What’s the last idea for a video game that you would imagine would come up on Kickstarter in 2015? Go on, take a guess.
How about a fighting game featuring prominent black celebrities of the jazz age? Yes, you will want to read all about this one. Introducing Hastings Paradise Harlem Renaissance.
Hastings Paradise Harlem Renaissance is the work of one Gerald Moore, who states he is an auto mechanic by day on his Deviantart. Gerald teaches martials arts and dabbles in a lot of creative work off duty, particularly indie comics.
The idea for the game is a time paradox that makes a girl from Detroid in 1937, named Eleanor Young, to meet a man named Shun in 2013. They discover that there is a conspiracy to stop legends from that era from making history. No word if either character is playable.
So, who did Gerald assemble for this game? Check out this motley crew of real life characters:
· Bessie Coleman
· Billie Holiday
· Dorothy Dandridge
· Duke Ellington
· Thurgood Marshall
· Josephine Baker
There are four more historical figures to be revealed in the future.
The game itself will simulate aesthetics from the Neo Geo Pocket fighting games, and it will play like Super Smash Bros, with dedicated attack, block, special, and super buttons.
Now, I’m sure some of you are scoffing at the game based on the premise alone, so watch some footage of the game in action, apparently all done by Gerald on his own:
Gerald projects he can deliver Legends mode to backers as early as April of this year, and the game with Legends and Versus Mode by June. Aside from the art and programming, he promises to make royalty free music for the game, which he will release freely as well. To get there, he is asking for $ 10,000. You can learn more and fund the game here.
