Dark times have descended upon Timothy’s world — in the most literal sense possible — when the very sun shattered into a plethora of fragments, ushering in an age of darkness. These are especially bad times for our hero; not just because of the base level inconvenience this has caused, but also because he personally happens to be deathly afraid of the dark. One night all huddled up in his room — as his nightlight’s power was beginning to fade — he saw a shooting star pass by his window, and made a wish upon it that the light would not be allowed to leave him.
It was then that a miraculous event transpired, and the shooting star answered Timothy — again in the most literal sense possible — by flying in through his window and introducing itself as “Altair.” Altair had the power to illuminate the area around Timothy, and promised that he would light the way for the boy if in turn the lad helped him on his mission to gather all of the star shards and restore the sun to the sky. Apparently the little star was in dire need of Timothy’s help, for Altair — even though he could light up the area around himself — could neither pass through nor interact with physical objects.
Thus with their heroic pact formed to find the sun’s shards — and eventually restore the blazing light to where it belonged — the duo began their journey of exploration, wherein both would learn many new abilities along the way. Thus is the setup to the recently proposed Metroid inspired exploration title — with a heavy focus on environmental puzzles — by the fine people over at Creative Genius, an indie team stationed in the UK. The intended controls will feature players simultaneously manipulating Timothy via on screen buttons and a virtual joystick, as well as Altair by physical dragging him around and performing on screen gestures.
The catch is that Creative Genius is in need of development funds, without which they’ll never be able to properly focus on creating Starlight, in turn leading us to their recently launched Kickstarter. So far the fundraiser has done fairly well, having already secured an entire £3,100 — out of their target goal of £4,000 — proving that many people are definitely interested in seeing Timothy through on his journey to restore the sun. The catch is that Starlight’s Kickstarter currently has only a scant three days remaining, during which an additional £900 must be raised or else the darkness will reign eternal.
Interested backers can secure their own personal day one copy of Starlight — currently only guaranteed for release on iPad devices — by pledging a single pound to the cause, which is cheaper than the otherwise planned £1.99 price tag. Meanwhile, even more generous backers can earn rewards such as: having their name in Starlight’s credits, free access to future DLC, downloads of the game’s soundtrack, and even the chance to help shape Timothy’s world. While the current plans for Starlight have it releasing only on iPads, the developers have promised that they will further tweak the game’s design to run on smaller iPhone screens if the Kickstarter secures a grand total of £6,000.
Those interested in helping to ensure that Timothy and Altair are successful in their mission — restoring all of the sun’s shards to where they belong — should keep in mind that Starlight’s Kickstarter will be ending on February 16th, and thus should act quickly.