DestinyLeah
This week’s Roundup is short and sweet. It is quiet on the crowfunding frontlines this week, with very few videogames actively seeking funding. As always, if you want to let us know about a campaign, give us a shout on Facebook, Twitter, or send us an email. You can find contact info for specific writers on our staff page. Without further delay, here are the campaigns for the week of 5/29-6/4.
Completed Campaigns
Godless
Godless was a campaign I was actually excited to see get off the ground, but the Kickstarter was cancelled four days ago without an explanation. I’ve got a message out to the team to find out what happened, but for now there seems to be radio silence on the project.
Beholder
Beholder is a game we covered last month, with an interesting concept that didn’t garner enough support on Kickstarter. They moved ahead with Steam, and are getting ready to open beta access to members of their Steam community. In this game, you work for a totalitarian government and must make a series of choices to either spy on your building tenants and support the regime or help begin the resistance. The game is being created by a team in Russia, where the Iron Curtain made the concept a reality until 1991. If you are interested in the open beta, join the Beholder community on Steam.
Ongoing Campaigns
Death Story
Adorable anime-style game Death Story is doing a fair job garnering support in its campaign. Studio Neko has raised $4,700 of its $12,666 goal with fifteen days left to drum up the remainder. Play as a young Death, wandering through a world that is part Castlevania, part Spelunky. Win back the trust of the townspeople, fight adorable demons, and find a place in the world.
Demoniaca
Adult-oriented undead fighter Demoniaca is wrapping up its campaign this week. The team has raised $14,000 of their $17,000 goal, and have 7 days remaining to raise the last $3,000. It is worth noting that the developers are a constant presence in social media who have taken the time to support other indie teams. We have been following this campaign throughout its entire run, and the guys at Mnemosyne Games have been making strides in reaching new fans, keeping their community updated, and working to improve their game. We will follow up next week with a campaign review; I fully expect to see it succeed.
Ilios: Betrayal of Gods
Ilios is a huge project, and it may be too big for a thirty day campaign on Kickstarter. The developer has raised $33,209 of the $101, 778 goal, amassing an impressive 774 backers. As fantastic as that is for three weeks of campaigfn presence, there are 9 days remaining to raise nearly $70,000. I don’t forsee this happening, given the time constraint. I do think that the game shows promise, and having almost a thousand active supporters speaks to its marketability. The game was greenlit on Steam, so we may see this as an Early Access title with a new campaign once there is a large enough community engaged with the game to support a $100,000 goal.
New Campaigns
Stygian
Another take on Lovecraft, this campaign seems poised to rush into stretch goals before the end of their campaign. With 24 days left in their Kickstarter, Cultic Games has raised $33,427 of their $61,312 goal, with a huge following of more than 1,100 supporters. The team is creating a Lovecraftian horror RPG for Mac, Linux, and PC, rendered in 2-D illustrated graphics. The team has 24 days remaining on their campaign, so I expect to see some interesting updates in the coming weeks as they reach stretch goals and expand the game.
Upcoming Campaigns
Lovecraft Tales
Lovecraft Tales is another take on the popular author’s works, planned as an open-world point-and-click adventure. With creepy music and a foggy atmosphere, Lovecraft Tales looks like a faithful representation of its eerie namesake. While the campaign for this game is still in planning, the developer has released a demo on their website. We will look into this one further once the campaign launches.
Binding By Oath
WIP #UnrealEngine #UE4 #indiedev #gamedev #horrorgames pic.twitter.com/Ers9sXQDlq
— DarkCrows_Game (@Darkcrows_Game) September 13, 2015
Dark Crows Game Studio is an indie developer with an eerily familiar hallway in the photos from their Twitter feed. They’ve got a survival horror game up their sleeve, and a plan to launch a Kickstarter for it by the end of June. From the hallways to the stairs, it looks very similar to P.T. Normally, I am not into clones, but maybe if we make a million clones of this particular game, one of them will make it through production. Allison Road was cancelled this week, but we still have Visage to look forward to- at least for now. What’s one more well-rendered haunted hallway?
That wraps it up for this week. Hopefully we will have a few more new campaigns to report on next week, and some good news in the completed campaigns.
