Indie team Attic Door Productions has received a license to sell The 13th Doll, their fan-made homage to cult FMV adventure The 7th Guest, set in the same universe as the original game.
“The 13th Doll is our passion project – a game that’s being made BY fans and FOR fans of The 7th Guest Series,” says project lead Ryan HoltKamp. “We’re extremely fortunate to be granted a license to sell the game as a retail game. It allows us to make the game we really want to make, to step up production budget and make a higher quality game for players to experience.”
The 7th Guest was an ‘interactive movie puzzle adventure game’ (not a hugely congested genre), which was set in a haunted mansion in 1930’s America. Released in 1993, it was one of the most prominent early games to make use of live action film clips in game, and is therefore responsible for all manner of terrible rubbish. Still, it’s fondly remembered for its creepy atmosphere and setting.
Original developer Trilobite did manage to release a sequel, The 11th Hour, in 1995, but subsequent attempts to revisit the game’s universe were unsuccessful, and Trilobite eventually closed. Recently, fan team Attic Door Productions decided to make their own game inspired by the original, The 13th Doll, and Trilobite offered a licensing deal that allows it to be sold as a retail game – that’s a rare thing for an IP holder to do.
Attic Door has set up a Kickstarter to earn the necessary development funds, and you can find out more about the game there. The team are looking for $40,000, with 30 days left on the project.
