LONDON – May 9, 2019 – One week after the stars aligned for the iOS release of Astrologaster on the App Store® ($4.99 USD), independent game developer Nyamyam have announced their comedy game which is based on a true story, is now available for PC and Mac on Steam ($9.99 USD). To give new players an idea of what sort of story will unfold and characters that will pop-up, Nyamyam created a trailer for the title https://youtu.be/Qpjyo5lP7Qc.
Astrologaster is a story-driven comedy game set in Shakespeare’s London based on a true — and truly ridiculous — story. The player takes on the role of Dr. Simon Forman, who used an ancient branch of astrology called Horary astrology to diagnose and treat his patients. Will he earn a medical license through these, ahem, unconventional practices? Will you the player win over his patients by reading their fortunes, or will you ruin their lives? TouchArcade gave the iOS version of the game a raving 5 out of 5 review, stating that “the game is an experience in its own right, with the madrigals and artwork creating something wonderfully unique.”
“It certainly has been an exciting week with Astrologaster hitting the AppStore last week and now on Steam for our PC fans. It has been an absolute joy to bring Dr. Simon Forman and all of his patients ‘back to life’ through our historic period comedy game and we hope that players have a good laugh exploring their stories. We think players are going to be shocked and amused to learn of some of the wild and strange treatments that Dr. Forman used by reading the stars for his patients,” said Jennifer Schneidereit, who founded Nyamyam and is creative director on Astrologaster. “I must give a huge shout out and many thanks to my dev team, the talented voice actors and singers, the dedicated research team at the University of Cambridge, our friends and family, and lastly our fans who have been supporting us during this fantastic journey to create Astrologaster. We hope that players will enjoy delving into Dr. Forman’s story as much as we did.”
Nearly three years ago, Nyamyam’s founder and creative director, Jennifer Schneidereit, came up with the idea for Astrologaster while attending a workshop and was paired with Dr. Lauren Kassell, a professor of History of Science and Medicine at the University of Cambridge. They poured over only a few of Dr. Simon Forman’s records before Schneidereit learned that more than 30,000 casebooks for the patients existed. Forman’s patients’ records provided a window into Elizabethan London, and Schneidereit was deeply intrigued — and entertained — by the wealth of hilarious source material. With the help of Kassel’s research team, Schneidereit aimed to create a British-style comedy game, and narrative exploration experience that would involve practicing real astrology.
For more information about Astrologaster visit astrologaster.com, or follow on @nyamyamgames or Facebook.
To purchase
Astrologaster visit https://store.steampowered.com/app/742520/Astrologaster/
http://AppStore.com/Astrologaster.
About Nyamyam
Founded in 2010 by Jennifer Schneidereit, Nyamyam is an independent game developer based in the UK. The studio strives to create beautifully crafted games with unconventional concepts. Their award winning 2014 debut title, Tengami, is an atmospheric adventure game set in a Japanese paper-crafted pop-up world. The studio is working to release their second title, Astrologaster, a narrative-driven comedy game about the real-life 16th century medical astrologer Simon Forman. Astrologaster’s development was supported by grants from the Wellcome Trust and the Creative Europe Media Program.
About Indie MEGABOOTH
Founded by Kelly Wallick, Indie MEGABOOTH (IMB) is a hand-curated traveling showcase of passionate creators working together to bring independent games to the forefront of the gaming community’s mind. Its mission is to give small teams equal footing for thoughtful, atypical experiences frequently reserved for multi-million dollar AAA titles at events such as PAX West, PAX East, GDC, E3, WePlay, among others. Since 2011, IMB has been connecting its global Alumni Network of more than 700 developers to business partners, press, and fans. At its core, IMB prides itself in crafting long-term mutually beneficial relationships and being advocates for the indie dev community at large.
About The Casebooks Project
Astrologaster takes its inspiration from Simon Forman’s casebooks. These are part of the Casebooks Project, and the Casebooks team has acted as historical consultants for the game. In the decades around 1600, the astrologers Simon Forman and Richard Napier produced one of the largest surviving sets of medical records in history. The Casebooks Project, a team of scholars at the University of Cambridge, has transformed this paper archive into a digital archive.
