One week after the stars aligned for the iOS release of Astrologaster on the App Store® ($4.99 USD), independent game developer Nyamyam have announced their comedy game which is based on a true story, is now available for PC and Mac on Steam ($9.99 USD). To give new players an idea of what sort of story will unfold and characters that will pop-up, Nyamyam created a trailer for the title:
Astrologaster is a story-driven comedy game set in Shakespeare’s London based on a true — and truly ridiculous — story. The player takes on the role of Dr. Simon Forman, who used an ancient branch of astrology called Horary astrology to diagnose and treat his patients. Will he earn a medical license through these, ahem, unconventional practices? Will you the player win over his patients by reading their fortunes, or will you ruin their lives? TouchArcade gave the iOS version of the game a raving 5 out of 5 review, stating that “the game is an experience in its own right, with the madrigals and artwork creating something wonderfully unique.”
“It certainly has been an exciting week with Astrologaster hitting the AppStore last week and now on Steam for our PC fans. It has been an absolute joy to bring Dr. Simon Forman and all of his patients ‘back to life’ through our historic period comedy game and we hope that players have a good laugh exploring their stories. We think players are going to be shocked and amused to learn of some of the wild and strange treatments that Dr. Forman used by reading the stars for his patients,” said Jennifer Schneidereit, who founded Nyamyam and is creative director on Astrologaster. “I must give a huge shout out and many thanks to my dev team, the talented voice actors and singers, the dedicated research team at the University of Cambridge, our friends and family, and lastly our fans who have been supporting us during this fantastic journey to create Astrologaster. We hope that players will enjoy delving into Dr. Forman’s story as much as we did.”
Nearly three years ago, Nyamyam’s founder and creative director, Jennifer Schneidereit, came up with the idea for Astrologaster while attending a workshop and was paired with Dr. Lauren Kassell, a professor of History of Science and Medicine at the University of Cambridge. They poured over only a few of Dr. Simon Forman’s records before Schneidereit learned that more than 30,000 casebooks for the patients existed. Forman’s patients’ records provided a window into Elizabethan London, and Schneidereit was deeply intrigued — and entertained — by the wealth of hilarious source material. With the help of Kassel’s research team, Schneidereit aimed to create a British-style comedy game, and narrative exploration experience that would involve practicing real astrology.
