Andalusian presents Tangiers, an ambitious indie game that blends together stealth mechanics, a love for the avant-garde of 20th century art style, with a sprinkling of the Thief games. For those of you looking for something completely different from the normal cute art styles of indie games, or a break from AAA clones, give Tangiers a look.
Art style and stealth mechanics aside, Tangiers is an open-world exploration game where your goal is to remove five other beings, but first you have to find out who and where they are. There isn’t one style of gameplay that you’re forced into playing, you can approach this either by simply kidnapping your marks or assassinating them outright.
Language is literally your greatest tool: conversations physically manifest themselves and the player can collect these words, using them to their advantage by spreading dis-information, creating distractions, or using them as bait.
Alex Harvey is the head and creator of Andalusian, the studio behind the development of Tangiers. This tiny studio is based in Bristol, UK, and Tangiers is “truly going to be a very personal work of love.” Harvey hopes that Andalusian continues to grow and develop as a studio known for “making more mature, engaging games – games that look to a wider field of cultural and creative reference.”
Cliqist : How did you guys come up with the concept of Tangiers? Especially the art style because it’s so unique.
Alex Harvey : I wanted to keep the team small so that there’s the space for each team-members personality to show through in the different areas of the game. It was a long, winding road to Tangiers – starting off with wondering what the 2000AD comic strip Shakara! would be like in game form. Most of the ideas around that fell away, and we were left with something more streamlined and focused – A combination of my long standing love for the Thief games, and my equally long standing love for the darker, more confrontational avant-garde of the 20th century.
Cliqist : What sort of problems have you faced during the development of Tangiers?
Alex Harvey : Mostly that’d be lack of money – I quit my day job to focus on this full time and so far that’s been a massive shadow looming over my shoulder. Hence the Kickstarter campaign.
Cliqist : So apart from some revenue, what else do you and the team hope to achieve with Tangiers?
Alex Harvey : Well, apart from that, we’re looking forwards to building a community around the game. People we can bounce ideas off, get meaningful feedback from. In my mind, that’s just as important as the funding.
Cliqist : What other projects are you hoping to work on in the future if Tangiers is successful?
Alex Harvey : Well, if successful, I’d like to follow it up with something related – not a sequel proper, but something exploring completely different gameplay concepts, albeit within the spirit of Tangiers.
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For more information and updates on Tangiers head on over to the Kickstarter page or the official website. A tangible release date of mid-2014 has been set, but will be confirmed at a later date.
