Kommunity Kickstarter Katchup Kollektiv: 2013 - September 2017

[Serenegoose]

‘Archaeologists have no idea who this guy is, but we do know that game devs venerated his image, and engraved it unto each of their character creators’

[Flamepreacher]

Shameless plug for a game I’ve been following for a while. The devs are really friendly and responsive. It may be a bit niche but it really ticks my boxes being a bit Eldritch Horror (board game) mixed with XCOM:EU, hope it’s ok to pop it in here!

Rise of the Elders: Cthulhu

(oh should have said they are going for all-in on Kickstarter)

[LarsWestergren]

> hope it’s ok to pop it in here!

Of course! Welcome, the more the merrier.

Sunless Sea sequel Sunless Skies also just launched and is 56% funded. No wait 57%. No wait now it is 60%…literally faster than I can type. Ok, this is going to get funded, if this pace keeps going it’s going to be one of the rare $1 million+ backed games. Pip wrote about it on the frontpage.

And in other news Banner Saga 3 just got funded, Undungeonis hitting its first stretch goals, Pillars of Eternity 2 is approaching 2 million, etc etc. I was going to do a full update today of all ongoing campaigns but I’m exhausted from work. This weekend maybe.

[Shadoko]

Nice to see people actually liked the Fallen London universe and want more Sunless Sea but without the grind.

[Sarfrin]

Backed. There’s nothing else quite like Sunless Sea around.

[LarsWestergren]

Fully funded in 4 hours. Kickstarter is so dead, you guys!

[EPICTHEFAIL]

That looks really quite good (occasional slight inaccuracy aside), but I really hope they find a way around the sheer amount of empty downtime SSea had. Nothing wrong with a slow-paced game, but SSea crossed the line into outright tedium far too often when you were just travelling between places. A faster early game would be nice too, at least let people explore beyond spitting distance of [insert epithet here] London in the first few hours without running out of fuel halfway out.

[Internet]

Beautiful Desolation is just that. I hope it gets funded. I don’t think I’ve seen a month packed with this many exceptional kickstarters for a long time.

That looks really quite good (occasional slight inaccuracy aside), but I really hope they find a way around the sheer amount of empty downtime SSea had. Nothing wrong with a slow-paced game, but SSea crossed the line into outright tedium far too often when you were just travelling between places. A faster early game would be nice too, at least let people explore beyond spitting distance of [insert epithet here] London in the first few hours without running out of fuel halfway out.

Amen Brother. I’ll probably back because they did talk specifically about making gameplay less grindy in an interview somewhere.

Failbetter seems to have made an interesting and appropriate transition from making games about the oppressiveness of the Industrial Revolution & Victorian mores to Imperialism in Sunless Skies. Both are interesting topics, but I can’t help but think Imperialism is a better theme for a game that involves exploration.

[Shadoko]

I can’t help but think Imperialism is a better theme for a game that involves exploration.

Let’s create the Imperium of Man.

[LarsWestergren]

New

RUiN. Top-down arcade-style arena brawler. Online PvP, inspired by the Warcraft 3 mod “Warlock”. Select a character from 3 tribes (Bears, Apes, Red Pandas), equip armor and weapons, and select ability loadout. Seems there are persistent drops, let’s hope there aren’t microtransactions. SEK 46,225 pledged of SEK 100,000 goal, 31 days to go

Mutant Football League. Gory fantasy American football a-la Bloodbowl, except not turn-based. I think? I am currently on such a crap internet connection I literally can’t watch Youtube. $53,058 pledged of $60,000 goal, 29 remaining

Ongoing

Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire. Lots of news, if you want details check the separate thread in the RPS forums. But lots of stretch goals unlocked, like subclasses, 2 level higher level cap, AI scripting+GUI a-la Dragon Age Origins, a 7th party member, localization (Russian, Polish, Spanish). Upcoming goals include separate hand-drawn NPC portraits for every important NPC like quest givers, and twice as much voice-over. Not yet revealed but hinted at is an upgradable stronghold which will be much better tied into game mechanics and quests this time, very probably a pirate ship. $2,139,856 of $1,100,000 goal, 19 days left.

Sunless Skies, the sequel to Sunless Seas. The prequel has been widely praised for the writing, less widely praised for the gameplay, but they promise they will improve here Lots of stretch goals unlocked - 3 new backgrounds (zee-captain, revolutionary, auditor of the ministry), 3 legendary wrecks (The Berringer, Parzifal, The Boatman), and a smuggling mechanic with illicit goods tied into the stories, and the ability to outfit your vessel with secret compartments. £210,810 pledged of £100,000 goal, 26 days remaining.

Sundered. A Lovecraftian-Metroidvanian 2d platformer by the makers of Jotun. CA$ 97,366 pledged of CA$ 25,000 goal, 11 days to go.

Beautiful Desolation. By the talented Bischoff brothers who did Stasis and are also helping out inXile with Wasteland 3. You may recognize their isometric re-imagening of games like Bioshock and Assassin’s Creed. Isometric adventure game set in post-apocalyptic Africa, all the scenery is based on things from the real world. $82,818 pledged of $120,000 goal, 13 days to go.

Banner Saga 3. The trilogy looks like it is going to get a happy ending (financially at least), after great reviews but low-profile launch of BS2, this one is going strong. I’m looking forward to playing through the whole trilogy. $241,423 pledged of $200,000 goal, 30 days to go.

Apocalypse Now - the game. In collaboration with Francis Ford Coppola, veterans from games like the Witcher, Fallout: New Vegas and Battlefield are creating a first person narrative driven psychological horror RPG (“It’s not a FPS!”). They have gotten into a lot more detail, and the pace has picked up, but it still looks unlikely to make it. It is a tall order to ask for $900 000 and say that this is actually not enough to finish the game. Still, at least they are honest about it which not all big Kickstarters have been. $160,701 pledged of $900,000 goal, 18 days to go.

Thaumistry - in charm’s way. A text adventure game by Bob Bates who worked at Infocom on Sherlock - Riddle of the Crown Jewels and Arthur: The Quest for Excalibur, and at Legend on titles like Spellcasting 101 and Eric the Unready. This is urban fantasy basically, the protagonist realizes that he has magical aptitude and his very presence disrupts technology - a Bodger. This together with Southern Monsters below was mentioned by Emily Short on the RPS frontpage. One cool thing is that if they reach the $40 000 stretch goal for Android and $50 000 for iOS, the TADS game engine will be ported to those platform, making hundreds of IF games available. $24,121 pledged of $25,000 goal, 16 days to go.

Southern Monsters. Interactive fiction set in the Weird South of the US. A dark comedy based on the creator’s own experiences, about cryptids, being disabled, and domestic abuse. $8,316 pledged of $8,000 goal, 19 days to go.

UnDungeon. Pixelart action RPG with roguelike elements, part of the SquareEnix Collective. Hyperlight Drifter-ish, but with 7 unique characters to choose between that play differently, have different upgrade paths, and unique storylines and endings. Stretch goals unlocked are one additional person quest chain per character, and a home base/hub level. €66,281 pledged of €50,000 goal, 7 days to go.

The Pedestrian. 2D puzzle platformer, where you run from signpost to signpost. Looks a lot better than it sounds. $15,053 pledged of $21,000 goal, 11 days remaining.

Legrand Legacy. Turn based JRPG with lots of cinematics. Has gotten enthusiastic blurbs from PC Gamer and Gamereactor. £34,186 pledged of £40,000 goal, 12 days left.

Pixel Princess Blitz. Sandbox roguelike 2d action RPG, with an anime inspired art style as would be expected with that name. €88,438 pledged of €77,700 goal, 3 days to go.

Little Bug - stylish 2D platform adventure. $35,217 of $35,000 goal, 4 days remaining.

Solo - cell shaded 3D exploration game which also aims to be an introspective meditation on love. Got a mention from Pip on the frontpage. $40,450 of $64,500 goal, 18 days remaining

**Succeeded

**Jupiter hell, Kingdoms and Castles, Stardrop-0, 100 days of mystery,The Herbologist, Unknown Realm,

[Baines]

Mutant Football League. Gory fantasy American football a-la Bloodbowl, except not turn-based. I think? I am currently on such a crap internet connection I literally can’t watch Youtube. $53,058 pledged of $60,000 goal, 29 remaining

Wow, it looks like they really learned from the failed Kickstarter a few years back. I don’t sarcastically mean the reduced goal, though not only is $60k less than the first campaign’s $750k goal, it is also less than half what the first campaign saw pledged. This time their Kickstarter actually looks like a serious, polished campaign. The pitch looks more professional. The game itself visually looks better, and it actually looks like a ‘real’ console/PC game instead of a made-for-mobile title.

The only iffy bit is that the preview build is apparently only available to backers? Certainly better than no preview build at all, though.

[LarsWestergren]

Wartile failed its Kickstarter last year but is still coming apparently, love how it looks.

[LarsWestergren]

Last day for Sundered. Apocalypse Now gave up on their Kickstarter campaign, but have announced that they are in it for the long haul, and will have a site where you can sign up for alpha access and progress will be documented.

Most of the others I mentionen in the big post above are looking healthy. Beautiful Desolation got a big boost after being mentioned by Obsidian and inXile in their mails.

One Kickstarter that I think deserves some love if they are going to make it is

Rise of the Elders: Cthulhu mentioned by Flamepreacher above. They have had regular informative updates during the campaign, and it is looking really nice. They are aiming to release on mobile platforms as well as Steam (where they are already Greenlit), but guarantee that this will be a contained single player experience - no ads or in-game purchases. Assemble and level up occult explorers, try to stop the elder gods from breaking through. Interaction points (exploration, rumors of cult activity) pop up around the globe, with different difficulties and rewards. If you leave spots on the globe alone for too long, their timer completes (“the cult finished their ritual”), advancing the global doom counter. Tactical turn based combat, think XCom like, but with more abstract top-down 2d graphics. Or Darkest Dungeon but with positioning. If you want more quality games on your mobile phones or more and board game inspired stuff on your PC, this might be one to back.

€18,345 pledged of €51,000 goal, 14 days to go.

[IcyTower]

Hi
I founded cool kickstarter game And i think i back 115$

Fiction Sphere https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1163975700/fictionsphere/

[LarsWestergren]

New

Titanic VR by the team that did the Apollo 11 VR experience. Another educational/explorational VR title, looks pretty great. You can explore the ship pre- and post disaster, see how the machinery, crew quarters and public areas looked, as well as passenger spaces from different classes. And then see how the same areas looked under water, recreated from the exploration mission. Missed this one before, only 8 days left, but looks like it might make it. 61% there. €30,791 pledged of €50,000 goal

Anew: The Distant Light. Metrodvania exploration of an alien world, think Cave Story or Spelunky. Nice graphics, veteran develpoers. $14,846 pledged of $30,000 goal, 21 days left.

Prisma & the Masquerade Menace. Colorful side scrolling 2D puzzle platformer where you switch between dimensions on the fly, like for instance in Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams. $4,214 pledged of $20,000 goal, 21 days left.

The Fall of Lazarus - A science fiction mystery game. First person puzzle exploration in space, inspired by Firewatch. $2,303pledged of $9,700 goal, 29 days to go.

Shardbound. Fantasy tactical collectible cardgame combat. Looks nice. Mentions Twitch a dozen times on the page and "We knew from day one that we wanted to make a game specifically designed for the unique social landscape of streaming ". For me that sounds like a “no-pledge”, but happily others disagree! $91,071 pledged of $50,000 goal, 21 days left.

Winds of Change. Visual Novel with furry protagonists. Some exploration and point & click adventure elements. Not surprisingly doing well. CA$ 17,945 pledged of CA$ 7,500 goal.

Edit: Forgot Narita Boy. Mentioned on the RPS frontpage. €36,477 pledged of €120,000 goal, 31 days to go.

[Winged_Nazgul]

Shardbound. Fantasy tactical collectible cardgame combat. Looks nice. Mentions Twitch a dozen times on the page and "We knew from day one that we wanted to make a game specifically designed for the unique social landscape of streaming ". For me that sounds like a “no-pledge”

Pretty sure the Twitch functionality will be optional. But for those that actually like Twitch, it’s added value.

Looks a lot like Duelyst but with a more appealing (to me anyways) art style.

[m1ts0s]

**RUiN **(a game in the vein of Battlerite) got funded: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/199536733/ruin-top-down-arena-brawler

[davey]

I’m currently backing Forged of Blood A turn-based tactical CRPG with some meaningful moral choices to make. The early screenshots / video look great, too.

[EPICTHEFAIL]

Haven’t seen anyone mention Mordhau here, so I’m mentioning Mordhau here. Or to give it its proper name: Mount and Chivalry: Medieval Honor. Seems to be borrowing M&B’s (awful, clumsy, sluggish, ill-suited for people who aren’t half-octopus) directional melee system, but apparently you can also use controls that are designed for actual human beings, so that’s alright. And it seems you can vary up your grip and create free-flowing combos and perform feints and do an actual Mordhau (people who have an interest in HEMA will get it, everyone else will be really confused).

Oh, and you can

END HIM RIGHTLY. Yes, you can unscrew and throw your pommel in this game.

… as explained by the one and only Skallagrim.

So, assuming they can get the controls right (big fucking if, considering For Honor is the only game that has managed to get this directional aiming system right and they basically implemented it as a fighting game stance system), it’s looking quite good, assuming a focus on large-scale team-on-team multiplayer is your thing. I’m more of a small group or 1-on-1 duel man, but I’m guessing those sorts of modes will be included as well.

[icemann]

Ama’s Lullaby launched recently. Bladerunner-ish adventure game set in a cyberpunk world. I would likely not play it, but I’m sure many would.