ILG Kickstarter Gaming HQ

OK, Kickstarter funding of games is now a thing, and I just discovered this tonight:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/leisuresuitlarry/make-leisure-suit-larry-come-again

Al Lowe is coming out of retirement to make Leisure Suit Larry games again. They want to remake the 1st one to show that it can sell, then go from there to make new adventures. As of this post, they're withing 10% of their USD$ 500K goal.

In this thread, we share worthwhile projects and yak about the stuff we've funded.

They're bringing back Shadowrun, with the original crew(of sorts):

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1613260297/shadowrun-returns

And someone who many(read: Old Man Murray) blame for killing off adventure gaming thanks to Gabriel Knight 3:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1005365109/jane-jensens-pinkerton-road-2012-2013-csg

I know some would tut-tut at the fact that the big prominent games are either sequels to established titles or mainly from established pedigrees, and to them I say, "I don't give a fuck." If all it takes is some heavy-hitters with proven track records to establish Kickstarter gaming as a thing, then so be it. Anything that delivers quality titles to my rig via Steam or whatever the subsequent d/l service will be, so be it. Hopefully, with crowdsourced funding, gamedevs won't necessarily need to jump thru the ever-increasing AAA hoops with multiplayer or bleeding edge graphics or whatever.

Fuck the current graphical trends, keep things a level or two abstract, just make a good game(with a compelling narrative if at all possible).

Hopefully, enough people working on these projects will prevent any legendary gamedev head from going full-Lucas and disappearing so far up his own asshole he starts doing Lucasian things.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/crateentertainment/grim-dawn

Grim Dawn, spiritual successor to and from the guys who did Titan Quest(an action rpg set in classical Greece)

i figured someone would start this thread, as i was too lazy to. thanks fishy

the only one i've supported so far is the Double Fine one, though i was very tempted to pitch in on Wasteland 2. then i realized i'm totally cool with waiting two years for it to come out and just buying it then, rather than taking the risk that it doesn't get made at all

what the living fuck:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1339254269/ron-paul-road-to-revolution

Note: I nicked the idea for this thread from SA

I dumped money into the Doublefine game, but somehow got stymied when I tried to do it for Wasteland 2. Oh well, I get it on Steam when it finally hits.

a handy tracking site: http://www.kicktraq.com/categories/games/video%20games/

they've hit $10 million in finished pledge drives, which is actually kind of depressing

on the other end, you have projects like, uh, this:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/120873716/your-world

run by a dude who appears to be a cross between J. Mascis and a David Mitchell character. Online skepticism about his project is running a bit...high.

which is actually kind of depressing

how so?

never mind, i'm sure there's nothing better $10 million could do than continue to gratify the ego of the man who gave us 'Leisure Suit Larry 5: Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work'

i know, it's a drop in the ocean, it's .1% of video game revenue in the US, whatever, i just find it ... eh

enh, if it results in a worthwhile game, and improved infrastructure for future game funding from newer gamedevs with worthwhile ideas, so be it.

one of the things people point to as a failing of the game industry is a preponderance of and a reliance on established properties and sequels, so it's sure nice to see that what the fans really want is a marginally different set of established properties and sequels

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okay, there are also games being funded which aren't. hum.

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i don't see how direct funding of games that aren't going to turn a profit otherwise is going to improve the infrastructure of the industry proper. i also don't understand how games companies have trouble making money, it seems kind of a no-brainer, i don't know whether that's unrelated.

making things and employing ppl costs money iirc

Excited about this one... http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/wasteland-2

what has surprised me about these - and it held true for the first couple high profile ones at least, i haven't checked every one - is that it isn't loads of people giving small change, but for the most part a few people giving loads of money.

There are rumours of a kick-started Thief 4 too, a game I've been hoping for for a looong time. I'm pretty hopeful about this restoring something like a decent games mid-list.

never mind, i'm sure there's nothing better $10 million could do than continue to gratify the ego of the man who gave us 'Leisure Suit Larry 5: Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work'

that's unfair. he also did Leisure Suit Larry III: Passionate Patti in Pursuit of the Pulsating Pectorals

super excited for wasteland 2 btw

I didn't realize there were so many of these, it's kinda awesome, though I fear it'll end up like Pixies reunion recordings or other stuff I would have prayed fervently for years ago then found I didn't give a shit about when it actually happened

haha! that's a good comparison

i figured someone would start this thread

Remember OGRE?

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/847271320/ogre-designers-edition?ref=category

One of the things I like about these projects is that while the big ones are established names, usually, I get a much more personal/hands-on vibe from the creators. It's like, you can have a cool weird niche experience that doesn't have to go thru the AAA publishers or get contarded out or be some megablockbuster. I'm happy with an experience that goes for the vibe i want, but I'm a particular kind of niche hardcore type, as voluminously detailed on countless threads here.

The personal appeals filmed by the creators add to that sense of "here, we're a smaller team, we want to do something cool, and it's more pure & authentic & handcrafted(etc) and not dictated by Sony or EA's marketing departments."

I'm just hoping that these projects firmly establish crowdsourcing/funding as a thing; a valid source of game production outside of the megacorps and giving indie gaming a proper amount of resources to pull out a developed vision. Is this going to fund a 5-year AAA game? Probably not. Does it need to to be valid?

I'm assuming that there's eventually going to be infrastructure developed so that newer gamedevs get their stuff noticed and thus funded, but I'll take the fact that we need to establish stable capital channels first.

i'm kind of curious about the reception when some of these games turn out to be stinkers

So now the guys from Space Quest are on this thing too:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/spaceventure/two-guys-spaceventure-by-the-creators-of-space-que

which tbh I can't really see being any good (I think I gave up on SQ6 after about 10 minutes, and I spent money on it) but might still throw some money at for nostalgia's sake, and also because I didn't pay money for the Space Quests which I actually enjoyed as a kid

The Carmageddon guys want 400k to do a reboot. They've got 14k.

haha, ouch. even 400K seems a bit low though

whoa, Carmageddon was awesome.

This is quickly going to reach the point of 'everybody uses it now, so now it's useless'.

if it hasn't already. i think the window passed with shadowrun

eh, lots of projects funded already, don't think enthusiasm will run out for the right project
shadowrun raised $1.8 million, carmageddon already at £112,000 in 24 hours

Cream will rise to the top.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-04-20-game-specific-kickstarter-alternative-to-launch-at-e3

what is that article about

there's this game specific kickstarter alternative launching at e3

would like to see Day of the Tentacle reboot

Another Maniac Mansion game will probably happen in time, but given how all the principles are currently working on other KS projects, I wouldn't expect any announcement for the next 2 years.

Ron Gilberts non-KS game is revealing soon tho
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2012/05/10/we-solved-this-double-fine-puzzle.aspx

Jason Rohrer's DS game: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1443658586/diamond-trust-of-london

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/forkingpath/the-doom-that-came-to-atlantic-city

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/251414413/tex-murphy-project-fedora

is it too late to declare a vintage-game-revival-kickstarter bubble

Idk where I got that rumour about Thief 4 from, but it was nonsense. It's still languishing at Eidos Montreal, no news from them since 2009, though they still say it's 'coming soon' on their website. Bum.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/massiveblack/zombie-playground-zpg-3d-action-online-battle-rpg

i think a more realistic goal for once they reach $100k would be 'hire a coder', but what do i know

really wonder how many of these are going to end up with an actual finished game

(let alone a good one)

(besides this guy http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/120873716/your-world)

heh - they literally took the character drawings from 19th century cartoons

http://www.polygon.com/2015/2/4/7981193/as-pillars-of-eternity-nears-launch-dev-team-begins-work-on-sequel

i'm still pretty excited for this

kinda sorta too, but expectations lowered a bit

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/midgarstudio/edge-of-eternity-pc-mac-linux-ps4-xbox-one

Pillars of Eternity is live!

or will be tomorrow.

you bastard, getting my hopes up

well i thought i had it! I'm preloading on steam now and i recommend you do.

maybe we should start a new thread for this

i haven't been this excited about a release since fallout 3

I would be more into it if i hadn't just ordered bloodborne, but yeah
Pillars of Eternity: Obsidian's Kickstarter RPG

xp yeah, good point. i went to the backer portal and got my steam key

Oh look, you can pre-load it, too.

Thought I'd be able to roll a character before work but it's not unlocked yet.

Yeah, having the character creator as an early demo plaything would have been a neat advance promotional item

i... don't have the 18 gigs free to install... need to delete a lot of stuff.

That was odd because it told me I'd need 18Gb but then once it was downloading it only pulled 6Gb. So either there's more to come once it unlocks, or that initial 18Gb estimate is wrong.

from the PC Gamer Review:

Almost an hour had passed, and I was still on the character creation screen. That s how I knew, before I d even started, that this homage to classic computer role-playing games like Baldur s Gate, Icewind Dale, and Planescape: Torment was authentic.

Little Devil Inside:

"Little devil inside is a story about a college professor who investigates paranormal activities. With you! "

This game looks doooooope, and just got Greenlit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEjRTx_tvnE

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ldi/little-devil-inside

I dig the cheery little tophatted cyclops dude backpacking his way thru the wilderness.

that does look pretty cool

8 hrs to go on Bloodstained

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ysnet/shenmue-3

$3.3M USD with 27 days left to go.

Coming for Ps4 & PC.

Curious how much Sony will kick in for completion given the fact that this met its (pre-sales) goal the day it was announced.

Considering the first game cost $47 million to make...

I mentioned in the E3 thread that a lot of the stuff in the first game had to be made from scratch, but all of that is included in modern, off-the-shelf game engines.

And oh man they should break out Ryo's original character model, just for kicks

the majority of funding for this game will assuredly not be from the kickstarter

These guys seem like the four guys who could pull it off

http://venturebeat.com/2015/08/18/bailey-schafer-fargo-and-urquhart-create-a-kickstarter-competitor-built-for-games-and-equity/

Justin Bailey has launched Fig, a new crowdfunding site built specifically for games. The former chief operating officer of developer Double Fine partnered with some big names and studios who previously had success on Kickstarter, specifically his old colleague, Tim Schafer (The Broken Age), Brian Fargo of InXile (Wasteland 2), and Feargus Urquhart of Obsidian (Pillars of Eternity). Each has pledged to launch campaigns for new games on Fig.

Fig also stands out from other crowdfunding sites in that you buy equity in a game or developer, meaning you can actually make money from a successful project...

Also, Justin Bailey is actually a real name?!

bound to succeed, born a cheat code

so that's where Masi Oka went!

2D sidescroller inspired by Valkrie Profile, by the team that did Skullgirls.
Mostly notable for the high amount they're asking for...
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/indivisible-an-rpg-by-lab-zero-and-505-games

Psychonauts 2 https://www.fig.co/campaigns/psychonauts-2

Broken Age is the only game I know of that had a 50% off sale before it was even finished. I'll wait.

I think so too, though i am interested in this whole "Fig" thing

Right now it's at $894K investment and $995K rewards - wouldn't have thought the ratio would be so close.
Kinda tempted to go on it as a lark, but probably not worth it given it'll take several years to recoup.

So, Hyper Light Drifter finally launched today. Backed it back in September 2013... Hard to be all that excited after such a long time. On the plus side, I'm finally down to just 1 outstanding Kickstarter (the Bitmap Brothers book) that I've paid for.

I like Hyper Light Drifter a fair bit after an hour or so of playtime, but it's a little tough to tell what to do or where to go since the game works so hard to avoid giving verbal directions. some of the checkpoints are are frustratingly placed, too, although that may just be me learning how not to die. the good stuff (the art style, the controls, the level design, etc) is all really impressive, though - so far HLD feels like a game which occupies the precise midpoint between Another World and Bastion, although I'll obviously need to make more progress before I can decide whether it deserves to be compared to games as good as either of those.

So is Mighty No. 9 really as bad as everyone says? Watched a LP and was kinda shocked that it didn't look that much better than that GameCube version of Megaman from a decade ago.

Bloodstained pushed to 1st Half 2018. Bummer, but I'd rather see a great game late than a mediocre one on time.

if u happen to have an Xbox for some reason, earthlock released on 9/1 as September's free game for live. it's surprisingly fun if you enjoy basically cookie cutter jrpg types. there are a couple of interesting twists on usual mechanics (addicting if mindless agriculture) and the art style is pretty good. im estimating 30 hrs for playthrough.

Obduction, a true sequel to Myst, was excellent. The scenery was beautiful and the story was interesting. The weirdest thing was when I first started this game and realized I couldn't jump and I didn't have an inventory menu. But damn this game was beautiful and it gets you hooked right away. Though, if you aren't much of an adventure gamer or you plan on using hints I might not recommend this game to you. There could of been more puzzles with more variation. Slow load times are noticeable in a couple locations. Overall, I can't complain too much.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/failbetter/sunless-skies-the-sequel-to-sunless-sea?token=6b168ca5

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1144821177/cultist-simulator-behold-our-end?ref=thanks_email_tweet

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/darrenwall/500-years-later-an-oral-history-of-final-fantasy-v

If this was for FF VI, I would pay in a heartbeat. Still, it was a good article.

50k for a printed out Polygon article?

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/isaacfoursouls/the-binding-of-isaac-four-souls?ref=av8kqj

this one is cool:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tommy-maranges/inhuman-conditions-a-game-of-cops-and-robots/description

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/omariakil/rap-godz-the-hip-hop-strategy-and-storytelling-boa

$4k away from their goal

thank god

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/of-pawns-and-kings/of-pawns-and-kings

probably won't make its goal, but I like the look of it - it looks like a 2D graphic adventure but the screen transitions prove it's 3D.