Kickstarter – Planetary Annihilation

Planetary Annihilation is a game I discovered this morning through a twitter message from Notch. It provides an RTS style of gameplay on a grand scale, but appears to be much faster paced than a game like galactic civilization or normal planet level strategy games. In addition, it's being made by the company that makes Monday Night Combat and Super Monday Night Combat, both of which are games I have enjoyed playing. If this game sounds interesting, I encourage you to head to the kickstarter and support them, because this game will not be made unless they reach their funding goal.

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Kickstarter – Harmonia

Harmonia is a game I just found on Kickstarter that looks very interesting. The game is still in fairly early stages, but it is planned to become a multiplayer role playing game with real time strategy elements for the combat. It makes me think of what a game would be like if it combined the story and combat of Final Fantasy Tactics with multiplayer cooperative capabilities. On top of the basic gameplay, they plan to release a full set of modding and customization tools to allow players to add any new scenarios or content they want as well as server software for users to run their own servers. I'm excited for the ideas and concepts that this game is promoting, so I really hope the game will end up reaching its funding goal.

They currently have a text-based preview available, though it barely represents what the final game will be like once the graphical interface is ready. If you want to download the preview that is basically a MUD, you can get it here and you can read more about how to use it on the Harmonia Wiki.

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Kickstarter – Echoes of Aeons

Echoes of Aeons is a kickstarter project for a 2D action RPG that appears to have gameplay similar to Secret of Mana. I really like the art style they present in their kickstarter video, and right now they will let you secure a copy of the game for as little as $10. This is one project I'll definitely be watching closely in hopes that it gets funded.

Kickstarter – Steam Bandits: Outpost

Today I bring you an example of how NOT to create a kickstarter project. Steam Bandits: Outpost is a social game similar to most Facebook games, despite the claim on the project to the contrary. Now I'm not saying that this project has no right to be made an won't be a successful or fun game, in fact I think it will probably do quite well financially and may well be a fun game to play with friends. However, I do think this kickstarter project is all wrong. The true downfall lies in the fact that there is no way to preorder the game since they have decided to make the game "free to play" with micro transactions. I have seen a number of other projects using this model, and I find it very hard for me to preorder micro transaction credits prior to even trying the game. In addition, people playing the actual game are likely to engage in impulse buying of cheap bonuses, but I don't believe kickstarter backers have the same sorts of impulse buying, especially when most of the rewards are just micro transaction currency. This game will be made regardless of the eventual funding level the project receives on kickstarter, and I find no reason to back it when they will eventually give me the game for free anyway.

Kickstarter – Eternal Fate

Today I'd like to talk a little about another kickstarter game project, called Eternal Fate. This game is meant to be a 3rd person action game similar to Diablo 3 and Torchlight, only focused entirely on PVP without any standard defeat the computer style gameplay. I personally only enjoy games like Diablo 3 and Torchlight for the coop gameplay where I can defeat the computer controlled opponents with my friends and feel awesome, so I'm not sure if Eternal Fate will be my style of game. However, if you are the kind of person that enjoys PVP, this may well be another option for you, and I'd recommend backing them as you can gain access to the full game for a relatively small amount of money.

Kickstarter – Forge

Today, I have yet another kickstarter project that I have decided to put my money behind. Forge is a game that they describe as "An incredible blend of MMO-style abilities and FPS controls." In addition, they claim that there will be no endless grind like is found in most MMOs, and will instead focus on getting you in the action in the same way that FPS games do. While I know I have generally not enjoyed PVP in games like WoW because I'm always out geared (honestly I'm probably just really bad), this game might provide the short play sessions without required commitment to keep me interested. Forge can be preordered from the kickstarted for as little as $15 if it reaches their funding goal (which is still a ways off). I bet they will still finish the game even if they don't get kickstarter funding.

Here is a gameplay video for those interested in more about the game:

Kickstarter – Castle Story

A while back, my friend showed me an interesting video for a game called Castle Story. Right now, they have a kickstarter campaign going, where you can get the full game for only $15. They've already reached their funding goal several times over, but if you are interested in the game, this preorder will give you access to the beta and will likely be a lower price than the final release. To get an idea of the game play, check out the video embeded below.

Kickstarter – Project Giana

I found an interesting platformer on kickstarter yesterday. I decided to fund it because it looks fun. I think the best part isn't just that the main character can change modes, which changes the player's abilities as well as the enemies', but because when the mode changes, the music shifts, but both musical tracks match up with each other during the shift. This kind of musical feel seems very interesting to me and I look forward to playing the game. Plus, it's only $10 to get yourself a copy of the game. I really hope the project can gain more traction.

Kickstarter – OUYA

The newest kickstarter project that I'm excited about is OUYA: A New Kind of Video Game Console. I'm excited because I've had a few similar ideas bouncing around in my head for a while about how to create an open game console for home use. The OUYA appears to do a lot of things right and I wish them the best. I am a backer of the project, and they've already reached their funding goal, so I'll be getting one when they launch some time next year.

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Kickstarter — Nekro

Finally I'm making a post about something on KickStarter that I think has some promise. Nekro by darkForge — Kickstarter is the page where you can learn more about this game that seems to be an RTS of sorts. It looks like they have a pretty decent game engine put together and the concepts for the game are generally things I find interesting (other than the pooping pig). I've noticed that this particular project is currently suffering from a lack of funding, but I don't really think that they'll stop making the game if they don't get the kickstarter funding. Many of the projects I find on kickstarter seem to be primarily asking for extra money to do something they are going to do anyway. I think Nekro deserves more backing than they have received so far, but if you have to pick and choose which projects to fund right now, this is one that I think will survive without your money. I still recommend backing Nekro after checking out their kickstarter page if it is something that seems interesting to you.

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Kickstarter — Yogventures

Just when I thought kickstarter couldn't get any worse projects, a wild project appears. I've been a fan of Minecraft for a while as it's an interesting game with a good price and allows for the player to be creative. In addition it is simple and easy to pick up.

The one thing I've never liked about the Minecraft community is the Yogscast. The show is just obnoxious and irritating and I've never understood the appeal. Now it appears that they are trying to exploit their popularity to crowd-source funding for a rip-off game that is essentially a copy of Minecraft. I hypothesize that their primary motivation is their irritation that Mojang doesn't treat them like gods. Whatever you do, DO NOT SUPPORT THIS PROJECT. Yogventures! by The Yogscast and Winterkewl Games LLC — Kickstarter

I realize this and my previous post have been fairly negative, so I'll do my best to be positive in the future. I have found some good projects that I think deserve funding on kickstarter so I might talk about them a bit.

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Kickstarter — Aries (FPSMMORPG)

I for one am very interested in crowd sourced funding for video games (and other projects). After the hugely successful KickStarter campaign from Double Fine, I think a lot of independent developers have awakened to the possibilities of having the game paid for by the end user rather than some publishing organization. The benefits of such a technique are numerous and I won't go in too much depth right now, but the biggest merit is that the developer is able to maintain autonomous creative control over the final product.

Many of the projects on kickstarter are very small in scope and only ask for a modest amount of money, perhaps a few thousand dollars. Occasionally there is a project that I come across that appears to fundamentally defeat the purpose of kickstarter in my mind. The Future of First Person Shooters- Aries (FPSMMORPG) by Derrick Smith — Kickstarter: is one such project in my mind. It comes from a guy who is "a recent graduate at University of Phoenix with [a] BA in Business Development specifically in Organization and Innovation." He also "use to play football" so he must know his stuff.

Regardless of his qualifications as a businessman, this particular project is already "pre-funded." I get the impression that they really just want to collect some of the free money available on KickStarter and aren't doing something that is truly crowd-funded like Double Fine Adventure. Obviously they are within their rights to start the project and see what interest they get. I think the numbers speak louder than I can about the interest in this particular FPSMMORPGWTFBBQ game of videos. As of the time of this writing, there are 64 hours to go and they have 15 backers for a total of $950 of their $275,000 goal. If you are reading this post, I implore you to not support this project and put your money somewhere that they actually need it. Aries will eventually happen or not and I don't believe any kick-starter money will have an affect on whether they complete the game or whether it will be any good at all.

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