Introduction

My name is Ivan Mendez, founder of Kursed Studios and director of Agapan. I'd like to start off by thanking you for visiting our Indiegogo fundraiser. Your help will be essential in reaching most of our creative milestones. With your support, we will do our best to create a thoughtful and unforgettable gaming experience.

Agapan is the first commercial game being developed by Kursed Studios. The game is being created as we speak by a small team made up of three independent artists:

Ivan Mendez - Director and Lead Designer

Gabriel Gutierrez - Composer

Arim Jeon - Illustrator

The game started off as one of my student projects in university three years ago. It's a single-player narrative board game with very few gameplay elements, so few that I actually considered it an interactive story, not a game. The story takes place in the town of Agapan. It's based on a very special location to me, the actual town of Tizapan, located in central Mexico. It's the birthplace of my mother and it holds a deep past not even she is sure about. Utilizing its unique atmosphere, rural touch, and overall mystery as inspiration, I created the town of Agapan, an enigmatic place where people's minds have been manipulated to the extreme.

Three years have passed after the creation of the board game. Now, Kursed Studios has the task to bring Agapan back to life in a completely new medium: a top-view 2D adventure/mystery game created with RPG Maker XP.

The Story

The year is 1963 in an unknown country. A young man named David Garcia is waking up early on a Saturday. The reason: his monthly visit to the local graveyard where his defunct mother rests. David became an orphan after his mother's tragic death 10 years ago. He had no relatives or friends that could take care of him. Luckily, a rich foreign couple living in the country quickly adopted him. Since then, David's life has been full of luxuries and opportunities. However, the memory of his mother still haunts him.

Upon arriving to the graveyard, David is shocked to find somebody else near his mother's grave, something that has never happened since her death a decade ago. An old woman welcomes David and tells him something he has been waiting to hear for a long time: he still has a relative. The unknown woman tells David this person is still alive and living a peaceful life in the distant town of Agapan, the birthplace of his mother.

Moved by a deep desire of wanting to know the truth about his real family roots, David rushes to the far away village. Once there, it only takes him four days to realize the dark truth enveloping his mother's hometown. A reality so putrid, her mother's life goal was to keep it hidden from him as long as she could...

The player will come across a very varied assortment of characters. All of them have a very special purpose in the narrative development of the game. Here is a list of the characters with a brief description of each:

Lucia

This character is the first person David meets upon arriving to Agapan. She treats David well and offers him a place to stay and support in finding the person he's looking for. However, she clearly warns him strangers are not welcome in the town. Lucia's kindness toward David is unnatural and suspicious, but David is naive and doesn't think twice when trusting a kind stranger.

Hermit

A mysterious man living by himself near the lake. He barely says a word and lives a secluded life far away from the other villagers. He seems to have a connection with the two sisters Marisa and Claudia. When David meets him for the first time, the Hermit confuses David with somebody called "Robert".

Julieta

The youngest of the three teachers in Agapan. She's a reserved and smart young girl with a very open mindset. Her juvenile and modern view of the world is incompatible with the madness surrounding Agapan's education and religious system. The boy Carlos is her closest ally, friend, and the only person she can trust in all of Agapan.

Suzana

Ursula

The mother of Suzana and one of the three teachers in Agapan. She's the head of the education system imposed by the chief of the town, Patricia. For Ursula, there's nothing more important than serving the town's deity, Huitzi. She follows Patricia's orders and educates the young with fanatical ideas and beliefs. Ursula treats those that follow her same ideologies fairly, but those that don't aren't so lucky.

Enrique

The last remaining believer of a foreign religion in Agapan. He resides at the abandoned church, always fearing the outside world. He's still alive thanks to the warm and pure heart of Claudia, who supports him secretly. This poor man was witness to the terrible truth that tainted the past of Agapan. He doesn't trust anybody, not even David.

Marisa

One of the two orphan sisters that are in charge of the town store. Marisa is not even an adult, yet she is able to single-handedly manage a business. Her gaze and mature mind do not match her young age. Marisa not only spends her days taking care of the shop, she also supports her little sister Claudia.

Claudia

Claudia is a mute girl living together with her sister Marisa at Agapan's store. She has a pure and playful personality and is loved by the entire village. However, she's skilled at conceiving her true feelings. Her faith lies somewhere else, not in Huitzi.

Carlos

A young boy David meets at Agapan's school. Carlos is extremely shy and cautious with everybody he talks to, making him the anti-social kid from his class. Julieta has showed him the possibilities of the outside world and is obsessed with the idea of one day escaping from Agapan forever.

Patricia

The spiritual and political leader of Agapan. Patricia is the reason why Agapan is how it is. Her archaic ideologies have deviated from the pure and authentic religious roots the town has had for countless centuries. Her past and her ruthless demeanors are only understood by a handful of people.

Maria

Lucia tells David Maria is the nurse of Agapan's only clinic. However, you can never trust what a stranger tells you.

Ana

A classmate of Carlos and a very special girl in Agapan. Ana is getting ready for a special ceremony that will take place three days after the arrival of David to Agapan.

Vagabond

This shady individual resides at an abandoned construction site. He's just like any other villager. His mind is deeply immersed in the old religion of Agapan. David learns many aspects of this peculiar religion thanks to this humble man; a man that puts his God above his own life at all times.

Demented Governor

This unknown and crazy middle-aged man also makes the construction site his dwelling. He's completely insane, but still manages to give David valuable information about Agapan's past.

Gameplay

The player is always in control of David Garcia while he or she ventures into the foggy and occult atmosphere of Agapan. The game's core lies more in exploration rather than puzzle solving. The town will be filled with characters and details that will slowly reveal the deepness of the narrative. While there will be a few puzzles and missions for the player to solve, everything will revolve around the exploration and the interpretation of the player's surroundings.

The entire game takes place in four days. There is no time limit or anything like that. Time will only pass after experiencing certain situations in the various locations of Agapan. The player is given several decisions that impact the narrative and his relationship with the characters, opening the possibility of several endings; 15 to be exact.

Even though this is a completely new game, we wanted to keep the design style close to its predecessor. This new 2D game is still a story driven experience with heavy dialogue and limited gameplay. We are confident the narrative, atmosphere, and overall quality of the experience will be more than enough to engage and immerse players.

Production Stage

For the last three months the game was in its pre-production stage. The story went through deep revisions and expansions. The game design document, in other words, the paper documenting everything that's going to happen in the game has been completed. The exact amount of illustrations and music tracks has been decided and a team of artists has finally gathered to begin creating this indie game.

The assets we're going to need are the following:

95 Character Illustrations

These illustrations will be used throughout the game in every single dialogue. Each of the 20 different characters will have 2-8 different expressions depending on their mood.

22 Cutscene Illustrations

These illustrations will be used during important moments of the game where character illustrations aren't enough to describe the feelings and atmosphere of the situation. They are basically highly detailed full-screen images.

54 Hand Painted Maps

Instead of using tilesets as most RPG Maker games, we plan to use hand painted maps in order to have more freedom in expressing mood and overall uniqueness in each map.

Pixel Art for 20 Characters

These are the sprite sheets each character will have.

Original Soundtrack

We plan to have six tracks in our original soundtrack including a song with lyrics. This song will be used in the opening sequence and possibly in one of the endings (true ending).

Translations

We plan to have the game available in the following languages: English, Spanish, Korean, and Japanese.

The money we receive from the fundraiser will go straight into the creation of all these assets. I'd like to point out that even if we don't reach our funding goal, the game will still be completed and released on its scheduled release date, December 20th, 2013. However, our scope will diminish greatly if this happens. The amount of illustrations will decrease, maps will have to be made using tilsesets, pixel art won't be as elaborate, there won't be a song with lyrics or an opening sequence, and translations will be limited or non-existent.

Where exactly will the money go?

Here's a small list describing where the money from this fundraiser will go.

Illustration Work - $900

Maps / Pixel Work - $500

OST / Song with Lyrics - $300

Opening Sequence - $200

Translations - $150

Professional Alpha and Beta Testing - $150

All these amounts are close estimates. If we happen to raise more money than expected, we will obviously expand our scope in different areas. For example, we may be able to have additional tracks plus one or two more songs with lyrics, more cut-scene illustrations, create an ending sequence, translate the game into other languages, make it available for Mac / Android / IOS, etc.

Other ways you can help!

There are several ways you can show your support. Visit:

Our website,

Facebook page,

Twitter page,

Forums,

and get involved! Give us a like, share our posts, and share this campaign on your social networks. Spread the word!

Extra Information

Compatible with:

Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8

Mode:

Single Player

Download size:

To be determined

Screenshots

It's important to note that the tilesets and pixel art are still placeholders. The moment our artists finish working on them, we will update them asap. More screenshots are on the way too.

Conclusion

Thank you so much for your time and help. Your support will be essential in allowing this project to reach its maximum potential. I will personally do everything in my power to craft the most rewarding experience possible. As my first commercial game, I'd like to share with the world something that will be remembered. And of course, many games will follow this one! We hope you find our perks interesting and fun.

Once again, from everyone in Kursed Studios,

Thank you!