Veteran game designer Jane Jensen launched Pinkerton Road Studio just two weeks ago, and this weekend the project’s early backers got to vote for the first adventure game the studio will make. Drum roll please… with 61% of the vote, the winner is Moebius!

Jane is running a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for Moebius’s development. As of this writing, we’re more than halfway to the $300k funding goal: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1005365109/jane-jensens-pinkerton-road-2012-2013-csg

Backer rewards include behind-the-scenes involvement in the development, downloadable and physical copies of Pinkerton Road’s games, and “design bibles” from Jane’s Gabriel Knight days. (More rewards will be added this week!) If enough funds are raised, Pinkerton Road will pursue a second adventure game this year as well.

Okay, enough of the backstory! Here’s the scoop on Moebius…

The Story

Moebius is a metaphysical sci-fi thriller in the vein of Fringe, Jane’s novel Dante’s Equation, and (of course!) Gabriel Knight. Antiquities dealer Malachi Rector hunts down artifacts all over the world and compiles dossiers on their history. He has a knack for sensing “the soul” of an object. After his upscale Manhattan store is destroyed in a fire, Rector is hired by millionaire Amber Dexter to investigate a series of events and document them in his meticulous way.

The first event is the death of a young woman in Venice, who was found hanging from a bridge. As Rector investigates her life, he soon realizes that this beautiful and talented young woman — and the interrupted path of her life — had great hidden significance. It appears that Amber Dexter and his associates are playing with the fabric of life in a way Rector never imagined possible. Even he, Rector himself, is part of a larger pattern.

Malachi Rector must figure out who is doing what — and whether their intentions are for good or ill — before he can decide whether to play his pre-scripted role or try to change the outcome.

Game Details

Moebius will be a point and click, third person adventure game with a 2D graphic novel look. The game will have two modes: Casual Adventure and True Adventure. Casual Adventure mode includes hints, a hotspot revealer, and a simplified interface. True Adventure will be more of a challenge along the lines of Jane’s past adventure games (Gabriel Knight, Gray Matter). Assuming Pinkerton Road meets its $300k funding goal, Moebius is planned to release around March 2013.

Assets

Jane’s video update announcing Moebius as the winner: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Icfk0tW9ak

To hear more about Pinkerton Road, please contact me! Jane is available for interviews to talk about why she’s striking out on her own and her exciting plans for the future. You’ll also find answers to frequently asked questions on the Pinkerton Road Kickstarter page, and in this update video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJ4tEyiYk5M