Eric Ruth, developer of fan-made "de-makes" of games including Halo and Team Fortress 2, has turned to Indiegogo for crowdfunding of his first original game project, Hauntlings.
According to the title's campaign page, Hauntlings is a browser-based MOBA/beat em up hybrid built in HTML5. Players will set up accounts on the game's website in order to play, save progress, manage their play settings and set up or join game lobbies.
Ruth plans to launch the game with 20 different Hauntling characters, similar to champions like in League of Legends, each with their own skills sets and combos for use in combat. Battles are fought in cemeteries and are won by being the first to destroy guardian statues on your opponents' side of a map. Ruth is currently planning three different game modes that utilize different maps and are designed for up to four players, two-verus-two on teams or up to four in a co-op horde mode.
Ruth's pitch states funding will go towards better equipment, hiring coding programmers and licensing music. Ruth's previous free projects, including Pixel Force: Halo and the Team Fortress 2 arcade beat em up, were possible as one-man endeavors, but developing Hauntlings requires additional expenses.
"I've always had the means to create a free project on my own from beginning to end on my own, however this particular title actually has expenses and I can't afford them on my own," Ruth says in his pitch video. "Unfortunately, I'll need the assistance from my awesome — and very sexy — fan base to complete Hauntlings and make it the very best it can be."
