ManiacBoyStudio is working on a horror adventure game with retro visuals that are honest enough to work on real hardware, and they call it….Skeler Boy. What’s that terminology referring to, you ask? No one knows yet. ManiacBoy says they aren’t ready to reveal anything about the narrative, including the characters. But they say it’ll be a spooky story inspired by 70s and 80s horror classics like The Exorcist, The Shining, and The Never Ending Story (wait a minute…)
The most interesting thing about Skeler Boy is the fact that it’s not just an imitation…there are plans for NES and Game Boy versions of the game. However, they’re being developed independently from the PC version, and will only become a reality if stretch goals are met. Game Boy will happen at the 10K stretch goal and NES will happen at the 30K stretch goal. And we’re not gonna lie here…there are seven days to go in the campaign and the initial goal still hasn’t been reached, so we don’t think the real-retro versions are likely to happen.
There is a feature planned for the PC version that we’re definitely getting, and it’s pretty unique as retro-styled games go: a 3D mode. We don’t mean the sprites will be scaled on a 3D plane. We mean the visuals will shift to red-and-blue anaglyph 3D, the kind used for movies and comic books in the 1950s.
You can secure your copy of Skeler Boy on PC and mobile (both are covered) with a $15 pledge. The pledge also includes your name in the credits and “PDF homemade anaglyph glasses,” however that works. You can’t get an actual pair of glasses for any pledge lower than the $66 tier (which also includes the game on a DVD-ROM). Fortunately, they’re pretty cheap if you look elsewhere.
There is one week to go in the campaign for Skeler Boy…it will run until July 6.
