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Cantih

Cantih's Kickstarter Coverage, vol. 6 - Fallow

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So we have our first week with no new kickstarter projects. There just weren't enough worthwhile to put together a post. Sorry, that's just how it goes sometimes. As such, we'll be diving into Steam Greenlight this week. But first, updates on the older projects.

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Hegemonic - FINAL DAY Only hours left - @ $81k (270%) [+$28k]
The funds are still ticking in, they just blew past the KS only signed foil box goal, and the wooden bits for all games are now replaced by custom transparent plastic bits. They just might hit the KS only metal CAP tokens, especially with it being lowered from $90k to $85k, but it looks like there isn't quite enough momentum to hit the final $100k goal that makes the game board indented to hold the sector hexes.
Something new though, for a $5 add-on, they'll let you get a nice looking acrylic arbiter token to use instead of the cardboard one.

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Worra Realms - 5 days left - @ $4.7k (253%) [+1k]
The first stretch has been passed, but the next at $7k seems like a big order unless the campaign hits some pools of backers who don't know about it. Also an initial card set was posted. It's all pretty standard RPG fare, but of course that's the point.

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Wildman - 11 days left - @ $433k (39%) [+98k]
The campaign has managed to pick up another 100k, but I won't lie, things are looking pretty grim for Wildman and GPG, getting $650k in a week and a half would be a heroic effort. It's not impossible, if all that is gaming descends upon the project in the next week, it might be done. (Maybe someone should pester Notch for a hero donation.)
They're doing a TwitchTV Q&A session (it may still be live if you're reading this as I post), in addition to their other video Q&A and updates over the past week. Also, the primary campaign video was updated to give a better idea of what the game exactly is.

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Homesick - 14 days left - @ $13k (161%) [+$4k]
The game has managed to hit it's first stretch, Oculus Rift support is in (as well as more game content)! Also, they're running a Steam Greenlight campaign as well, go vote.

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Roam - 19 days left - @ $57k (142%) [+$52k]
This blew the fuck up. Not only is it now funded, but two stretch goals are cleared (vehicles and skills), and the third isn't much further off. Also it was changed from merch to game features, a full character appearance customization system. At the same time, when $60k is hit each of the main tiers will be upgraded with cosmetic packs (different packs for each level, though higher levels get lower level packs.)

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Cryamore - 21 days left - @ $110k (183%) [+$51k]
If Roam blew up, this went full nuclear. Last week it was about to hit it's goal, now it's almost doubled it's funding and blown past ALL of the gameplay stretches (and the voice acting ones). Two more areas and four more weapon types are in the game. The next close goal is the Japanese translation, and then the stretches string out, but there are two new ones. Hitting $175k adds an arcade to the town with games to unlock through sidequests, and the team has plans to bring some indie developers onboard for some of those games.
The crazy goal is $225k, if that gets reached the team is going to change the game engine to Unity (just the engine, not the look) so they can go through the process of getting the game on PS3, 360, Wii U, and Linux. (This is in addition to OUYA, and Android/iOS tablet support at 150k.) Honestly, going from "let's do a classic console RPG on the PC" to "make a classic console RPG, AND PUBLISH IT ON MODERN CONSOLES" is fucking amazing.

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Beyond the Gates of Antares - 24 days left - @ £100k (33%) [+£4k]
This projects in a spot of trouble as well. They've hit 33%, and still have tons of time left, but the momentum has flatlined. Though lore, rules, and sculpt process updates continue at the same mad pace they have been. They have started up a social campaign, and it adds credits to the feeder and dark energy boxes (meaning more minis). These are global so benefit all backers, but they are planing an individual reward version as well, so YOU get rewards for getting people in on the game.
The biggest news though is they've started the initial detailing of how the live universe of the game will work.

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Dragon's Hoard - 49 days left - @ $13k (130%) [+$5k]
The campaign has added a respectable amount of funds, and has hit it's first stretch goal, and is only 1k away from the next. It's going to be interesting to see what happens through the latter part of the campaign, because you can only add so much stuff before you affect a standalone game's balance.

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Gamestick finished out it's run at $647,000, not quite OUYA numbers, but not too bad. Well past the final, four color stretch goal. One of the final updates detailed all the changes to the controller they made from feedback (nothing massive, just better ergonomics), and some tech changes they made that might allow the system to use Miracast. With the right TV, you won't even need to plug the stick in (and possibly increases the number of TVs the system will work very easily with, either with powered HDMI OR Miracast, still likely not a huge number yet though).

Akaneiro made it's goal, but just barely. No guaranteed expansions, guilds, or PVP, or OUYA release (at least, not anytime soon unless the game itself brings in tons of revenue). Co-op, crafting, and Linux + Tablets are go however. If you still want a shot at the exclusive in game items or some Alice swag, their paypal part of the campaign is going to continue to run for about a week.

Noctemis just finished out at $12k, over twice it's goal. It wasn't enough to get the extra level added in, but they did hit all their original stretches to get the game on Wii U, handhelds, and give every backer at game level beta access, and a poster.

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So, what is Steam Greenlight?
Well with as successful as Steam is getting, what's beggining to be an issue is that Valve vetting and approving games to go on sale is starting to become a bottleneck. With Greenlight, they're trying to harness the wisdom of the crowd to lighten the load. (And beyond, if the lectures Gabe gave a few days ago are any indication.)

Many improvements have been made to the service since it launched, making it easier to find, decide, and organize things to vote for. (Though if you go through the client, you still have to deal with Steam's browser idiosyncracies and performance issues.) It's still a bit of a hassle though, which is another reason for covering them, to save you hassle and make them a bit more visible.

So far, they've approved games in about monthly batches, four since the service started. Bold games are ones that have become available for sale, italics are ones I've voted for myself. (Again, so you can get a feel for my biases.)

Batch 1 - Sept 11 2012
Spoiler: show
Black Mesa
Cry of Fear
Dream
Heroes & Generals
Kenshi
McPixel
No More Room in Hell
Project Zomboid
Routine
Towns

Batch 2 - Oct 15 2012
Spoiler: show
Afterfall InSanity Extended Edition
AirBuccaneers
Blockscape
Contrast
Fly'n
Folk Tale
Forge
Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams
Gnomoria
Interstellar Marines
Lost Story: The Last Days of Earth
Miasmata
Miner Wars 2081
NEOTOKYO
Octodad: Dadliest Catch
Perpetuum
POSTAL 2 COMPLETE
Secrets of Grindea
The Intruder
The Stanley Parable: HD Remix
Yogventures!

Batch 3 - Nov 30 2012
Spoiler: show
Blackspace
Darkfall Unholy Wars
Dawn of Fantasy
Dragon's Lair
Euro Truck Simulator 2
Gear Up
Kinetic Void - Space Adventure
The Light
No Time To Explain
Primordia
Sang-Froid : Tales of Werewolves
StarForge
Waking Mars
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Action! Screen Recorder
Bandicam: Game Recorder
Construct 2
Display Fusion
HitFilm 2
You Need A Budget 4

Batch 4 - Jan 15 2013
Spoiler: show
Akaneiro: Demon Hunters
Asylum
DLC Quest
Eador. Masters of the Broken World
La-Mulana
Leisure Suit Larry
MaK
The Age of Decadence
Unepic
War For The Overworld
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articy:draft | Game Design Tool
GroBoto - Modeling App

Quite a number of these are really cool looking projects, and some are even in an alpha/beta you can get in on, if that interests you.

Something to note is that a number of games greenlit then go on to run a kickstarter campaign, or some successful kickstarters go on to do a greenlight submission, (or even do both at the same time). If you're seriously following either, you should always check to see if a game has a matching campaign on the other service, in case you want to put money on it, or be able to get it on Steam. Though, in some cases, steam's still taken so long that he game has already released on other services)

Now, since Greenlight doesn't need you to put some money on the matter, my bar is a little lower to make recommendations to you. You might even see me suggest games that I'll never mention the kickstarter for. However, anything I recommend on Greenlight does NOT mean I also imply you should go out and plop money on a kickstarter campaign.

So, here are a bunch of games that really deserve to be Greenlit, a few have even been waiting quite a while for it.

Moon Rising - This is a good looking turn based strategy game. And it has synchronous AND asynchronous multiplayer. What more could you want.

Dysis - Voxel RTS, VOXEL RTS! Sexy looking too. It also had a successful Kickstarter campaign, if you wish to go get more information.

Underrail - A classic turn based CRPG, it's basically Metro 2033, Fallout edition. It's pretty ambitious, but it's also being delivered.

Inquisitor - Another CRPG, it's actually already done, and for sale, on GOG (it was even ON sale during December). Why it's not for sale on Steam is beyond me, and should be remedied.

Bunny Must Die - Yes it's a bit old, and you might even have already played it, but shit, that didn't stop Cave Story. Also, Ragns wants you to vote for it too. You want to make Ragns happy don't you?

Talisman Digital Edition - That's right, even now, YOU CAN'T ESCAPE THE BOARD GAMES! MUHUHAHAHA!!! Ahem. Anyway, this is one of the classic fantasy boardgames, and this is a decent way to give it a try (Cheaper than a boxed copy too). There's also a single player version, Talisman Prologue. May as well vote for it too.

City of Steam - It's a decent looking game, and would be another great addition to Steam's F2P MMO collection.

That's all for this week. You best hope some cool stuff gets launched, or you'll be getting a pen & paper RPG rundown next week.

Comments

  1. Grey Jorildyn -
    Grey Jorildyn's Avatar
    The Gabe Newell video is totally worth watching. It gives really great insight into things. It's beyond technical for the "average" gamer, but for the older generation and those in the business world, it makes a lot of tangential sense. Best hour I ever killed at work I'll tell ya that.
  2. Cantih -
    Cantih's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Grey Jorildyn
    Best hour I ever killed at work I'll tell ya that.
    You should hit the link then, because it has the second encore session video.
    THERE'S ANOTHER HOUR OF GABEN!