Gamkin wants to scratch your tactical RPG itch with their upcoming game X-Tactics, on Indiegogo now.
Gamkin is more than your typical indie studio. Rather, it is more like an indie supergroup consisting mostly of long-time veterans from companies like Sega, Square Enix, and even Capcom. And what does such a group look to do with such infernal talent under its belt?
It wants to bring you a tactical RPG.
To be more specific, Gamkin is bringing out X-Tactics (pronounced Cross Tactics,) a tactical RPG with a heavy dose of inspiration from fighting games, and wants your help in making sure the game is everything it can be.
Gamkin calls X-Tactics an “episodic tactical RPG with fighting game mechanics,” a combination that seems like it wants to make the best use possible of the genre talents of the studios Gamkin’s staff initially hail from. We’ve seen this attempted before with titles like Project X Zone (also pronounced with a “cross” rather than an “X,”) but Gamkin is hoping X-Tactics can take the combination and move it one step further than it has been presented before, all while making the game viable on mobile platforms.
“It is our mission here at GAMKIN to mash up our game dev expertise with other fields. So we are using real world data streams, like weather, and location-based data, to enhance X-Tactics gameplay, creating an urban exploration sandbox mode for our players. This combined with the curated episodic nature of X-Tactics will allow us to build a living game, and allow us to expand the X-Tactics universe based on our community’s feedback.
Urban sandbox? Living game? Interesting concepts, to be sure. The question rises about how fighting game concepts will translate to the mobile platforms the game plans to target though, and it’s a question that the game’s trailer does little to really answer:
http://youtu.be/_g9Pg_XWFrA
While the fighting game elements are unsure, the mobile integration elements are definitely looking impressive. The game plans to use the GPS capabilities of players’ smart phones and tablets to provide players with location, time, and even weather-relevant missions and situations, so if you’ve ever wanted to protect the 7-11 down the street from alien invasion, X-Tactics might very well be the game for you.
Overall, so far gamer response to X-Tactics seems to be largely positive. The game’s Indiegogo campaign, set to run through September 15th, is already well past its initial ten thousand dollar funding goal and still climbing. With releases planned, for iOS, Android, PC/Mac/Linux, and even Google Glass, X-Tactics is building a lot of interested players, all waiting to see what the game has to offer.