Knights and Bikes is a fictionalised recreation of co-creator Rex Crowle's boyhood in Cornwall, riding around on his bike and pretending to be a medieval knight; Crowle and his partner Moo Yu are a powerhouse pair of game developers, part of the Little Big Planet core team, and they've tapped some fantastic artistic and musical talent to work on the game as well.
This capsule description says it all, really: "Inspired by games like Earthbound and Secret of Mana and films such as The Goonies, we would like to take these, along with of our favorite childhood memories, and channel it all through our years of experience making games."
The combination of a hand-drawn 3D world with SNES-style RPG play and a 1980s, magic realist setting — and kids on bikes — make this not quite like anything I've ever seen, and yet exactly like something I've just realised I've been waiting for most of my adult life.
They've confirmed PC/Mac/Linux versions — with more to come as stretch goals — and are looking to raise £100K. The game's team has shipped a lot of top-quality indie and studio games, and are a good bet to deliver this too. £12 gets you a download of the game for your platform of choice; higher tiers grant beta access and goodies like tees, handmade plushies, stickers, etc. At very high tiers, you can appear as a character in the game, design a level/enemy, and get to work with the dev team for a day, getting a masterclass in games development.
Knights and Bikes [Foam Sword/Kickst
