Metroidvania platformer The Legend of Iya takes to Kickstarter

The Legend of Iya began as a childish project in the former-Soviet Union, 25-years ago, the work of a ten-year old boy, Andrew Bado, learning to code on a ZX Spectrum. Bado, now a professional pixel artist working for various games companies, has spent the last decade rebuilding the game in more lush tones, rebooting it, never quite finding the time to finish his pet project.

That is, until now. He's determined to finish the game in the next year, and has stepped up to Kickstarter to help make that happen, seeking $75,000 to pay for extra work on the game, like programming, art and sounds, as well as living expenses as he completes the project.

The Legend of Iya is an open-world 2D platformer featuring a small girl lost in a forest filled with mutant enemies and big bosses.

"It's a crazy never-ending project that I've been working on since I was ten," said Bado. "It's been reset four or five times. I'm a pixel artist who works for professional game companies, so I never had time to finish. Well, now is the time. I have a year.

"As I am a pixel artist by trade, the game features top-shelf pixel graphics and animation reminiscent of 16 and early 32-bit era, with lush, varied environments, tons of animation and detail, and some crazy-huge set-pieces," he added.