For fans of old-school RPG games, the appeal of Terra Incognita is its obvious devotion to the classics, throughout its visual style and gameplay mechanics. Incognita is developer Dan Steer's first project, and he is choosing to participate in fundraising via the website Kickstarter. This is where the other key to his appeal lies: Terra Incognita's Kickstarter page launched with a modest fundraising goal of a mere £500, a vast difference from others who are asking for sums in the thousands upon thousands.
As of February 19, 2013, however, not only has Terra Incognita met its fundraising goal entirely, but has doubled it, raising over £1,000 so far. In an update to the Kickstarter page that was distributed to supporters via email, this means that Steer can begin work on additional features for the game even beyond initial plans, including a curious "Pet Battle Arena" concept. Elaborating on this idea, Steer writes:
"This is a great little concept, well I say little but the plan is to include quite a few side quests related to collecting and training pets. They will not be used in normal battles, but battled against other pets and special Monsters in the Arena. Any ideas that you may have regarding this are welcomed, as are any designs/blueprints for pets."
One other game feature for Terra Incognita that the "extra" funding has "unlocked" is the use of supporter-contributed pixel art for various weapons and items that will be used in the game as an entire user-generated set of their own.
Fans of retro-style role-playing games already had something to cheer for with Terra Incognita. If they keep supporting it far and beyond the original fundraising goal, however, one can only wonder what Steer will do with his new available resources -- and if his promises can live up to the support he has been given thus far.
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Eric Bailey blogs at NintendoLegend.com, where he is reviewing every American-released NES video game. He also serves as Editor-In-Chief of retro gaming features site 1MoreCastle.com, and can be followed on Twitter @Nintendo_Legend.
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