The Funding Crowd 43

The Winners

Orion Trail managed to clear their $90k goal no problems, and even hit the first stretch goal: the space-bear race of the Urzans joins the Galaxy Force. If you missed this campaign, no worries, you can still get in. They're currently setting up a Slacker Backer system, including backing with PayPal, and any money raised there will also count against more stretch goals.


The crowdfunding campaign of Tahira, however, was way more close. They did manage to get their $68k, but only within the last three hours. As such, unfortunately no stretch goals have been met. Still, funded is funded, and now we can look forward to this game early next year.



The Losers

In stark contrast to the energetic protagonists of Clive 'n' Wrench, their campaign was at an almost complete standstill since we last mentioned it. There has been next to no buzz surrounding the campaign, and one must wonder how much planning had gone into it before launch. The project failed for a second time, but the developer is still determined to see the game through to completion, so this isn't the last we've heard of it.






At only $15k, Slain!'s moderate goal was eminently achievable and indeed managed their base goal about a week ago. Since then, progress has been slow, but steady, with over 850 backers ensuring that the first stretch goal is met, resulting in an audio makeover. With a few days still to run, it's feasible that we'll see the exciting "Rampage Mode" make an appearance in this wonderfully animated side-scrolling hack-a-thon.


With only 350 backers behind Adopted, it's surprising to note that they've raised more than the 850 for Slain!, above. However, since this project's target was a lofty $140k, it is sadly certain to fail with only a couple of days to run.


Closing in on half of their ambitious 80k€ goal and with a month left of their unusually long campaign, hope is not lost for CrossCode. They have done a good job at enticing backers through frequent and meaty updates, but with such a high goal and an unknown developer team, the future of the campaign is still highly uncertain.


With only a couple of days to go, Don't Be Patchman has just recently beaten its $25k^CAD goal, and is now looking at snatching at least the first stretch goal, set at $30k^CAD.


ToeJam and Earl turned out not to be the sure bet we thought at the beginning of the campaign. There are only a few days left and it still has a little way to go. It seems as though it might have cashed in on the nostalgia during its first couple of days and that people not already familiar with the original games are less excited about it. With a couple of days to go, it still looks set to crawl past its $400k goal though.








With an already mighty 4500 backers behind Descent: Underground, and a frankly insane backer average of nearly $60, you'd be forgiven for thinking that this direct successor to the 90's Descent games was a forgone conclusion. However, you'd be wrong!

Which is incredible, really. The studio behind this reboot of the classic games is headed by none other than Eric Peterson, most recently of Roberts Industries' Star Citizen fame, but also the same man behind the legendary Wing Commander series. His studio acquired the rights to the Descent games from Interplay earlier this year, which is a surprising move considering that Interplay were issuing fan-made remakes with Cease & Desist letters as recently as October last year!

This might, however, explain why four and a half thousand backers are only a drop in the ocean of this project's target. Perhaps to help cover the purchase (pure speculation on our part), Descendent Studios are looking for a cool $600k in order to bring Descent: Underground to Windows, Mac & Linux. They are currently around a third of the way to that target. Some good news, however, is that they are using the latest Unreal Engine 4 to achieve their goal, which is reflected in their FAQ regarding platform support. They aim to bring their game to the main three platforms and only later may consider tablet/mobile support.



The game itself is currently very focussed on its multiplayer elements and if you intend to buy into the beta access, it's likely that this is all you'll end up playtesting. However, single-player campaigns are not completely forgotten - they intend a mini campaign initially to introduce you to the full campaign later in development. The game is planned as a prequel to the original series, but with updated gameplay, such as destructible voxel-based terrain. Indeed, one of the game modes will see you mining that destructible terrain for ore.

Get on board and help push this ambitious project over the line! The least you need to pledge to secure a copy of the game is $25, while another $10 will result in beta access. Higher pledge levels will unlock different ships from the start of the game, but the project page notes that all ships will be unlockable through gameplay. The final product is expected in March next year.






And... that wasn't all! We wouldn't want to wish you farewell without at least mentioning a couple of projects that didn't make the cut for a full writeup but are nonetheless worthy of your consideration.

First off, there's the Holobunnies relaunch. A former Hidden Gem of ours, it came back to Kickstarter with a lower goal than before and it got funded this time around. You've still got some days left to back it, starting at $10^CAD.

Then, a couple more Gems, like The Baader Meinhof Phenomenon (an ill-fated campaign for a nonetheless highly interesting psychological thriller/horror game about drug abuse and mental health issues), Dungeons of Aledorn (an old-school hardcore RPG with a combination of third-person turn-based tactical combat and first-person exploration), or Spectrum: An Elegy for Piano (a beautiful puzzle-adventure based on the concept of synesthesia).


Having said that, this is really the end of this issue of The Funding Crowd. We hope to have entertained you and to have interested you in some campaigns. See you all in our next issue!


Usual plea for help:

Please PM one of the team: (scaine, Speedster, muntdefems, flesk, and DrMcCoy) if you think you can help or just want to chat about Crowdfunding! And of course, remember that you can use the comments, Wiki, or forums to keep us up updated on any suggestions that you'd like to see covered. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.