Town of Salem Expanding with Kickstarter

Although many games plaster the “social” tag on their features, few truly actively engage the players in that way.

Although many games plaster the “social” tag on their features, few truly actively engage the players in that way. A twist on the popular games like Mafia and Werewolf , Town of Salem pits several villages, town mafiosos, and other interesting characters in a village where murders happen overnight, and the presumably guilty get lynched by day by popular vote.

Players are randomly paired up in a lobby, and then thrown into a village square. There’s always a few members of the mafia, and they seek to eliminate all villagers. Some neutral characters like arsonists and serial killers cause havoc at night, choosing their victims at will. It’s up to the villagers to discern the evildoers, but as suspicion gets thrown across the board in the common chat, how do they know who’s lying or not? The investigators, doctor, bodyguard, mayor, and more need to somehow cooperate or lose.

Town of Salem has been played by over 250,000 people worldwide, and BlankMediaGames are looking to expand the game’s features with a Kickstarter campaign. Some of the most requested features by the users are mobile ports of the game to enjoy it on the go, Steam support for easier networking, and localization in different languages. These cross-platform features would enable browser, mobile, and Steam users to play simultaneously. Those are the primary goals of the campaign, and a bit of good village news is that Town of Salem has already been Greenlit on Steam.

Depending on the funding, there are many ways the creators want to support the lynching, finger-pointing-experience. Other than the ones described above, a ranking system will help differentiate between newer players and the veterans. Those lobbies will match people up with similar skill level, which then enables competitive rankings. Since the roles are randomly assigned at start, a Scrolls item can help out get a desired role. Additionally, more roles are coming, like the Werewolf, Vampire, and Vampire Hunter. The developers want to keep the experience free-to-play as they add on more costumes and roles.

Check out the Kickstarter campaignfor the rich assortment of donor and backer benefits that net in-game goodies. For more of our impressions on Town of Salem , find our reviewof Town of Salem in the June issue of the Indie Game Mag .