Here’s a Kickstarter pitch you don’t hear every day: “You play as Yvette, a woman in pre-revolutionary France, using her guile and seduction to advance her position in a time of intrigue, danger, and serial adultery.”
It’s called Ambition: A Minuet in Power and Joy Manufacturing Co. are crowdfunding it right now. Decadent Parisian parties will be a centerpiece of their game, with every decision from what you wear to what you say potentially affecting your reputation and which faction you’re in favor with. The gossip gathered from these parties can then be sold to the papers for cash, the cash spent to grow your network of spies, and the spies used to learn about the next noble you plan to seduce for influence. “Is it wrong?” the designers ask. “Yes. Is it fun? Extremely.”
This is a theme and setting that board games like Love Letter, Liberte, and—if things go badly—Guillotine have covered, but it’s new territory for videogames (unless you count Assassin’s Creed: Unity). Joy Manufacturing Co. are looking for $US60,000 to fund their game and are over halfway there with 20 days left to go. If all goes well they’re planning to release in 2018.