We may earn a commission when you buy through links in our articles. Learn more.

Home Free collars more than $85k in Kickstarter funds with dog simulator concept

Home Free

“Final Week!”, screams Home Free’s Kickstarter page right now. “Corgis, Dachshunds, & Bassets at $100K!”

It might sound like demented canine telesales, but what Kevin Cancienne is actually pitching is a lost dog simulator. A chance to help a pet pooch misplaced in the big city find food, friends, shelter and, eventually, a way back. The developer’s Kickstarter video attached a lead to my mushy dog owner’s heart, and clearly many others besides – the campaign is going to finish with at least $85,325 in the bank.

Want to be bowled away by an off-kilter concept? There are plenty among the best indie games on PC.

The lost canine concept is the convenient point where Cancienne’s professional interests in procedural generation, urbanism, quadrupedal locomotion and lovely dogs meet. The culmination of two years’ work, Home Free is to be an open-world action RPG set in a randomly assembled metropolis. As one of over a dozen breeds we’ll wander the streets, sniffing bums, emptying bins and fending off gangs of ill-intentioned dogs in West Side Story style encounters.

The project was fully funded within five days, and completed stretch goals now promise cats, new tricks and a dockside area. Meanwhile, hundreds of backers have proffered photos of their own dogs for a chance at inclusion in the game.

“Things are still humming along nicely,” writes Cancienne. “That next stretch goal (I’m looking at you, Corgi maniacs) might look out of reach right now, but people assure me there’s still a chance we could make it.”

Home Free is expected sometime around November 2016. Has it leashed you with its emotive premise?