Project Godus inside Curiosity Cube?

What is Project Godus?

So perhaps the hype behind the Curiosity app is all starting tommake sense. Is it all just part of the publicty for 22Cans reimaging of Populous? Yes, you heard that right , given the right Kickstarter funding Populous will soon be on Ipad and Android. 

If you've played Curiosity recently you'll have seen www.projectgodus.com emblazoned across the cube. Follow the link and you'll find the godfather of godgames is raising funds on Kickstarter. Here's the details of Project Godus-go along and fund it to give a great gaming Xmas present to Peter Molyneux! 

Kickstarter Details for new 22cans Game

It’s an innovative reinvention of Populous, the original god game and delivers exciting global co-operation, competition, creation and destruction to a whole new generation..

The dream at 22cans is to make gaming meaningful. We want to engage people in fresh new ways with accessible, delightful games and experiences. We’re calling them experiments. Curiosity – what’s inside the cube was the first of these and we’re taking what we’ve learnt from it and applying it to future projects such as our next step - GODUS. 

Populous was created over 22 years ago, and we believe that to date, nothing has come close to emulating its powerfully godlike experience. It’s this experience we aim to reimagine. GODUS blends the power, growth and scope of Populous with the detailed construction and multiplayer excitement of Dungeon Keeper and the intuitive interface and technical innovation of Black & White. The original Populous hailed from the 8-bit era but GODUSwill use the most modern technology the world has to offer. 

And you can help us make it!

• An essential part of GODUS is single player. We all love to take the time to hone our godly powers before venturing into the exciting multiplayer wars with other gods.
• It’s a living world, unique and detailed. And it’s a world you influence, whether you’re good or evil.
• GODUS is instantly accessible, easy to learn but immensely deep.
• As you flourish and build your own cult, you’ll engage in pitched battles with other gods and their cults. It’s a multiplayer power-struggle the way it should be.

• GODUS draws on the cunning battle-psychology of Dungeon Keeper, the living, changing world of Black & White and the instinctive, satisfying gameplay of Populous.
• Plus you get to be a god. In fact, play well and you get to be the ultimate god!
• GODUS will be developed for the PC and Mobile devices, we hope to be able to add more platforms as our Kickstarter campaign progresses.

We are a proudly independent company founded in March 2012, and we’re passionate about creating the next generation of innovative digital entertainment. We believe that a great team with great ideas can lead to great success, and, driven by true innovation and creativity, we’re determined to make some truly unique products.

22cans has been set up with our own personal savings and the talented team we’ve assembled has already built and released the bizarrely popular Curiosity – what’s inside the cube. But we need funding to continue, and rather than partner with a publisher, we’re keen to explore the exciting new Kickstarter platform. It means we can stay independent and it gives you the opportunity to have a voice in the development of GODUS.

Our backgrounds include Bullfrog Productions, Lionhead Studios, Electronic Arts, Microsoft and many others. Most of us have been developing computer games for a long time, and we’ve worked on titles such as Populous,Syndicate, Theme Park, Theme Hospital, Magic Carpet, Dungeon Keeper,Black & White, Fable, The Movies, Risen, Moshi Monsters, Sniper Elite V2, and Curiosity – what’s inside the cube of course.

One member of our team is Tim Rance, who in 1989 as Technical Director for Electronic Arts worked on the two-player multiplayer feature for the originalPopulous as it was released for DOS (those of you unfamiliar, it's the version before Windows). We also have people from Rockstar London, Mind Candy and several other places we really can't mention. Paul McLaughlin has worked with Peter on every Bullfrog game since Populous.

We’re a talented team, highly experienced at playing and creating games and it’s fair to say we’re extremely passionate about them. Plus we love the idea of using Kickstarter to fund GODUS. Why? We’ll tell you…

With GODUS we want to make a game in a culture of openness, co-operation and honesty. Creating a game involves imagination and passion, and we’re keen to share the experience. So we want to make GODUS with you watching and, we hope, participating. Funding it via Kickstarter allows us to stay a small independent team with unlimited freedom in our creativity. It’ll just be you, us and our unbridled dedication (no publishers).

You see, although GODUS is a new idea, we’re keen to return to the spirit which started it all. In 1989, in a small, cramped office in Guildford, England, a hard-working and enthusiastic duo experimented, collaborated, took risks and came up with Populous, a game which would become a legend and which would launch the god game genre. 

We’re going to make GODUS in that same spirit. And your support will enable you to be involved at every stage as we share everything we do and learn with you. We’ll produce video diaries, blogs, live streams, developer chats and a great deal more. We aim to end up with a truly delightful game and as you play it, you’ll be able to say that you also played your part in its very creation.

We’ll fund an experienced team of 22 people to make GODUS. That’s not a big team – we’re doing this efficiently. But we’re committed to quality, so we’ll create outstanding gameplay, characters, artwork, animations, sound and music, and the very world itself. With your help we’ll turn our great idea into successful reality.

We need £450,000 to do this. Yes, games typically cost more than that to make, but we’re sticking to a small, highly effective team and we’ll be employing careful management to keep the project on track and get the most out of our funding.

We are extremely grateful to all the early backers.

GODUS will take seven to nine months to complete, but if we exceed the amount of funding we’re asking for, we’ll use the extra to enhance the game further and support additional platforms which will add a little more time to the development schedule. Should we find ourselves in that happy situation, as a thank you, we’ll collaborate with you to implement the ideas and features you love the most.

What do you get for pledging? The full details are just over there, on the right. As you’d expect, the greater your support, the more you’ll get in return. But everyone who pledges will be able not only to watch as the game takes shape and get cool stuff, they’ll also be able to influence its design. During GODUS’s development there will be many instances where specific decisions need to be taken and choices made. As a valued supporter we see you as part of the Project, so you’ll be able to suggest, comment and vote to determine many elements of the game. As you’ll discover, designing games is intriguing.

Depending where you are are in the world, you might start thinking about Thanksgiving and even Christmas soon. We’ve got you covered...any gamers you know, people who maybe even played the original Populous or Dungeon Keeper, you can now get them a very special gift.

Here's a visual indication of the exciting items you will receive in return for your generosity:

We would love to hear from you. We have a website, can also be found and liked on Facebook and we also send out little updates of 140 characters or less on Twitter.

Our Peter Molyneux can also be found on Twitter @pmolyneux.

Of course we’ll continuously update this page until we've finished and released GODUS, we will also listen to what you have to say and refine our Kickstarter page  accordingly.

Thank you so much for helping us make GODUS. If you are unable to back and pledge (but we really hope you can help us make GODUS a reality with however small an amount) then sharing this page with your friends and family would be wonderful too. 

With your help we will make GODUS a reality and reinvent the entire god game genre.