'Armello' pitch mixes board, card and video games

The lush surrounds of fairy-tale animal kingdom "Armello" form the backdrop for a proposal that blends board game, card game and video game traditions -- and one that's been received with great enthusiasm.

The lush surrounds of fairy-tale animal kingdom 'Armello' form the backdrop for a proposal that blends board game, card game and video game traditions -- and one that's been received with great enthusiasm.

Described by its Australian creators as a multiplayer digital board game, 'Armello' has been in the works as an out-of-hours project for over three years and has already accumulated eight months of prototyping via a more conventional board game format.

And thanks to a partnership with fellow Melbourne studio 12 Field Animation, 'Armello' has a number of animated shorts that recall classic cartoon adventures.

Asking for 200,000 Australian dollars (approximately $187,500 USD) from Kickstarter backers, the team at League of Geeks is looking to bring 'Armello' to iPad, PC, Mac and Linux, with Android and Windows tablet versions set as a stretch goal.

By asking for $15 AUD minimum to secure a PC, Mac or Linux version of the game, 'Armello' raised $55,000 ($51,000 USD) in under 24 hours on the Kickstarter funding platform, with notable game designers coming forth to lend their support.

Early Twitter shoutouts came from award-winning creatives such as Robin Hunicke ('Journey'), Alexander Bruce ('Antichamber') and staff behind Kickstarter's biggest video game to date, 'Torment: Tides of Numenera' (a $4.1m take).

The 'Armello' funding drive is open until May 8, with a projected launch due March 2015. Stretch goals include a 'Game of Thrones'-referencing winter theme option and the addition of another five languages to the six already supported.