Featured Campaigns :
Game : FrightShow Fighter
What it is : Vincent wrote: “FrightShow Fighter looks like Psychonauts and Tim Burton got together and had a nightmarish love child.
Created by a company called 3 Fright, which is a very small company of three guys, each with their own assets that they bring to the table; FrightShow Fighter plays host to 10 hellishly crazy characters. It includes everything from a laser-firing rabbit named Faceless to a woodsman called Krumble Jack who throws bears. The rest of the cast look and sound just as ludicrous, but look fun regardless.”
Keep an eye on it in our calendar
Game : Quiplash
What it is : Marcus wrote: “Jackbox Games are the name behind a host of lovely, irreverent digital party games. Chances are you’ll know of them either due to the You Don’t Know Jack series or the more recent release of the Jackbox Party Pack. The latter is actually a collection of games including standouts such as Fibbage and Drawful. The developer’s latest title, Quiplash, looks to be another golden idea. Basically, you and at least one other player must respond to a prompt such as “make up a curse word.” At minimum, a third person will judge which of the player’s answers they like best and vote for it. It’s an incredibly simple concept that will thrive most with multiple players.”
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Game : Atom Universe
What it is : Marcus wrote: “Theme parks are pretty awesome to visit, but the expense in getting to one, paying for a ticket, and waiting in lines usually is much less enjoyable. So, why not just go to a digital theme park instead? That’s the possibility that Atom Universe presents. Via an MMO, players will be able to all visit this neon, slightly futuristic theme park world and partake in the different rides and games there. Of course, given the online nature, they’ll also be able to interact with other players for social enjoyment as well.”
Keep an eye on it in our calendar
Game : Ralin – Dwarf Wars
What it is : Marcus wrote: “Most of the time, the progress of a crowdfunded PC game is as follows: It launches a Kickstarter/Indiegogo campaign, runs a simultaneous Steam Greenlight launch, and then hopes to see the success of one feed into the other. Ralin – Dwarf Wars didn’t take that path. They actually saw their Greenlight campaign greenlit back in January and have just launched on Kickstarter. The order probably doesn’t matter, just as long as you build up a fanbase. This game has the potential to do so because developer Ogardonix shared alpha builds with Steam users and happily listened to player feedback.”
Keep an eye on it in our calendar
Game : Mulaka – Origin Tribes
What it is : Marcus wrote: “Video games are a wonderful means of transportation for players to experience different worlds and concepts. Unfortunately, so many titles tend to focus on the same few “safe” concepts again and again. Thanks to Kickstarter we’ve been able to see distinct new titles arriving, and more recently, ones focused on sharing different cultures and mythologies. One recent example is Beneath Floes, but that already found funding success. Now it’s Mulaka’s turn at bat. Mulaka is an upcoming 3D game which is inspired by the mythology of the Rarámuri. The Tarahumara tribespeople are still out there today, and developer Lienzo hopes to share their beautiful stories with a larger audience.”
Keep an eye on it in our calendar
Game : Pythetron
What it is : Marcus wrote: “Loads of people out there love the shoot ‘em up genre. There have been just so many excellent titles to choose from over the years! Every so often folks attempt to iterate on the formula in their own unique way (some more successful than others). One of the latest attempts comes to us via Pythetron, which is currently crowdfunding on Kickstarter. Created by just one person, TJ Townsend, it is quite the unique game – and visually striking as well. What exactly has this developer done to differentiate his shooter from a huge library of others? Well, there’s a few differences. For one, levels are super bite-sized (around 15 to 60 seconds apiece).”
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Game : REWIND
What it is : Zack wrote: “Rewind aims to provide a unique paranormal experience, which will probably serve as a response to the unspoken desire for a title like this since VR has been made a possibility in the video game industry. Through engaging and in-depth cinematic experiences, and thrilling edge-of-your-seat gameplay, Blue Box Game Studios has laid the proper ground work to produce a worthy paranormal investigation title. A few trailers like this one show a frantic Jim listening to an EVP of a woman speaking to him from beyond the grave, which gives an early look at the pacing of game, though it’s in-editor prototype footage. Blue Box set a reasonable goal of $10,820.50 for their Kickstarter Campaign. An odd number but they’ve done the math for what they need to start! The funding will fuel motion capture, seamless level streaming to reduce loading screens, and purchase 3rd party technology that will improve game features like Oculus Rift support, animation, etc.”
Game : Nevergrind
What it is : Marcus wrote: “Although some folks have not yet warmed up to the idea, I’m a big fan of browser-based games. After all, times have changed since you required running various browser extensions to simply get a highly simplistic game to play on one. Nevergrind is a HTML5-based RPG which takes inspiration from many, many things, though its original inspiration was Everquest. After years of development, Joe Leonard decided to spin the game off into something uniquely his own. The game is playable online right now, but this Kickstarter will help push the game toward a full release with tons of features, and of course stretch goals will increase the scope even more.”
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Game : Mystic Tales: Legend of the Janovi Gem
What it is : Marcus wrote: “Of all the board games out there, my favorite is still chess. It’s classic, (somewhat) easy to learn, and full of strategic decisions when pitted against another player. Yet, we really don’t see that many games modeled after chess directly aside from the odd Battle Chess here and there. Mystic Tales: Legend of the Janovi Gem takes much of its inspiration from chess, but integrates many different features so that it’s not “just” a rendition of chess. For one, it also utilizes a card battling system! Oh, and it’s also a free-to-play title meaning there’s a possibility of always finding someone who’s ready to play.”
Keep an eye on it in our calendar
Game : Upside-Down Dimensions
What it is : Marcus wrote: “Visuals do not usually make or break a game, but they can certainly be helpful in making one stand out. That’s definitely the case with Upside-Down Dimensions, a campaign that recently landed on Kickstarter. Headed by Hydra Interactive Entertainment, this title focuses on two distinct types of gameplay. The first is hack ‘n slash action with our samurai hero. The other mechanic is that of block puzzles and the like, which are far less action-oriented, but still integral to the game’s overall experience. Of course, it also has an amazing papercraft look which easily draws attention to it.”
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Game : Once Bitten, Twice Dead
What it is : Marcus wrote: “What things are popular in the current video game climate? Minecraft is still kicking it as a world-renowned game, and heck, zombies are still in vogue as well! As such, it seems any game with aspects of both is poised for easy attention. It’s hard to say that Once Bitten, Twice Dead will get the attention it deserves on Kickstarter, but it is presenting a fun project with multiplayer-focused survival gameplay. As the name suggests, this is a title all about surviving the zombie apocalypse. Only, this apocalypse is one filled with blocky zombies and humans. The cartoony art is at odds with the more typically “dark” concepts of survival games, and makes this game stand out.”
Keep an eye on it in our calendar
Game : Blazefall Binalblades
What it is : Marcus wrote: “With zillions of games out there, we’ve seen some resort to quite unusual names to stand out. One such recent example comes in the form of Blazefall Binalblades. When I saw this on Kickstarter I initially had no idea what type of game this was, and also if any portion of the name is actually a “real” word! After exploring the campaign page it all made sense, but there’s no doubt this name will likely cause some initial confusion with people who stumble upon the product. So, for those of you confused folks out there, this is a 2D sidescrolling brawler with hand drawn animation.”
Keep an eye on it in our calendar
The Rest of the Campaigns :
Land & Sea : With so little information available even a mere $200 funding goal isn’t going to happen.
Project Harvest : This may be the most disastrously bare Kickstarter I’ve ever seen; and asking for $75k no less! The “risks” section is memorable.
Gangster Penguin : A cute platformer idea that’s got a ways to go.
GunnIt : This team of four brothers have some cool ideas, but there’s not enough game shown to warrant more attention unfortunately.
The New Existence : An open world game with a funding goal of just under $600k.
Cat & Fish : No video or real screenshots with an $80k funding goal.
Housecarls : Described as an “…action adventure game, the game will be story based and if possible have some roguelike elements.” It doesn’t really instill a lot of confidence.
Neo-Tanks : A very old-school style tank game with a funding lovely DMCA violating funding video.
Maze Roller : A great looking maze roller game with VR support.
Mundus : An oldschool style rpg with a funding that has a confusion cloud thing going on.
Experience Being a Baby in Virtual Reality : The title pretty much says it all.
Not without my donuts : An action game with donuts and spiders, an usual mix for sure.
Dead Existence : A zombie game with nothing to show.
Sk8 Frank : Really adding to the number of campaigns this week that show zero effort.
KUNOI : A fast paced retro platformer with a cute ninja protagonist.
Pandora’s Light : A cube puzzle type game in need of some updated artwork; hence the Kickstarter.
Tethered Universe : $500k for this no info campaign.
Aylus : A first person RPG with VR support that’s had a lot of work put into it already.
Warlord Destiny : Another campaign with very little info, only asking for $30k this time around though.
Dwarven Mining Guild : This game may not look like much, but I’m definitely a fan of low dollar ($500 in this case) campaigns.
Tuk – Ruk : A beautiful looking puzzle platformer.
PROJECT PK OMEGA – Mother 2 / Earthbound in Unreal Engine 4 : A fantastic example of DMCA drama just waiting to happen.
Octanis: The Legendary Thief : This looks to be the 5th attempt at getting this funded.
Feudal Uprising : Something tells me the funding video isn’t the actual game.
Storm Force : A lengthy campaign with lots of info, but very little to show unfortunately.
MLSB: Major League Skull Ball : From the campaign “Firstly I am Proud to be an American.”
That’s it for last weeks Kickstarter campaigns. Watch your wallets!
