Crowdfund Watch: December

There haven't been all that many major crowdfunding projects launched in the last month, perhaps developers are cautious to avoid the month of December as people may have other things to spend their money on (read: holiday gifts). Nevertheless, there are three projects we felt warranted our attention - and potentially your money.

Festival of Magic (Linux, Mac, PC, Wii U)
Snowcastle Games
Kickstarter page
Progress: $48,549 pledged of $250,000 goal (1,398 backers) 14 days remaining

"Festival of Magic is a throwback to the classic Japanese RPGs of yore, but puts a spin on the formula by fusing harvesting with turn-based combat." Final Fantasy meets Farmville if you want to put in lay-man terms. Mainly Norwegian outfit Snowcastle Games are hoping to finance their ambitions and beautifully designed second game (Hogworld on mobile being their first).

If you're intrigued by the concept there is a demo available for download (PC, Mac, Linux) on the Kickstarter page that allows a taste of what is to come.

Outlook: It's looking tough for Festival of Magic mid-way through the campaign. Perhaps the lack of an established fanbase is what is the main problem here and as no early momentum was gained the campaign is struggling. It's an ambitious project and a fairly ambitious target sum, and perhaps an alternative method (alpha funding) should be put into action if this effort fails.

Read-Only Memories (Android, iOS, Mac, Ouya, PC)
MidBoss
Kickstarter page
Progress: $47,697 pledged of $62,064 goal (1,016 backers) 5 days remaining

The people behing GaymerX are back with a video game concept described as a "Cyberpunk adventure game for the Mac, PC, Ouya, iOS and Android set in Neo-SF, 2064 starring awesome LGBTQ characters". That's certainly something we haven't played before and it's nice to see Kickstarter used as a platform to finance games that would otherwise not be made (at least not on this scale). The retro look, the unique positioning, make this one of this month's most interesting campaigns.

Outlook: Success is within reach for this project with less than a week to go. The campaign also has some interesting tiers where a company could sponsor the game and make it onto billboards and the likes in-game. Certainly something more games could adapt even if it's hard to tell how popular it is. Anyway, it's time to dig deep and reach both those in the LGBTQ gaming community and those outside of it who'd like to see the game get made.

Reset
Theory
Indiegogo page
Progress: €23,223 pledged of €65,000 goal 17 days remaining

"A sci-fi noir, a mystery, a first person puzzle game. Reset is infused with mind boggling puzzles, a grippingly haunting but beautiful story and an unparalleled immersive atmosphere." Finnish developers have really hit a note with their atmospheric and visually stunning robot drama Reset. The moody trailers and unique concept has certainly piqued our interest.

Reset is naturally a very tech heavy project and that makes it a little different than what is perhaps the main theme of crowdfunding - throwbacks and retro. The game offers a singleplayer "co-op mechanic" and a 16 square km open world to explore. The in-house tech provides true HDR rendering, volumetric lighting, dynamic day and night cycles (with authentic star positions!), weather effects and more.

Outlook: Had Reset been on Kickstarter instead of Indiegogo it's reasonable to assume it would already had reached the target €65,000, but the climate is definitely tougher for Indiegogo projects. There is still hope for a strong sprint to the finish, but the project clearly lacks momentum to succeed right now.

Last month's Crowdfund Watch:

Next Car Game (PC, Mac, Linux)
Bugbear Entertainment
Kickstarter page
Cancelled: $81,772 pledged of $350,000 goal (2,487 backers)

Bugbear failed at their bid to kickstart the development of Next Car Game and to be honest they fell well short of the target as they cancelled the campaign before it had run its course. The good news is that Bugbear will continue to crowdfund the game through pre-orders (via nextcargame.com) with $ 179,366 from 5,643 backers. A couple of playable sneak peeks have been released and even if the amount is modest it would appear that Bugbear is building a dedicated community slowly but surely. At any rate the game looks fantastic and the team appears fully committed to seeing the project through despite the Kickstarter setback.

Obduction (PC, Mac)
Cyan, Inc
Kickstarter page
Funded: $1,321,306 pledged of $1,100,000 goal (22,195 backers)

After a very strong start Cyan's Obduction stalled a bit mid-way through, but thanks to a very strong finish it managed to fly past the target sum with ease. The $1.3 million stretch goal added Oculus Rift support (sounds like a great idea) and extra localisation. If you're interested in Obduction you can still help with the development by contributing via PayPal (same basic reward tiers as on Kickstarter) over at the official website

Deathfire: Ruins of Nethermore (PC)
G3 Studios
Kickstarter page
Progress: $196,517 pledged of $390,000 goal (3,802 backers) 4 hours remaining

Deathfire from G3 Studios is just hours away from finishing its campaign on Kickstarter as we write this and it appears that it will fail. The campaign was off to a decent start and built some momentum during its course, but never really kicked into a higher gear. Some good news is that it's been greenlit on Steam, which goes some way to show that there is interest in this sort of old-school CRPG. Perhaps Deathfire is hurt a bit by the fact that there has been more high-profile throwback RPGs funded through Kickstarter already and that the pool has been somewhat fished out. It's hard to tell. Nevertheless the amount of money pledged and the number of backers achieved is nothing to be scoffed at and hopefully it provides G3 with a foundation to launch into an alternative funding scheme or perhaps a second Kickstarter.

Paradise Lost: First Contact (PC, Mac, Linux)
Ashtree Works
Kickstarter page
Funded: $144,960 pledged of $70,000 goal (5,953 backers)

Spanish plant pixels had little issue finding funds via Kickstarter as Paradise Lost: First Contact more than doubled its base target. The $125,000 stretch goal added a secret chapter to the game and you're still able to help the cause by picking up one of the Humble Packs on offer. Sadly the PS3, PS4, PS Vita stretch goal ($200,000), but fingers crossed we might still see the game appear on more platforms in the future. But there is still a slim chance of that goal being reached as any Humble Packs bought prior to December 31 will count towards the sum total.