Word Realms is an MMO-RPG for people who like the taste of solutions.
Asymmetrical
Since Double Fine’s Adventure game Kickstarter project finally broke records, game developers of all stripes have flocked to Kickstarter to seek funding for their pet projects. Kickstarter Game Watch is an occasional feature that highlights some of the most interesting and/or high-profile games currently seeking funding for the service.
Sound
launched: June 11, 2012
concludes: July 9, 2012
Current funding: $277,213 of the $500,000 goal
Kickstarter link
Renowned cyberpunk author Neal Stephenson may not seem like the most likely candidate to seek funding for a video game on Kickstarter. Yet the Snow crash writer and self-proclaimed “swordfighting nerd” uses the crowdfunding service to fix what he sees as the wholly unsatisfactory depictions of swordfights in existing video games.
“It’s not a sword game if you have to pull a trigger or press a button to swing your sword,” Stephenson says, somewhat angrily in the project’s video introduction. Therefore Sound will use a “low-latency, high-precision motion controller” to let players simulate everything from feints and parries to grappling and pommel strikes. While the specific controller hasn’t been discussed, the current plan is to use a “commercial, third-party, off-the-shelf controller that anyone can buy today,” which leaves us wondering if such a controller could really be accurate enough . for what Stephenson envisions.
The $500,000 Stephenson is seeking will go towards hiring a small army of artists, animators and expert swordsmen to make the game as realistic as possible – “it takes a lot of people to make a sword game that doesn’t suck”, he notes. . The team’s original goal is to develop a prototype focused on one-on-one multiplayer duels with the two-handed longsword (which Stephenson calls the “queen of weapons”). Longer term, the plan is to expand that into a full-featured adventure based on a fantasy world that is currently being built into books published under Amazon.com’s publishing label 47 North. Stephenson’s pitch also focuses on extensibility and making the game “so that other people can use our tools to improve what we’ve done.”
A $25 pledge will get you a download of the game, due February 2013, while a $10,000 donation will get you a real steel longsword and a studio tour with the team.
Alpha Colony: A tribute to MULE
launched: June 14, 2012
concludes: July 15, 2012
Current funding: $6,151 of the $500,000 goal
Kickstarter link
MULE arguably one of the most influential computer games of all time. The combination of strategy elements and economic simulation from the 1983 game with intuitive hot-seat multiplayer can be seen in everything from Civilization to the simulation games from Maxis. Will Wright even dedicated himself The Sims Unpleasant MULE creator Dani Bunten, who passed away in 1998 while working on an updated, internet-compatible version of the game.
That sadly aborted effort can now be continued thanks to a new Kickstarter project that aims to capture the gameplay and feel of MULE while updating the experience for a new generation that has probably never heard of the original game. Creative director Christopher Williamson even went so far as to contact Bunten’s daughter to gain access to some “secret designs” the developer was working on before her death.
Like the original game, Alpha Colony is about controlling supply and demand as you race to colonize a planet using a robotic Multiple Use Labor Element. While the updated game will try to get as close to the source material as possible, the team says it has been influenced by elements of modern games like Settlers of Catan and Words with friends. And, of course, the presentation is updated, with the blocky MULE graphics of the early ’80s replaced by full 3D models, complete with facial expressions and personality traits.
The core game is available for a $10 contribution on iOS and a $15 contribution for PC/Mac, but those who donate at least $25 to the Kickstarter effort will also receive a copy of MULE Returns, a more direct port of the original game for iOS devices. Higher contribution levels will be rewarded, including early access to the beta and development forums, boxed physical editions, and more.
Word realms
launched: May 15, 2012
concludes: June 21, 2012
Current funding: $89,892 of the $100,000 goal
Kickstarter link
The world as a whole may not be crying out for more games in Popcap’s style Adventures of Bookworms, but I know I am. That’s why I was so excited to hear about the Kickstarter for it Word realmsanother game in the far too small genre of role-playing games-based-on-building-words-from-a-limited-set-of-letter-tiles-to-create-attacks.
Word realms comes from the creators of the tongue-in-cheek, lo-fi, web-based MMO Kingdom of disgust, and it seems aimed at capturing that game’s irreverent, twisted sense of humor. What started as a six-month side project was squeezed next to constant Col updates has now grown into a four-year work, as the game’s scope expanded to include more mini-games, storylines, and polishes.
That single-player version is almost ready to go, and a commitment of at least $11 will get you access to it for the general public. But the creators say they’re also using Kickstarter to prove there’s enough interest in the concept to warrant the work needed to turn the game into a full-fledged MMO. If they exceed their funding goals, they’ve also promised an iPad conversion and unspecified Easter eggs.
$11 will get you the game, but donating hundreds of dollars will allow you to design NPCs into the game, while a contribution of $3,737 or more will get you a trip to Arizona to meet the creators and play board games for a while.