Oops I dropped a 'k' in the Leadwerks funding goal

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It's ok, we don't have to continue the debate -- I just wanted to point out that it does exist, and that "exploration game" seems like a really descriptive name for games like Botanicula that have a very different feel than the non-myst "adventure games". The people who say "I loved Myst, but adventure games usually have too much of that stupid inventory and conversation stuff" should be able to say "I love exploration games" and have others know what they mean (and I would then recommend they try Botanicula, with a really high success rate ;) )

Really --I did run across some people like that on a non-game forum, and for a while was frustrated at their complete lack of interest in my adventure-kickstarter-of-the-month recommendations. Finally figured out they really like this exploration genre, and yes one of them had played Botanicula with great appreciation.

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Quoting: Cheeseness

Quoting: s_dOh yes, certainly.  Well, at least, depending on your definition of the genre!

Recall the Amanita Designs titles, specifically Samorost 2, Machinarium, and Botanicula.  These are probably the closest (though, the narrative in Botanicula is thin enough that some, including Speedster, would prefer to call it more of a puzzle game).  Loosen your definition a little, and we can include TRAUMA, Sword & Sorcery and Stacking as well.  Loosen your platform a little, and there is, of course, the Telltale Games bundle.  Loosen both, and we might include The Room (though, it's more of a puzzle game linked by a loose plot than Botanicula!).

Oh, you are right! I can't believe I forgot about Samorost 2, Machinarium, Botanicula and Sword & Sworcery (I think they're all unarguably point-and-click aventure games).

Hahaha! Just watch me debate this categorization for Botanicula:

"Botanicula is point'n'click exploration game created by Jára Plachý and Amanita Design."

http://amanita-design.net/games/botanicula.html [External Link]

That's what the DEVELOPERS of Botanicula call it, so I'm not just making this up. The emphasis is on solving puzzles while exploring unique surroundings and finding all the unique bug types, not on solving puzzles while enjoying a detailed plot like Monkey Island or Broken Sword.

I'm sure you can think of puzzle games that were also given a plot without generally being considered an adventure game, e.g. Corey Cole's Dr. Brain games, but those "puzzle games" did not feature this aspect of exploring a world full of non-puzzle-essential details -- "exploration game" seems a great fit to me.

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Summary of results for this edition's projects (plus my favorites from 2 weeks ago of course) has been sent, check your PM muntdefems

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I'll try to give a shot at updates for this week's batch on Sunday, to give you some time to incorporate and tweak as desired. Let's see how that goes!

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SD -- we may need to wait for a sample of the new format to see whether is as good from a reader perspective, but it sounded to me as though Muntdefems may be courting burn-out by providing the nice summaries on all the new games rather than focusing on the ones he most cares about, so regardless of better/worse judgments... it may not be sustainable.

"So I usually end up spending a lot of time struggling to write paragraphs about games that I don't really care that much anyway. And, more often than not, at the expense of sleeping hours"

Muntdefems, how would one provide updates for next week's article?

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That sounds like it will work out well. I know what you mean about taking a long time to write, as it takes me half a day to write a news article of only 4 to 7 games (did that a couple  times at indiedb.com Linux gamers group). Let us know if there does turn out to be some way in which others can assist you.

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The main problem with that guideline of covering projects early and then after close is that it contributes to the mid-project slump; the game falls off the front page or even couple pages, so people who had a busy week during the first week would likely miss it rather than digging back far enough. It's not good to be posting updates about a particular project here too often or readers would get annoyed, so I had envisioned the weekly roundup as a sensible place to put little comments about how the notable projects are faring. As opposed to one mention early on, then falling off the radar until the result is known -- too late to make a difference, for those who missed the initial mention but would have been interested!

The point about being more work to track games from week to week is quite valid, but maybe you could assign somebody to do a little kicktraq research and see which games from last time are in that middle state of not yet funded but not nearly hopeless. I could help with that for instance...

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Wait, you skipped all the ones I've been keeping an eye on!

Please bring back Armikrog as one of the "biggies" as they still need funding, and have a good chance to make it in the final big push. Very excited about this one; their claymation art is awfully impressive and helps it stand out from the crowd, plus these guys have a great sense of humor and have some great voice actors signed up to do the humorous dialog justice (Rob Paulsen, Michael J. Nelson of MST3K/Rifftrax for instance). A lot of people are thrilled about the sound track by Terry Taylor too.

For hidden gems, I'm still watching Dungeon of Elements which you also mentioned in the previous edition, and again still needs more funding to make the goal, let alone stretch goals which have now been announced ( http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/frogdice/dungeon-of-elements/posts/503937 [External Link] ). They added Linux support not as a stretch goal after confirming the upgrade to Unity 4, which should be encouraged, and they are in general friendly to Linux due to its use on servers for their other games (like ThresholdRPG, a classic MUD which has being going strong for 17 years! That's worth some old-school RPG rep in my book)

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I'm in too, thanks for the Linux support

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