Less than four hours after the Kickstarter began, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night met its $500,000 USD funding goal.

Iga Kickstarter 5 IMAGES

“ It’s one of the key reasons I left Konami; the fans wanted it, and the company wasn’t going in that direction.

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Today, Former Castlevania series producer Koji "IGA" Igarashi announced Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, a new game seeking funding on Kickstarter Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is 2.5D action adventure game directed and produced by IGA. He will also handle the role of scenario writer on the project. Castlevania series composer Michiru Yamane will join him along with developer Inti Creates, the same studio behind Keji Inafune's Mighty No. 9, Azure Striker Gunvolt, and Mega Man 9 and 10.IGA met with IGN to discuss his new venture. After almost a year of silence, we wondered why it took so long to launch this Kickstarter? "I first wanted to see if here was a way to do this through a traditional business model," IGA told IGN in a translated interview. After he went independent, IGA hired Ben Judd, Executive Director of Business Development at DDM, as his agent and spent nine months meeting with publishers to pitch Bloodstained. And, for a variety of different reasons, all of them decided to pass on funding the game."It was truly a reasonable budget; it was from a man who had a great tack record both critically and financially making a game" Judd said. "I was shocked. I never thought that there would be as little interest."Surprisingly, as rejections from publishers piled up, IGA said he never considered giving up on Bloodstained. "It’s one of the key reasons I left Konami; the fans wanted it, and the company wasn’t going in that direction," he said. "So, this was one of his only ways to come out and get a chance to do it and make good on what the fans wanted."We asked IGA to explain why the option to ship on a disc mattered. "Initially of course, we did think about just a digital option," IGA said, "But when thinking about what his core fan base and group was, it was quite obvious that it’s more the core gamer that would appreciate playing the game with a controller in their hands. And those sort of people, those sort of fans…a lot of them do want a premium, they do want a special edition, they do want an actual packaged thing instead of just a digital code."Fans interested in helping the kickstarter that don't have money to pitch in can still help, and those contributions will unlock information along the way. "I think it was Exploding Kittens , so credit where it’s due," Judd explained, "but the idea of backer achievements, whereas it’s not stretch goals where it ties into money that generates content into the game, but it’s something that people can do from contest to fan art to socially going out there and announcing the title that will continue to unlock different achievements on the Kickstarter itself."According to its Kickstarter page, Bloodstained takes place in the 18th century in a world where Alchemy, a hybrid of science and magic, is discovered and subsequently abused, as part of a larger conspiracy by the Alchemist Guild. 10 years after the treacherous group disappears, a monstrous and twisted castle appears in the same spot the Alchemist Guild called home.Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is being developed for PS4, Xbox One, PC, Mac, and Linux using Unreal Engine 4. The project is seeking $500,000 USD before its June 12 funding deadline. Koji Igarashi departed Konami in March 2014 . He is currently employed at Japanese developer ArtPlay.

Jose Otero is an Editor at IGN and host of Nintendo Voice Chat . You can follow him on Twitter