FREERIDE (Game)

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**Freeride** (stylized as '**FREERIDE**', sometimes with the subtitle "The Personality Test") is an action-RPG game being developed by Flightyfelon Games in the Unity engine.

It is planned to release in fall of 2024 for PC and Mac through Steam as well as the Nintendo Switch.

## Gameplay

Freeride is a role-playing game that incorporates a personality test through game-play.

A total of 32 personality types (examples being Bully, Detective, Clown, Teacher, Fool, or Demon) are achievable within the 5 descriptors: curious/safe, open/quiet, passive/assertive, kind/cruel, and observant/unobservant. The descriptors are determined through various in-game mechanics such as how many weapons are in your inventory, how many people you hit, etc.

Other mechanics include telekinesis, a fighting system, and dialogue options. True to RPG nature, fighting and dialogue are standard within the genre, the difference primarily being it is primarily throwing objects at the enemy through aforementioned telekinesis, having some items deal more damage than others. Outside of battle, dialogue options typically consist of a positive, negative, or silent option (although usually taken as a negative). Outside of these mechanics, there are secrets and routes, some requiring puzzle solving, platforming, or various other critical thinking, such as meta-gaming.

## Summary

Our playable character and mortal(?) human child, Proto, is ushered into a post-death spirit realm by Lepida, a conductor and daughter of a spirit god, Beta. Given telekenesis, a train, and various other responsibilities, Proto, alongside Dakuiri, Kad, and other supporting cast, must ????[stop] Beta/The Seer/??? from ???[destroying] the ???[spirit realm] and everyone inside of it, [revise upon release]

## Plot

In the year of our lord 2227, Act 1 opens with Proto waiting on a train platform, then met by Lepida, the conductor of the 001 Fate Train. Lepida starts training them (unbeknownst to Proto) to take her place as conductor. They make an unscheduled stop at Pandaemonium Station, a station on an alien spacecraft that orbits Jupiter, where Lepida goes to talk to The Seer, one of the two gods in the spirit world.

Exiting the station, Lepida tricks Proto into becoming the conductor. Act 2 visits Edo, Japan in 2077, and Act 3 takes place at the Spirit High School, a mortal high-school with a spirit school structure super-imposed onto it.

## Development

The concept of Freeride has been dated back to 2015, but the earliest mentions of it in the public conscious has been dated to April 6, 2021, when it's Steam page was created. While that was the earliest public date, Flightyfelon Games were in the market for investors long before the store page went public.

The first released build of the game was an 'investor' or 'conceptual build' which had been made around 2019 and was circulated privately. While not much is known, it is likely demoed to some extent in the concept walkthrough video published on the company's YouTube August 11, 2021. Eventually, the Canadian Media Fund became attached to the game, and about a year later, on May 24, 2022, the playtest was made available to the general public. Showing off telekinesis, a grey-scaled sewer town, and some initial characters, the alpha garnered about 14,000 players, likely with the help of the TikTok account's success. January 20, 2023, the playtest was removed, and along with it, the first major demo of Act 1 released January 31, 2023.

The same day as the Act 1 demo release, a Kickstarter campaign with a goal of $20,000 CAD was launched with the expressed intent of needing a part-time character artist. The campaign included stretch goals, such as porting or voice acting. Rewards for pledges included various items, both digital and physical, mainly revolving around copies of the game, a conductor badge pin, a Googly plush, and more expensive rewards involving designing in-game materials. By the time it ended on March 3, 2023, it received $22,216 CAD from 290 backers.

## References

1. ↑ "*(Freeride takes place in the year 2227, for future reference)*" Rebecca Harrison on Discord. March 1, 2022. Retrieved on March 1, 2023‎.
2. ↑ "*It's called Pandaemonium Station, and is an alien spacecraft just chillin' by Jupiter. It's not really plot-relevant that the mortals there are aliens (I've named them Quostics) it's just meant to show that the Spirit World encompasses all sentient life, not just humans.*" Rebecca Harrison on Discord. August 4, 2022. Retrieved March 6, 2023.
3. ↑ "[...]*Edo Station is actually in Japan, in the year 2077. Proto is from the Consolidated Republic (unknown descent specifically)*" Rebecca Harrison on Discord. March 6, 2023. Retrieved March 6, 2023.
4. ↑ "*But yeah in Act 3 you get to wander around the Spirit High School. It’s like if someone juxtaposed a crazy hogwartz situation on top of a regular high school, so there’s mortal kids everywhere that have no idea spirit nonsense is afoot*" Rebecca Harrison on Discord. February 9, 2023. Retrieved on March 6, 2023‎.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Harrison, Rebecca. "Timeline." Kickstarter, Kickstarter, 2022.
6. ↑ SteamDB. "App 1597910 Update History." SteamDB.info, SteamDB.
7. ↑ "*oh haha that was from an ancient investor build, where you can climb one of the mountains in Edo station"* Rebecca Harrison on Discord. February 17, 2024. Retrieved on March 6, 2023.
8. ↑ "*this was back in like 2019 lol"* Rebecca Harrison on Discord. February 17, 2024. Retrieved on March 6, 2023.
9. ↑ SteamDB. "App 2243270 Update History." SteamDB.info, SteamDB.