Rock, Paper, Shotgun

By Adam Smith on March 1st, 2013 at 8:00 pm.

There is so much news in this post. If it was a scotch egg, the breadcrumbs would be info-morsels, the sausage meat would be a mash of enlightening facts and biting into the egg itself would reveal the yolk to be a series of spinning newspapers. The first item on the agenda is the existence of a jousting RPG called Pixelry, which was released three years ago. That’s old news but it was new to me. The second revelation is that Pixelry will be heading to Kickstarter this month to complete its long journey to completion. The final point of note is that the current version is available to purchase at a price of your choosing on IndieGameStand for the next four days. Buy now, play now and receive the full version when it’s ready.

I’ve been playing with the current version this morning and rather enjoyed myself. From a town map, different locations can be selected, some offering shopping opportunities, others allowing customisation of the two jousting essentials: heraldry and horse. The chunky pixels are used to good effect during customisation, allowing even a nincompoop like me to paint my horse’s head a ridiculous colour. OF course, when purchases have been made and obscure logos have been put into place, there is jousting to be done.

A tap of the spacebar shifts the position of the lance and the cursor keys adjust speed and the height of the shield. Concentrate on slipping the lance by an opponent’s shield and you may neglect your own defence and opponents quickly become tricky, changing their attack at the last moment. Inventory items can aid mid-fight and equipment upgrades probably become essential sooner rather than later, but it’s a laid-back affair on the whole.

The Kickstarter funding will go toward adding new features, including “full horse care considerations”, and the final release will be called Pixelry Champions. During the four day promotion at IndieGameStand, 10% of the money spent on the game will be donated to Open Source Ecology.

Purchasing Pixelry from Indie Game Stand during this promotion will net you the version we refer to as Pixelry Classic, which is the alpha version of the game. We’ll be heading to Kickstarter in March to find funding to flesh the game out as Pixelry Champions. Everyone who purchases Pixelry Classic will receive Pixelry Champions at no extra cost as soon as it becomes available.

You can purchase Pixelry here at a price of your choosing, or for £3.49 on Desura.