The Video Game Kickstarter – Week of October 5

Sorry about missing last week. In my defense, there wasn’t much to talk about.

Broken Sword – $771k. Finished.
Homestuck Adventure Game – $2.4 million. Finished.
GUTS – $10k. Failed.
Project Eternity – $2.3 million with 11 days left.
Two Brothers – $16k. Finished.
Sealark, an Oceanic Adventure Game – $41k. 9 days left.
Blackspace – $110k ($350k goal). 12 days left.

Lots of interesting stuff to cover this week so let’s get started!

The biggest new project this week is probably An Old-School RPG. Yes, that’s the actual title. The project is being headed by Brenda Brathwaite (Wizardry) and Tom Hall (Anachronox) so they’ve definitely got some experience backing them but many fans rightfully were annoyed at being given such a generic pitch and being expected to donate just based on the developers’ reputations. Thankfully, the kickstarter organizers seem to have realized this and so they’re starting to give more details about the game – from the sound of things, it’s going to be more like a new Wizardry than anything else (like one of the later main ones ala Wizardry 8, not the Japanese series or the really old dungeon crawlers). They’re up to $167k with a $1 million goal so they definitely have a ways to go but they have 30 days left to do it.

Next up is something a little different – a kickstarter for a fan remake soundtrack of Final Fantasy VI from OC Remix. Although not an official Square-Enix production, they did get permission from Square-Enix. They were looking for $30k but they’re already at $93k with 20 days left to go (with most of that money coming from $50 pledges for a limited edition physical copy of the soundtrack).

This isn’t a video game but it’s definitely video game-related, a kickstarter for a hardcover sketch book from Doug TenNapel, best known as the creator of Earthworm Jim. 250 pages of beautiful drawings from a very creative and talented individual. It’s up to $54k ($18k goal) with 15 days left.

Here’s something bizarre that caught my eye – Songmasters, the Music Wars, an epic multiplayer strategy sci-fi game where individuals win influence in song duels. Really gives space opera a whole new meaning. It’s the second attempt at a kickstarter for this (the previous one failed) but they’ve created a more in-depth pitch so hopefully this time they’ll see success. It’s at just under $6k with a $20k goal and 60 days left to go.

And let’s finish off this week’s report with Mindblown Life, a mobile game that teaches you life skills like financial responsibility while you play it. I wouldn’t expect a game like that to do well but it’s already achieved $37k of its $60k goal with 27 days left to go. I guess a silly sense of humor pays off sometimes.