Baldi’s Basics, the itch.io horror game that takes place in a 90’s edutainment game, has appeared on Kickstarter to seek funding for a full game. The Kickstarter comes with a demo that has you going camping with the titular teacher.
The original Baldi’s Basics is a free game on itch.io that puts you in the shoes of a student who has to collect seven notebooks from their school. In the process, the player will inevitably anger Baldi, a math teacher with impeccable hearing and a hair-trigger temper. The game revolves around the player avoiding Baldi, collecting notebooks and other useful items, and dealing with the school’s other inhabitants, such as an overly friendly science project and the obligatory bully.
The game’s creator, Micah McGonigal, has made Kickstarter for funding to turn Baldi’s Basics into a full game:
In the Kickstarter, McGonigal also wrote the following statement:
I want to make Baldi’s Basics in Education and Learning into a full game! There will be tons of new features like randomly generated levels, new characters, field trips, and more while maintaining (and improving upon!) the original version’s themes, visual style, and mechanics. I plan on bringing this project to PC, Mac, and Linux through platforms like Steam, GOG, and Itch.io as well as consoles.
Some of the planned features for the full game include:
- Multiple, randomly generated levels. The levels will get “…bigger, weirder, and tougher” as the player clears them, and the random generation keeps the levels unique.
- New items and characters. Each playthrough of the game will choose from a selection of possible characters, allowing for different combinations and more characters without flooding the school.
- Advanced level design. Planned level features include one-way doors and libraries, where noise can’t be made nor heard.
- Random events. Special timed situations may pop up during gameplay. The lights might go out, Baldi’s ruler may break so you can’t hear him, or all the characters may go to a party which holds a high-quality item.
- Field trips. Every few levels, the player gets to go to a bonus round, with new challenges where items and permanent boosts can be earned. There’s a demo here that shows off the camping field trip.