So, with the current resurgent of interest in kickstarter.. Any projects you're interested in?

[A.K.B.]

It seems like Kickstarter has kicked back into the spotlight once more...
(Yeah... bad pun... sue me...)
But with all the headlines listing big celebrated names and massive multihundereds of K's that aren't in fact but a spit in the bucket compared to what actually is the budget to bring the project to life, to let it slip by beyond the jaws and mows of those predatory, big, fat money sacks starved for a munch of the project.. A poisonous one... One which injects the malignancy of corrupted PR, displeased investors and shackled well of a creative team who ended up forced to make something that more so resembles a monstrous, rigged together Frankenstein-ish fiend that couldn't be further than what they sat out and aspired to ma..And I dragged this way too far.

Anyway..
Are there any other slip-under-the-radar small projects that you're actually interested in?
stuff that usually doesn't make into the headlines, or aren't demanding a crap ton load of money, yet still seem to be set out to something unique?

For me...
There's this game called Tower 57 that managed to pique my interest a while back...
It's kind'f a retro sprite-art twin-stick shooter Metal Slug bombastic... game thingy.. ( Or at least that's how it seemed like to me. ) And with me being pretty enamored with the art used I was really hooked...
The kickstarter is kind of on the fence, right now, whether it will be a success or no, but I can say something like this, and with how much of it seems complete at the moment, it seems like it's aught to get some publisher's eyes, or at least find its way into early access...
At least I hope so...

Link to the game's trailer ( if anyone feel like it ):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LH5DBtV7lM

Edit: The kickstarter page :

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/514621648/tower-57

Edit (2):Also the first paragraph... Damn, I sometimes forget I suck at english!

 

[FakeSympathy]

Bloodstained: Ritual of the night

The creator of Castlevania: Symphony of the night is making it. I am so pumped

 

[MetalDooley]

Bloodstained: Ritual of the night

The creator of Castlevania: Symphony of the night is making it. I am so pumped

Not exactly what I'd call a slip under the radar small project like the op asked for given the publicity it's received and the amount of money it raised.

I've backed a game called Trial by Viking which is a 2D Metroidvania style platformer.Currently over 50% funded with 19 days left so fingers crossed

Link to it's KS page if anyone wants to check it out
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lastlifegames/trial-by-viking?ref=nav_search

 

[Nailzzz]

There are a few projects that I have invested in. Some are no longer running on KS but are still taking crowdfunding (and offering similar if not identical perks/stretch goals for investors that missed the KS run).

Coming out around the end of the year but currently playable on steam early access(and still allowing people to buy in for copies of the game upon release as we'll as beta access) is Grim Dawn. It is being developed by the same dev's that created Titan Quest.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/crateentertainment/grim-dawn?ref=nav_search
http://www.grimdawn.com/contribute_buynow01.php

Another ARPG that i have invested in on KS is Umbra. It is a graphically awesome game (uses the cryengine) with fantastic environmental effects. The KS was a success, but if you are interested you can still get in on it for an advance copy as we'll as beta access and other perks.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1062682568/umbra/description
https://umbragame.com/preorder/

For those of you who miss City of Heroes or would like to try out a superhero/villain mmo, there are a couple other projects that had KS campaigns but will be opening up buy in options in the near future. I would link video's but if I'm being honest, They are both still in very early development stages and doesn't have a lot of impressive visuals to show yet.

The first one is City of Titans.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/missingworldsmedia/the-phoenix-project-city-of-titans/description
http://cityoftitans.com/

The 2nd one is Valiance online. Now the KS campaign sadly did not reach it's goal but they are still proceeding anyway, and will give crowdfunding another try soon. They even have an alpha client out that you can download and help them playtest for free.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1589345686/valiance-online/description
https://valianceonline.wordpress.com/

Another game that i recently found that still has an ongoing KS campaign that i am planning on throwing money at come pay day is Everspace. It is a more action oriented space fighter game with rpg elements.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rockfishgames/everspace?ref=category
http://everspace-game.com/


Honestly as much as people tend to talk down about KS and crowdfunding games in general, i really love KS. People make it sound as though getting ripped off is a rampant issue, but i have yet to really see very much of that at all. If anything it has been a net boon for both developers as well as consumers. Developers get more creative control and i get a game i want to buy at a cheaper price than if i were to buy it upon release.

 

[maninahat]

I'm backing a couple that are well on their way with development:

Spoiler: Amikrog

Spoiler: Pathologic Remake

Spoiler: We Happy Few

 

[Dalisclock]

I've been a backer of Hyper Light Drifter for a couple years now, not to mention Dreamfall Chapters(which is over halfway done being released at this point).

There's was an interesting project I saw a while back, whose name I can't remember but it involved playing an Lovecraftian Horror and trying to manipulate the world from behind the scenes so your cultists could free you to conquer the world, but you also had to be careful not to be too aggressive, or the governments of the world(or even vigilante groups) would begin imprisoning or killing your cultists before they could do anything to help you.

 

[broadbandmink]

Since inXile entertainment appear to know what they're doing, their announcement that they've received sufficient funds to develop a proper fourth installment in the Bard's tale series sounds plenty intriguing..

 

[Buckets]

Hardly a resurgence, kickstarted projects have been strong for a number of years.
Its a good way to keep EA/Ubisoft grubby mitts off all the little game companies, should finally see a breakaway from all the corporate shit and a return to good creative games from the previous decades.

 

[Fox12]

Oh, hell yeah. I've been looking forward to this for quite some time now.


A weird, colorful surrealist psychological horror... thing? Sign me up, I want it now.

 

[Kotaro]

I gave a hundred bucks to Bloodstained. That counts, right?

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

Well... I am in the military, and I like to back things when I go away for ops.

1. It is paid for with the extra money I get for being away from home.
2. I like to follow them... it helps pass months when you have a long term project to follow like this.
3. It makes the wait easier... sometimes projects beat me home... others come out a month or 2 when I return, which is nice!

I have just got back from a det, and I have recently been following the tabletop world more closely... foccusing on boardgames. I backed Zombicide, Apothica and Battalia as the main ones I tracked recently, and have a couple of months to wait for the 3 now.

 

[CrystalShadow]

I've gone way over my acceptable quota for kickstarter stuff already.

That's because I mostly back hardware projects though. Which tend to be costly.

Like...
The Fove VR headset...
A Tactile glove. (forget the name of it right now)

And a device that allows phones and tablets to do 3d scans of things...

Yeah, I think I've spent enough for one year, really... >_<

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

While I respect the idea of Kickstarter and crowdfunding, I'm not 100% sold on it because of things like Mighty No. 9. It seems way too easy for developers to get in over their heads or lure people in with false promises and no actual intent on delivering. Its basically pre-Early Access and something I'll always be wary of. I know there have been successes in the past and great but I'm not willing to gamble money on even the most experienced developers because as has been seen with people who used to make great games, sometimes they lose their talent or buy into their own legend (Molyneux for example). Ouya is another thing that was a lot of hype and a huge bunch of failure in the end.
Its just that personally I won't put my money up for something I'm not reasonably sure I'll get in the end, or if it does get released I'd like to make sure that what is promised is at least 80% of what is delivered, being realistic in that not all promises can be kept but when dealing with games 80% delivery on promises is a margin of error I can live with. I just want to see results, and thus is the reason why I won't let my hype and nostalgia be a factor when putting money down for a game. I have to have solid evidence of a positive nature when I'm dealing with money spent since I don't have a lot of it and can't afford to toss it down a hole of unknown depth.
I do not begrudge those who are successful in their endeavors through crowdfunding, and more power to those who have succeeded and those who've successfully gained a return on their gambles, because it is a gamble right up until the product is delivered and the results come back as either positive or negative. Then and only then is it a success, but a failure can happen long before the product is delivered and right up to the moment the product is received by the backers. Thats a margin of error I can't live with. Not at all.

 

[Dalisclock]

Spoiler: We Happy Few

I got really strong Bioshock/Bioshock Infinite vibes coming off of that and that was before I watched the "explanation" video(done in a talk show format). Why haven't I heard of this game before?

I just hope there's some kind of story to it.

 

[esserin]

There's was an interesting project I saw a while back, whose name I can't remember but it involved playing an Lovecraftian Horror and trying to manipulate the world from behind the scenes so your cultists could free you to conquer the world, but you also had to be careful not to be too aggressive, or the governments of the world(or even vigilante groups) would begin imprisoning or killing your cultists before they could do anything to help you.

I believe you're talking about That Which Sleeps. I haven't put any money in it but I've been keeping my eye on it and it's coming along beautifully. There is some seriously high quality art there. Release had to be pushed back because of stretch goals like procedural generated maps and stuff. But I think they're still offering beta access for people willing to pay on the site itself.

I've only supported one project. It was on Indiegogo with fixed funding which meant it acted like Kickstarter.

Spoiler: Crosscode

[HEADING=1]Cross-code[/HEADING]
The gameplay has been compared to a cross of secret of mana and zelda. It's got a great demo that you can play directly on your browser. It's currently on early access right now and development has been going pretty well. I'm quite confident at this point that, short of a tragedy, this is going to be a crowdfunding success story.​

 

[lunavixen]

I like and respect the idea behind Kickstarter, but I think it's way too easy for creators/dev teams to get way in over their heads and wind up either being unable to deliver what they said they would or they wind up pushing out a half assed product just to get it out. I don't have a lot of money to spare, so wading into the crowdfunding waters isn't possible for me at the moment; that being said, I was really interested in Dex, and now that it has a Steam release, I don't have as many worries as I did.

EDIT: Not to mention, a lot of the projects I liked are not available to people outside the US or Canada (like always)

 

[Dalisclock]

I believe you're talking about That Which Sleeps. I haven't put any money in it but I've been keeping my eye on it and it's coming along beautifully. There is some seriously high quality art there. Release had to be pushed back because of stretch goals like procedural generated maps and stuff. But I think they're still offering beta access for people willing to pay on the site itself.

That's the one. Thanks so much for reminding me. I'm really looking forward to that one.