I don’t know if this is something other people will find of value, but I have been thinking for some time of creating a crowd funding awareness thread. Somewhere where we can share worthwhile and interesting projects that we think deserve funding. I think that sites like Kickstarter provide developers the potential to create compelling and often boundary challenging games. I am hoping that this is something other Grouvee memebrs would be interested in, both from the persepctive of keeping informed about potential projects to fund and as a place to share work you find interesting.
I’ll start with one for which Polygon published a write up today, and that looks promising:
“Clique” is a top-down action adventure game and also a first person adventure game. “Clique” is a dual story told through the perspectives of the young teenage girl and the avatar character within the game she is playing. Players will explore environments, solve puzzles, and defeat enemies to build trust with the world’s unwelcoming characters. We hope to give the player a connection of relatability and a better insight into African American culture.
Great idea! Sadly I often hear about these kickstarter projects when it’s too late and the pledge window has ended. This kickstarter has ended but it’s the one that I’ve pledged to most-recently. It’s always good to help support these little projects.
You awaken to discover that you have crashed on a mysterious planet with no recollection of what occurred beforehand. While exploring your new surroundings, you uncover a hidden obsidian object emitting a haunting sound.
What the object does, and who created it is a mystery, but it’s newfound discovery will plunge you into a perilous journey deep inside of a dangerous lost world determined to stop you from discovering the object’s true purpose.
As you uncover this planet’s long forgotten past, you will ultimately piece together and confront your own…
Hand Painted Art Style - Everything is hand illustrated with a stylized and unique look. It is painterly and expressive, yet still contains loads of specific details.
Exploration - A distinctive and vast game world for you to explore. The world is dark, mysterious and dangerous. You will need to use your wits and have a strong will in order to push forward and uncover the hidden secrets it holds. If you are fortunate in finding these secrets, you will be rewarded with large areas to explore with deep story content and hours of entertaining game play.
Tactical Combat - Enemies are brutal and engaging. Combat is fast paced, but always needs to be approached with caution. Simply running into a fight will guarantee you perish swiftly. You must block, dodge, parry and be ready to strike when the opportunity is right.
Enemies - You will face organic creatures and artificial guardians on your quest. Each enemy has specific traits that require you to study their behaviors in order to find the appropriate method of attack. Below are some sample sketches:
Crafting - You will find various workstations hidden throughout the world. At each of these, you will be able to craft special equipment and weapons from the supplies you retrieve via exploration and combat. Items can also be broken down into raw materials (supplies), in order to craft new items. You will need to be on the look out for schematic documents that outline “recipes” for new creations, or you have the option of experimenting with supply combinations on your own.
Puzzles - Thoughtful and interesting puzzles compliment the combat. Search for relics, combine items and problem solve in order to move past obstacles and open gateways to new areas.
Interactive Environments - Search drawers, open containers, pull levers…there are many items that will help you along the way, and exploring the world around you in detail is imperative to your survival.
Downed Ship - This is your base camp where you are able to research items, craft necessary equipment, speak to your Onboard Computer, get some needed rest, and a variety of other options as you progress further in your journey.
Onboard Computer - Your ship comes with a Sentient Artificial Mainframe (SAM 4600). It will help decipher clues, offer advice and give guidance as you explore your new surroundings. It might even strike up random philosophical conversations with you from time to time. You can access it in your downed ship and it will also follow your every move via a helmet camera, so it will be with you every step of the way.
Cut Scenes - Transmission is both an outer journey and an inner journey. Beyond the game play, there is an emotional story being told via hand painted imagery that is brought to life with movement and music. These scenes offer a glimpse of your past, which you will slowly piece together via exploration. The more you explore the outer world, the more insight you gain into your past.
Inspiration - We’ve combined a deep love of action/adventure games with our admiration for thought provoking and visually crisp science fiction films. There have been a lot of greats from the past, but the main inspirations are as follows:
VIDEO GAMES
The Dig
Ico
Resident Evil
The Secret of Monkey Island
System Shock 2
Zelda and Zelda-A Link to the Past
FILMS
2001: A Space Odyssey
Alien
Blade Runner
Ex Machina
Gattaca
Solaris
Funding has ended for this project, but I figured I’d post about it anyway.
Use Your Words!, a project being worked on by Brent Black (aka brentalfloss), is a party game that has each player use their own device to play. The game is similar to card games like Cards Against Humanity, with a key selling point for me being that users come up with their own answers, rather than choosing from predetermined answers.
Queer Quest is a queer-as-fuck point-and-clit adventure game. Inspired by classic gems like Monkey Island, Kings Quest, and Leisure Suit Larry, but set in a queer community in the pacific northwest. You play as Lupe, a long haired butch with a heart of gold. She lives with her babely girlfriend, Alexis, that is until one day when Alexis gets kidnapped! You gotta help Lupe by deciphering clues, talking to lovable weirdos, and navigating self care.
“Queer Quest is another entry into the burgeoning landscape of queer games, and with any luck, others will soon be naming it as their inspiration too.” - Kill Screen
“I met the developer of this game at XOXO. I was fascinated and intrigued. Glad to see it’s on Kickstarter!” - Ron Gilbert (Monkey Island 1&2, Maniac Mansion)
“Never in our wildest dreams did we think we’d be playing a video game about our actual lives! We’re so ready.” - Huffington Post
“Now that I think about it, ‘point and clit’ is pretty clever.” - The Cliqist
This game is already funded, but it looks great. It is still eligible for stretch goals, so if anyone wants to fund it there’s still time. Here’s an excerpt of the description from the Kickstarter page:
We love fast-paced gameplay. We’re mad about old school games that are a challenge to play. We’re passionate about pixel art. We really love Roguelikes and classic RPGs. And we sincerely believe that every good game should be a piece of art, not just business. As a result, we’re creating UnDungeon to reflect all of our principles.
Every gamer probably has their own perspective on what the ideal game is, but as developers we’re in the special position of being able to bring our ideals to life. So, UnDungeon introduces a mix of Action, Roguelike, and old-school RPG styles and wraps them in a gorgeous pixel skin. And now, we’d like to share it with you!
UnDungeon will be released for PC/Mac/Linux on Steam and GOG (DRM Free). Additionally, we’d like to launch it on PS4, Xbox, Nintendo Switch and PS Vita - but ports for these consoles will be possible only after achieving corresponding stretch goals!
@bmo let me know if this is stretching the goal of this thread, but there’s a game-related Kickstarter any other Genesis kids might be interested in…
I backed the first printing of this book and it’s one of my favorites… end result was gorgeous and full to the brim with 90s-era Sega artifacts. Well worth backing if you’re a big fan:
This could become a much better alternative to No Man’s Sky, if it does get funded… I think I’m gonna have to get a credit card soon, just to back this!
Shadow of the Colossus 2!!! The game is funded coming to PC, ochestralMac, PS4, and XBOX ONE but there are so many stretch goals that I would love to see reached such orchestral soundtrack and additional bosses to fight!
The game is funded coming to PC, ochestralMac, PS4, and XBOX ONE but there are so many stretch goals that I would love to see reached such orchestral soundtrack and additional bosses to fight!