Stellarator Is A Game And Graphic Novel In One

Last one for a while, I swear. This entire week has been NES homebrew news — can I help it if so many were launched at the same time? Most have brought something new to the table the NES never had before, and that’s also true for Stellarator, a game by programmer and author Austin McKinley. But it’s not EXACTLY a game. It’s a multimedia experience that’s told through both a game and an accompanying graphic novel.

Rake Bravo, infamous throughout the galaxy as a intergalactic guerrilla performance artist, crash lands on Earth and into the Florida bar where Delilah Palmer works. Palmer wishes she wasn’t there — I mean, she really wishes it NOW, but she views her current employment as beneath her. She’s actually a brilliant xenobiologist who can’t afford the space travel required to complete her college degree.When she meets Rake, though, and then alien fugitive Periton Dianox, the two of them provide the trip she’s always wanted, though not in the preferred manner.

McKinley describes the story as a mix of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy with The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai, and you can read AND play it. If you didn’t know, McKinley is one of the people behind NESMaker itself, so he knows what he’s doing. The Stellarator graphic novel costs a $25 pledge in paperback and a $49 pledge in hardcover. The game costs a $65 pledge by itself. But if you want them both, and the full experience, that takes an $80 combo pledge.

As of this writing, Stellaratoe has doubled its goal and broken all six of its stretch goals, adding bonus pages to the book and new areas to the game. You’ve got some time to think about this one — the campaign doesn’t wrap until May 15 — but don’t wait until it leaves the planet.