Mage’s Initiation Kickstarter Campaign Updates #13-#15, $90,274 and Counting

With just nine days left in their campaign on Kickstarter, Himalaya Studios brings us three more juicy updates. Of all of these, we reckon you’ll be most interested in the game’s newly-released alpha demo, which is open to the public if you’re still on the fence as to whether to back the game.

Update 13 is lengthy and discusses all sorts of good stuff, including the combat system, and more:

Due to the Mages’ bloody history, their less than admirable actions in the Great War, and their intended roles as the caretakers of humanity, violence has been largely opposed where spell-casting is concerned, so as not to have history repeat itself. The spells taught to new Initiates focus on the peaceful and productive side of the magical arts. However, in recent times, as the monsters of old have re-emerged in the forests, a sub-sect of Mages with a penchant for battle, found a way to channel these peaceful spells into more aggressive forms. Thus, (Conductors) were devised. These curious magical items resemble a brass-knuckle that can be slipped over a Mage’s fingers on one hand. Once worn, the Mage’s single non-aggressive spell can be channeled into multiple combative spells, each with a different purpose.
In the front of the conductor, there are two open sockets into which gemstones can be fit to augment the power of existing spells. Since only two gems can be equipped at any time, a Mage must be selective in choosing the right combination to best balance his current power in battle.
As a Mage, you can use restorative potions during real-time combat. Combat often calls for some creative strategies and each Mage class will have its own advantages and limits over others, which makes for some fun possibilities replaying the game over as a different class. Some monsters will drop valuable gems which can also be equipped into your conductor mid-battle (so long as they don’t require identification first).

Update 14, perhaps the most important of the bunch, announces the demo version of the game:

Greetings, Initiates of Magic!
The Mage’s Initiation demo is now available for public download!
Download the Mage’s Initiation Demo here!
We wanted to give it a little more polish, so to speak, before showing it to the backers (and potential backers!) and give everyone a chance to play it over the weekend. This gives you just a teaser of what the gameplay will be like, both the adventure/RPG and combat aspects.
Important Note: As of March 2013, this demo is still in an early alpha stage of the game’s development. It is feature-incomplete and there are bound to be some bugs. The demo does not yet represent the final product.
We are releasing this early alpha to gather feedback and suggestions about the interface and combat system so that we can refine these aspects for the final game.

Last, Update 15 is a short one that announces randomly-selected swag winners from their stable of backers:

Happy Friday, initiates!
It’s a very happy Friday indeed as we have breached $90,000 after factoring in our PayPal pledges. We drew Backers #671 and #1424, Steve Nelson and Aperama, congratulations to you two! We’ll be sending PMs your way shortly, please confirm that you received them.
A hearty thank you again for helping us reach this milestone, we are now a mere $4,671 from our next stretch goal at the time of writing!