Yesterday, Berlin-based Megagon Industries finally started the Kickstarter campaign for their much-awaited biking game Lonely Mountains: Downhill (LMD). In addition, they revealed a new trailer for the game!
Between our last update on LMD and the start of Kickstarter, Megagon Industries made headlines after winning the ‘Best International Indie Game’ award at PGA 2017, the largest computer games and multimedia entertainment fair in Poland. But the game already generated buzz numerous times before: It received tons of positive feedback at Gamescom, 2nd Place Audience Award at Indigo 2017 (the largest independent games showcase in the Netherlands), and was Greenlit with 93 % positive votes in just 4 days, just to mention a few.
The campaign’s goal is to collect €35,000 (approximately $41,000). More than 30 % of the goal has been reached in the first 24 hours. Rewards for making a pledge include, for example, having a tree planted in the game world by the devs, mentions in the credits, various digital goodies, Gamescom Showcase version of the game, choosing an animal which will be added to the game or receiving a hand-painted 3D-printed figure of the little biker.
Probably the most interesting piece of the information revealed for Kickstarter is the size of the game. In the end, it was decided that the base version of Lonely Mountains: Downhill would include 6 handcrafted mountains inspired by the real-world locations. They will be the Alps, the Canadian Rockies, the Grand Canyon (the developers are aware that it’s not a mountain), the Scandinavian Misty forests and Indian summer. Of course, to get the most out of all mountains, it will be necessary to unlock more bikes!
Also, there’s a plan to design one mountain in cooperation with the community, although the developers have yet to think out how to do it.
Several game modes have been introduced as well. They will be unlockable throughout the game.
Classic Time Trial Mode: Go for the best-time and don’t hold back as you can restart each section as often as you like.
Challenge Mode: Overcome specific challenges, ranging from finding short cuts, making certain jumps or reaching specific locations.
Hard Time Trial Mode: Failed attempts will count as a penalty to your best time – giving you the challenge to find the right trade off between risk vs. reward.
One Life Mode: Only for the toughest riders. You will feel your adrenaline rising with every meter you get closer to the finishing line and just be praying that you won’t hit that one rock you normally hit every ******* time!
Each game mode, mountain and section will have its own leaderboard.
The developers emphasise that their goal is to create original, fun biking game, where players can choose their tempo, whether they want to admire beautiful nature from the main route, explore hidden locations using the off-road ride or just go into “full speedrun mode.” To enhance the experience, there will be no signs or spectators, only the unspoiled nature, and the sounds of wind and animals in the background.
You can find more info directly on the Kickstarter page of LMD.
The game release is still planned primarily for Windows/Mac/Linux in mid-2018 via Steam but “potentially also Humble Store and Good Old Games as well as Itch.io.”
Last but not least, here’s (I think I can say) amazing trailer for Lonely Mountains: Downhill containing pre-alpha footage:
“It’s just you and the mountain.”