Featured Campaigns :
Game : Combat Air Patrol 2
What it is : Serena wrote: “Jump into the cockpit and strap yourselves in as we’ve got another flight sim to show off. This time you’ll be taking to the air in an AV-8B Harrier II jet in Combat Air Patrol 2. That’s right. You’ll be behind the controls of this beauty during missions over the Strait of Hormuz. If you don’t know what this plane is, it’s a VTOL aircraft in use by the U.S. air force. That means it can hover and land vertically like a helicopter but has the power of a jet.
So, you get to fly a fancy plane in the Middle East. So what? What makes Combat Air Patrol 2 different than any other flight sim out there? Well, for starters there is combat as you’re in a hypothetical hot zone. Participate in dog fights, take on ground targets, and lead your squad to victory. But that’s not all. There’s also a tactical element to the game. You not only pilot your plane and command your wingmen but you’ll also be able to strategically take the fleet into the action via a “tactical map”.”
Keep an eye on it in our calendar
Game : Tower 57
What it is : Serena wrote: “Now narrow down the conflict to between two towers. In Tower 57 you play as one of six mercenaries tasked with infiltrating the titular tower and discover what nefarious plans they’ve got hatching there and deal with it by any means necessary. And if it means toppling it to the ground so be it. Three of them have already been talked about in the main pitch. You’ve got the Beggar, the Politician (complete with Abraham Lincoln features), and, finally, you’ve got the Don. And each has their own special abilities that will help you out in taking down the tower.“
Keep an eye on it in our calendar
Game : Blackwake
What it is : Blackwake is quite the campaign. A Kickstarter for this ship-on-ship multiplayer pirate combat adventure launched in late 2014 and fell far short of its goal. However, the developers are back again with a stronger campaign, and things are going great. Scenes of crashing waves, devastating broadsides, and ships crashing into each other make Blackwake one to check out. And before you chime in with the inevitable “Assassins Creed: Black Flag did it better!” consider the fact that you’ll be doing this online against human opponents, something that Ubisoft has stated would have been impossible for them to pull off in Black Flag.
Game : Retronator Pixel Art Academy
What it is : Serena wrote: “Who says that games can’t be educational? Well, Matej Jan for one. Retronator Pixel Art Academy is a project for his master’s thesis at Stanford University about making pixel art. That’s right. A pixel game about making pixel art. Here’s the thing, though. He’s committed to this project no matter what happens because it’s for school. That said, the asking price of $1,000 has already been exceeded ten times over. And it does look like an interesting concept. And only $10 gets you access to the game for perpetuity. Or at least until it stops being supported by the community. It will be open source so even if his server gets taken down as long as someone has the code it can live on.“
Keep an eye on it in our calendar
Game : Seven Kingdoms: The Princess Problem
What it is : Marcus wrote: “Oftentimes, visual novels that hit Kickstarter (and are not published by Sekai Project) have a slow trickle of funding. Many succeed, of course, but not to outrageous excesses. Well, Seven Kingdoms: The Princess Problem proves that an indie studio can definitely make a huge splash on their first day. Within 24 hours the project was funded and by now it has raised the $3,000 goal multiple times over. How in the heck is this possible?
I’ll tell you right now — Azalyne Studios started work on the game in 2014, shared progress with Lemmasoft forum users, and even released a huge demo prior to the campaign. As such, they had a built in fanbase ready to jump once the Kickstarter went live. So, what is Seven Kingdoms: The Princess Problem actually about? You are one of seven political delegates sent to discuss hot topics with young people from other kingdoms.”
Keep an eye on it in our calendar
Game : EVERSPACE
What it is : I have to admit, when I saw the EVERSPACE Kickstarter launch I was a bit skeptical. The game looks fantastic, appears to control very smoothly, and includes some exciting roguelike gameplay elements. However, I was nervous that the games mobile platform history could mean that it would be a dumbed-down arcade shooter. A bigger concern has to do with the state of space shooters on Kickstarter. With the recent failures of promising space shooters like Starfighter Inc., Galaxy Heist, and Astrokill, I was beginning to think that Star Citizen and Elite Dangerous were sucking the oxygen out of funding in the genre. Thankfully, EVERSPACE appears to be doing just fine from a funding standpoint and I find myself getting more excited every time I check out the campaign.
Game : Water: The World in Chaos
What it is : Serena wrote: “There’s just something about side scrolling shooters. I’m not a fan of the genre, but that’s mostly because I suck at playing them. Still, Water: The World in Chaos does look like an interesting take on the style of gameplay even if it’s probably one I won’t play. Despite all that, though, I do love the premise behind the project. According to the pitch, some alien overlord dude watches the advert for an Earth water park and is bummed when he sees the people there having fun. You see, his planet is devoid of the bluish liquid that we rely on to survive. Which does beg the question as to what nutrients these guys need to stay alive.“
Keep an eye on it in our calendar
The Rest of the Campaigns :
Kako O Zenjitsu : Competition in the visual novel field is intense, with a ton of great looking choices available. Unfortunately, this one just doesn’t stand out right now.
Heroic Actions : Nothing wrong with creating an amateurish looking game, but don’t expect to get $55k (us) to help make it happen.
Dark Storm: Ascension : The second Kickstarter for this game, a fact I didn’t see mentioned in this particular pitch. Unfortunately, the previous Kickstarter was funded over two years ago and the developers haven’t been doing a good job of keeping backers up to date.
qPOW : A Hall of Fame candidate for giving the least amount of information. The ‘risks and challenges’ is certainly a highlight.
Civilians VS Traitors : Have a concept for a game you’d like to get funded? Kickstarter might not be the best place. Want nearly $50k (us) to make it happen? Kickstarter is definitely not the place.
Death is near: Survive if you can : Dinosaurs, jets, zombies, cybernetic tigers, a ton of unattributed artwork and a $110k (us) funding goal.
Poi : A cute looking 3D platformer that’s worth a closer look.
Menelas : It’s always bothersome to see a campaign showing “in-game screenshots” only to have the funding video show nothing.
Online Troopers : A tactical strategy RPG game with a lot of screenshots, but no funding video.
Mooncrest : The problems with this campaign go deeper than a troublesome funding video, check out Serena’s take on it.
Thousand Blades : Asking $200,000 in exchange for nothing? Sure!
Godsend : A Mario 64 meets Quake hybrid with a low funding goal and a long ways to go art-wise.
RogueVR : An Oculus Rift enabled roguelike that looks like it could be a lot of fun.
Particle Shield: Conquer the Elements : A crazy looking tower defense game that looks like a lot of fun.
Inner Ethos: Exposition : Lots of talk but nothing to show in exchange for the $70k asking price.
The Hikers : Another co-op horror game with nothing to show.
KillerFog : An action RPG that emphasizes a high degree of difficulty, and not much else.
The Mind Hero : A puzzle platformer dating sim that teaches psychology. That’s a lot happening!
SYSTOLE : An interesting looking platformer with a demo available to download, worth a closer look.
Reign Of Men : The screen moves around so quickly in the funding video that it’s tough to tell what I’m supposed to be looking at.
MAD SQUAD : A fairly rough looking platformer. But there is a demo to download, so it might be worth checking out.
PaciFire : Proof that an article on Kotaku isn’t a sure-fire road to Kickstarter success..
Eco : A very ambitious online civilization building sim.
Bell Ringer : A hack n slash with a great art style that doesn’t have enough to show off yet.
Kung Fu Maths : As a Yankee it’s strange for me to see ‘maths’ used so extensively.
The Superlands : An RPG Maker game with lots of gameplay videos to check out.
Aleria : A ton of text, including the phase “indie game “Minecraft,”” which made me chuckle a bit.
AGP::Epica : Just not enough to see given the asking price.
Of Gods and Men : Another game with an overblown funding goal and nothing to show.
The Omega Imperative : A retro shoot em up with a lot to show off in exchange for the low funding goal.
Sin salida : It seems as though someone forgot to add some textures.
Jay Man : You may laugh at the art, but it looks like a lot of fun when you see it in action.
Galactic Conflict : $4,500 so someone can build a bunch of stuff in Minecraft.
That’s it for last week’s Kickstarter video game campaigns. Watch your wallets!
