While the real-life landing of the 2000-pound rover Curiousity on Mars this morning definitely seems like science fiction now, it’s a fun experiment to go back in time and see what our forefathers thought we might have encountered within the far reaches of outer space. Dreamers of the past predicted vast worlds full of intelligent (and occasionally grotesque) extraterrestrial life. While today we now know that any possibility of life on Mars would only be in the form of microscopic organisms, we can’t rule out Venus, right?
While the real-life landing of the 2000-pound rover Curiousity on Mars this morning definitely seems like science fiction now, it’s a fun experiment to go back in time and see what our forefathers thought we might have encountered within the far reaches of outer space. Dreamers of the past predicted vast worlds full of intelligent (and occasionally grotesque) extraterrestrial life. While today we now know that any possibility of life on Mars would only be in the form of microscopic organisms, we can’t rule out Venus, right?
Alright, pretend that we also don’t know anything about life on Venus, either. Jack Houston and the Necronauts is an upcoming Kickstarter project that’s nearing a launch of its own, and it aims to capture the glorious essence of old-time pulp sci-fi serials. “This Venus is a sweltering vine jungle teaming with strange beasts of horn, tooth and claw,” announces Warbird Games. “This is the world of adventure imagined and glorified in sci-fi magazines and novels of the 40’s and 50’s.”
Starring the titular tough guy Jack Jouston, it’s up to you to discover the secrets behind the mysterious beasts of Venus, including their ability to animate the dead. The game, while constructed as a point-and-click adventure with the “old school” in mind, will be using an entirely unique form of graphical appeal: stop motion.
Remember when science fiction films used carefully constructed puppets in order to create realistic monsters, rather than an overuse of computer generated green screen effects? Jack Houston hopes to recreate that feel by employing the help of Odyssey Pictures – building tiny worlds that appear larger than life to make things feel like your own personal classic sci-fi adventure.
Jack Houston is looking for $55,000, and they couldn’t be closer with over $52,000 raised and three days of funding remaining. $15 gets a DRM-free copy of the game, $100 gets a boxed game with a “Pulp Motion” featurette on the creation of creature puppets, and the sky is the limit beyond that, including a $1,000 tier for a life-size replica of Jack’s ray gun.
If you want to travel back to a time where space was a little bit more exciting, help Jack Houston‘s Kickstarter and help him lift off before it’s too late.
Project Name: Jack Houston and the Necronauts
Platforms: PC
Funds Needed: $50,000
Funding Acquired (as of this writing): $52,298
Days Left: 3
Kickstarter Picks is a series of features on Gamezebo that will profile Kickstarter projects in the world of video games. We’re doing this in the hopes of calling attention to interesting projects in need of funding, so please, if a game looks like something you’d want to play, don’t hesitate to lend it your support!
