An intriguing little mash-up of genres has appeared on Kickstarter called Omni Link. The game plans to combine real-time tactical combat with the traditional visual novel experience to deliver something truly unique. I ended up throwing my dollars in mainly because I am interested in the development cycle. When studying game theory this popular debate always arises: Narratology or Ludology, or in layman’s terms: Story versus gameplay. Action games and Platformers tend to follow Ludology and visual novels are almost entirely entrenched in Narratology, so I’m sure you can understand my interest in seeing the two come together.
How does one blend in real-time action into a Visual Novel?
The first thing I noticed was that the creator has launched 5 previous Kickstarters. 2 Out of the 5 were successfully funded and delivered and the other three seem to be earlier versions of Omni Link. It looks like this game has been in development for a very long time and the developer is coming to Kickstarter to finish it off. The game itself sounds quite intriguing, the player can transform into a spaceship to engage in real-time battles. There is a demo available on the Kickstarter page for you to try out, which I do recommend (It took hours for me to download, so clear your schedule!) if you are interested. The game itself has a story that like most Visual Novels is influenced by your choices and reminds me a little of Transformers.
Not ashamed to say that she’s hot for a robot.
“There is something called “The Virus” which has awakened near the edge of the galaxy. People are painfully discovering that this is a real threat. The Virus consumes everything it touches.”– Omni Link Kickstarter
All in all, I like the idea. I do think the Kickstarter page is a little short and lacks detail on the team and such, but I do like it. I also think this Kickstarter needs help. It hasn’t had that huge lurch of immediate backing that characterizes a lot of successful Kickstarters, at the moment there are only 14 backers and one of them is me. This is a project I personally want to see, so I’m selfishly going to push you in the direction of the Omni Link Kickstarter and say “Go for it”. Let’s start a fire in the comments with this question: Are Visual Novels games?
I went to check it out and was almost sold on the text pitch, which did not really mention the action elements. At least until I saw the video and saw what the non-VN elements were and I was all “ewwww”. I hate that type of gameplay. So I’m passing based solely on that.
Really? Ah well it has my $10, I just like the premise