Reminiscent of a Renaissance paper theater, Backdrop unites an innovative and intriguing art style with an exciting RPG experience. Backdrop has been nominated for 7 categories, including Best quality of art, Most promising UP, Best console game, Best hardcore game, Best indie game, Best story / storytelling and Most original game as well as for the People’s Choice Award at this years Game Connection America. Players can have a first look at the upcoming game via the trailer and head over to Facebook to vote via likes.
“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players” according to William Shakespeare. “Backdrop – Behind the Curtain” is greatly inspired by this quote and puts players in the role of a puppet, living in a fantastic and magical world wonderfully crafted from colorful folded paper. The development team at SparklingBit has taken inspiration from Renaissance paper theaters as well as Chinese dioramas, providing a game with a wholly unique art style. Every part of the game world is made from the same materials that would have been used in real life for a paper theater. This means the player is not only able to switch between the different layers of the stage to progress through levels, but can also utilize different items like torches to alter and even destroy certain parts of the theater.
Backdrop is a fully fledged RPG with a heavy focus on story as well as character progression through “questing”, providing seven different roles players can choose from. Each character has a unique way of applying their abilities in their approach to problems which in turn have alternative outcomes. Roles such as the Prince, the Knight and the Jester have unique abilities that can be used in combat as well as in dialogs with other characters, an important aspect to the game as words hurt and have special effects in the world of Backdrop.
“It was my dream to build a game like Backdrop and give new meaning to the definition of RPG. With the positive feedback over the last year and the nomination to the GC America 2019 Development Awards, we are even closer to achieving that dream and delivering a great game,” said Franz Stradal, founder of SparklingBit. “We are excited to show Backdrop – Behind the Curtain to the players and of course, receiving the award would not only be an immense honor, but also reinforce our decision to go for this innovative and unique art style and world we built Backdrop upon.” The uniqueness of the game’s art style as well as gameplay already caught attention of the industry, leading to this nomination.
The game has been in development by SparklingBit with the help from Fair Play Labs, Ironklad Studios, Intulo and Room 8 Studio.
“We are thankful to SparklingBit for an opportunity to partner on Backdrop – a game driven by rich storytelling and intricately beautiful art in the nostalgic spirit of Pan’s Labyrinth and Dark Crystal. The unique strength of the game is in changing the costumes which will not only affect the skills of the hero but also the behavior of non-playable characters. This will be an absolutely magnetizing experience,” said Dmitry Fitisov, Managing Director of Hollywood based visual development company Ironklad Studios.
For 11 years, the Game Connection Development Awards recognizes and promotes independent game projects in any stage of development. In a total of 10 different categories, creativity and originality are honored by a jury, with exception of the People’s Choice Awards, which is selected through an open vote.
To show support for „Backdrop – Behind the Curtain“, people can go to the dedicated Facebook page of the Game Connection Development Awards 2019. There they can hit „like“ to place a vote.
The voting runs from 1st of March till 15th of March.
