‘Apocalypse Now – The Game’ gets Coppola’s blessing; Developers resort to crowdfunding for a difference

Developers of “Apocalypse Now – The Game” have taken the crowdfunding route to turn Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 Vietnam War classic into a video game. Coppola has finally given his blessing to the crowdfunding campaign. The Kickstarter campaign has already clocked up more than US$82,000 (AU$109,000 approx). It still has to go a long way to meet the US$900,000 (AU$1,200,000 approx) by Feb. 25 and US$2.5 million (AU$3.3 million approx) by 2020 to make the game console-ready.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the crowdfunding route will give developers the freedom to develop something different and not just another first-person shooter game. Coppola has turned down many such proposals earlier and the crowdfunding route has somehow given him confidence. Developers have deliberately stayed away from the traditional game studio route to recreate the same sense the movie established. “Apocalypse Now –The Game” will be a survival horror experience.

“I want to make a game where you can sit on the boat and drop acid if that's what you want to do. We're crowdfunding this game because traditional game publishers would try to turn it into a shooter,” says executive producer Lawrence Liberty.

The Kickstarter campaign will also test the appetite of fans for such a project and director Montgomery Markland believes that “Apocalypse Now – The Game” developers will have a similar independent creative authority that Coppola had when he made the movie some 40 years ago. Coppola has confirmed that he would be the creative consultant for the game and his studio Zoetrope has already licensed the work to the developers. The team has understood that the concept is about not getting killed rather than being a killer.

“Apocalypse Now – The Game” wants to get the PC version out by 2020 and they also have grand plans for both console and VR versions. The movie was based out of Joseph Conrad's short novel “Heart of Darkness.” Stay tuned on IBTimes Australia for more updates on the game version of “Apocalypse Now.”