Kickstarter Katchup
Give And You Shall Receive
This makes sense as a thing to do. With so many gaming Kickstarters running, for games we're genuinely interested to play, let's have a look to see where they all are this weekend. The headline news is that Grim Dawn has finished its run, with just shy of double its target reached. Below you can catch up on Moebius, Xenonauts, Tex Murphy, and many more. And you can also note that almost all of them aren't pledging to Kick It Forward, which completely sucks, so you should get in touch with them all and yell at them.
Grim Dawn - Crate Entertainment
The former Iron Lore crew, who first grabbed our attention with promises of a hardcore aRPG in August 2010, have seen 12,457 people donating $537,515, far over the $280,000 they'd asked for. In fact, the half-million barrier was broken on the final day. Perhaps the most exciting thing about this result is it means the team making the game can now work together, rather than in remote locations. On top, it's now due to receive a Survival mode. Also, they have invented the tri-beer drinking method, which I think could be a Kickstarter all of its own. The game is currently expected to appear in August 2013.
Jane Jensen's Moebius - Pinkerton Road Studio
With just a couple of hours to go, Jensen's project is also well over its target. $415,096 at the time of writing, of a $300,000 goal. Which also means they've achieved one of what they called their "stretch goals" at the $400k level. That mean a longer, fully cinematic opening and trailer. Were they to reach $450k in the final push - which they haven't timed well, on a Saturday morning while the US is asleep - they'd add in another 1000 lines of dialogue, and use a live orchestra for the score. I've a suspicion those ones will be missed, despite the flurry of support from other ex-Sierra KS projects. Still, game's funded, and aiming to be with us by March next year.
Two Guys SpaceVenture - Two Guys From Andromeda
Still early days for this one, but certainly it's showing signs of a little Kickstarter fatigue, perhaps. A very impressive $186,306 has been raised, but that's of a half a million target. With 24 days to go, I think it'll get there, but it'll likely need a big push toward the end. I think people might also need some more convincing that these two really have the enthusiasm to make a game. These are two guys who haven't seen each other for 20 years, and apparently fell out pretty badly back in the day. Their main video doesn't exactly carry the sense of two high-spirited comedy writers, buzzing to unleash their comedic passion. A more recent video featuring the two of them having a punch up in the airport certainly improves things, but I'd suggest they do a bit more to ensure people know they're really excited about this.
Carmageddon: Reincarnation - Stainless Games
With 18 days to go, Carmageddon trundles on convincingly toward its $400k goal. $274,345 is raised, despite the game already being in development ahead of the KS craze, at a fifty-strong studio. Bit strange, that one, but proving popular nonetheless, and they've expressed that they were going to struggle without extra funds.
Tex Murphy: Project Fedora - Chris Jones & Aaron Conners
One of the most recently announced, but chugging along splendidly, Tex is nearly halfway to its goal in the first week, with 27 days to go. $204,792 raised, from just 2,092 backers (two at the $10,000 tier), it seems a safe bet we'll be seeing more of the slapstick-sardonic detective by June next year. They've made some frenzied updates in the last few days to balance out the reward tiers, and to ensure everyone knows that the game will definitely be DRM-free.
Xenonauts - Goldhawk Interactive
With a relatively small goal of $50,000, UK-based Goldhawk have cunningly side-stepped Kickstarter's US-only system and already soared over their target. They're currently on $82,950, and reaching $100k seems inevitable with 22 days to go. With the traditional big push in the final stages, they could see this going even further.
Legends Of Eisenwald - Aterdux Entertainment
The almost-finished Legends Of Eisenwald just crossed our path yesterday, and has exceeded its modest $50,000 target by an extra $17k, with 63 hours to go. Looking gorgeous, the extra KS cash was needed to finish a project when they'd run out of money, and were about to start looking for other jobs. If they don't reach $100k in the next three days there will be a delay for Mac and Linux versions, but the PC build is now certain to go ahead, aimed to release by the end of this year.
Drifter: A Space Trading Game - Celsius Game Studios
We've not mentioned Drifter before, as it's primarily an iOS game, that it aiming to port to PC if the funding is successful. That's looking reasonably likely at this point, with $41,219 of the $50k total raised, and 16 days to go. A terrible video, with music louder than creator Colin Walsh's voice, doesn't help. But knowing it's aiming to be in the Frontier/Privateer mould should be enough to enthuse a good few. It'll also have music from Super Meatboy's hairy Danny Baranowsky.
Another one that very recently came to our attention, Skyjacker has the advantage of already having a demo. However, perhaps a rather over-ambitious target of $200,000 might have been a gamble, with only $30,456 raised and 12 days to go. However, unlike most of the games listed above, they've promised to Kick It Forward, putting 5% of their profits back into Kickstarter, which makes me like them more.
A slew of nagging brings this one up, and I can see why. A single-player procedurally generated space simulation, built by one dude, who's asking for a relatively small $60k to get it done. But with only $16,317 raised, and 11 days to go, it needs some more attention. I'll nag Adam to take a closer look at this one on Monday.
And that's all the weather.