Originally, musical platformer The Artful Escape of Francis Vendetti didn’t raise the amount of money needed during its Kickstarter campaign. Now that indie publisher Annapurna picked it up, the game is currently being made, which is great news for the game’s designer, Johnny Galvatron, whose last name sounds like a Transformer name, but I digress.
Galvatron first created the monsters of The Artful Escape of Francis Vendetti in a student math book of all things, citing that he wasn’t a good math student. Those creatures are now a part of the game, including a space whale and suborbital jellyfish. After watching a short demo at PAX East, Kotaku said that the demo “showed off a psychedelic, sonically gripping action platformer that drew in attendees with its confident chord progressions and glittery aesthetic.”
All of the creatures in the game that Galvatron made in is math book challenge protagonist Francis Vendetti to jam with them, implying that it is Simon-Says style game with a 1980s rock vibe. Vendetti explores space and jams with these creatures in order to find inspiration for a stage persona.
Vendetti jumps, double jumps and jams with the same button. When he jams, with help of his guitar, he’s able to float up to taller hedges and across longer gaps thanks to a few solo notes.
The game is played with a pink, purple and blue palette and all the surfaces look like they’re covered in glitter. Galvatron calls the color scheme and the glittery appearance “chaotic.”
Before Galvatron took his talents to the video game industry he was the lead singer and guitarist for The Galvatrons, an Australian rock group. Galvatron was the main sound composer for The Artful Escape of Francis Vendetti, while fellow musician John Abrahams helped with the contributing and producing.
There is no tentative release date, but the game will be for PS4, Xbox One and PC.