We asked about how it will play. The goal, Payton says, is to create a touch-based game that functions wonderfully and responsively. There will be a certain amount of point and click, but again, the idea isn’t that you’re sending Hope to look at something as much as suggesting she explore it, since she’s not going to run into a heavily guarded room to look at a terminal if she doesn’t feel safe. We wanted to know how the team hopes to pace it for mobile gaming. Payton hinted that the team is planning to keep missions paced at no more than 10 minutes and load times should take seconds.
It sounds as though Republique will have a certain degree of ARG. Payton is working on the story with another writer, and they’re planning a sort of companion book to accompany the experience. It may not be necessary to your enjoyment, but it’s designed to help you understand the world you’re helping Hope escape. We asked about other hardware/ARG elements, such as push notifications/text messaging, but it’s not locked in. They may be flirting with the idea of FaceTime or Siri integration, as well.
At this point, the game is still in its fundraising phase, but pending success in that realm, they’re planning to buckle down and focus on building out the game and prototyping gameplay before implementing art. We wanted to know if there might be something for the public to check out come PAX Prime, but despite the team’s close proximity to the event, they’re planning to implement and work very heavily on it before showing it to anyone.
As of publishing time, the team has hit over $75,000 of its $500,000 goal and still has another three weeks to go on its Kickstarter campaign. Should Camouflaj and Logan be successful in their fundraising, you’ll be hearing more about Republique before its projected launch in Summer 2013.
