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Cantih's Kickstarter Coverage, vol. 3 - East, West, Past, & Future

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New week, new projects for you all.

Akaneiro: Demon Hunters - ends February 2nd - @ $68k (34%)
This is a Diablo-like free to play game from American McGee's studio. Eastern in aesthetic style, though probably not quite as twisted as usual for McGee. As for the gameplay, well, hell, the beta is open now, so go have a look for yourself.

I'm telling you about it because it does deserve mentioning. I held off a week because of the controversy over the nearly launching game going to kickstarter. But even though it's F2P and launching soon, what this kickstarter is going to do is get funds to pay for adding additional features to the game(co-op, PvP as a stretch, guilds, leaderboards, tons of others), expanding content(crafting, actual expansions as a stretch, more and more loot), and porting it to more platforms(Android/iOS tablets, Linux stretch goal). It's a bit of bet hedging, since income from F2P is a fickle beast. I'd say go hop in the beta, give it a try for the next couple weeks, and see if it's worth giving them kickstarter money for before the campaign ends. (or if you have a tablet and really want the game on it).

What it will cost depends exactly on what you want, the game itself is F2P, so you aren't buying that. $10 will get you Android/iOS beta access. $15-$100 gets you physibles and/or kickstarter exclusive in-game items. There's also one last in-game item, a Singularity Neko pet (that has game stats), only available at $110+ tiers, all of which are number limited, and all the cheap ones are gone now.

Release - May 2013

Noctemis - ends February 4th - @ $5.6k (112%)
This is a 2.5D metroidvania game (more traditional this time, a side-scroller, but not retro), but intended to have a VERY robust gear/item/customization system. It's set in a dark Victorian era, and has a bit of a Lovecraft vibe. The character looks a bit... unique, but it fits the style, which looks pretty solid.

I'm telling you about it because this is kind of a thing that's the whole purpose of crowdfunding. These dudes seem pretty dedicated to getting a game off the ground and have done enough groundwork to show it, even though there's no gameplay yet. Just a matter of funds to dot i's and cross t's. Software licenses, legal, paperwork, and a bit of hardware. Tiny from a business perspective, but a significant roadblock to the average person.

It will cost you $15 for a digital copy of the game. Don't go crazy on higher tier rewards that come with physibles, they're priced low like back in 2011, before people realized how onerous that was, and so are likely to cost the creators a big percentage of the funding. Stretch goals at the moment are mainly to try and get it on handhelds.

Release - February 2014

Worra Realms - ends February 9th - @ $1.3k (65%)
This is a tabletop RPG, but instead of using books, it uses CCG cards. Some RPGs have included some extras like item or enemy cards, but I can't think of any that have gone to this degree of using them to make a game. Otherwise, it's a pretty normal tabletop experience, dice, abilities, dungeons, and loot.

I'm telling you about it because it's a bit unique, even if the flavor of the game is a bit on the standard side. He also seems to have a pretty decent line on getting art assets. It's not stand out amazing, but it's way better than you generally see out of some small unknown developer. Lastly, the dude is driven. His first kickstarter fell flat, but he managed to go and get it made anyway, so if he gets properly funded there's probably no stopping him.

It will cost you $45 for a 200 card gamemaster set, or $75 for that plus 300 more cards across four player character decks. (And there are only 34 $75 sets left, at the time I write this.)

Release - April 2013

Hegemonic - ends February 4th - @ $37k (123%)
This is a competitive boardgame meant to emulate 4x space games. There have been a number of these lately, ranging from simple to crazy complicated. This is on the (relatively) simpler end compared to stuff like Eclipse, but still involved enough to be interesting. You can read the rules here, and under the spoiler there's some intro and demo videos (half an hours worth even, grab some popcorn).

I'm telling you about it because it's a solid looking game, a strong concept, and worth playing. It's also visually the best looking game they've done yet, and the stretch goals are only going to improve that. The company is dependable, having made and shipped plenty of other games, so the money isn't too risky.

It will cost you $70 to get a boxed copy of the game (you can cheap out and spend $10 for a print and play version, but trust me, it's never the same as the real thing.) It's already broken it's base goal, and the stretches add gameplay content or improve the quality of the game materials.

Release - July 2013
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Now for for some updates on what you read about last week

Anima: Gate of Memories - ENDS TODAY, ONLY TWO AND A HALF HOURS LEFT - @ $108k (120%) [+$65k]
There's only hours left, but the game has broken it's goal! They've also realigned the stretch goals, the first set has been reached, and the second is about $12,000 away. Both add a good chunk of content o the game.

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Pathfinder Online - ENDS TODAY, ONLY TWELVE HOURS LEFT - @ $888k (88%) [+$348k]
This one's in a bit of trouble, there's still $118k to go. It's going to go down to the line, and they're pulling out all the stops to hit it. Even if you aren't interested in the game yourself, you should tell any friends about it today, spread the word.
All Adventurer tier pledges ($35) will now get access to the game during the ninth and final month of beta.
ALL Crowdforger tiers ($100+) and higher will now get first month beta access, IF you pledge BEFORE the kickstarter breaks one million. So that's 1,120 first month slots for the $100 minimum left.

There's a new way to get all the daily deals, and it comes with an in-game mechanical benefit
After the project ends you'll be able to link to a friend's account, and if that friend accepts, you and your friend get a special benefit. Characters on your Kickstarter accounts will bear the Shieldmate Mark. Any time two or more characters with the Shieldmate Mark are in a party, everyone with the Shieldmate Mark will gain a synergy bonus. In addition, your friend will be awarded all the Daily Deals as of the date you first pledged to back the Kickstarter. Each backer will only be able to invite one Friend and accept one invitation, which will be permanent (but you can change your invite if your friend request is denied).
They also added another lore tier, $300 lets you name a character that will have a brand of in-game booze named after them.

With Unity running the game, they've also announced Mac support. Also, they've announced two mini-demos.
Environment Experience - they've taken the location from the tech demo and stuck it in a Unity web app. So you can walk through a pre-pre-alpha demo RIGHT NOW!
Pit Fight - in 2013 they'll be releasing a single player PvE combat testing program. No word if it's backer only, probably not though, maybe first access is all.

They've added some... distressing, add-on options however
+$10 for a special title and emote animation available only to backers of the kickstarter, who get this add-on... really?
+$15 for a Regional Trait Pack (gives you an achievement, title, and small mechanical effect)
+$20 for Twice Marked of Pharasma ("access to content and mechanical benefits distinct to those who are Twice Marked" - probably at least 2 home points)
+$20 for The Memorial of Honor ("Activating the structure removes unwanted disabilities that may have been inflicted in battle or by the acts of other characters. In addition, you may opt to have your real name inscribed on the monument, visible to any who choose to pause for deeper inspection.")
Combined with the other title option, that's +$75 to get all the titles and little mechanical bonuses. Not a good sign. The emote, shieldmate, destinty's twin, and daily deals are KS exclusive, but there's been no word if the simple title, trait pack, twice marked, or memorial will be buyable content when the game goes live. Either way, buyable benefits, or tons that are pre-release exclusive is something we never like to see in MMOs.

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Beyond the Gates of Antares - 45 days left - @ £81k (26%) [+£18k]
This is getting a decent pace of pledges for a two month long project.
The updates have a MASSIVE amount of lore expanded on, faction info, preliminary game mechanics outlined and detailed. Too much stuff to really go into here. Go to the project page updates and their website if you want to binge on this stuff, believe me, you'll be drinking from the firehose. (Though in the kickstarter updates, they've shown the ongoing process of sculpting the kickstarter exclusive mini. If you've never seen how that goes, you should go have a look at it.) They did nail down the range of minis that the game will have for reaching the base 300k pound goal. Stretch goals will help expand the range (and how many you get with your pledge), but they gotta break the base first.
Lastly, they introduced an add-on option that lets you straight up get more minis, no funky packs, more money just gets you more budget points to choose minis to be delivered to you.

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Gamestick - 17 days left - @ $367k (367%) [+$127k]
There was a bit of a quick legal brouhaha. One of the games in their pitch video wasn't authorized by the game devs to be there, and the campaign was suspended for a brief while, but everything's fine now.

Stretch goals were added, and the first has been broken, so now you can get it in black or white. The next, in $83k will add a red option plus another voted on color. The big announcement was that at $560k, the stick will be upgraded with a MicroSD card slot. That is a slight advantage on the OUYA's features.

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Ehdrigohr - 7 days left, final week - @ $9.8k (218%) [+$1.8k]
Not a huge amount of movement, though in just under $200 to the goal, the book will hit a stretch and be printed in color. The next stretch at $13k adds an adventure to the package.

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Radio the Universe - 9 days left - @ $61k (507%) [+12k]
Not much to report here either. No updates really, all stretch goals reached, but pledges keep flowing in steadily. Because really, who doesn't want this game.

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Finally, Through the Breach finished just shy of a quarter million, so a little bit of potential book content is out, and not quite enough numbers were reached to get the evil santa mini to all tiers. Kingdom Death: Monster went past 2 million though, and is now the highest funded project in it's category.

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That's all for this week.

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