Every week we take a brief look at all of the Kickstarter video game campaigns that launched in the previous week. This isn’t to say that all of these projects are worth your hard earned cash, but with any luck having all of them in one place will make it easier to educate yourself on the projects you’d like to back, and which ones to run from. You’ll find two types of campaigns listed, “featured” and “the rest“. Featured campaigns are those that contain a significant amount of game information, are from known developers, or are significant in some other way. The rest of the games are usually smaller campaigns that are lacking in information, are from unknowns, have unanswered questions, or have not yet stood out for one reason or another.
[divider]Featured Campaigns :
Game : Pocket Rumble
What it is : Marcus wrote: “Fighting games are great fun, although if you’re not entirely obsessed with them it can often be hard to break into a title. With so many unique combos between characters many of us never become skilled at any one fighter. Pocket Rumble hopes to change this by removing the barrier to entry so common in the genre. Every character will have a relatively small pool of attacks and each will have the same button combination. Of course, a fancy lesson mode will help to explain what benefits you receive from playing different characters as well. With that said, there’s still a great deal of work going into the game to allow for tournament multiplayer if that’s what you’re into.”
Keep an eye on it in our calendar
[divider]
Game : Seasoned Tactics
What it is : Marcus wrote: “Seasoned Tactics is a new Kickstarter campaign by Manic North with an interesting premise. In this game, the four seasons (spring, summer, fall, winter) must battle each other for seasonal supremacy. Funnily enough, they don’t actually get their own hands dirty. Instead, these magical summoners call forth minions to do their bidding for them. Players will have to utilize these minions to win against opponents, all the while keeping track of their summoners as well.”
Keep an eye on it in our calendar
[divider]
Game : Clannad
What it is : Marcus wrote: “Clannad is a classic visual novel, the likes of which most genre fans have either heard of, played via a fan patch, or simply watched the anime version. The impact of Key’s iconic game is palpable in the industry, even years after its Japanese debut in 2004. If you think that a semi “old” visual novel can’t generate attention then think again. The Clanned Kickstarter by Sekai Project has already destroyed its $140,000 goal with no signs of slowing down. With 58 days to go, it’s anyone’s guess just how much this campaign will eventually raise.”
Keep an eye on it in our calendar
[divider]
Game : Second to One
What it is : Marcus wrote: “Humans will never stop in their dogged pursuit for technological advancement. But what happens when we create robots which are too smart for their own good? Well, given the proper sci-fi storyline things might turn out a bit like Second To One. In this game, robots have become highly intelligent, enough so to recognize that humans are far too inefficient and harmful to the world to continue existing. As such, the machines begin their task of eradicating humans from the planet. As a human, all players can hope to do is join a faction and do their best to survive.”
Keep an eye on it in our calendar
[divider]
Game : Kelvin and the Infamous Machine
What it is : Julie wrote: “Now, Kelvin, the main character of Inspire Me, had a growth spurt and as an adult, he is the assistant of a recently maddened scientist that decided to use his invention, the portable shower – I mean, the time traveling machine – to steal credit for some of humanity’s most beautiful technological, intellectual, and societal innovations. In Kelvin and the Infamous Machine, it’s up to Kelvin and his co-worker crush to stop the very upset Dr Lupin and fix all the wrongs through intricate puzzle solving and some sweet conversation..”
Keep an eye on it in our calendar
[divider]
Game : Shards Online
What it is : Marcus wrote: “The MMO industry is huge, but surprisingly not full of variety. For the longest time every MMO simply followed the templates set by trailblazers, and only recently have begun to come out of their collective shells. Shards Online looks to be a familiar MMO but with a very unique twist. Instead of simply allowing the expected fantasy RPG character leveling and battling, players themselves will be able to create their own worlds as well as make up new gameplay modes and objects. Oh, and you won’t have to pay a subscription fee to access (or create) any of this!.”
Keep an eye on it in our calendar
[divider]
Game : That Dragon, Cancer
What it is : Greg wrote: “I’ve never backed a campaign without watching the funding video, until I saw the Kickstarter for That Dragon, Cancer. 21 seconds into the video and I had to stop, wipe my face from the apparent dust in the room, and go outside for a walk. An adventure game where you experience the story of a child and his parents battling a cancer that eventually kills its young victim? As the father of a 4 year old it’s a bit much to take in at nine in the morning..”
Keep an eye on it in our calendar
[divider]
Game : Catch Monsters
What it is : Marcus wrote: “Dungeon crawlers are a very classic type of video game that developers continue to create to this day. One of the latest examples is Crystal Rift which is currently in development. However, this title brings old and new together by putting a focus on virtual reality play. Whether you’ve got an Oculus Rift or will even get Samsung’s Gear VR you’ll be able to experience the game as it was meant to be played. You must explore a dark dungeon on a grid-based pathway. Each step you take leads you past dangerous traps, puzzles and locked doors, as well as enemies to fight or avoid..”
Keep an eye on it in our calendar
[divider]
Game : Rocket Ranger Reloaded
What it is : Marcus wrote: “Rocket Ranger Reloaded takes a smidgen of history and mashes it with some alternate history and sci-fi trappings. It begins with the knowledge that Nazis won World War II and have now taken over the world. Scientists of this future world banded together in order to change the past. To do so they offered up their technology to the past in order to rewrite history. As such, you must save the world from the Nazis winning a second time.”
Keep an eye on it in our calendar
[divider]
Game : Vincent the Vampire
What it is : Marcus wrote: “Looking for a new adventure game with a Gothic twist? Vincent the Vampiremight just be up your alley. This point and click title is inspired by classics of the genre, but still intends to do something new. First, there’s the protagonist Vincent who has spent years doing the same ho-hum job. One day he has an epiphany and decides to leave work in order to simply explore and be free. Unluckily for him, he’s killed before he gets much chance to do anything at all. Only… he wakes up the next day – undead. Will Vincent learn to control these new vampiric powers of his? That’s up to players to find out.”
Keep an eye on it in our calendar
[divider]
Game : Wayward Terran Frontier: Zero Falls
What it is : Marcus wrote: “Wayward Terran Frontier: Zero Falls is the kind of space game that allows you to mind your own business, explore, or jump into attacking and looting enemy ships. Some ways in which it’s different from most are how ships are “alive” with crew members. If you’ve played FTL then you might have a sense of what this means. For example, if you hit a side of an enemy ship and kill the crew member(s) there manning guns then they won’t be able to fire anymore. Similarly, if your crew gets taken down your ship is in huge trouble. When ships are destroyed they break into tons of particles. Large pieces of ships can be explored to discover rare loot. The game will also have modding tools to allow everyone to bring their own ship designs to life.”
Keep an eye on it in our calendar
[divider]
Game : Samudai
What it is : Marcus wrote: “Do you enjoy fighting games? How about cute kittens? If the answer to both of these questions is “yes” then please direct your attention to Samudai. In this game cats are actually warriors who must battle evil in order to reclaim the Holy Ball of Yarn. To do this, players square off against other ‘samudai’ in fighting game matches. Similarly to Super Smash Bros., fights allow for up to four players at once. Afterwards, there will be only one winner left to face off against a loser who assumes the form of a giant boss. The concepts involved are all quite unique.”
Keep an eye on it in our calendar
[divider]
Game : Attack of the Labyrinth
What it is : Marcus wrote: “So what is Attack of the Labyrinthexactly? It’s a top down dungeon crawler for one to four players. It plays a lot like a classic arcade game (in fact, many twin stick shooters come to mind) where you must simply kill off enemies, collect gold and goodies, and do your best to not die. Everyone works together to attain this goal – although someone will “win” by being the richest of them all. With Kickstarter funding the title will receive additions such as more selectable characters, special attacks for each character, and player battle arenas. Do you want to know more about how it plays? There’s a demo available right here.”
Keep an eye on it in our calendar
[divider]The Rest of the Campaigns :
Golden Black : A pirate themed real time strategy MMO.
Mother Goose:Demolition Company : Exactly what the title says, Mother Goose goes around destroying things.
Parallax Trap: Bound By Words : An RPG with an agressivley short 13 day campaign, and a equally agressive $35k funding goal.
Harvest The Sun : An old-school looking sandbox horror RPG. Tons of screenshots but no gameplay video.
ReliK Online : An MMO space shooter with no video or screenshots.
Eveninghorrors : A Minecraft creation that the developers are hoping to turn into its own game.
West Coast Zombies : No funding video, very little text, and someone else’s concept art.
Nereus Unbound : An open world RPG that needs more polish before asking for $35.
Project Control : A sci-fi horror game that could have some potential if more was shown.
Hackerz : No video, no screenshots, no concept art, but plenty of text.
A Mysterious Island : A “wake up on an island full of mysterious creatures” survival game.
Scorn Episode One : A very Giger inspired horror game that features plenty of artwork, but very little gameplay.
Hiddan Ojbexx Retchro : Very confusing.
Pixel Danmaku : An oldschool shooter with some interesting neon graphics.
The Crows Eye : A horror themed first person adventure that’s even got a demo available.
Ardanus: Elemental Wars : A multiplayer collectible card game.
Solseris : A match three game with some charming, if dated, graphics.
Fallen Hero Rises : $1.2mil for an MMO that’s been in development for a month and has very little game info on the funding page
[divider]
That’s it for last weeks Kickstarter campaigns. Watch your wallets!
Im not surprised one bit by the amount that Sekai Project is generating out of Clannad. Its a classic that has been denied to western audiences for almost a decade, plus by this point most of us have had a chance to watch the anime; and as good as that was that only the story of one charachter meaning there are so many stories left to explore =3