely what make the games so interesting, but I'd still love to see this level of customization in a Dark Souls or Elder Scrolls style RPG.

The game's developer, Artizens (this game is apparently the video game equivalent of a self-titled album) will be releasing the title on Windows, Mac, and Linux, which is a neat trend in many indie projects on Kickstarter. They list, among others, Monster Hunter and Mega Man as inspirations.

With over a year of development under their belts, the team is looking to fund the next six months in order to open up alpha gameplay to backers.

"We plan on releasing more and more content over time," they write on the Kickstarter page, "so both the challenges you face and the tools you’ll have at your disposal will be constantly evolving. We want this to be an ongoing game with an ongoing community and ongoing content."

Head over to the project page to check out the reward tiers, game music, and other information including details on the game world and the risks and challenges.

With over $6,000 raised and a full 27 days left to go, this is one project that not only looks like it will succeed, but that I'm really hoping does succeed. Hopefully the game itself inspires more developers to implement deeper customization and player-generated content models into their games as well.

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