[dropcap size=big]E[/dropcap]very week we take a brief look at all of the Kickstarter video game campaigns that launched in the previous week.  This isn’t to say that all of these projects are worth your hard earned cash, but with any luck having all of them in one place will make it easier to educate yourself on the projects you’d like to back, and which ones to run from.  You’ll find two types of campaigns listed, “featured” and “the rest“.  Featured campaigns are those that contain a significant amount of game information, are from known developers, or are significant in some other way.  The rest of the games are usually smaller campaigns that are lacking in information, are from unknowns, have unanswered questions, or have not yet stood out for one reason or another.


Featured Campaigns :

One Final BreathGame : One Final Breath

What it is : Serena wrote: “Those who have been following the development of Dark Day Interactive’s first-person survival horror adventure game One Final Breath should have gotten notice that they’ve returned to Kickstarter for further funding. Having already done three campaigns to get the original funding, the third one being successful, they’re back to reach stretch goals that weren’t unlocked previously.

Just in case you’re not aware of what One Final Breath is, you’re playing as a father who’s gone searching for his missing daughter. She’s last been seen around the St. Mary’s boarding school so he goes off to try to find her. What he finds inside is not exactly what he expects. Remember, this is a horror game and the school used to be an institute housing the mentally unstable.”

Keep an eye on it in our calendar


Charlotte's DreamGame : Charlotte’s Dream

What it is : Serena wrote: “In Charlotte’s Dream you play as a young girl named Charlotte. She barely manages to survive a horrible car accident but her brother isn’t so lucky. She’s haunted by intense pangs of guilt and she finds herself trapped in her own nightmares as she struggles to deal with her loss. As she traverses this surreal landscape she has to face her fears and struggle to find acceptance and, hopefully, peace.

While Charlotte’s Dream takes a lot of inspiration from the classics of the 1990s it also tries to break from the mold. Robert Guiscard plans on incorporating a…crafting system of sorts as well as a “leveling system” utilizing some RPG elements. Whether this is similar to what Quest for Glory did or not remains to be seen.”

Keep an eye on it in our calendar


aholenewworldlogoGame : A Hole New World

What it is : Serena wrote: “Retro seems to be all the rage these days on Kickstarter between remakes, sequels, and games inspired by the classics. Mad Gear Games is taking on the latter in their homage to the glory days of the NES with A Hole New World. Side scroll and shoot your way through two worlds as you take on the evil minions of…evil. And perhaps save the world or something. I don’t know. The main point is you get to shoot stuff.

Anyway, the basic story of A Hole New World is that the land was filled with bad and evil things that made the goddess who made the world sad. To be happy she split reality into two realms: the good and the bad. Nobody wants to talk about the ugly. With the bad guys locked away in their own world peace reigned, she was happy, and everything was good and just. Blah, blah, blah. We all know how this ends, don’t we?”

Keep an eye on it in our calendar


FlintGame : Flint

What it is : Serena wrote: “Flint is one of those games where upon first glance you’re not sure what you’re looking at. Especially for a pitch with little to show off. That said, I’m pretty sure the appeal will be for those who love a good exploration game. And you’ll be doing plenty of that as there are apparently a lot of places to go to in your quest.

In Flint you find yourself on a world devoid of human life. There are definitely signs of previous habitation but you’re the only single soul around. It looks like Al Gore was right after all and that global warming did happen. And it changed the landscape in many ways. Still, this doesn’t explain the mass extinction of mankind. Perhaps you’ll find the answer in your travels.”

Keep an eye on it in our calendar


defectlogoGame : Defect

What it is : Marcus wrote: “You know, given how many games related to space ship construction and battle there are out there it really seems challenging to create something new. Yet, that’s exactly what Three Phase Interactive have just done with Defect. At first blush it might look like just any other game in the genre — but read on. First, players build their ship from over 100 different components. Then they enter into a mission and hopefully complete it with a sleekly-designed ship. But after this point your own crew mutinies and takes this awesome ship from you. Now you’ve got to build a new ship and defeat those folks housed inside your old vessel!

Keep an eye on it in our calendar


prankmasterslogoGame : Prank Masters

What it is : Marcus wrote: “So many times it feels that otome visual novels all feature the same protagonist. Many of these leading women tend to be shy, quiet, and just so happen to be dude magnets. Prank Masters stands out immediately by giving its protagonist some bite. Juliet is a teenager who loves pulling pranks on people. So much so that, even when she begins going to a new school, she can’t help but start a brand new prank war with her peers. Of course, this is sure to lead to all sorts of wacky situations.

Keep an eye on it in our calendar


ninchaneselogoGame : Ninchanese

What it is : Marcus wrote: “Learning languages can be quite the challenge, especially for those working on their second or third language! Although there are many methods, from classrooms to self-study, some folks simply do better with gamified techniques. As one of those people myself, I find myself drawn to game-styled learning tools such as Ninchanese.Ninchanese just hit Kickstarter and is a language learning tool with gameplay elements to help interested parties learn Chinese from the “beginner” stage to that of an advanced learner. It’s a lofty goal, but one that may actually be feasible!

Keep an eye on it in our calendar


The Rest of the Campaigns :

Endless Wish : A 16bit style rpg, but with an open world twist.

Cold Blooded : A 2D gang adventure with a cool concept, but too little to show.

Prota : A 2d platformer with a very tiny protagonist.

The Tower : It’s obvious that a lot of time and effort went into the funding video, unfortunately there’s not much game to see.

Empire Galactica : I can appreciate the low funding goal, but there’s absolutely nothing to go on in this campaign.

Joker Poker : It’s video poker.  With an $8 funding goal.

Disciples Of The Storm : A promising RTS with an overly aggressive funding goal.

Mage Tower : A tower defense card game; an interesting concept.

Pirates. Wind of Chaos : The dress-up might be a little annoying, but there’s lot of pirate based gameplay action to see.

Cross Realms : The $100 funding goal doesn’t make up for the last of info.

SteamShards : A slightly more cartoonish looking Minecraft.

Lithic : A prehistoric strategy game that could be interesting if it doesn’t go too far off the rails.

Virtual Football League : $750k for a couple player renders and lots of text.

TheInfection : $20,000 for nothing.

Home: Dragon Descendants : $49k for nothing… seeing a trend here?

Aurora Dusk : A mix of several genres with some cutesy 16 bit graphics.

Projet communautaire : I really need to brush up on my French.

SephiGame : I don’t read French, but the images lifted from other games stands out.

The Island of Eternal Struggle : A turn-based RPG with some rough looking graphics.

EGGBIRD : A Childrens game feature the late, great, Christopher Lee.

Stray : Always frustrating to see a promising game with no footage to show off.

The Games : Survival : It was originally titled “The Hunger Games: Survival.”  So there’s that.

Isolation of the Dead : The trailer features some great looking environments, but no gameplay footage.  The gameplay trailers features gameplay, but some dull and overly dark environments.

Hilfe für ein Videospiel Projekt : I have no idea what this is, but the cover image is depressing.

Virtual Reality – Duck Hunter : $500,000 for nothing.  I still have no idea why people continue to do this.

Bolas&Balls : You need more than some sketchy mock-ups if you’re going to ask for over $30k.

Wubmarine : Love EDM?  Check it out!  Hate EDM? Move along.

The Complete NES : The $15k funding goal seems a little low for making a NES book and cartridge based game.

T.R.O.T.A.N : A tip for developers.  You may have a ton of great background written about your game, but it doesn’t mean much if you don’t tell people what kind of game it is first.

Short Defender : $75k for a poorly formatted mass of text, and some scribbled artwork.

Love Series : A visual novel with some pleasant looking background art.

The Hero of Rivenwood : The scenic fly-by’s are great, but it would be nice to see some actual gameplay.

Sin salida : The “no risks” statement is actually more alarming than listing off some risks.

At the Mountains of Madness : Into Lovecraft?  Check it out.


That’s it for last week’s Kickstarter video game campaigns.  Watch your wallets!

About the Author

Greg Micek

Greg Micek has been writing on and off about games since the late nineties, always with a focus on indie games. He started DIYGames.com in 2000, which was one of the earliest gaming sites to focus exclusively on indie games.

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