[dropcap size=big]E[/dropcap]very 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.


Featured Campaigns :

CivCraftGame : CivCraft

What it is : Serena wrote: “All right. So, what exactly is CivCraft? From a story point of view, you play as the leader of a clan from another dimension that goes to the plane of Ellaria to build and maintain your own empire. You start your reign one building at a time, recruit others to your side to fight and work for you, and you go about making your kingdom prosper.

But, not all is peaceful in the land. Aside from your standard monsters gallery that you would expect from both RTS and RPG games you’ve also got to contend with the other clans come to stake claim to the land. It’s up to you how you decide to deal with them. Diplomacy or outright warfare. It’s your choice.

Keep an eye on it in our calendar


Pauldron: Shield of the KingGame : Pauldron: Shield of the King

What it is : Serena wrote: “It should be apparent by now that I’m a huge fan of stories related to chivalry, duty, and honor. The concepts of fighting for a cause you believe in and putting your life on the line for those who can’t defend themselves has always appealed to me. Which is why I’m surprised I had overlooked Pauldron: Shield of the King for as long as I have. It’s not the most beautiful game, but I’ve always been one to say that graphics don’t make a good game. Story does.

Keep an eye on it in our calendar


Bootleg SystemsGame : Bootleg Systems

What it is : Serena wrote: “Apparently Bootleg Systems is set sometime in the future that’s left the Earth completely uninhabitable and most of the humans have left it to find another planet to live on. Enter Genuine Systems and one of their “Resource Allocation Managers” named Logan Blake (I smell Cyberpunk influences already). Anyway, he’s brilliant but somehow the plans to revive our home planet have been stolen by the titular company. It’s up to him to take it back and save the day. Or something.”

Keep an eye on it in our calendar


voidrunnerlogoGame : Voidrunner

What it is : Greg wrote: “I want to love you so much but you just won’t let me.  There you sit, well short of a fairly reasonable Kickstarter goal; teasing me with how great you could be.  Your funding video immediately draws me in with some breathtaking visuals…

But even though the video is a bit too lengthy you still keep my interest.  My eyes fills with visions of spaceships flying through alien worlds, beautiful music fills my ears, and silky smooth flight controls give me much hope that you could be something special.”


grip1Game : GRIP

What it is : Nick wrote: “Titled Grip, the game is an action combat racer that harkens back to the days of Rollcage, a similar game that was released way back in early 2000.  GRIP is being built on the Unreal Engine 4 and will feature everything from a career mode, to multiplayer mayhem, as stated on the game’s website.

Caged Element has already successfully Greenlit the game on Steam’s Greenlight program in a mere 5 days, so there’s definitely interest in this game being fully developed.”

Keep an eye on it in our calendar


Exoplanet: First ContactGame : Exoplanet: First Contact

What it is : Serena wrote: “Taking cues from Westerns and sci-fi staples like Firefly and Borderlands Exoplanet: First Contact takes a greedy but quick witted sharpshooter and scoundrel extraordinaire named Jack Sharp and strands him on a remote mining planet that’s about as dry of resources as it can be. The “Antigravium” deposits are nearly gone leaving it’s a ghost planet. The name of this backwater hellhole? K’Tharsis. Sigh. I bet I’m not the only one that thinks this is an apt name. Or something.”

Keep an eye on it in our calendar


vanitylogoGame : VANITY

What it is : Serena wrote: “Vanity takes place in one of seven procedurally generated worlds and each one comes with it its own champion of sorts. For, you see, each of the seven playable characters hails from one of these realms. And they are most certainly interesting and colorful characters. From a shapeshifting sorceress to a barechested tanky-type to a squishy nurse thing and everything in between there’s something for everyone to enjoy. Personally, I’m always up for the damage soaker myself…shirt or no shirt.

Keep an eye on it in our calendar


Battlestation: Humanity's Last HopeGame : Battlestation: Humanity’s Last Hope

What it is : Serena wrote: “It’s up to you how you want to play Battlestation: Humanity’s Last Hope. Be diplomatic and work with the other races to take down the darkness or go all gun-ho and start shooting at everything. It’s pretty much up to you. Which does add for a good amount of replayability. Plus, there’s always the ever-present tech tree found in most strategy games. Research both human and alien tech to help upgrade your station to fend off the menace and secure the future of the human race.


The Rest of the Campaigns :

Classic JRPG : Pretty sure the name says it all.

Memories – You can´t escape! : Lots of info, but not much to see.  The vacation pictures look lovely though.

Pfraxus : Pop quiz.  How many times has “by gamers for gamers” (or some slight variation) been used?  Answer. Too many.

Gear: Book 1: The Over Clock : It certainly is colorful!  That funding goal is a bit much though.

Starship: Invasion : A cool looking space combat game featuring capital ships.

Shutterbug : It’s interesting that this campaign is getting crushed so bad.  It’s gotten a fair amount of press from small to mid-size site, it looks pretty, and the team has AAA experience.  Maybe the concept of photographing butterflies doesn’t mesh well with a $400k funding goal.

Power Gamer Series : A game analytics software aimed at helping players get better.

Great Expectations Game : An RPG Maker game using Great Expectations as the backdrop.

The Invasion: Udder Contempt : Another RPG Maker game.  The Kickstarter page doesn’t have much to check out, but the funding video does.

Venator : An unfortunate situation where including a ton of screenshots on the campaign page means that none of them stand out.

New Online-Multiplayer Ranked War-Poker-Blackjack Mix-Up : A super long title, and a huge $100k funding goal.

Phantom Knight – A Heroes Retribution : A retro platformer featuring a cute knight.

Dominion of Kings : An action RPG with some pretty rough looking screenshots and no video.

Mutex Wars: The Threat : A space shooter in dire need of a video, because the screenshots aren’t really selling it.

Impossible Obstacle : A 3D platformer that just shows a few environment images, but at least the funding goal is extremely low.

HeavenGuideMe : A horror game with an interesting trailer, and a low funding goal.  Not much to see yet though.

The Sun Misses The Moon : Digging the character art in the LGBT visual novel, but the lifted background make me nervous.  The campaign is for new art though.

Project Burst Limit : A frantic looking platform fighter that’s worth checking out if you’re a fan of the genre.

Dumb! : A crazy looking visual novel that’s already met its funding goal.

Repenthium : A horror game that emphasizes physics.  I can’t help but think of Trespasser.

Virtual Game Dev : A game about making games.  Sure, there’s a bunch of those out there already, but this one could be interesting.

Torch : A top-down horror game with nothing to show yet.

OWYS : A cute platformer with some interesting gimmicks, including the real-time level editor.

Shizume the Flame Detective : Another chapter in the ongoing Echo Tokyo mess.

The Chorus of Sepulchre : I’m pretty confused by this one actually.

Crystal Touch : A ‘click til you die’ style game featuring crystals.

Hellscare Realm:Mila : I hate that this game has a funding video featuring nothing by words flashing across the screen, but the page features supposed screenshots of the game itself.


That’s it for last week’s Kickstarter video game campaigns.  Watch your wallets!

About the Author

Greg Micek

Greg Micek has been writing on and off about games since the late nineties, always with a focus on indie games. He started DIYGames.com in 2000, which was one of the earliest gaming sites to focus exclusively on indie games.

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