The Unique Martial Art Movie Inspirations of Niten

Donald Macdonald (creator of Niten) and his dog

I covered Niten roughly a week ago, lauding the stellar visuals but also criticizing the lack of story info provided on the Kickstarter page. Since then, creator Donald Macdonald has been beefing up his campaign with a text-based adventure which ties into the gameplay; posting journal entries that flesh out parts of the story. After reading the entry, you are able to choose which part of the story you want Donald to post next, for example: “one [choice] takes you inland to the islands coastal forest and the other leads along the shoreline and up a steep gravel path.” The writing is compelling and definitely provides some added context to the gorgeous walking simulator.

With only a few days left in his campaign, Donald has raised about one-third of the £15,000 he’s asking for, and he’ll need all the help he can get to make Niten a reality. I reached out to Donald for a few comments on his inspiration for Niten. For Donald, Niten was a sensible design choice as it allowed him to consolidate his strengths as an up-and-coming game developer; focusing on environment design and a powerful storyline delivered through audio. Niten was born from Donald’s love for the history and romanticism of old-school martial arts flicks and the way they were able to convey beautiful landscapes and folklore through the silver screen. Making Niten has been an “intense and amazing” journey for Donald, and he can’t for everyone to check out the finished product.

You can track Niten’s progress in our Campaign Calendar.