We continue our series on games seeking investments or publishers. Up next is a feature on Valeria Klimenko’s project, an adventure game titled Anemone.
The column is supported by the game search service for publishers and investors, WN Game Finder.
Game art by https://vk.com/daniskyskys
The project was introduced by its creator, Valeria Klimenko.
Valeria Klimenko
About the Team
There are three of us — me, the developer and visionary of the project, and my friends — a musician and an artist. Occasionally, we're assisted by others — familiar artists, 3D modelers, and my university professors.
The project team is expanding thanks to the support from indie communities! Recently, two 3D modelers and an SMM specialist joined us — previously, it was just me, the musician, and the artist working on the project.
Anemone
About the Project
Anemone is a relaxing adventure set in an underwater world where the player explores the dreams of the main character. Her goal is to find the Orca — a creature she wishes to transform into.
Anemone reflects the author's own experience, in other words, my experience. The game aims to represent cancer in video games and support people with serious illnesses. One of the objectives is also to establish communication between patients and healthy individuals.
The project is being developed on the Unreal Engine 5. Currently, Anemone is at the exhibition prototype stage. The near-term plan is to complete the vertical slice and release a full demo (expected by early fall 2024) and participate in festivals on Steam, VK Play, and other platforms.
Anemone
About the Gameplay/Mechanics
Anemone is at the crossroads of two genres. The game features calm exploration in a semi-open underwater world and side-scroller segments in a hospital with diverse gameplay mechanics, musical mini-games, and quests.
The core of the meditative gameplay in the underwater world revolves around exploring interactive locations. To "wake up" and exit the underwater world, you need to repair a train that connects the two worlds — dream and reality. To activate the train, players need to find special memory items in each location.
The hospital is a side-scroller with musical mini-games (similar to Guitar Hero), quests, and dialogues with NPCs (patients and doctors).
The underwater world presents the storyline in a relaxed manner, using meditative gameplay and non-verbal narrative.
In contrast, the hospital presents the story verbally, aiming to show the hospital routine more broadly than typically seen in modern media. The main message is that hospitals and illnesses are not always just about sadness and hardship.
Anemone
About the Target Audience
The game will appeal to fans of adventures, meditative games, Miyazaki enthusiasts, and those who appreciate heartfelt stories and complex plots.
Anemone will feature a metanarrative — it’s crucial to unite our audience and not alienate them with the complexity of the topic. It is important to me to subtly immerse the player in the narrative, as seen in ABZÛ. I admire how the metastructure is executed there, which is not apparent on a first playthrough and thus doesn't deter a wide audience.
Some play it as an underwater relaxation game, while others, through symbolism and references, may discover a deeper layer to the story.
I decided to use this concept in Anemone for an honest representation of cancer and to convey my experiences.
In this way, part of the audience will see Anemone as a beautiful game with underwater adventures, while others will delve deeper to learn more about its world and storyline — this will be my contribution to supporting patients like myself.
I hope everyone can find something personal in the game.
Anemone
About the Business Model
Anemone is planned as a small indie project, so we hope to sell 10,000 copies. We would like to reach the console audience, but it's too early to predict. We plan to reinvest sales revenue for localization into at least nine major languages. We're considering potential partnerships with cancer centers, but currently, we’re unsure how to implement this technically and legally. DLC with music is our theoretical maximum for additional monetization.
Anemone
About the Metrics
We have yet to set up our Steam page, but we plan to work on it by the end of summer. By then, we will have a complete demo version ready, which we aim to showcase at Steam festivals.
What We Are Looking For
At this stage, we need a UE Blueprint programmer for our team. We are always open to suggestions and welcome informational support from media/bloggers and any advice from experts.
We are also open to any investment proposals.
- Email: anemone.orca@gmail.com
- Contact on Telegram: @Enorr34
- Game page on Telegram: https://t.me/anemone_game
- Game page on VK: https://vk.com/anemone_game