Mage’s Initiation Kickstarter Campaign Updates #3 and #4, $55,570 and Counting

With over 22 days to go in its Kickstarter campaign, it looks like Mage’s Initiation will make its target $65,000 goal shortly. The adventure/RPG project has hit $55,000 scarcely a week in, and while it’s certainly not the highest goal set by a Kickstarter developer before, it’s looking to be one of the faster success stories we’ve heard in a while.

To celebrate, Himalaya Studios have provided a huge update containing all sorts of news, including updates to the existing Kickstarter reward tiers, a “speed coloring” video, and some more concept artwork for the game.

Salutations to all you sorcerers, spellcasters, shamans, and those in between! We’re now a week into our Kickstarter campaign, and just breached 1,500 backers, $53,000, and 82% of our goal. Thanks so much for your support, we’re so close we can almost taste it! (I hear it tastes like strawberry fruit leather.)

We hope to step into stretch goal territory soon enough! Help spread the word with our new truncated link, kck.st/mages!

SHAMAN ALL-DIGITAL TIER UPGRADED

We have listened to your feedback, and upgraded the Shaman all-digital tier at $70. The infographic has been updated, but here is the full list of what you will now receive in this tier (new items boldfaced):

• Two (2) digital DRM-free copies of Mage’s Initiation
• DRM-free digital Mage’s Initiation soundtrack
• Access to the private backer forums
• Desktop wallpaper collection
• Your name in a book in the Mage’s Tower library
• PDF of the art book available at $150 tier and above
• DRM-free digital copy of Al Emmo and the Lost Dutchman’s Mine
• DRM-free digital copy of Al Emmo soundtrack
• Digital full set of character portraits
• Access to the closed beta of Mage’s Initiation (Windows only)
• Hi-res PNG of the cloth map of Iginor that comes with the Collector’s Edition
• Hi-res digital version of the poster
• Hi-res PDF of the spellbook page that comes with the Collector’s Edition

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The premise of Mage’s Initiation is what brought me into this world, and keeps me interested in exploring it more. For this update, I thought I would share with you some of its back story.

It is our distant future. Technology has developed to the point of obscenity. Nature itself shudders at the assault. The world is on the brink of environmental collapse. The Elements can stand no more. They take it back. All that we constructed, all that we cherished, is destroyed in the simultaneous terror of every imaginable disaster. Many would call it an apocalypse. The survivors would call it, “a second chance”.

The remaining children of the world were not forsaken, for the Elements proved as merciful as there were vengeful. From among the remnants of humanity, a new kind had arisen. Disciples of the Elements. Guardians of Nature.

Magic had returned to the world. The reign of the Elements, and an age of Mages, had begun.

Millennia passed. Humanity was guided, held in check, by those that learned to wield their power in the most potent of ways. The Mages ascended beyond that of mere shepherds. They became rulers. Absolute and unending. A force that could never be reckoned with.

Be sure to head over to their Kickstarter page to get the full update, or if you just want to read up on the King’s Quest and Quest for Glory descendant.

The previous update, #3, snuck past us before we could give it its own news post. It covers the new Shaman and Spellbinder reward tiers, another speed-sketch video, and includes some shout-outs to some other Kickstarter projects.

The new $50 all-digital tier, Spellbinder, will be comprised of the following rewards:

• DRM-free digital copy of the Mage’s Initiation game
• DRM-free digital copy of the Mage’s Initiation soundtrack
• DRM-free digital copy of Al Emmo and the Lost Dutchman’s Mine game (entitles the backer to a free upgrade when the improved v4.0 is released)
• DRM-free digital copy of the Al Emmo soundtrack (53 Tracks by Tom & Dianne Lewandowski)
• Access to the private backer forums
• Your name in a library book in the Mage’s Tower library
• A set of magical game art desktop wallpapers
• PDF version of the hardcover art book that is available at the $150 tier and up
• Hi-res PNG version of the cloth map of Iginor that is available with the Collector’s Edition at $100 and up
• A full set of high-quality character portraits by the very talented Karen Petrasko
• Pending reaching our Novelization stretch goal, e-book of the Mage’s Initiation novel

The other newly-added, all-digital tier, Shaman, is $70 and will feature the same rewards as the Spellbinder tier, except it will also include access to the closed beta build of Mage’s Initiation, and a second digital copy of the Mage’s Initiation game.

Please note that the exclusive rewards in these two new digital tiers do not extend to higher tiers they don’t include any physical copies or collectible items at all. They are intended to provide digital rewards to our international backers who’d rather not get hassled by customs and/or people living in cramped housing who’d rather not receive physical items.

Last, Mage’s Initiation is now on Steam Greenlight, so if you want to support the game and see it distributed on Valve’s digital delivery platform, now’s the time to vote.