AI War 2 aims for Oct 2017 after Kickstarter success
Sci-fi RTS fun
It's a Christmas miracle: AI War 2 [official site] has hits its crowdfunding goal on its second attempt, its wonderful creators Arcen Games will live to dev another day, and we've probably all learned a little about feelings or some other sappy nonsense I guess. The original AI War is a fascinating RTS - and one of Adam's favourites - with a wealth of options in a war against an AI overlord who's playing entirely differently to you. Given the first Kickstarter's failure and Arcen's recent troubles, I'd worried about both this game and the whole studio but thankfully all is looking up.
The second Kickstarter had a lower goal, shooting for $50,000 (£41k) rather than the first's $300k (£243k), to reflect its smaller ambitions but the campaign did hit enough stretch goals to bosh in a few extra ideas. It ended at $97,205 (£79k), hitting stretch goals for new music, the return of the Spire, a new type of AI enemy stalking you, and ancient interplanetary megaweapons. They're hoping to hit more stretch goals through ongoing crowdfunding on BackerKit.
Arcen say they'll take a two-week break for the holidays and to wait while Kickstarter processes payments, and then they'll crack on. They're planning to release AI War 2 into early access in May 2017, launching it properly in October 2017, then supporting it with patches and maybe DLC or expansions.
For more on where the game's going, check out this design document. Here's the Kickstarter pitch video: