When I started blogging about game industry PR, I had no idea that it would lead to me getting pitched by other PR professionals. As a happy result of this, I got a sneak peek at the upcoming game Kaijuland at the Casual Connect conference.
When I was a kid I loved movies and TV shows from Japan in which giant monsters, robots and superheroes battled against each other and the army, crushing buildings beneath their feet and toppling power lines with spectacular showers of sparks. My love for them began with a showing of Godzilla vs. Monster Zero on afternoon television, and reached its peak when I discovered Ultraman on Saturday mornings. My friends and I would argue over which monster could beat which in a fight.
Kaijuland aims to capture that sense of wonder and excitement. Your own personal monster can rampage gleefully through cities, battle armies and slug it out with other monsters. To keep the game fresh, after six months your monster’s time is up. You can choose to rejuvenate it by paying money, bequeath it to a friend, or wave goodbye as it walks off into the sunset in the grand tradition of Japanese monsters.
My desire to play this game was confirmed when I asked Kaiju Empire founder Bill Janczewski, “Will the game have a song like the one used to summon Mothra?” Affirmative: music is one of the elements to which the team is paying special attention, recognizing how important it is for conveying emotion in those old monster movies.
Emotion, Janczewski told me, is what will ultimately distinguish Kaijuland from other social games. Frontierville may tug at my heartstrings (and my wallet) by dropping wounded baby buffaloes onto my property for me to heal; but Kaiju Empire wants to create a true bond between me and the monster I’ll be raising and training over six months. And by providing me with the option to give that monster I care about to a friend as a gift, it will make virtual gift-giving more meaningful.
A recent update on the game’s Facebook page says that the game will be coming out in late summer or fall. I’m looking forward to it.
Wade Rockett 