Another Day Another Kickstarter I Want: Sui Generis

Each Kickstarters gotta have a gimmick right? Well this one's "Gimmick" gets a pass. Sui Generis is an open world isometric rpg with *drum roll* actual working physics. Unlike the old standbys using the Infinity engine or something similar this one allows to you to affect the environments around you. Break tables and what not. Anyway pitch and links below.

Sui Generis

ABOUT THE GAME

Originally inspired by our belief that we could do almost anything, we let our imaginations run free. What would be your idea of the ultimate role-playing experience if you weren't aware of any limits? That's what we've been asking ourselves for many years and Sui Generis is the culmination of our ideas.

Sui Generis is set in a dark, hostile mediaeval world pervaded by intrigue and treachery. A completely original work evolved over many years, the Sui Generis universe is the product of many rare moments of inspiration. It encompasses a vast and rich history spanning aeons and galaxies, not as vague mythology but actual chains of events leading to the current situation. In Sui Generis you will get a sense that everything is connected and exists for a reason. You won't just be fed the history in a cutscene or book and you may never know the full story. We believe that piecing together elusive clues will be of huge entertainment value.

WHY WE NEED YOUR HELP

We are a small team of 5 people who have been working in their spare time whenever possible. We are scattered across different cities and even countries. We started work on the game just over a year ago and it's been a difficult journey but we've reached the point where we are able to make it. To complete the game we need to all work full time and together as a team.

We didn't know about Kickstarter until recently. We did know, however, that we would need to raise money in order to complete our game. We have always taken a great interest in crowd funding and believe that gamers will be able to appreciate what we are trying to do. Investors are unlikely to share our aims and their involvement could have a negative impact on our game. We also dislike some of the business practices adopted by the games industry in recent years. We want to stick with a simple approach that we consider honest and let the quality of our product determine it's success. We believe that making games should be a craft, not a business.

When we discovered Kickstarter we thought it was a perfect fit for our project. We hope that you agree, that you will share some of our excitement and help us see this adventure through to its conclusion. Give us this opportunity and we will prove our mettle.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1473965863/sui-generis

GameGear score at Goodwill

I generally avoid Thiftstore and GoodWill in particular because it's almost always so much junk, but one of the nice parts about living in remote Montana is most people don't like dealing with ebay, understand craigslist(it's huge in louisville), or know what stuff is worth. Because of that Goodwill and Pawnshops are goodmines for videogame enthusiasts. This week I found a Dreamcast Concept 4 race wheel in the box for $2 and this big set of Gamegear stuff for maybe $20. Pics below. I know this stuff isn't for everybody but I'm pretty bad videogame nostalgic.  

A Matter Of Demographics: Success Over Ingenuity

                                 Is success worth disregarding good ideas?

I've been tied up playing three games this week. Resident Evil 6, Borderlands 2 and E.Y.E Divine Cybermancy. It occurred to me that these games represent the developmental extremes I've been seeing of late.

Oh how the mighty have fallen. I love Resident Evil. Let me correct that. I loved Resident Evil. I didn't buy this game. My roommate did. God help me he bought two copies for us to play. I didn't realize someone could hate me that much. It's awful. So far removed from what made Resident Evil popular that myself and many others are forced to ask: Why in the hell is this called Resident Evil? It's literally a quicktime event action brawler with Zombies though it's worth noting at this point in the campaign my roommate and I are in an underground temple fighting..mummies? Like I said, it's not Resident Evil.

Resident Evil 6 is the great experiment in trying to please EVERYONE! - Gary Oldman. It has everything. Puzzles, Shooting, Brawling, Leveling and a monstrious amount of quicktime events. Co-op quicktime events. I long ago lost count of how many times we had to complete an action together at just the right time. It's fun with a friend but I'd never play it by myself. It's not very interesting or even exciting really. Just a co-op rhythm game with zombies. Strike that. Monsters. Zombies have been downplayed in this one. Too niche.

Borderlands 2 has really refined everything from the original. Smoother, prettier, co-opier. So why don't I really like it? Well honestly it's kinda boring. Accept sometimes charming sometimes campy quest, shoot things, collect guns, sort guns, complete quest, rinse, repeat.

The gameplay is so simplistic I can not bring myself to play it by myself. I can't even play with other people for long stretches. It's just not that enticing. It's addictive, but not really any more so than grinding out your life in an MMO. The bigger badder plot of this one is lost on me. It really doesn't feel like it's grown any since the first. I feel like they were really afraid to take any risks with this one. Gearbox seems like they had their hands full making solid gameplay and any ideas for a broader story had to be edited for time. I suspect By the time I finish BL2 I'll have forgotten most of it and hopefully have forgotten how much I paid for it.

EYE is a weird broken little mess and has really managed to grow on me. EYE is everything that borderlands and RE6 are not. It's a game about strategy and choices. there's no hand holding. In fact the game is kind of dickish in that sense. Missing objectives I thought were bugs were actually just the game making you get off your mental ass and go figure it out. Why would a quest to find something have a map marker?(I'm looking at you borderlands.)

To put the complexity of choice in perspective borderlands has a screen of about 3-6 stat perks to choose from. When you gain a level you get "1" point to place in one of those stat perks. The choice is so negligible you might as well flip a coin and move on. There's a "ballizion guns", but in my most recent play last night as I'm moving through quest after quest I just flipped through whatever guns I picked up. The gimmick of managing guns gets old fast after your 4500th pick up. It's almost demeaning like Gearbox has turned us all into cart pushing gun hobos.

In EYE you have three stats screens. A character screen where you apply points you gain at each level mark to 8 or so stats that affect your character like strength and endurance. A cybernetics screen where you use money to upgrade the titanium plates around your skull, add a firewall to your cerebellum, install a plated ribcage  and a plethora of other crazy crap. The last upgrade screen involves paying scientists to investigate technology upgrades for you based on items you find in the field. This happens realtime as you are completing missions. I recently acquired strength enhancing finger couplers for example another was a cyberbrain template for keeping my mental balance from breaking down in extreme firefights.

The problem with EYE is that it's made by a bunch of nobodies with nothing to lose. They put together a game with so much complexity it's like wading through mud figuring it all out. There's bugs too. Infinitely spawning enemies and other weirdness. It's a tough game. the learning curve is almost too deep.

                                                         
Resident Evil 6 and Borderlands 2 are selling great based on the success of their predecessors and their extreme fear of doing anything detrimental to the brand. In trying to please their demographics they didn't try a single new thing. Each in it's own way put the previous game in a bag, shook it up and put it right back on the shelf. It's a shame they chose the safe way to ensure the investors get paid. I wish EYE had a budget and a team to give it the fine touches of the other two, but to get that it would have had to give up all the complexity that keeps me trudging past the bugs and the shear engine age of the game.

I can't speak for Borderlands 2 but there's a whole lot of "never again" buzz going around in-regards to Resident Evil 6. I suspect they've finally pushed past the patience and forgiving nature of survival horror fans.

*EYE is getting a full review hopefully by Monday. Damn thing is taking a while to finish. I'd review Resident Evil 6 and Borderlands 2 in depth, but that would require depth.

Shadowgate Kickstarter!

The creators of Shadowgate are developing a new, epic version of the first-person fantasy adventure smash hit. Help make it happen!

We are proud to announce that we are creating a new Shadowgate! While we published the original game on over ten different platforms, this Shadowgateis NOT A PORT. It's a re-imagining that includes a lot of new features, exciting updates and ingenious additions that will add even more to the mythology and expand upon the original story of our fantasy classic. This is the Shadowgate that we always wanted to make and we are thrilled that we have the opportunity to capture the unique excitement of the original while expanding on the world and mythos like never before. And if you've never played a first-person adventure title, this is the one to start with!

Check it out below!!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zojoi/shadowgate 

Kickstarter Reaching The Point of Diminishing Returns On Indie Games?

Another CrowdFunded game bit the dust this week. Nexus 2 while having an interest premise fell short of the needed funds and the staff at Most wanted Ent. are now forced to reorganize and rethink their approach to getting Nexus 2 made. After this and Shakers recent kickstarter failure I can't help but wonder if kickstarter is reaching the point of diminishing returns for the indie game genre. I think the answer is actually not that far off from the rest of the industry. Kickstarting games is now a business, however instead of presenting your game to publishers you're now at the mercy of gamers with spare change. Surprisingly gamers are not that hard a sell compared to big publishers. Gamers don't need to make a profit. If the game gets made at all it's a solid investment for them. So why are these games starting to fail? Doublefine Adventure, Wasteland 2 and Shadow Run Returns crushed it Kickstarter as well as several other small projects like Paper Sorcerer and Faster than Light. Well when selling any non or not yet tangible product it's all in the pitch and flesh pressing. Frankly I'd never even heard of Nexus 2 until it failed. You just can't put a product on the table and walk away. You have to run it like it is a Campaign. You have to convince people that their money should be spent on you. If two guys walk into a bar and one asked politely for a beer and the other juggles flaming chainsaws who do you think is gonna get that free beer?

Tim, Brian and Jordan walked in like your best friends you hadn't seen in years. They made sunshine on many rainy days. how could you not buy them a beer? They didn't even need to ask. They told great stories and sold you on a night to remember. After that they were at every bar making every night a party(expos) until you couldn't help but miss them the minute they were out of the room. These were industry veterans with resumes a mile long and plans all laid out in their kickstarters. You knew what you were getting and when.

Even the small projects are getting pushed through just fine, but the difference is knowing when you're on unsteady ground. FTL and Paper sorcerer were funded because A. They had a game in hand, an unfinished one, but a game to show none the less, B. They didn't shoot for the moon. Small budgets with clear definition on where the money would go and C. They pressed the flesh, conversing with any media outlet and bystander who would listen.

I was really sad to see the Armada Online Kickstarter fail miserably. I gave them $30 bones without question because I'm a massive fan, but then I watched the video and read the details. It was almost like they phoned it in. Like they didn't even care. There was almost no clarity on why they needed funding for a game that was already functional(I've played it, it's good.) It bothered me enough that I emailed them and politely (trust me I hold these guys in awe.) made suggestions that might help them get funded. I was ignored. I also noticed they didn't seem to be talking to the funders or media outlets. Well of course it failed. No surprise there.

Why did Shaker fail? Well for a number of reasons.

1. A million dollars minimum for game without a name or so much as concept art?  Really?
2. Old School RPG? Whats that? Well they really don't tell you. "Not modern" is all they say.
3. So what's it like? Who knows. They don't even give you a vague definition until around the 3rd update.

The list goes on...

Ultimately they started putting together an idea for a fairly interesting scifi game though oddly all the concept art looked like standard D&D stuff. Despite their claim to fame Wizardy being in my top 10 of all time I didn't end up helping fund the project because I didn't really know if this was even going to be like Wizardry. and admittedly by the time they got moving on it I, like many others, had lost the frenzy that a campaign has to hold you in all the way to the end (Sorry I'm a stupid consumer.) I funded PS because it "was" wizardry and because I knew it would get funded. I was buying a game I wanted.

The truth is I didn't follow Nexus 2 because I didn't even notice it. Didn't hit my radar and if it did it wasn't memorable enough to stay there. It looks good, already published by a successful team, the Kickstarter is well presented, it's pricey but not too pricey. So why did I see it? I don't know, but that's something I think Most Wanted Ent should seriously ask themselves in their next campaign.

The more I think about it I don't think it's a fading fad. I think its problem of organization and goals.


Oo theres a shadowgate kickstarter!

Because Game Journalists Are Shills

I'm sharing this out but I don't have much to add. It puts into words one of the reasons I'm running this blog. Frankly I'm sick of hearing about Assassins creed and Halo. Anyway check it out below.

The Sad State of Games Media: Robert Florence Out of Job After Saying What Needed To Be Said

It’s been an eventful week in gaming, and sadly not because of any great game releases. It’s been eventful because of something that you probably haven’t read about since it hasn’t been covered by any of the big gaming sites. It has to do with games journalism and ethics (or a lack thereof).

(click the link below for the full story @ Vortexeffect Via QBZ HOCP)


http://vortexeffect.net/2012/10/26/the-sad-state-of-games-media-robert-florence-out-of-job-after-saying-what-needed-to-be-said/#more-9183

Star Citizen funded with 24 days to go

Star Citizen funded with 24 days to go

I'm a huge fan of anything involving space exploration so it was exciting for me personally to see Star Citizen has been funded today. Even better it still has 24 days to go. They've reached the 2 million needed to fund the game using a combination of kickstarter and their homepage campaign. You can find more information on it below as well as a link to the kickstarter if you're interested in being a part of the project.

 

Reclaim the stars in the exciting new Space Epic from legendary game designer Chris Roberts.

Ask not what your genre can do for you, but what you can do for your favorite genre.

Let’s put high-end PC gaming and Space Sims back on the map!

Star Citizen brings the visceral action of piloting interstellar craft through combat and exploration to a new generation of gamers at a level of fidelity never before seen. At its core Star Citizen is a destination, not a one-off story. It’s a complete universe where any number of adventures can take place, allowing players to decide their own game experience. Pick up jobs as a smuggler, pirate, merchant, bounty hunter, or enlist as a pilot, protecting the borders from outside threats. I’ve always wanted to create one cohesive universe that encompasses everything that made Wing Commander and Privateer / Freelancer special. A huge sandbox with a complex and deep lore allowing players to explore or play in whatever capacity they wish.

Single Player – Offline or Online

(Drop in / Drop out co-op play)

Persistent Universe (hosted by US)

Mod-able multiplayer (hosted by YOU)

No Subscriptions

No Pay to Win

Here’s the deal. We’re doing crowdfunding on our own website (you’re here), and we’re doing it on Kickstarter (over here). We won’t be syncing up the numbers until after Kickstarter reaches 100%.

For more information, there’s a lot to read down below, and there’s our ‘living document’ The Star Citizen Project you can comb through also.

More updates are coming soon, and we sincerely appreciate your support!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cig/star-citizen

http://www.robertsspaceindustries.com/star-citizen/