KickTraq

The creator of the Canadian-themed survival sim hit reflects on his experience at the forefront of crowdfunding and paid alpha development (Read More)

We sat down with the game director of The Long Dark to talk about the trials and tribulations of surviving a rough launch. (Read More)

The Long Dark was funded in 2013, but still we don't have the complete game. When do the developers plan on giving us that juicy story mode? (Read More)

The Long Dark is a wilderness survival game from Hinterland Studio that was funded on Kickstarter, unfortunately they've stopped updating backers. (Read More)

The Long Dark is one of those games that keep’s showing up on everyone’s “Most Anticipated Games” list, even though we’ve seen relatively little of it since it was funded on Kickstarter last year. However, all of that changed in September when the game was released on Steam as Early Access that allows players to practice their survival skills; without having to worry about a pesky story. (Read More)

My name is Will Mackenzie. I’m a bush pilot. At least, that was my profession before my plane was destroyed. No clue as to what happened. I was taking a flight, passing over Canada when a storm crept up on me. The weather shouldn’t have been like this – but something big happened. Lights brighter and fuller than the sun flashed; the plane felt like it was riding a wave. I lost control and crashed. So now I’m here, somewhere in the middle of Northern Canada. It does me no help to know even this must. Canada, Northern or not, is absolutely massive. And right now it’s freezing. More to the point, I’m freezing. (Read More)

The Long Dark is a a first-person survival simulator where you gather resources to survive as long as possible. (Read More)

The Long Dark had a mightily impressive Kickstarter campaign last year. Hinterland Studios raised over $250,000 for their survival sim and have been rolling out the alpha to backers. Although there’s no story mode currently implemented, players should get a good taste of what the game is like. As promised, The Long Dark is a serious first-person survival game where one wrong move might very well end your life. (Read More)

Kôna, developed by Parabole from Quebec, launched on Kickstarter recently and there’s a lot of people excited about it. Upon reading through the Kickstarter page and getting a feel for what this game is about, something about it seemed very familiar. I just couldn’t put my finger on it at first, but Kôna reminded me of something. The environment completely open for exploration, puzzle solving, surviving in the Canadian wild – how does this sound familiar? Then it hit me, Kôna is eerily similar The Long Dark. (Read More)

Backers of The Long Dark got some good news today, which means everyone interested in he snow-bound survival sim also get good news. (Read More)

The Long Dark is an interesting beast, and we have some backer-only details to share with those of you who are excited about the upcoming release of this first-person survival adventure. In The Long Dark, heavy emphasis is placed on immersion and exploration, working alongside realistic survival mechanics such as hunger, temperature, exhaustion, and the consumption and use of calories, making this one of the most realistic survival simulators I’ve ever seen. Backers just received their first update since March with details on the backer-only alpha build of the game, running a sandbox game mode. (Read More)

The fine folks over at Hinterland Games, creators of the highly anticipated survival sim The Long Dark, have sent out a bundle of screenshots (Read More)

The folks over at Hinterland have posted a new update to the Long Dark Kickstarter page; it includes the usual stuff, including information on Steam, some gameplay details, and the latest press coverage of their snowy first person survival sim. (Read More)

Welcome to The Funding Crowd! In fact, The Funding Crowd #22 to be exact. As always, we'll do our best to entertain while recapping what's happened since the 14th October and today, taking you on a tour of some marvellous Hidden Gems before ending on a high with our five Biggies. Yes, it's quality over quantity in this issue of The Funding Crowd. Enjoy! (Read More)

We’re heading into a big week here on the Spotlight. A handful of projects we’ve publicized in the past are on their way to completion, and there’s a couple new projects we want to give a bit of attention to. There’s actually four projects we’ve given a good amount of our time to in the past that have either finished up or destroyed their goal ahead of time. We’ll start off with our newbies and give some important updates before we wrap up! (Read More)

On October 16, 2013, almost 7,000 backers pledged their support for The Long Dark, Hinterland Games‘ first-person, post-disaster survival simulation through crowdfunding platform Kickstarter. The Long Dark surpassed its $200,000 goal and raised $256,217 (CAN). (Read More)

First two stretch goals for atmospheric survival game The Long Dark successfully passed. (Read More)

Well, Hinterlanders. It's been an incredible ride these last 30 days. Thank you so much for all your support throughout this time. The team at Hinterland can't thank you enough for everything you've done to support us. I'll save the thanks for when... (Read More)

Dear Hinterlanders, We're now in the final 20 (make that 19) hours of the campaign. This is the final push! Thank you so much for being a part of this, and for being with us during these final hours. Our combined Kickstarter and PayPal totals are... (Read More)

Hello Hinterlanders, Well, we're in the final stretch now! Less than 48 hours to go in the Kickstarter campaign for The Long Dark.  This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang, but with...one more thing. David Hayter Joins The Long Dark!One of... (Read More)

Hinterland has announced that its open world survival game The Long Dark has reached its Kickstarter goal of $200,000, with only 47 hours left. (Read More)

Hello Hinterlanders! We're still reeling from an emotional day yesterday. Today is Thanksgiving in Canada, so this seems like a good moment to thank all of you, again, for your support of the project.  And for our friends in Canada -- which includes... (Read More)

Fans of the first person survival genre will be pleased to hear that Hinterland Studios The Long Dark has reached its Kickstarter goal. Hinterland were looking to raise $200,000 to get the game made and they’ve managed to reach the goal with three days to spare. (Read More)

You got us to $200K. You did it. It's been an incredible journey. And it's just beginning. Over the past weeks, the thing that's kept us going through the 18 hours days and the ups and downs of the emotional rollercoaster that is Kickstarter, is you.... (Read More)

Hello, dear Hinterlanders... What an incredible whirlwind the last few days have been. Yesterday was a huge day for the project, with our second highest daily raise since we started the campaign. We had multiple HUGE pieces of coverage -- The Verge,... (Read More)

Raphael van Lierop may have never had to worry about surviving alone in the wilderness, but he’s been close enough to sense the threat. Reminiscing about hunters who would accompany him for protection in college while conducting seismic surveys, he told me of tense months he spent in the wilds of British Columbia and Alberta, where news of grizzly attacks would sometimes drift in from other camps. Even now, working from his home on Vancouver Island, reports occasionally surface of unwary hikers getting lost deep in the woods. (Read More)

Award-winning Voice Actor Jennifer Hale Joins The Long Dark The world of The Long Dark is one of harsh beauty. The same elements that may kill you with indifference, haunt you with their majesty. The wind howls, the snow falls, and the aurora hangs... (Read More)

The Long Dark receives the voice talents of Jennifer Hale, who joins the game's cast. (Read More)

Hello Hinterlanders, Another exciting day for The Long Dark on Kickstarter! We march ever onward towards our goal. Thanks again for all your support and for getting the word out there. The team here has been overwhelmed by your generosity, both in... (Read More)

Hello Hinterlanders, Well, it's certainly been an exciting few days. On Sunday, we were selected as Kickstarter's Project of the Day. Yesterday, we shared the first gameplay footage of The Long Dark. Between those two events, we've (you've!) raised... (Read More)

Hello Hinterlanders, The moment you have been waiting for has finally arrived. Here is the first gameplay footage of The Long Dark, taken from our Prototype. Thank you everyone for your wonderful support of The Long Dark. We have made great strides... (Read More)

We first covered The Long Dark during one of our Kickstarter Spotlight articles. We’ve kept an eye on the post cataclysm survival simulation since it launched, and have been waiting to see some gameplay. Hinterland saw fit to oblige our, and most likely their backers, anticipation by showing off some very early gameplay footage. In The Long Dark you have more than a health bar to keep track of, you’ll need to make sure you don’t freeze, starve, dehydrate or die of sleep deprivation. (Read More)

Hello Hinterlanders, In anticipation of revealing the first gameplay footage of The Long Dark next week, we thought we'd start the weekend with a little tease of what's to come.  Here are three screenshots from the current prototype build of The... (Read More)

Hello Hinterlanders, Today we're going to talk about our Survival Expert, but first, we want to highlight a few exciting reward tiers we just added to the campaign. These are in response to backers asking for some more mid-level rewards around audio... (Read More)

Greetings, Hinterlanders! What an incredible day. Today we achieved and exceeded the $100K mid-point for the campaign. What a wonderful feeling for everyone on the Hinterland team, seeing the pledges pouring in and the rally of support to get us... (Read More)

Hello Hinterlanders, Yesterday, we shared with you some specifics of how we set up the world of The Long Dark. We discussed some of the geo-political ramifications of the "collapse event", and suggested what these things might mean for people living... (Read More)

Hello Hinterlanders! What a huge weekend for The Long Dark.  Friday and Saturday were big days for us -- in fact, Saturday was our 5th biggest day so far in terms of fundraising, which is incredible. And where did this surge of support come from?... (Read More)

Hello Hinterlanders, It's getting close to the end of the week and it's time to reflect on progress so far. We're a hair's breadth from hitting $85,000 raised, which is incredible! Thank you all so much for your support.  In particular, we've had... (Read More)

Hello Hinterlanders, We love pancakes! But that's not what this update is really about. New Reward TierA lot of people have reached out to us asking if we can add more rewards tiers that let them get their own ideas or content into the game. We love... (Read More)

Hello Hinterlanders! We've had some people asking us about when we're going to be talking more about X and Y subject, so we thought it might be nice to give you an idea of what we plan to talk about over the next 20 or so days remaining in our... (Read More)

Hello Hinterlanders, Audio director Dave Chan visited Mark at his house, where the two of them commenced to nerd out on Mark's career so far, the process of voice acting, and Mark's thoughts on taking on the role of Will Mackenzie in The Long Dark.... (Read More)

Hello Hinterlanders, Another exciting day at Hinterland HQ! Today we announced the addition of Elias Toufexis to the already formidable team on The Long Dark. And while the team is busy at work prepping content updates for later this week, we thought... (Read More)

Just a week into our Kickstarter campaign for The Long Dark, and we’ve already amassed the support of more than 2,400 backers who have generously pledged over $70,000! On top of that, we’ve also announced that Mark Meer has joined the voice cast... (Read More)

Hello Hinterlanders, Our first Video Update is a message straight from Hinterland HQ, with an update from our creative director Raphael on progress this week and a review of how the campaign is going. Hope you enjoy! (NOTE: Since we shot this video,... (Read More)

Kickstarter and Indiegogo both have literally amazing video game projects that you can help fund. Here are 10 you need to quit sleeping on. (Read More)

The Long Dark, Hinterland Studio's first-person post-disaster survival sim, will feature a gameplay mechanic based on willpower, the developer announced via Kickstarter. (Read More)

Running a Kickstarter campaign is kind of like running a marathon. It takes a steady and sustained effort to achieve success, and it is both mentally and physically grueling. In fact, Hinterland's technical director, Alan Lawrance, is running 26.2... (Read More)

Hello again, Hinterlanders! Wow, we love your passion.  This morning we shared details of the Willpower gameplay in The Long Dark, and the use of the Polaroid Photo as the manifestation of this mechanic. Many people got in touch with us, both here... (Read More)

Greetings, Hinterlanders! Earlier this week, in Update 2, we gave you the run-down on how our Survival Simulation works. Today, we want to update you on another important facet of our survival gameplay: Willpower. WillpowerMany survival experts will... (Read More)

So, remember last week when I tentatively set this week’s article for Thursday? Well, it’s now Friday, and here we are. That’s why I didn’t make any promises, it keeps me from breaking them. A smart way to live one’s life. We had a fantastic time at NYGC13 and I wanted to thank the fine folks at DMW for throwing the event. Kickstarter was brought up several times throughout the many discussion panels we attended. Most notably, Howard Tsao of Muse Games spoke on a panel about the emerging platforms developers have available to them. I grilled with him afterwards about bringing Guns of Icarus Online to the PlayStation 4. Moving right along we have an absolutely stacked week ahead of us. We’ll be harkening back to two project creators we’ve worked with in the past as well as tapping our inner mutant for some pigskin action. (Read More)

Good morning, Hinterlanders! This update is brought to you by beards and syrup. Dinner with Mark MeerWe have some exciting news to share. Earlier this week, in Update 1, we announced that renowned voice actor Mark Meer (voice of Mass Effect's... (Read More)

Hello everyone, Just a short but sweet acknowledgement of your amazing awesomeness of helping us hit the $50K milestone half-way through Day 3 of our 30 day campaign. We have hit the 25% mark, and are extremely excited about this progress! Thank you... (Read More)

What happens when you put a dozen or so veteran game designers in a cabin in Vancouver for a few days? They take walks and eat breakfast together, and then they form Hinterland Games and start development on their first project, a survival sim called "The Long Dark." (Read More)

First off, we’re so happy about the overwhelmingly positive support you’ve given us for The Long Dark and our Kickstarter campaign. Your support and word of mouth is driving this campaign! Thank you. Many of you have asked for more specific... (Read More)

We can’t thank you enough for the support you’ve shown us for our first title, The Long Dark! If you follow us on Twitter or on Facebook -- or if you have a keen ear and have listened closely to the audio clips on our Kickstarter page! -- we’ve... (Read More)

The Long Dark, an indie game being made by an all-star cast of former big-game developers, is up on Kickstarter. Since its devs have worked on Mass Effect, League of Legends, Saints Row, God of War, LA Noire, Borderlands and Far Cry 3, it might be worth a look. (Read More)

The Long Dark is now on Kickstarter, seeking $200,000 CAD from this pre-apocalyptic world. If it ever sees the light, the game will be the debut of Hinterland Studio, which was announced last week and is being lead by Raphael van Lierop, who was director on Relic's Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine and narrative director on Far Cry 3. (Read More)