THE MAGIC CIRCLE
by TMC Games
A genre-obliterating 1st person epic. A singular journey, 20 years in the making. Ishmael Gilder, a.k.a. STARFATHER, a living legend of game design - brings you a cutting edge 4D * graphical re-imagining of the classic text adventure that swept the globe. Through it, STARFATHER met you, the Player... his co-star - and at first sight, he knew just how he felt about you. The Magic Circle is more than a sequel - it is a state of consciousness, utterly without precedent - and at last, it is worthy... of you.
*4D technology is a stretch goal, pending the contribution of backrs like you
Update #95 - Final Backr Update
by Coda Soliz, Community Manager
Though our crowdfunding attempt was unsuccessful, we'd like to extend our gratitude to our loyal Backrs - both in this campaign and previous - on behalf of Mr. Gilder. (Since recording this final backr update, he has been in seclusion in the Star Chamber - but he offers his apologies for the tone of the previous entry). The good news is, the game will proceed, funded by a crowd of one. Thank you, STARFATHER! And as a bonus - you will get the playable demo on July 9th... without having paid for it!
UPDATE #94 - I'M CALLING YOU OUT
by Ishmael "STARFATHER" Gilder, Project Director
Come now, we're minutes to midnight! You people have the gall to accost me at conventions, placing sweat-slick hands on my person and assuring me that my work changed your life - yet none of you can make more than casual eye contact with the "Stargazer" Backr tier? This campaign - the Circle itself - stands or falls by your hand!
Yes, I realize that it's considered poor form to crowdfund the same project more than once - but no matter how much we ask for, your feature expectations always seem to exceed our budget! Do you begin to see how you're complicit? At this hour of reckoning, the only real power I have to reduce costs is to perform more of the voices myself. Oh yes. Act now, lest I one-man-show you just how serious I am.
UPDATE #93 - WE MAKE OUR STAND HERE!
by Coda Soliz, Community Manager
Hope you brought your traveling cloak, because we have a very long hill to climb in order to reach our funding goals. So, as a pre-emptive thank you to any potential patrons who may have been debating how much to contribute, or maybe you've just been busy finishing up NADIR RISING, the TMC tie-in novel - we'd like to offer a special incentive. At the 50,000 dollar tier, STARFATHER will allow you to name the burning village where our Hero was born.
As you know, this is an unprecedented honor, each word of every incarnation of The Magic Circle up until now has been plucked from the heavens by Mr. Gilder himself. (Granted, those games were entirely textual, so he had less on his mind, but I digress - it's very late). As a social media intern, I don't author content - yet. The chance to etch something into TMC canon! I am very jealous of you, whoever you may be, and I implore you - don't waste it.
UPDATE #92 - ART UPDATE + EARLY ACCESS UNLOCKED!
by Scape Tremaine, Art Director
We're keeping the black and white drawn look! I don't have to redo it again! I know, exclamation point abuse. Y'all have no idea how white-knuckle this was for me, though. Approval over color schemes has been the elephant in every room for so long, and the loudest among you finally convinced Ish that everyone had gotten used to the monochrome. I can't believe the Comments section was used for a good cause. When we finally ship this thing, I owe each of you a caricature sketch of yourselves making bedroom eyes. Oh, and the sticky note on my screen says we hit 75k so we're going to implement Early Access? Have fun I guess!
UPDATE #91 - PLAYABLE DEMO UNLOCKED!
by Coda Soliz, Community Manager
Dearest Backrs, I offer you a hearty huzzah! We have (at last) reached the 50k mark, guaranteeing a playable demo of The Magic Circle (coming July 09)! Granted, for existing Backrs this is more of an ante increase, in the hopes of drawing more people into the game. As for those of you who have not yet chosen a tier, I hope the demo helps you understand what some of us have known since before we could speak - that STARFATHER's world is worth any price. (Yes, alright, that was my subtle hint to take another look at those Backr rewards, and think about what tier you belong in. As Mr. Gilder says, "the night sky's the limit.")
UPDATE #90 - REGARDING THE LEAK
by Ishmael "STARFATHER" Gilder, Project Director
Coda informs me that a number of you have written me a personal letter about this issue, and that until we in some way address the concerns raised by that "insider", you are threatening to withdraw your backr contribution at the last minute. Said employee, by the way, has since gone silent. For all I know, they left the company, and / or somehow spontaneously began to emulate the conduct of an adult. (Note to Coda, go ahead and link to the article here. I have nothing to answer for.)
For the last time: none of those screenshots or videos were secret; like much of the Visible Generation, some of you are afflicted with a chronic present-tense. We used those assets in promotion of the game over ten years ago. The Magic Circle's change of direction is, at best, "last year's outrage". Fantasy was a return to our roots - and we've spent a decade on the game since. So. Now that we've covered Yesterday 101, shall we learn a little of Tomorrow? The final week of our funding campaign begins at dawn.
UPDATE #89 - COMBAT FEATURE UPDATE
by Maze Evelyn, Lead Designer
ok so here's the deal. ish doesn't actually read these, and the intern is scared of me - so i can pretty much say what i want. if against all odds i'm wrong on that... this'll get taken down before the next update. and if you guys pull off a miracle and fund us, i won't ever have to do another one of these, so here's my upsell.
you guys backed us enough in the last campaign that i was able to hire a few combat designers, and we got a pretty solid modular creature behavior system into prototype - i can easily test all sorts of combinations of powers vs the placeholder player melee. because i'm in charge of it, naturally it's the only feature ready enough for early access testers, in case you get to that tier.
the direct approach is all we support right now though, so here's what i'll give my word on: if you guys help reach that funding goal, ill see about a stealth path. flip is, tho- if we don't reach the funding target, i'm not sure combat is likely to survive at all as a feature, the way ish's eyes tend to go glassy in design reviews. so here's your win-win-win: break out that credit card now, and if, say, your goals in life happen to be thwarted by an omnipotent god-thing with its head literally in the clouds, you could sneak up behind it... and teach it with the knife.
11,946
backrs
$76,088
pledged of $39,999,999.99 goal
This project's funding goal was not reached.
Update: It is now a self-funded project, and is available here with a free demo.
