Warp Zoned Presents
Search Results for: kickstart this
Kickstart This! Radical Chess, Guinea Pig Parkour, and Endless Memories
Kickstarter is like a devil’s playground of goodies just waiting to be funded. I’m currently toying with the idea of spending $1,000 on the Raine One Electric Scooter, if only for its glowing wheels and similar name to my own.
But the crowdfunding site is also one of the best ways for solo developers and small indie studios to present their project to an audience directly, which is what I love about it. Make a trailer that oozes passion and originality for a game that also looks cool, and I will throw my money at you like I’m in a strip joint.
So which games have caught my eye recently? In this edition of Kickstart This!, I will face off with Radical Chess, roll and jump in the 2D platformer Guinea Pig Parkour, and battle my way through the 2D action adventure Endless Memories. (more…)
Kickstart This! The Sad Tale of Knite and the Ghost Lights
Long time readers of Kickstart This! may recall Knite and the Ghost Lights by Mobot Studios. The gorgeous side-scroller was one of the first games we featured in this column and one of the first Kickstarter projects that I backed personally.
Even now, I have fond memories of discovering the game on the crowdfunding site way back in October of 2013. It was pitched as a stop-motion RPG built with a strong sense of early Tim Burton. Knite and the Ghost Lights was going to be delivered by July 2014 on the PC and Wii U (Nintendo’s previous console is another thing I have fond memories of).
However, the delivery deadline was missed, and that’s when things started to go wrong for the game, which has been limping along and languishing in development hell ever since. At the time, Lex Plotnikoff, the lead artist and creative force on Knite and the Ghost Lights, found himself unable to return to America. The Russian national was mired in red tape, which threw a proverbial spanner into the works, and brought development on the game grinding to a halt. (more…)
Posted in Features, PC, Wii U
Tagged Knite and the Ghost Lights
Kickstart This! Naima’s Melody, Real Arcade Bike, and Fallen Angel
Kickstarter has been trending for all the wrong reasons recently, and that’s because the company’s interim CEO, Aziz Hasan, fired two employees who had been at the forefront of trying to unionise the crowdfunding platform’s workforce. Of course, Hasan claims that’s not why Clarissa Redwine and Taylor Moore were fired.
Legal action is now being taken by the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) on behalf of Kickstarter United, the unofficial union at the heart of the matter. And Redwine directly challenged the reasoning behind her firing (given as “performance issues”) on Twitter.
Redwine is clearly a class act, because she cuts through the BS and tells people to keep supporting creators, because that is what Kickstarter is all about, and it does it far better than any other platform. Many creators and backers are taking the time to pause and reflect on whether the platform is still the right fit for them. But we’re going to follow Clarissa Redwine’s request and continue to support creators on the crowdfunding platform, while keeping a watchful eye on how the company continues to operate.
So let’s check out some games. This edition sees us humming along to Naima’s Melody, tearing up tarmac on our Real Arcade Bike, and chilling with the devil in Fallen Angel. (more…)
Kickstart This! Elysian Fields, Badminton Warrior, and Zombie Golf
That’s right, folks. Kickstart This! is back with a vengeance after some time away while I completed my own Kickstarter project for The Water Rat, which is hopefully coming soon to a film festival near you. Running a campaign and delivering something to a number of backers is a rich and rewarding experience, and I cannot recommend it enough.
It also takes a massive amount of work, dedication, and the kindness of strangers. Around half of our backers are people I have never met, and that in itself is quite humbling. So why not make a game developer’s day and contribute to their campaign?
This edition of Kickstart This! sees us farming in space with Elysian Fields, smacking shuttlecocks in Badminton Warrior, and slicing the undead in Zombie Golf. (more…)
Kickstart This! Warp
Every now and then you find a project on Kickstarter that is just so batshit insane and creative that you want to rob your child’s trust fund to guarantee that this beautiful, bizarre baby of a game gets made. And if we were ever going to write about a game like that on Warp Zoned, I’m thrilled that it’s called Warp. (more…)
Kickstart This! Freja and the False Prophecy
One genre that is recently enjoying a resurgence, in large part thanks to the Nintendo Switch, is the “MetroidVania” style of 2D action platformers. While the console is fully capable of rendering 3D games like Super Mario Odyssey and Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, its portable screen is absolutely perfect for platformers. And indie developers are taking the confines of the genre and shattering them with stunning visuals and epic storytelling, especially with the likes of Dead Cells and the more recent Gris.
And hopefully, with your help, we can add Freja and the False Prophecy to that list if it reaches its first Stretch Goal. (more…)
Posted in Features, PC
Tagged Freja and the False Prophecy
Kickstart This! Gigabuster
After several months, Kickstart This! returns refreshed and rejuvenated. Those following this column likely saw that I recently had a rather sour experience with the Pelda Pro, a battery expansion and dock for the Nintendo Switch. It is still sitting in its box and will probably stay there for all eternity.
However, one bad experience in over five years of crowdfunding various projects is a great statistic, and one that I think only serves to illustrate how well this model of funding has been embraced both by creators and consumers. I very nearly bought an automated cat toilet last week, but I narrowly missed all the early bird tiers.
Anyway, I digress. I’ve been eagerly awaiting a video game project I could rally behind after months in the wilderness of non-crowdfunding. I started writing about Omno, a pretty puzzle game from Jonas Manke that has smashed its funding target, but I prefer to shine a light on games that need your funding.
Games like Gigabuster (though Omno is definitely worth checking out). (more…)
Kickstart This! The Cautionary Tale of the Pelda Pro
Regular readers of Warp Zoned will know that I’ve been covering crowdfunded game projects for just over five years now, and through most of it I have had a wholesome, positive outlook on the path that it takes. Someone has an idea, and they have the skill, talent, and (above all else) passion to make their dream a reality, but what they don’t have is money. So people give them money in exchange for the finished product and some other cool extras. Everyone wins. The person can sell their idea-made-whole to the masses, while those who contributed to its creation can bask in the glory of its success knowing that they, in part, made it possible.
But what happens when it goes wrong? (more…)