Simon Mesnard’s TBT: The Black Tower hopes to bring gamers back to the days of pre-rendered backgrounds and titanic swords.
Some classic games, had they been made today by the same people, would likely be completely different experiences. It doesn’t mean there was anything wrong with the original, it’s just a testament to the fact that people, trends, techniques and technology change with time. The tastes that led to a particular tone or decision in one decade may no longer exist today. This said, just because a style may be out of step with current favored flavors, it doesn’t mean there aren’t projects aimed at keeping it alive.
One such game-in-progress is TBT: The Black Tower, which hopes to recreate an RPG in the style of the PS1 games that helped introduce many fans to the genre in the mid-1990s. Following the quest of a futuristic forest ranger to save his planet, The Black Tower will feature old ideas like pre-rendered backgrounds, turn-based combat, and all the ridiculously massive swords a 1990s gamer could ever desire.
Despite being dedicated to an old school experience, The Black Tower’s developer, Simon Mesnard will be injecting a few new ideas to help keep it from being a complete retread. The game’s battle system will implement a system wherein three fighters are backed up by unique support characters with their own roles and special abilities. “Imagine that the 3 fighters have the usual options (attack, spells, etc…), but they will need the help of their 3 supporters behind to win,” said Mesnard. “During battle, the supporters won’t have the ‘attack’ command, which will be automatically replaced by a ‘support’ command. The effect of the ‘support’ will depend on your settings, but it can go from healing to stealing some precious XP or Skill Points, which will be distributed at the end of the battle.”
TBT: The Black Tower isn’t Mesnard’s first game. The indie developer previously produced ASA: A Space Adventure, whose story actually runs in parallel to The Black Tower’s. Mesnard and his partner are currently prepping a crowdfunding campaign to help them complete the game. The Black Tower can also be found on Steam Greenlight where its creators are soliciting opinions and feedback from interested gamers.
Source: IndieGames
