HTML5 ARTICLE

November 05, 2013

Apexicon Steps Up Development with Wii U Stretch Goal


There’s no denying that there are more than a few exciting game concepts floating around Kickstarter. Lots of potential developers out there have some pretty interesting plans, and putting those plans into action is Actos Games, a company that’s using HTML5 and Unity tools to bring out a new kind of word puzzle game that’s heavy on the fantasy action: Apexicon.

Apexicon isn’t just an exciting development for those who follow HTML5 gaming, but it may well mean the beginning of the end for one of Nintendo’s biggest problems.

Apexicon follows four classes of characters: the Idiomancer, the Plagiarist, the Verbinator and the Wordsmith as said groups head out into the wider world as part of a dynamic storyline in which the characters occasionally cross paths with each other on the way to do something else. In Apexicon, the world is essentially controlled by a set of magic words, and those with the widest vocabulary, therefore, enjoy a measure of power over the world itself. But as is so often the case—been to an online forum lately?–issues of how to punctuate these magic words led to an all-out war known as the Punctuation War, which in turn gave rise to the Literati Empire, who took control of the magic words and doled said words out sparingly so as to prevent another horror like the Punctuation War. Or so the people thought….

The game itself features a play style that’s similar to “Bookworm,” “Boggle,” or other games like it in which players assemble words from random letters placed throughout the field. In this case, however, assembled words deal damage to opponents, and the first side to have its hit point count brought to zero loses the match.

Right now, Apexicon is looking for $15,000, and has been running for the last three days with a closing date of December 1. Right now, the company is at just shy of $1,000, but has recently added a new stretch goal. Should Apexicon pull in $20,000, the company will bring out a version of Apexicon for Wii U consoles.

While the idea of word-slinging fantasy heroes may not be everyone’s cup of tea in terms of gaming, for those wishing that Nintendo would finally get out some games for the Wii U, this may be just the approach some were looking for. Nintendo has long offered support for Unity and HTML5, and though the results have been less than modest, Nintendo supporting this platform is giving the company more room than ever to offer more games, which is perhaps Nintendo’s biggest problem right now. The Wii U has been on the market for most of a year now, complete with a holiday shopping season, and there are still a bare handful of games being released for the platform. That’s not an encouraging development by any stretch, and it may well be that games like Apexicon might help bring the gamers back and give the bigger developers a reason to start building Wii U games again.

Apexicon may not fix all of Nintendo’s ails, but its new stretch goal may well prove to be at least a synonym for “revitalization,” a development Nintendo could sorely use right now.




Edited by Stefania Viscusi





HTML5 RESOURCES

HTML 5 Demos and Examples

HTML 5 experimentation and demos I've hacked together. Click on the browser support icon or the technology tag to filter the demos.... Learn More

HTML5 GAMES

HTML5games.com is the largest and most comprehensive directory of HTML5 games on the internet... Learn More

The HTML5 test

How well does your browser support HTML5?... Learn More

Working Draft (WHATWG)

This is the Editor’s Draft from WHATWG. You can use it online or print the available PDF version... Learn More

HTML5 Flip Book

Free jQuery and HTML5 flip book maker for PDF to online page turning book conversion... Learn More