Kickstarter Retrospective

Kickstarter exists in a bizarre nebulous space between traditional consumerism, i.e. what we see in shops, and what marketers think consumers want.

It allows people with large amounts of disposable income to tell companies what they want from projects. Simultaneously, it fosters a community focused on peer support and criticism whilst directly supplying the developer with ‘investors’. It can be a double edged sword with some projects receiving massive amounts of success, such as Star Citizen, and leaving others trailing in their wake. It might also be worth noting that it forces developers to be something they are not trained to do. A marketer. This can lead to often cringy videos which fail to advertise the strength of the product.

I’ve had an in-depth look at some of the more popular projects that have been supported this month. Kickstarter as a website throws tabletop games, card games and video games in the same boat, so there is often some sifting to do. However, occasionally we can come across some gems.

A little bit of backstory. When I was younger I played a lot of Syndicate. That’s the Bullfrog game, not the terrible shooter from 2012. So I was delighted to see one of the developers behind the franchise producing a brand new IP in the vein of his most successful title. He now joins the likes of Peter Molyneux (Godus), Jordan Weisman (Shadowrun Returns) and Chris Roberts (Star Citizen). The game has a more focused push than the original Syndicate, with the push being specifically aimed at using four playable characters as opposed to a faceless conglomerate. It might also be worth noting that the developers stipulate that they want to allow for emergent gameplay. They want players to really break the box in order to beat their opponents, not just think outside it. I’ll be honest I love the whole concept being able to use subterfuge to destroy my foes, like some futuristic Rodrigo Borgia. If we take the recent success of television shows like Game of Thrones and various Paradox franchises (such as Crusader Kings) in to account, it is well worth keeping an eye on this one.

Who doesn’t love Cthulu? We’re all his loving loyal subjects, it sounds silly to question his dominion. Some of us even seek advancement within his ranks, and to help him destroy the other old ones. I bring you Cthulu Wars where you, yes you, can become one of the dark priests of Shoggoth should you want to. In all seriousness, Cthulu Wars takes the slightly light-hearted tone that the series has taken in recent years and rolls with it. It comes with a whole host of cosmic figurines, all of which are created in their own special molds, using laser cut plastics to make each figurine look individual. The game revolves around destroying your opponent’s ‘gates’, and stopping the influx of their forces on to the battlefield. I imagine that games will play out like a kaiju movie set in the nether realms; and given that the game is currently 2550% funded, people must agree with me.

Everything had been going really well. Finding my first two titles for this section was a breeze. Both of them have a clear vision and strong production values. Finding my third title was like pulling teeth. I’ll be honest, none of the other options grabbed me like the prior two did. There were some interesting projects, like one that wants to create a development suite for Linux games. While I was certainly interested by this (I am one of the poor souls who uses Windows 8) I could not justify reporting on something which I will not be affected by. As I trawled through the endless lists of projects I slowly became safer in the knowledge that not all projects on kickstarter are top quality.

Then I found Beef. Run and ‘hide’ from this obvious Slender clone. Its complete lack of any production value whatsoever really shows. It shows an obvious agenda which the developer is trying to force down the player’s throat. I like to be convinced, not blackmailed and force-fed. Then again, the sheer lack of money fronted for this game really shows that I am not alone in thinking how poor this game’s concept really is.

As I said earlier, Kickstarter is raw, unbridled consumerism, people will vote with their wallets. If a project looks like a cheap knock off, or if it shows a rudimentary level of experience, people simply won’t commit their money to it. It has to produce some of the best games on the market, but also some of the worst.

Article by Ben Hayward

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