The Funding Crowd 32 (Apr 22nd - May 12th)

The Losers

· The Land of Eyas campaign came to a close with less than 50% of the $10k goal, but all is not lost -- the concluding update is quite upbeat about pushing forwards with a Greenlight campaign, with developers determined to somehow get the game finished if successfully Greenlit. They promise free copies of the game to early supporters to celebrate, if that does happen.



The Winners

· Armello's theme of "bringing tabletop adventures to life" really struck a chord among fellow geeks of Kickstarter, closing with $300k^AUD -- 150% of the already impressive base goal of $200k^AUD. The League of Geeks plans to start with backer-only alpha and beta releases, followed by Steam Early Access, and finally the official release. If you arrived late to pledge to this one, know that you can still pre-order it on the game's website.


· Legends of Persia had a very close call, not passing the modest $3k goal until the final 24 hours! At last report, the team is happily working away on a launch trailer and expects to drop a beta version of their Diablo-inspired action-RPG-adventure into the hands of eager backers in the very near future.


· Grail to the Thief managed to hit its $10k stretch goal, which will enable this audio adventure to be enjoyed on mobile devices as well as desktops.


· We covered Serpent in the Staglands after it was suggested to us in the comments to our previous column. And who knows, maybe it was that tip and our subsequent coverage that helped push this to nearly three times its $10k target. With additional sound, writing and content, this one should sell well on its release at the end of this year.


· It felt touch and go for LAST LIFE for a while, but it finished strongly, ending on over $100k, easily surpassing its $70k target. In terms of stretch goals, it fell just shy of funding the second episode in one go, but it will be a better game nonetheless for having proper voice overs added to all major sequences. This one is due in May next year and, just like Armello, can also be pre-ordered on its website by anyone who missed the Kickstarter.


· And finally, HABITAT: A Thousand Generations in Orbit managed to easily hit and surpass its target but without hitting a single stretch! Without any additional content therefore, we're hopeful that you'll be playing this "Kerbal meets SPAZ" game on time, at the end of the year.











· One of our Biggies from last time, Heart Forth Alicia is dashing towards the winner's circle, having smashed its $60k goal several times over to scoop in an impressive $180k, which is important because we Linux gamers got our platform supported at $120k. There is still a bit more time to join 6,000 other backers in putting money and their names behind this ambitious metroidvania RPG, with title credits including backers of every tier.











Many thanks to gemini for pointing this one out in the previous article's comments! It's not often that we see a campaign that instantly has us reaching for the "pledge" button, but The Universim is certainly one of them!

New studio Crytivo is taking on the God Game genre and frankly, doing so with style! Already quite far along in development and aiming for late 2015 release, the pitch video seems to suggest that you take on the role of a living planet, inhabited by primitive humans. Initially protective of your visitors, you watch as they destroy your resources, consuming everything they can, before turning their gaze to your brother and sister planets to repeat the process over again.

Except that it's not that simple. The final frames of the immensely professional trailer suggests that you're not alone in this universe and that alien civilisations will rise up against you.

The quality on show here is incredible. The premise, the graphics, the sound track, the voice acting and the hook all add up to promise a game of incredible quality and depth. Of course, promises can be broken, but to have this level of quality on show at the Kickstarter phase of development is a great sign.

You can pledge as low as $15 on Kickstarter to secure a copy of the game, with higher levels securing the usual alpha and beta access. Levels beyond that are actually very creative - one has you starting the game with access to a new type of factory that can conduct cow-based experiments (no, really) and the $60 tier will start you on a "mystery" planet, whatever that entails.

Due in October next year, it's good to see Crytivo being realistic about how much development still remains in a game of this magnitude. And they still have a hill to climb in terms of funding. While they've achieved the first two thirds of their funding, they have a little over a week to secure that final $100k.

Get pledging!









And that was all! As usual we hope you enjoyed this issue of The Funding Crowd and we equally hope to see you again next time... which could be earlier than you'd think. As we hinted in this article's tagline, we've still got an ace up our sleeve and we plan on being back this same week with another anniversary present for you all. What could it be? :)

Lastly, we wouldn't like to wrap up without reminding you that you can join our team if you like by sending a private message to one of the contributors who brought you this issue (Speedster, muntdefems, and scaine) or simply by replying down below about joining up. Your help will certainly be welcome! Alternatively, you can send your suggestions our way by posting in this column's thread in the forums.

See you! ;)



. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.