Hello and welcome back to the latest issue of Novelly Funded! Did you miss it? Well, I’m back and charged up as there are more and more visual novels coming to Kickstarter every day! As with books, some visual novels are incredibly expansive tales and may require more than one part to see completion. Many titles as of late have gone the “episodic” route, which means a game is comprised of multiple parts that flow together, like a TV series. Have you ever played an episodic visual novel? Well, these three upcoming games might be your first!
Dysfunctional Systems
Developer: Dischan
Development Status: In development – Episode 1 available
Dysfunctional Systems tells the amazingly unique story of a girl named Winter who has the power to travel between worlds and (hopefully) save them from destruction. This role is that of a “mediator” and there are only a small amount of them in existence. Of course, with so much at stake, it definitely seems this will become quite the dramatic series. So far, Episode 1 has already been released.
After its launch, developer Dischan had to unfortunately put the project on hiatus – it just didn’t seem viable. However, thanks to Kickstarter, they were able to reach their goal which allows them to create the other two planned episodes for Dysfunctional Systems. Dysfunctional Systems – Learning to Manage Chaos is definitely an under the radar visual novel that all fans should play (even if playing it does just make the wait for Episode 2 all the more difficult!).
[divider]World End Economica
Developer: Spicy Tails
Development Status: Translation underway – Episode 1 available
Here’s a visual novel with a storyline you don’t see every day. In World End Economica, players watch the story of a boy named Haru. He’s just a teenager but is infatuated with the stock market. As a runaway he spends his days not in school but bidding – and making quite a bit of money from it. Of course, due in part to his age and inexperience, he is in for quite difficult times ahead.
World End Economica is a visual novel that stands as proof that authors within the genre can and do choose to write about all sorts of topics. This game was originally released in Japan as a three part series by Spicy Tails. As such, this Kickstarter is not about developing episodes but instead simply translating the final two. As the campaign was over 200% successful, it shouldn’t be long before Sekai Project brings the remaining episodes to Steam.
[divider]Two Steps Back
Developer: Kristen Cheely
Development Status: In development – Beta
Now this is a title that doesn’t exactly fit into the episodic mold as the others do, but is still bringing a multi-part story to players. Two Steps Back is self described as a visual novel about dreams, reality, bonds, and survival. Although the game can be played right now, it is best to be viewed as a beta version as it lacks finished art, a complete soundtrack, and all of that.
Two Steps Back is a two-part story, although of course the complete title will be provided to backers at the proper tiers. Unlike the other games in this issue, it also had a very humble price point and was successfully funded! I highly urge those who are interested but missed out on this Kickstarter to check the “rough draft” version of the game as it’s already pretty neat and will be even better once it reaches completion.
[divider]Don’t forget to catch up on any issues of Novelly Funded you may have missed!
[facebook][tweet][stumble][feedburner name=”Feed Name”][pinterest][follow id=”Cliqist” size=”large” count=”true” ] [author image=”http://cliqist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/marcus.jpg” ]Marcus is a fellow with a love for video games, horror, and Japanese food. When he’s not writing about games for a multitude of sites, he’s usually still playing one. One day when he became fed up with the way sites would ignore niche titles he decided to start his own site by the name of Pixel Pacas. Writing about video games is something he hopes to continue doing for many years to come. Some of Marcus’s favorite games include Silent Hill 2, Killer7, and The Sims. [/author]
