Analysts from ICO Partners recently reported that donations to video game projects on Kickstarter have seen a dramatic decline. They estimate that by the end of 2014, $27 million will have been pledged, compared to $58 million at the end of the previous year. A 50% reduction makes for grim reading if you are a game developer looking to launch a project, though it should be noted that 2014 is lacking in many of the big name campaigns that were launched in 2013.
Perhaps the bubble has already burst, or perhaps people have become pickier about which projects they participate in, disenfranchised by the multitude of disreputable characters who have tried time and again to launch projects with no aim of actually keeping their promises. As Evil As A Hobby discovered during their broad analysis back in January 2014, only one in three game projects launched between 2009 and 2012 delivered a finished product and accompanying rewards.
As I was finishing up this month’s edition of Kickstart This!, Boston-based Dejobaan Games reached their funding goal for Elegy For A Dead World, “a game about writing fiction,” according to the official description. It is awe-inspiring in its art design, offering a uniquely free reign in crafting the story of the game itself. Thankfully, there are more projects worthy of bringing to your attention. And that’s the point. There will always be great games begging to be made. If there is less money out there, it means less great games, but perhaps it will also add some quality control to a system untamed by accountability.
Unfortunately, the game’s deadline did not meet my own (although I did go on Twitter and rave about it). Thankfully, there are more projects worthy of bringing to your attention. And that’s the point. There will always be great games begging to be made. If there is less money out there, it means less great games, but perhaps it will also add some quality control to a system untamed by accountability.
We kick things off with side-scrolling puzzle shooter Red Cobra, survival adventure Impact Winter, and sci-fi survival horror Extract 237. After that, there is mech vombat MOBA Voxelfield, and last, but not least, The Interactive Adventures of Dog Mendonça and Pizza Boy.
Yes, that last one is real.
Project: Red Cobra
Genre: Side-scrolling Puzzle Shooter
Platforms: PC (Win, Mac), PS4, PS Vita, Wii U, Xbox One
Funding Target: $60,000
In A Nutshell…
Take the furious blasting from most side-scrolling shooters, dress it in the hand-drawn style of RPGs like Muramasa: The Demon Blade or Okami, add some puzzle elements and gargantuan bosses, and voila! Red Cobra!
Why Flash Your Cash?
Despite some great attempts, side-scrolling shooters have not experienced the resurgence of other genres, such as 2D platformers or Metroidvania titles. San Diego firm Adversary has managed to make something that feels fresh, not only by mixing puzzle elements into the tired tropes of side-scrolling shooters, but also by using an art style that pops off the screen, especially when reaching those end bosses. In addition, there is the 360 degree shooting range of the Dragon Mark V, the experimental vehicle your two characters pilot, which can change from land to air at the push of a button.
Rewards?
A $15 donation is required to receive a DRM-free copy for Mac or Windows, which also comes with a backer-exclusive version of the Dragon Mark V, while an additional $5 will grant you some nifty weapon skins as well. A pledge of $25 or more will add you to the list of beta testers, while $40 also snares you a digital copy of both the soundtrack and accompanying art book.
At the top end, there’s the penultimate tier of $1,500 or more, which is limited to 10 lucky people, and offers a physical copy of the Red Cobra design document, a must for those interested in the creative process. This also includes the previous rewards, including having your likeness embedded in the game. The top tier of $2,000 also offers all previous rewards, but replaces the design document with a one-of-a-kind painting from Red Cobra artist Colleen Wilson. She will only be making five paintings, so this really is a steal.
Project: Impact Winter
Genre: Snowy Survival Adventure
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux, Wii U, Xbox One, PS4
Funding Target: £95,000 (approx. $150,000)
In A Nutshell…
Ever since Naughty Dog blessed us with The Last of Us, Kickstarter has been rife with survival games. Impact Winter shares many similarities to the recently successful The Flame in the Flood from ex-BioShock and Halo developers, but instead of water, the enemy here is the frozen wastes of a future Earth rocked by a catastrophic comet.
Why Flash Your Cash?
It is rare to find a game so polished on Kickstarter, but Impact Winter is just that. A great deal of thought has gone into this game, from the logo and poster to the various parts of that make the gameplay. The art style harkens back to classic point-and-click games, while it borrows ideas from The Sims, making sure the characters are warm, fed, hydrated, and upbeat in the face of the harshest winter man has ever known. Players must also upgrade an old church, a base of operations for the main hero Jacob Soloman (get it!) and a ragtag bunch of survivors, trying to keep equipment functioning during the freeze.
As well as exploring the wastes of the snow-covered Earth for helpful items, there is also a ticking clock element, with your handy android companion Ako-Light having intercepted a broadcast that suggests help will arrive in 30 days. Jacob and his friends must survive until then, but will help really arrive?
Rewards?
With the early bird tier completely sold out, a pledge of £9 is required to obtain the base game, but a Kickstarter-exclusive “Day One Edition” with extra items to collect is available with a pledge of £12 or more If you are wondering about the console versions, these are planned in the stretch goals, so best cough up some cash now and hope they make it.
Pledges of £15 or more come with the game and a digital copy of the soundtrack, composed by Mitch Murder, while £20 swaps the soundtrack for a digital “Making of” companion document. To get both, players must pledge £35 or more, but this also comes with a set of six cards which show design schematics for Ako-Light. The cards also feature codes that can be used within the game to access hidden features.
The upper tier of Nomad (limited to 25 people) costs £250 and features all of these rewards, but also your likeness will be used as one of the nomads found wandering the white void. The top donation tier, only available to 10 people, is double this, and offers you the chance to work with the team to create your own story event for the game, as well as receiving a design credit.
Project: Extract 237
Genre: Third Person Sci-Fi Survival Horror
Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One
Funding Target: $250,000
In A Nutshell…
A sci-fi retelling of the biblical story of Jonah and the Whale finds biologist Dr. Isabeau Winters marooned inside the guts of a giant creature that attacked her research vessel. She must salvage artifacts and battle other beings trapped inside the belly of the beast, all the while never giving up hope of finding a way out.
Why Flash Your Cash?
Never have the bowels of a deep-sea leviathan looked so pretty, thanks to the Unreal Engine 4 at play. Extract 237 takes the sci-fi horror genre and quite literally turns it inside out. Listening to developers Matt McCorkell and Robert Nelms discuss Project Extract and list the many roles they have taken on to push the project this far, it is obvious they have a deep-seated passion for their game. $250,000 is a lot of coin for a two-man team to ask for, but if they succeed, Extract 237 could prove to be one of the most unique games of this generation.
I just wish they had a better title.
Rewards?
As is the current fashion, there is an early backer tier of $10 in order to receive the game, with a delivery date penciled in for May 2016. For those who do not manage to grab one of the 237 early bird copies, a donation of $15 in exchange for the game will have to suffice. A pledge of $30 couples the game with digital copies of the game’s art book and soundtrack, while raising that to $50 qualifies you for beta access.
The top three tiers of $10,000, $5,000, and $3,000 are limited to 2,3, and 7 people respectively (they really like that title). For the lowest amount, your name will feature as a powerful corporation within the game’s universe. The penultimate pledge of $5,000 or more will see you land the title of Associate Producer, with the opportunity to visit the development duo for day, although you will have to pay to travel to Irvine, California. And also for a hotel. Same goes for the top tier, dubbed the Executive Producer bundle, which nets you an invitation to the launch party, and also for your likeness to be used for one of the main NPC characters.
Project: Voxelfield
Genre: Mech MOBA Mayhem
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux,
Funding Target: £95,000 (approx. $150,000)
In A Nutshell…
As the subtitle says, “Destroy Everything!” Hailed as the world’s first mech combat action-RTS/MOBA, Voxelfield takes place in a cyberpunk world where everything can be destroyed. If the world was made of Lego and put a handful of shady-looking mercenaries in charge of giant robots firing rockets and lasers, it would be the dark, dystopian, and insanely fun vision of Voxelfield.
Why Flash Your Cash?
Developer Psycho Interactive is based in the East Midland town of Derby (more north than Birmingham, not as North as Sheffield), which is, according to the tongue-in-cheek infomercial, birthplace to the Tomb Raider series. The main selling point of the game is that everything (“Yes, everything” pipes one of the developers) can be destroyed, and it just looks like an incredible ride, or as Psycho put it, “BALLS OUT ACTION!” It also means that there is an incredible fluid dynamic to the MOBA gameplay; if buildings and other structures are constantly being destroyed, the lay of the land is changing, and so players will need to quickly adapt their strategy to survive and outwit their enemies.
Rewards?
The game is free to play, starting you off with one mech and one pilot, using a mix of progression and monetisation systems like League of Legends and other MOBAs to create a fair system and an equal playing field. However, if you wish to start the game with all characters and mechs unlocked, the early bird tier of £15 is available to the first 200 backers, and comes with beta access for both you and a frenemy. However, if you want to receive any future updates and add-ons to the game, you will need to up your pledge to at least £35 for the early bird Commander tier, limited to 300 players, or, if they are all taken, £50 for the Veteran level. This also includes alpha access, digital art book, and poster. Climbing the rubble to the top tier, a donation of £5,000, limited to five lucky punks, will see you dubbed a Cyber Celebrity, with your image used to create a playable pilot and smeared all over in-game billboards. You will also receive a massive bag of swag including t-shirts, masks, physical books, and 3D-printed models. The developers will write a song for you, and, apparently, everyone will think you are cool.
Project: The Interactive Adventures of Dog Mendonça and Pizza Boy
Genre: Point-And-Click Adventure
Platforms: PC (Win, Mac, Linux)
Funding Target: $30,000
In A Nutshell…
If LucasArts had ever made a version of Monkey Island where Guybrush Threepwood was a pizza delivery driver who hired a demon-hunting detective, written by Brian Michael Bendis back when he was doing the superhero cop comic book Powers, this is what you would get.
Why Flash Your Cash?
If you are a fan of the Portuguese comic book trilogy on which the game is based, then you know why. If you have never read them, get onto Dark Horse Publishing and have a look, if only for the forewords by legendary film directors John Landis, George A. Romero, and Tobe Hooper.
Although the game is essentially a point-and-click adventure, it segues into mini-games of other genres, with a side-scrolling, car-shooting section and a boxing round similar to Punch-Out!!
Rewards?
To play the game, you will need to donate $15, which also grants you a digital copy of a one-shot comic book, The Untold Tales of Dog Mendonça and Pizza Boy. Add $5 to receive the digital soundtrack as well, or double your $15 to $30 and bag both the digital soundtrack and a digital art book. Not only that, you receive an extra game key to give to a friend, as well as closed beta access.
The higher tiers include ways you can feature in the game. For $500, you could get your portrait in there, while a donation of $1,000 will also see your likeness used on a non-playable character. The last tier is a bit of a leap, asking for $10,000 in exchange for a romantic meal with the development team at Okam Studio. Travel expenses are not included, and before you go booking a flight to Portugal where the game is set, Okam is actually located in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The studio has rather cheekily suggested you can hold hands with whomever you choose during this dinner, but I demand that whoever is rich enough to afford this holds hands with one of the developers all the way through dinner, and photographs it.
Please.
Until Next Time…
Well, after wading through snow, fighting mechs, and watching our delivery bike get stolen by a gargoyle, we have come to the end of another Kickstart This! Despite all the statistics, if you like a project and fall in love with an unfinished game, then do something about it. If you cannot afford to throw money at it, then tweet about it or Facebook your friends. Spread the word and that karma will be repaid in kind.
