[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 :

pirateswarthedicekinglogoGame : Pirates War – The Dice King

What it is : Marcus wrote: “Looking for a potentially more strategic (and pirate-y) form of Monopoly? It might be worth checking out the Kickstarter pitch for Pirates War – The Dice King. This game is in many ways like other “property trading” board games, but with a good deal of distinct features thrown in. As the name implies, it also happens to deal with pirates and includes a good share of sea-faring, looting, and crews duking it out. Players begin by creating a deck which confers the type of boat as well as crew they’re bringing on the journey. Crew members all have their own stats and skills, which means that each player can have a different strategy from the others.


thelasttimelogoGame : The Last Time

What it is : Marcus wrote: “Do you fancy yourself a fan of both classic point and click adventure games and their more cinematically-inspired descendants such as Heavy Rain? If so, then The Last Time may prove a happy medium between these two points. This upcoming title just hit Kickstarter with a pitch hoping to meld both styles of game. It all starts off with a police officer named Jack Glover who has surprisingly come across little danger in his career — until one day. The result of those traumatic events prove enough to send him straight into retirement. All these years later he’s simply living in a retirement home until someone from his past calls Jack up and forces him to recount the past.


Devastated DreamsGame : Devastated Dreams

What it is : Serena wrote: “It’s finally live on Kickstarter. We’ve written about Devastated Dreams and previewed it when it was first announced (you can read our previous coverage on the game here) and now you can finally back the campaign. It borrows a lot from Infinitap’s previous work Neverending Nightmares, but it also goes its own way and expands on what Matt Gilgenbach’s learned from his other outing. If you crave more psychological horror adventure then read on.

Devastated Dreams is not for the faint of heart. You play as a pregnant (or not so pregnant depending on which nightmare you’re currently experiencing) young woman named Angel as she struggles with the fears of motherhood in a remote Filipino town. As we’ve mentioned previously, Matt’s taken the story and woven it around his own fears of parenthood along with his own experiences in visiting the Philippines. And injected a healthy dose of local folklore into the narrative.


pixelripped1989logoGame : Pixel Ripped 1989

What it is : Marcus wrote: “If you’ve been following the coolest upcoming games in the virtual reality scene then chances are you’ve heard of Pixel Rift. Well, the title has received a name change to Pixel Ripped 1989, but beyond that, it still looks to maintain the aspects which made it stand out to begin with. Players assume the role of Nicola, a young and game-obsessed child. All she wants to do is play her Game Girl in class, but the hawk-eyed teacher makes that hard to accomplish. When in a VR headset, you’ve actually got to look down in order to play the handheld and then check back up every so often to avoid the teacher’s glare.


fourrealmslogoGame : Four Realms

What it is : Marcus wrote: “Danger has reared its ugly head at the start of Four Realms. If you, a Guardian, don’t take action than the many animal kingdoms of the world will be destroyed! The concept itself may not be the most inventive out there, but this a game which is still very much worth a look. Developer Hugebot’s title is focused on the aspects of 2D platforming, puzzling, and also includes its fair share of action via battles. To me, though, the most notable aspect is the wonderful cavalcade of anthropomorphic animals you’ll meet along the way.


generation64logoGame : Generation 64

What it is : Marcus wrote: “Up until now, Sam Dyer and Bitmap Books have been busy creating their very own books based on the Commodore 64, Commodore Amiga, and ZX Spectrum. Now they’ve launched a campaign for something slightly different. They’ve teamed up with Swedish author Jimmy Wilhemsson to crowdfund an English translation of his book, Generation 64 – How the Commodore 64 Inspired a Generation. Since its launch in 2014, European press have provided positive reviews of the book and many clamored for an English language version. If this Kickstarter is successful, then we’ll be given a professional English translation. Judging by all Bitmap Books’ previous campaigns, though, there’s very little chance it won’t be funded.


The Rest of the Campaigns :

Wind and Tide : A 16bit roguelike centering on pirates and their ships, looks promising!

Sacred Agony : A beautiful looking horror game with an out of this world funding goal.

OUYA Tennis : Reminds me of Tennis on the NES, which is both good and bad.

REALLIFE RPG : An extremely optimistic MMO with a funding goal that’s far too low to be realistic.

Bleat! : A sheep herding game, pretty cool.

V.O.I.D. Sacred Warriors : A platformer that pushes the stretch goals right out of the gate.

Last Light : No funding video, but there is a 9 second trailer on the page that shows absolutely nothing.

ATARI Video Game Cartridge Oil Paintings : This looks really cool, but the campaign needs to show more of what we want without having to sift through the video.

Purge City : A blocky action survival shooter.

Shmup Love Boom : Another one from AJ Tilley. Strange that even though there’s an alpha to download, the Kickstarter shows nothing of the game.

Acidic: Episode 1 : A visual novel with a cool art style.

Wolfsong : A 16 bit SNES style RPG with lots to look at.

The Cortex Game : A $330k + funding goal in exchange for nothing.

Asteroids Minesweeper : A 3D Minesweeper that looks like a lot of fun, could use some fancier graphics though.

Circuit Breakers : An over-the-top retro shooter.

Infinium Strike : Tower defense in space, with a demo available for download.

Los pilares de la creación : A 16 big JRPG with a few screenshots to show off.

Kai’s Rage: The System Saver Legend : A Streets of Rage style beat-em-up that looks promising!

T.R.A.C.E. : $25k for nothing.

Freedom Poopie : Another poop based game, check out IndieRuckus for a closer look.

Yo City : The agressive $2.5mil funding goal is less than what they were asking for on their other, still active, campaign.

The Book of Self Help: Depression Quest : Just a dream and a $250k funding goal.


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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