Welcome back for another issue of The Koalition’s Kickstarter Weekly. As usual, I’ve searched Kickstarter for three games that are intriguing either in premise or style. For instance, Superhot is a new type of FPS that reacts to the player’s movements. Kingdom, on the other hand, is a beautiful, pixelated game about exploring the medieval countryside while defending your territory. Finally, Adventures of Pip is about a single pixel looking to become a full-fledged warrior.
Superhot
Project By: Superhot Team
Goal: $100,000
Current Funds: $65,877
End: June 14, 2014
You’ve probably read the complaints of many who think the FPS genre has become stale. To be fair, I can sympathize with them because it does seem like the latest batch of FPS games are trying to imitate Call of Duty or Battlefield. I present to this group Superhot, an FPS Puzzle hybrid that looks as hot as its title suggests. Be careful when you watch the captivating trailer: you might turn into a walking drone who utters only “Superhot” every few seconds.
Superhot has a unique time mechanic that, as the team puts it, basically turns you into Neo from The Matrix. The trick is that the enemy’s bullets are in sync with you. This means that the enemy’s bullets move when you move and they stop when you stop. You can only take one bullet before you die, so the game is essentially dodging enough bullets and getting close to your enemy; sometimes, you may need to slice some bullets with a katana in order to do so.
Superhot originally started off as a free browser game that quickly gained traction from many gaming publications. The team has since decided to turn the game into a full game, and they’re implementing the changes that their fans suggested. For starts, the team is implementing more weapons such as shotguns, machine guns, grenades and special abilities. The original game was described as an intense game of chess. This time the developers want to implement an interesting story that isn’t in-your-face. Also notable is the revamped graphics, which makes this new version a stylized sight to behold. Seriously, if you haven’t watched the trailer yet, then do it now!
I haven’t been this interested in an FPS in quite a while. Superhot looks amazing and worthy of its title. Actually, everything about this Kickstarter project is Superhot–the trailer, screenshots, and concept. If you really want a different kind of FPS, then here is your chance.
Kingdom
Project By: Thomas van den Berg
Goal: €8,000
Current Funds: €2,836
End: June 5, 2014
Have you ever played an exploration game and thought that it needed to have more strategy elements? Perhaps you may not be a fan of exploration games, and think any amount of interactivity would be a welcomed change of pace. If you’re like me, I wouldn’t have dreamed of wanting a 2D exploration/strategy hybrid game. Kingdom seems like a stroll through the country side, but there’s more to it than the pixels let on.
Kingdom is a game that’s about enjoying the scenery while partaking in a little bit of strategy. You play as a king who rides through the countryside on his horse. You’re trying to defend your castle, and the way you do that is by walking up to contextual items and tossing your gold at them. This means you can hire soldiers, weapons, and other forms of protection. Or, if you’re like me, you could spend maybe ten minutes admiring some of the best water graphics I’ve ever seen in a 2D game.
Kingdom, like Superhot, also began as a browser game that became more popular than its creator had intended. This version is a sequel that is being developed primarily for iOS; however, we could expect to see Android and PC versions as well. Thomas promises smarter AI, an expanded world, and a forest, which provides random encounters and other surprises. Other than that, the game will still follow its prequels grounds, such as having no HUD, cursor, or unit commands. Even with its strategy elements, Kingdom is meant to be simple.
I’m glad Thomas was able to find success for the first Kingdom. It also seems like he has a clear vision for the sequel because he has a lot of fan feedback to consider. In the mean time, you can play the original game for free, and get a better idea of how the sequel will be.
Adventures of Pip
Project By: TicToc Games
Goal: $90,000
Current Funds: $23,582
End: June 4, 2014
When viewing Adventures of Pip’s Kickstarter trailer, I find myself experiencing flashbacks of Evoland. In my review, I applauded Evoland for taking us on a survey of the different eras of RPG gaming, but I ultimately thought that it was worth playing only once. TicToc Game’s Adventures of Pip has a similar concept, but it could prove to be more substantial than Evoland.
In Adventures of Pip, pixels mean power; however, the Dark Queen—not to be confused with the main antagonist from Battle Toads—stole all of the pixels. However, a single pixel—the main character’s torso—is willing to rise to the occasion. As nothing more than a torso, you must battle enemies until you evolve into the warrior you wish to be, accumulating more and more pixels in the process.
While Evoland was more about the evolution of its world and mechanics, Adventures of Pip seems to focus on the evolution of Pip. He begins the game as a torso, so he must fight enemies he can handle by bumping into them. As he gains pixels, he gains more appendages, which helps him learn how to punch or slash with a sword. This makes Adventures of Pip a sidescroller with RPG elements. And while Pip himself begins as a single pixel, the world he lives in is more defined.
Adventures of Pip looks like a fine 2D sidescroller, and it seems to offer more substance than Evoland. The game was originally supposed to appear on iOS, and it even had a publisher; however, the TicToc Games turned to Kickstarter so they can work on the game full-time without compromising their creativity. You can receive a full copy of the game if you pledge $15.
Other Projects?
Have you seen any interesting projects on Kickstarter that you think deserve mention? Are you a developer who is currently running a Kickstarter campaign? Let us know in the comments section, or send an email to garrett@thekoalition.com.
