Rap Rabbit developer talks about choosing Kickstarter and PC platforms
From the creators of Gitaroo Man and PaRappa the Rapper comes the next great rhythm adventure – Rap Rabbit. The game is currently a Kickstarter title trying to gather $1.1 million. It doesn’t seem to be close to reaching that goal, with 17 days left on the clock, which would be a shame, as it definitely looks interesting.
What differentiates the game from the two above mentioned is that it plans to include dialogue choices and not just button inputs. This is supposed to create dynamic rap battles and bring a new flavor to the revival of rhythm games. Here is what Keiichi Yano, Gitaroo Man creator says about it:
The best way to explain the timing is simply – serendipity. A mix of things occurred that allowed all of us to consider the opportunity. An independent publisher that wanted to release a fully original Japanese game, iNiS J being open to the opportunity and having availability, and NanaOn-Sha also having availability. It also feels like it’s time to revisit the story-led rhythm-action genre and coincidentally, the remaster of PaRappa the Rapper seemed to back that up. It was really a lot of the right things at the right time.
When asked about the choice of Kickstarter as a platform, it turned out to be rather popular in Japan. As usual, traditional publishers are less willing to risk much these days, and this type of game can be tricky to produce and market. Keiichi also talked about choosing PC as the main platform:
Now that it’s much easier to port a PC project to consoles, we feel confident in our ability to make a highly-polished game that takes full advantage of every platform. Given that the theme of Project Rap Rabbit’s story is all about bringing people together, we were eager to create this game for as many people as possible. We want to give PC players the opportunity to play a lovingly-crafted, story-led rhythm action game – and we’re sure that they will embrace it.
There is the drawback of PC players perhaps not having any nostalgia regarding the previous titles of this duo, which could be a two-edged sword for the developer.
