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[More_Badass]

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Funded! 39 hours left
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Site
Kickstarter ($5 tier for game)
Greenlight
Trailer
Made by GAFfer Pasta_Soup
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Play the browser demo here
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Olympia Rising is a 2D Action Adventure game reminiscent of the best 16-bit classics. Lush pixel graphics and fluid animation bring this ancient Greek-inspired world to life as you jump, climb, slash, and blast your way through various regions of the Underworld. Taking inspiration from beloved titles like Castlevania, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Kid Icarus, Olympia Rising delivers an exciting, action-filled experience.

- Play as Iola, a young heroine on a dangerous mission to escape from the Underworld and reach Mount Olympus - all for the purpose of discovering the reason behind her abrupt awakening and the strange memories that have been returning to her.

- Fight your way through the Underworld, battling creatures of all shapes and sizes. Fast-paced aerial combat propels you upward as you slash enemies to bits with your blade or incinerate them with powerful magic.

- Navigate through deadly environments with fluid maneuverability. Make your own paths as you traverse through each stage looking for the most efficient way to climb to the top.

- Simple to pick-up but difficult to master, Olympia Rising awards those willing to challenge themselves as they climb through the Underworld. Collect coins and other treasures scattered throughout the levels as you race through each stage. Progress is only awarded to those who pay Charon, the Ferryman, at the end of each stage with their collected valuables.

- Explore the unique, twisted environments of the Underworld - each offering different challenges and creatures to overcome.

 

[Toma]

As the title says, the Kickstarter desperately needs some more exposure for it to happen:
$4,863 pledged of $10,000 goal, 7 days left.

There is a free demo, guys. Check it out. These were my initial impressions:

Olympia Rising is surprisingly fun, but I have issues controlling it with the keyboard as it requires a lot of precision high speed movement. Definitely going to try the full version once its out, but the free version is certainly worth a try. I am also really surprised at how deep the game and its possibilities are. double jumping, wall jumping, magic, melee attacks, fly via magic meter, and an interesting combo system that rewards good play by giving more coins.

Especially the combo system is really smart and satisfying if you manage to pull off some combos.

Definitely would be a pity if the project got scrapped.

 

[uncledonnie]

Backed this a while ago, it looks awesome. Sad to see it may not make the cut.

I believe Joe Jeremiah is doing some of the music.

 

[More_Badass]

I had overlooked Olympia Rising at first glance, but after reading some good impressions in the Indie Thread, I tried the demo and was quite impressed. The visuals are charming, the animations smooth and fluid. Same can be said for the combat, as you explore the caverns and ruins of the Underworld, striking down its otherworldly denizens. Perhaps the most rewarding aspect is when you build a smooth flow through an area, leaping from one enemy to the next, tripling jumping around platforms to continue your chain. It just feels satisfying and the solid responsive controls means such skill rests in the player's own ability

I think Olympia Rising is a promising title with great potential, appealing to both the fans of speedrunning and platformers who enjoy the thrill of moving through an environment with swiftness and precision, and the fans of exploration and old school challenge. If you're interested, the KS tier for a copy of the game is only $5

 

[Toma]

I had overlooked Olympia Rising at first glance, but after reading some good impressions in the Indie Thread, I tried the demo and was quite impressed. The visuals are charming, the animations smooth and fluid. Same can be said for the combat, as you explore the caverns and ruins of the Underworld, striking down its otherworldly denizens. Perhaps the most rewarding aspect is when you build a smooth flow through an area, leaping from one enemy to the next, tripling jumping around platforms to continue your chain. It just feels satisfying and the solid responsive controls means such skill rests in the player's own ability

I think Olympia Rising is a promising title with great potential, appealing to both the fans of speedrunning and platformers who enjoy the thrill of moving through an environment with swiftness and precision, and the fans of exploration and old school challenge. If you're interested, the KS tier for a copy of the game is only $5

I am really, really surprised how deep the combat/combo/movement system really is. These guys definitely know their way around the genre.

 

[Toma]

Backed this a while ago, it looks awesome. Sad to see it may not make the cut.

I believe Joe Jeremiah is doing some of the music.

I need to check whether I can finally back something on Kickstarter. I couldnt figure out how last year (until the devs put up a paypal option) without a US credit card. Is there a way to do that now?

 

[PandaPedinte]

My short impressions from the Indie thread:

I played Olympia Rising and I can say, based on the demo, it's pretty solid and it makes me feel sad their kickstarter isn't going to reach the amount needed. The main character is charming and the gameplay is compelling and hard, the controls respond very well but it took me some time to understand how some of the moves worked.

 

[Messofanego]

This might be a weird comparison but the air climbing with consecutive enemy hits reminded me of Doodle Jump or some other mobile game. It's fun to keep on continuing that combo.

I just wish there was a desktop demo because it was stretched out on the browser so I couldn't see the HUD below.

 

[Roubjon]

Yeah, this game is pretty freaking cool. I really do like the chain-kills and how it feels when you keep comboing guys and climbing upwards; it's got a great flow to it. I think the art is pretty radical too.

There are definitely some little things in the controls that need some fine-tuning, but that's pretty sure to happen considering the demo is so early.

Also something to mention is that it's only $5 to get the final game. Which is pretty damn cheap. AND it's made by a Gaffer!

 

[Toma]

Yeah, this game is pretty freaking cool. I really do like the chain-kills and how it feels when you keep comboing guys and climbing upwards; it's got a great flow to it. I think the art is pretty radical too.

There are definitely some little things in the controls that need some fine-tuning, but that's pretty sure to happen considering the demo is so early.

Also something to mention is that it's only $5 to get the final game. Which is pretty damn cheap. AND it's made by a Gaffer!

It is? Who?

 

[Messofanego]

A GAFer made this game? Cool!

 

[Roubjon]

It is? Who?

By Pasta_Soup. He posted in the Indie Game dev thread. Maybe he'll peek his head in here too lol.

 

[Azure Dream]

It's alright, but losing all your stored coins and mana on a single death bites.

Also, is there no SFX for anyone else? I'm a bit surprised the dev didn't just open up Sfxr and rough up a few quick sound effects. Not having any takes away from the feel of the game.

 

[HellBlazer]

Ah good, a thread was made. It's pretty sad that it looks unlikely they will reach their goal. The game seems pretty fun, with a lot of heart behind it. Their Kickstarter goal is very reasonable, the pledge tier to get the game is extremely low, and they even have a demo to show... I don't get why this is not doing better. :/

 

[Azure Dream]

By Pasta_Soup. He posted in the Indie Game dev thread. Maybe he'll peek his head in here too lol.

Yeah, someone really should get him in here to talk more about his game. I only see the one intro post in the Indie Thread about it.

 

[Toma]

Kinda annoying that even the good 2D platformers cant get enough attention anymore.

 

[LuchaShaq]

Kinda annoying that even the good 2D platformers cant get enough attention anymore.

Its because there's a new indie olatformer with retro graphics every two weeks. Shit is more common than modern military shooters.

That said will be a shame if this doesn't get funded when spammed to hell trash like republique gets six figures.

 

[Roubjon]

Yeah, someone really should get him in here to talk more about his game. I only see the one intro post in the Indie Thread about it.

He'll post in here sooner rather than later I'm pretty sure.

Kinda annoying that even the good 2D platformers cant get enough attention anymore.

I'm trying to think why the game hasn't really gathered that much interest. Is it because of the plethora of 2D Pixel games out there? Because I feel like the core gameplay itself is enough to differentiate itself from some of the others out there.

Do you guys think having a playable demo may have hurt it at all? Most Kickstarters don't have one so all that's available to the donors are usually videos and blog entries as opposed to an actual playable game.

 

[More_Badass]

Its because there's a new indie olatformer with retro graphics every two weeks. Shit is more common than modern military shooters.

That said will be a shame if this doesn't get funded when spammed to hell trash like republique gets six figures.

Republique is a good game

 

[More_Badass]

I'm trying to think why the game hasn't really gathered that much interest. Is it because of the plethora of 2D Pixel games out there? Because I feel like the core gameplay itself is enough to differentiate itself from some of the others out there.

Do you guys think having a playable demo may have hurt it at all? Most Kickstarters don't have one so all that's available to the donors are usually videos and blog entries as opposed to an actual playable game.

Well, Rain World is getting great support and Galactic Princess and Witchmarsh have built up some nice buzz.

Maybe it's not the pixels, but being a platformer?

As for demos, I've read that demos can hurt a campaign and a nice video and info is better because you can control how your game is presented

 

[HellBlazer]

He'll post in here sooner rather than later I'm pretty sure.

Now I imagine you rushing into a phonebooth and coming back as Pasta_Soup.

Is it because of the plethora of 2D Pixel games out there?

Maybe... I posted about it on another forum, and a guy who was initially interested changed his mind because he's "had enough of these 8-bit indie games". :/ Pretty lame. I'm not the biggest fan of the pixel art aesthetic, but come on, gameplay is what really matters.

 

[Toma]

Do you guys think having a playable demo may have hurt it at all? Most Kickstarters don't have one so all that's available to the donors are usually videos and blog entries as opposed to an actual playable game.

As for demos, I've read that demos can hurt a campaign and a nice video and info is better because you can control how your game is presented

No way, the game probably wouldnt even have reached its current donation levels without a demo. The demo only hurts if its bad, otherwise these super small projects NEED a demo because there barely is any other way to generate any sort of interest around them.

I think the biggest problem is being a platformer. People cant get that interested in a 2D platformer. Add to that an unknown dev, not enough media buzz, and then you easily end up with a flailing kickstarter attempt.

 

[Haunted]

This looks nice.

 

[daydream]

Its because there's a new indie olatformer with retro graphics every two weeks. Shit is more common than modern military shooters.

That is probably one of the reasons why it isn't doing well, yes. I entirely disagree with the sentiment, but it's probably a widely held view at this point. "Retro graphics" is such a painfully reductive way to describe the visual aspect of a game btw, as I'm sure you're aware.

Games like these have to get lucky these days. Either do something really crazy with the artstyle, get a lot of buzz from sites and users alike, or be set in space.

It's a shame because Olympia Rising actually plays well. And I wasn't even that hot on it from watching videos/gifs. Really fluid controls (a working wall jump is always a plus), solid animation and soundtrack (from what I've heard of it at least, it keeps cutting out) and the devs are not asking for that much money, anyway.

Like Messo said, though - there are probably reasons for why it's not a desktop demo, but playing it in a browser is not ideal.

 

[Toma]

This looks nice.

You should try the demo, we were basically all positively surprised at how well it actually plays.

 

[More_Badass]

That is probably one of the reasons why it isn't doing well, yes. I entirely disagree with the sentiment, but it's probably a widely held view at this point. "Retro graphics" is such a painfully reductive way to describe the visual aspect of a game btw, as I'm sure you're aware.

Games like these have to get lucky these days. Either do something really crazy with the artstyle, get a lot of buzz from sites and users alike, or be set in space.

It's a shame because Olympia Rising actually plays well. And I wasn't even that hot on it from watching videos/gifs. Really fluid controls (a working wall jump is always a plus), solid animation and soundtrack (from what I've heard of it at least, it keeps cutting out) and the devs are not asking for that much money, anyway.

Like Messo said, though - there are probably reasons for why it's not a desktop demo, but playing it in a browser is not ideal.

Well the last game I backed (Rain World) is also a 2D pixel platformer, but it also has an ominous industrial-organic atmosphere, advanced AI and animations, and a mix of stealth, survival, combat, and exploration.

I wouldn't say the art style is that crazy, it's certainly not set in space, but I know that me and a bunch of others who were close followers of the TIGForum devlog were spreading the word before the campaign and it was already an anticipated 2014 release for prominent sites like RPS, PC Gamer, and IndieStatik

I think that last part is critical. Look at Stasis and how the dev garnered pre-campaign support. Getting that support and fanbase before launching the campaign has to be a huge help in getting funding. The devs behind Darkest Dungeon have been doing an excellent job in that aspect. Did Olympia Rising have much pre-launch exposure/attention?

 

[efyu_lemonardo]

I think I'll be contributing to this as soon as I get to a computer.

OP should get a mod to edit the thread title so it says it's made by a GAFfer.

We can make this happen.

 

[Roubjon]

I think that last part is critical. Look at Stasis and how the dev garnered pre-campaign support. Getting that support and fanbase before launching the campaign has to be a huge help in getting funding. The devs behind Darkest Dungeon have been doing an excellent job in that aspect. Did Olympia Rising have much pre-launch exposure/attention?

Other than I think posting in the Indie Gaf thread and some indie game forums, not really no. They have a tumblr blog though, but I doubt that was getting too much traffic.

 

[More_Badass]

I think I'll be contributing to this as soon as I get to a computer.

OP should get a mod to edit the thread title so it says it's made by a GAFfer.

We can make this happen.

I PMed Stump to adjust the title

 

[Toma]

Was the game mentioned on indiestatik or Indiegames.com? Maybe they could post a last minute note about it as well if they didn't cover it yet.

 

[Roubjon]

Was the game mentioned on indiestatik or Indiegames.com? Maybe they could post a last minute note about it as well if they didn't cover it yet.

Yeah, both those sites put up an article about it.

 

[Toma]

5200/10000

I really wish the dev would jump in here, but I cant blame him if he wouldnt be in the best of moods currently.

 

[Azure Dream]

I don't think the "KS life support" title is really helping. Makes it sound like it was already a product once, and is dying because it didn't succeed.

 

[Toma]

I don't think the "KS life support" title is really helping. Makes it sound like it was already a product once, and is dying because it didn't succeed.

Well the title should sound dramatic, but feel free to suggest something else we could use for these cases in which the KS is ending soon and the game really needs some help.

 

[epmode]

Well, Rain World is getting great support and Galactic Princess and Witchmarsh have built up some nice buzz.

Maybe it's not the pixels, but being a platformer?

I personally hadn't heard of it until I saw this thread. Was it on RPS? If it was, I didn't notice.

Anyway, the demo's nice so I'm on board.

 

[prophecy0]

Thanks for bringing this game to my attention, as I had never heard of it before. I contributed $5. Hopefully with more exposure on GAF they'll hit their goal.

 

[HellBlazer]

Today was the fourth highest grossing day of the campaign, so not bad, but... they would still need upwards of $750 per day to make it at this point, and not one day has reached even close to that yet. :/

 

[Roubjon]

We're Olympia Rising's One Last Hope.

 

[OnPoint]

Five days to go guys.

I wrote about the game on Indiegames.com even.

To quote myself:

The aerial action put together by developer Paleozoic has a pretty fresh feeling even in its current early state, especially when compared to the usual sidescrolling retro titles we see regularly. You can jump all over the place, slashing through enemies all the while. Sometimes you'll need to outrun a rising pool of what looks like acid by jumping up a long level, lending some urgency to the task before you.

It's fun. Try the demo. Maybe help this game, eh?

 

[Toma]

Today was the fourth highest grossing day of the campaign, so not bad, but... they would still need upwards of $750 per day to make it at this point, and not one day has reached even close to that yet. :/

Yeah, but Kickstarters are usually incredibly front and back loaded. We cant really do much other than giving the thread/KS some more exposure. This thread has 2000 views, I imagine that got a few clicks as well.

Five days to go guys.

I wrote about the game on Indiegames.com even.

To quote myself:

It's fun. Try the demo. Maybe help this game, eh?

I feel rather stupid that I didnt notice before that you are our IndieGames.com spy. Is that the only website you are writing for?

 

[Pasta_Soup]

Hey everyone,

I'm the artist and one of the designers for Olympia Rising. The support you guys are showing our project is fantastic, and it means a ton to us. We've gotten a substantial boost since this thread was created and we wanted to say "Thanks!!".

It's been a major uplift for me, personally, reading all the good things everyone here has been saying about it.

Originally drew this up for a KS updated the other day, but I think it's pretty fitting to post it here, too!



As much support as we've seen, we're kind of running out of hope. I've exhausted almost all of our options in grabbing publicity. I've contacted a number of indie/game blogs and news sites, as well as different Youtubers who play Indie titles. Several have posted articles (big thanks to Indiegames.com and Indiestatik, among others), but many haven't responded, RPS being one of them. My follow-up emails haven't seem to gotten through, either. Maybe they just don't like the demo? Not sure why. I'm sure they're flooded with mail so it's understandable.

Anyway, if you guys can think of anything else we should try in grabbing some more backers, please, let me know!

Also, some new enemies we've been working on!



And some animations for the Ram. It's been a lot of fun working on this guy.



I'll be sure to frequent this thread and answer any questions I can about Olympia Rising.

 

[More_Badass]

I guess my main question is what happens to the project if the KS fails.

And the pixel art is awesome.

 

[mclem]

Today was the fourth highest grossing day of the campaign, so not bad, but... they would still need upwards of $750 per day to make it at this point, and not one day has reached even close to that yet. :/

Remember: Kickstarter timers round down.

In other words, when it says "5 days to go", it actually *means* "Somewhere between 5 and 6 days to go".

Just to offer a little extra hope!

 

[Toma]

I guess my main question is what happens to the project if the KS fails.

And the pixel art is awesome.

Yeah, this question is something that seems worth pondering, because it would be very sad to see it completely let go. There are other projects who retried doing a KS run a few months later, would that be an option? Maybe give it enough time to be picked up by RPS or something.

 

[Azure Dream]

Would it be possible to update the demo with enhancements in a relatively quick fashion? Layout tweaks you may have since made (like swapping the order of the pot and scroll before the glide to better communicate it's necessary), putting in button prompts that appear near interactable objects like the scroll (some people might not think to duck), controller detection and support (at least 360 XInput) and, well, sound effects (unless that was a unique glitch on my end, but they wouldn't work even after a refresh).

I think shopping around an improved demo, if you have time for it, may increase your chances of going over the edge. There's not much time left, but as people have said, Kickstarters are back-loaded.

 

[Pasta_Soup]

I guess my main question is what happens to the project if the KS fails.

And the pixel art is awesome.

The dreaded question. If the Kickstarter fails, we'll most likely have to put the project aside for a while (hopefully not indefinitely). We need the funds to continue development and as of right now, we can't put the same level of energy into the project without reaching our goal. As I'm sure you guys know, game development is tough - and even harder when you're trying to make a living.

This decision isn't set in stone. We're still figuring out what to do if the KS isn't successful. We'll make sure to let everyone know when we have a definitive answer.

As for trying KS again, has this been a successful thing in the past with other devs? We haven't really discussed this idea. We figured that if we couldn't generate enough interest with all of the content we had now during this campaign, a second campaign would have similar results.

 

[More_Badass]

The dreaded question. If the Kickstarter fails, we'll most likely have to put the project aside for a while (hopefully not indefinitely). We need the funds to continue development and as of right now, we can't put the same level of energy into the project without reaching our goal. As I'm sure you guys know, game development is tough - and even harder when you're trying to make a living.

This decision isn't set in stone. We're still figuring out what to do if the KS isn't successful. We'll make sure to let everyone know when we have a definitive answer.

As for trying KS again, has this been a successful thing in the past with other devs? We haven't really discussed this idea. We figured that if we couldn't generate enough interest with all of the content we had now during this campaign, a second campaign would have similar results.

There's at least one that I know of
Dropsy's first KS failed, but then a year later, the devs started a second campaign for the game, earning over 175% of the goal

 

[Jugendstil]

Donated! I hope this meets it's goal. It's refreshing to see a game KS where the goal isn't $1,000,000,000 and the game looks rad too. Good luck guys, I hope you make it!

 

[Cmagus]

This looks really good just threw a donation in good luck guys.

 

[Pasta_Soup]

Would it be possible to update the demo with enhancements in a relatively quick fashion? Layout tweaks you may have since made (like swapping the order of the pot and scroll before the glide to better communicate it's necessary), putting in button prompts that appear near interactable objects like the scroll (some people might not think to duck), controller detection and support (at least 360 XInput) and, well, sound effects (unless that was a unique glitch on my end, but they wouldn't work even after a refresh).

I think shopping around an improved demo, if you have time for it, may increase your chances of going over the edge. There's not much time left, but as people have said, Kickstarters are back-loaded.

There are all great ideas that we'll be addressing in a future builds. Controller support is the biggest thing on our minds of these suggestions. We're building the game in Impact, an HTML5 engine. There hasn't been native controller support until just recently. I don't know if you guys are familiar with Elliot Quest (had a successful KS campaign recently, also being built with Impact) but he's been working with other Impact devs and just made a breakthrough, so we're going to be exploring that soon. Not sure if we'll have it up before the KS ends, though.

There are currently no sound effects. Joe Jeremiah is doing the music and sound design, but we're waiting till after the KS is funded to have him create SFX. I've been eager to hear/see how the game will feel when after they're implemented. SFX bring a lot to a game, especially a retro-looking platformer like OR.

Many of the updates you suggested wouldn't be too difficult to implement, but currently our programmer is up to his neck in work for his other job and we don't have the time to make these changes right now. It would be something we'd implement in the coming weeks after we reach our funding goal - releasing a new build to our backers who've pledged enough for Beta access.

There's at least one that I know of
Dropsy's first KS failed, but then a year later, the devs started a second campaign for the game, earning over 175% of the goal

This is definitely inspiring. Though he had to significantly cut down his goal. Maybe because he had created a lot of new content within that year? I'm sure he addresses this somewhere.

Donated! I hope this meets it's goal. It's refreshing to see a game KS where the goal isn't $1,000,000,000 and the game looks rad too. Good luck guys, I hope you make it!

Thanks for the support!!