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Cantih

Cantih's Kickstarter Coverage, vol. 7 - Damned if I know what to call this one

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THE PROJECTS RETURN! You are saved from a treatise on P&P RPGs.

Dreamfall Chapters - ends March 10th - @ $650k (76%)

This is a point and click adventure that continues the story of The Longest Journey and Dreamfall. (Also, despite the name and the habits of the industry, it's not episodic, it's a full game.)

I'm telling you about it because this is a great series, and not only should you support the kickstarter to get more of it, you should go and play the other games if you haven't. It pops up on sale every so often on Steam and GOG, wait a bit and you'll be able to grab both at a solid price. The game is gorgeous, the world is rich, and it's as good a play as any other P&C game. The project is well on it's way to being funded, and we should know about stretch goals by next week. Gokulo has been on the news of the game's return, and it's appearance on Kickstarter. You should head over to the thread on the forum if you want to discuss the game.

It will cost you $25 for a digital copy of the game, all 5000 of the $20 tier are gone. If you have the previous boxes and want the third one to add to your shelf, that's going to run you $110 (good luck Bluefan). If you just want all the extra materials in digital though, the $75 tier will get you the short stories book, the graphic novel, the lore book, and the art book, as well as the soundtrack, making of video, and access to an early release of the game.

Release - November 2014

At the Gates - ends March 8th - @ $47k (117%)

This is a classic 4x turn-based strategy game. Made by the man who brought you Civilization V (Not I & II, or III & IV though, those are different dudes.)

I'm telling you about it because it's a bit important. A few days before the Kickstarter went live the designer wrote this article. The game is essentially his put up or shut up. As such, it may cause some developments in that corner if the industry, so if you're a 4x fan you should be paying attention. As for the game itself, while opinion is a bit divided on early vs later Civ games that may put you on one side of the fence regarding the developer, there isn't much doubt they'll be able to deliver. The art needs a bit of work, it's a bit bland even by 90's standards, but they have said that funds from the kickstarter will be put in that direction (though the article suggests it's not going to be pushed much further).
The stretch goals currently run up to $85k, and the first three all add some pretty deep moddability to the game. If that's your kind of thing, you should probably keep an eye on on the project, maybe even try getting on the alpha group to try and steer some of the development so you can make even better use of the engine for your stuff.

It will cost you $25 to get a digital copy of the game. If you drop a bit more you can get beta or alpha access. I wouldn't really recommend any tiers past that.

Release - June 2014

Island Siege - ends March 17th - @ $8.5k (50%)

This is a competitive card game (though it's more a board game that uses cards) that's essentially something like a base building strategy PC game.

I'm telling you about it because it's a pretty fun, simple yet crunchy looking game that shows a bit of potential, especially if it gets expanded on. Also if you want to try it out, you can get a print & play version. It's from a developer that has successfully shipped their previous kickstarters, so it's not a particularly risky project. The game is halfway funded, and a stretch goal at $22k adds a pretty significant number of new cards to the game.

It will cost you $30 to get a copy of the game, plus another $7 to get the mini expansion. This is a pretty decent price considering the game also comes with a bunch of game pieces (27 cubes, 18 meeple, 13 METAL coins, and 4 dice) in addition to the cards.

Release - August 2013

Hull Breach!: Corporate Wars - ends March 17th - @ $12.5k (50%)

This is a competitive card game. At first glance, the closest thing I can compare it to is the old Shadowrun or Decipher CCGs (This isn't a CCG however, though not quite a LCG either.)

I'm telling you about it because it's decent looking game. Complex and challenging, and not bad looking besides (though I do hope they hit the $200k goal to overhaul the art and card design, it could use a bit more polish). Also, not being a CCG means not having to spend ungodly amounts of money on the game if you get into it. Expandable but not collectable is a great model to support.

It will cost you $35 for the base game, $70 will add in the first expansion, $100 adds the second expansion and special kickstarter exclusive cards (along with two decks of the alpha version of the game, which ship in April.) Keep in mind, the expansions are dependent on the campaign hitting stretch goals, so if you want them you should only upgrade once it's clear they'll be reached.

Release - September 2013
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Now it's update time. Bit of bad news, but it's not a surprise.

Homesick - 7 days left - @ $17.8k (222%) [+$4.8k]
The second stretch goal is down and the roof level is in. With a week left and just over $4k to go to get the prequel content, it looks like the final period of donations is going to be enough to get the job done.

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Roam - 13 days left - @ $73k (182%) [+$16k]
The rate of funds coming in has slacked off, but it was still enough that the next two stretch goals have been cleared. And they're the last ones, everything the devs wanted to get in the game is funded. They game will now have a better character customization system, and an advanced stealth and enemy detection system. They've also done an update explaining the core skill system, along with the NPC system.

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Cryamore - 14 days left - @ $137k (228%) [+$27k]
The Japanese translation stretch goal was not only hit, but shot past. The project is well on the way to $150k and tablet plus OUYA support. The real question is will the final days see enough of a burst of funding to reach the console release goal. Also, Linux was moved from the final stretch goal to the $150k one, that'll be reached as well. This is all thanks to switching to Unity, which ALSO will let them put betas and demos online, like they just did, that's right, you can go muck about with pre-alpha material RIGHT NOW. Lastly, they've done a few updates on the summons, town layout, and enemy AI system.

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Beyond the Gates of Antares - 17 days left - @ £103k (34%) [+£3k]
Once again only a few thousand added, a drop in the bucket compared to what they need. Updates continue, including a rough early outline rulebook (and public testing of the game is already underway using it). Despite not really boosting the funding, the social campaign has spread enough to boost both the small and big boxes with an extra 10 credits worth of figures. If you know anyone who is into mini wargames, tell them about this if they don't already know about it.

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Dragon's Hoard - 42 days left - @ $17.7k (177%) [+$4.7k]
The project has hit both of the next two stretch goals, and had to add another (to give each color's lair a unique card art), which is now only a couple hundred dollars away from being reached.
It turns out that the only new card added so far is the unicorn, which is kickstarter exclusive. It seems the five colors of damsels, lairs, and dragons (along with other cards) all used a single piece of art, and the stretch goals are allowing the artist to be commissioned to do pieces of individual art for every single card. So with more funds, the game is just going to get more and more gorgeous.

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Sadly, Wildman has just been canceled. (As 6souls has beat me to, see his post for more details.) With four days left and still nearly $600k to go odds were pretty slim, but now it's for sure, it can't be done. There may be some hope for GPG in the business arena, they've had some attention from the industry since the news broke a month ago, and from the final update it sounds like there may be some deal that they'll be able to work out to keep the company going.

Hegemonic managed to close out at just under 88k, getting those metal cap tokens. Well shy of the 100k for the locking board though. On the other hand, there was so much interest for the metal tokens, that they immediately launched a new kickstarter to get more of them to people, and it has already made four times it's goal and hit several stretches, all at a significant percentage of what the game's kickstarter raised. People are nuts for metal tokens.

Worra Realms didn't make it's second stretch goal, but it did pull in nearly three times the original goal.

That's it for this week. Come back next week for some more.

Updated 2013-02-11 at 20:26 by Cantih

Comments

  1. Mote -
    Mote's Avatar
    a chance at another Longest Journey sequel is fantastic news
  2. Cantih -
    Cantih's Avatar
    Really, the adventure games alone have made Kickstarter worth it. The old Lucas Arts team, Broken Sword, Dreamfall, ...
    If I see an entry for Cyan launching a new Myst, I'm going to have to immediately get a pair of clean underwear.