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Ecco the Dolphin creator's The Big Blue game fails to reach its Kickstarter target

The sea can be a cruel mistress

Ecco the Dolphin creator's The Big Blue game fails to reach its Kickstarter target
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| The Big Blue

Ed Annunziata's attempt to crowdfund a spiritual successor to the Mega Drive swim-'em-up Ecco the Dolphin, The Big Blue, has been scuttled.

Just $55,764 of the target $665,000 amount was pledged before the clock hit zero on Annunziata's Kickstarter campaign.

But that's not going to deter our Ed. Oh, no, no, no, no, no.

Aiming for a smaller crowd

Rather than resting on his laurels, Annunziata intends to initiate Plan B.

This 'backup' plan involves Annunziata once again heading down into the depths of the crowdfunding ocean to try and get a different game called The Little Blue made.

With a smaller / more modest funding goal than The Big Blue, The Little Blue represents a taster of what The Big Blue has to offer.

In an update on The Big Blue Kickstarter page, Annunziata notes that The Little Blue will have "a less ambitious scope" [than The Big Blue], but will still be a "fully playable game".

So, you'll get to swim around two large underwater environments as a dolphin and one other (as-yet-unnamed) sea beast.

There'll be quests to complete, ten or more "significant creatures, including at least one Leviathan", with which to interact, and home bases to build in your undersea kingdom.

Like its bigger brother, The Little Blue will be powered by Unity, and will be available on iOS and Android. Of course, this all relies on The Little Blue getting funded.

Ifs and buts

But if that does happen and everyone loves it - as Annunziata insists everyone will - Annunziata will then launch a third Kickstarter campaign to raise the funds required to turn The Little Blue into The Big Blue.

So, that's a Kickstarter campaign to create a game to kick-start a Kickstarter campaign for a game that's already failed to be kick-started by a Kickstarter campaign. Hmmm.

Even the plot of the Dreamcast game Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future wasn't THAT complicated.

bit-tech
Harry Slater
Harry Slater
Harry used to be really good at Snake on the Nokia 5110. Apparently though, digital snake wrangling isn't a proper job, so now he writes words about games instead.