Skip to main content

Long read: How TikTok's most intriguing geolocator makes a story out of a game

Where in the world is Josemonkey?

If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.

Barkley 2 scores a slam dunk on Kickstarter in less than a day

Mac port of Barkley, Shut Up & Jam: Gaiden now available.

The game you've all been waiting for, The Magical Realms of Tír na nÓg: Escape from Necron 7 - Revenge of Cuchulainn: The Official Game of the Movie - Chapter 2 of the Hoopz Barkley SaGa - or Barkley 2 for short - has found massive success on Kickstarter where it surpassed its $35,000 goal in less than a day. Its current total is at $39,444 and climbing.

If you can't slam with the best, then jam with the rest.

For those not familiar with Barkley 2, it's the sequel to the fan made 2008 RPG Barkley, Shut Up & Jam: Gaiden, which was itself an unofficial sequel to the actual 1994 SNES and Sega Genesis basketball game Barkley Shut Up and Jam!

Shut Up & Jam: Gaiden was a ridonkulous parody of sports tie-ins from the 90s like Space Jam. It followed the story of legendary basketball star Charles Barkely in the post-cyberapocalypse where basketball has been outlawed after Barkley performed a "chaos dunk" resulting in the death of millions. Aside from simply being outrageous, it was hailed as a fantastic RPG in its own right.

This sequel follows an amnesiac by the name of X114JAM9 who awakens from a basketball induced coma and sets off in search of Cyberdwarf, a b-ball guru from the first game whose skin is made entirely of basketballs.

"Barkley 2 is a coming of age story, a story about love, hope, betrayal and redemption. It is a story about identity and sacrifice, a story about wayward jocks struggling for a purpose. It is a story about the trials of our dystopian future and most importantly, it is a story about You," wrote series developer Tales of Game's on its Kickstarter.

Mechanically Barkley 2 is is an open world action RPG. It will have a "heavy emphasis on exploration, choice, character development and discovery" Tales of Game's noted. "It combines the focus on strong characters and narrative of Eastern RPGs with the non-linearity and openness of Western RPGs, drawing on the best ideas from titles like Realms of Arkania, Fallout, Dark Souls, Romancing SaGa, Dark Sun, Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall and Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne."

Those who pledge $10 towards this epic sequel will receive a PC download of it when comes out, which is estimated to be December 2013. $15 grants players a "secret tip," of which there are hundreds, and those who give $25 will receive all of the above plus a digital soundtrack.

Amazingly, for $1000 someone purchased the opportunity to pose as Tales of Game's for an interview with the gaming press. The impostor will not be revealed before or after, so even we may end up interviewing the fraud. I hope we get the fraud.

Elsewhere, Tales of Game's announced that it's released a Mac port of Barkley: Shut Up & Jam: Gaiden on its official site. Both versions can be downloaded for free here.

Tales of Game's is currently working on making stretch goals and noted that the $35,000 asked for would only be enough to work on the game full time for a few months.

"Every single dollar that we get directly translates into more time we can work on Barkley 2, which means that it will be even bigger and better and funnier," said the developer. "We have huge ambitions for this game and the more you're able to contribute, the more realised our ambitions will be."

Read this next