The active Kickstarter projects discussion thread.

[gagaplex]

I decided to back Darkest Dungeon because of the promising art design and theme. I like rogue-likes and the Lovecraftian stuff almost always manages to draw me in.
I kind of hate it when they put in features ONLY for high enough backers. I don't mean bonuses, I mean actual differences in the GAME ITSELF. In this case, they promise a special character class if you pledge enough.

[matt]

Yeah I agree with you gagplex. That means if you miss out on the kickstarter, then you'll never get the content. It seems kind of like a high pressure sales technique bordering on arm twisting, which I'm personally not super comfortable with - probably because I always fall for it. I usually buy games that are being delisted from XBLA because I might want to play it and otherwise it's gone forever.

Still it looks like an awesome game and is doing amazingly! Roguelikes aren't really my thing though personally because I hate failing, and it seems like that is a big theme. Well, I guess the exception is Toejam and Earl, but that is a very different roguelike.

[LobsterSundew]

Darkest Dungeon is doing a REALLY good job running their campaign. I'm impressed.

Another 3D first-person horror game has launched. Relive might have potential, but the project suffers from a some big problems. The brighter lit parts look more interesting than the dark parts.

StarCrawlers is a sci-fi first-person perspective dungeon crawler. I like the art style.

The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 is a sequel to a well received adventure game.

Fate of The Gods - Dragon Slayer is another Metroidvania.

[matt]

Darkest Dungeon is NAILING it. They are doing an amazing job.

Relive looks cool, but $3,000 for PC/PS4 is insane! I think we spent like $6k on QA alone to pass the requirements on PS3! My worry with such a small budget is that they won't be able to deliver anything... If they are using Unity, it's quite expensive for consoles if the rumors I hear are correct. If they aren't, then they need a whole tech rewrite for PS4. Well, hopefully the game will turn out great, but asking for too little always throws a red flag for me...

[ranger_lennier]

Yeah, it's hard to see how they'll get much out of $3000. Maybe they're making the game regardless and are essentially using Kickstarter for preorders.

[matt]

Yeah it's quite possible that's what they are doing. Kickstarter has people launching products at all different stages. That's a good point - although it seems strange that beta test is the main reward, and they don't mention when the full game will be done...

[LobsterSundew]

I'm still watching Relive's campaign, but one of the first things that prevented me from backing was a pre-order is the equivalent of $25 Canadian dollars. That is asking too much for what little they show and there are other active campaigns I could back with that money instead.

Heart&Slash is a 3D action game with a voxel art style.

Galactic Princess has players captain the crew of a smuggler spaceship that they can design. The first minute and a half of the pitch was a bit slow, but the retro music after was catchy. The Biodiversity section is also a comical read.

Hive Jump co-op shooter that is like Contra.

[Harry Sunderland]

I'm really excited about ReVeN, and even more so that it's coming to Ouya. It's VERY Super Metroid inspired.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/variagames/reven

I asked the devs if they applied for free the games funding, and unfortunately they had not heard about it before it was too late. Such a shame because their game totally fits the bill for the program.

[matt]

That is a bummer that they missed out on the FTGF, but it looks like they are bringing it to WiiU, which they couldn't do for a few months with FTGF.

It is interesting that Nintendo is really making a big indie push - especially on kickstarter. I don't think that will save the WiiU though. I have one, and it doesn't seem to have the focus like the other Nintendo platforms. It seems like it is trying to have all the markets with the tablet controller, the Wii-motes, and the standard gamepad pro-controllers, but it doesn't seem to address any market well in my opinion.

[Harry Sunderland]

Yeah, they would've had to delay the Wii U port by 1-2 months (depending on how Ouya defines the rules, as they say 1 month per $10,000 and their KS goal was $18k. I believe Ouya only matches up to the goal and not money past it, so they'd be matching the $18K). Still, I bet if they would've known that they could've doubled the funds, they'd be willing to make that sacrifice. But regardless, maybe getting out on Wii U sooner will help them more than the funds will.

I personally am a die-hard Mega Man fan (Mega Man 2 was my first video game ever at the tender age of 3), and so I am probably going to be the psychopath who buys an entire Wii U just for the new Smash Bros once it comes out. There are others game I want to play on it (Wonderful 101, 3d Mario, DK Tropical Freeze), but it's going to take the ability to shoot Yoshi in the face with the Mega Buster to finally convince me to pull the trigger and want a Wii U.

But you are right, the system does not make a compelling case for itself as of right now. I think that indie might be able to salvage it somewhat, but now that PS4 and XBone are out, it's going to be really hard for the average not-me person to opt for a Wii U as their first console this gen.