Back to Back: indie RPGs to fund

Hello, faithful indie RPG fans! We’re back from holiday break and ready to start spreading the word on up-and-coming RPGs by small independent developers. I’m trying to put more time into developing Telepath Tactics, so updates may not be quite as frequent as they were before, but I’ll definitely be updating the site at least once a week from this point onward.

Now! We left 2013 on a bit of a cliffhanger. How did all of our Kickstarter projects do?

As expected, December was a brutal month for most of them. The casualties: Astral Terra, Astrobase Command, Fall of the Republic: The World After, Fight the Dragon, Heroes of Issachar, and LaQuisha’s Odyssey. The survivors: Lisa the Painful RPG, Mansion Lord, My Little Dictator, and Starship Tranquility. (I’m just going to go ahead and say that it’s a coincidence that all of the failed projects come alphabetically before the successes.)

Meanwhile, January is off to a slow start. There are a bunch of new projects on Kickstarter right now, but a loooooot of them seem kinda like their creators’ first games. I dunno; maybe I’m wrong. Have a look and decide for yourself:

• Dead Century — This is the one project we mentioned last time that has yet to complete. I may have been a little hasty with my prognostications in the last Back to Back; 5 days remain, and it has raised a little over $11,000 out of its $95,000 goal.

• Framed Wings — A 2D Zelda-alike made in RPG Maker VX, complete with default graphics. It has 24 days to reach its £1,900 goal.

• Kingdom Caligula — I can tell you absolutely nothing about this game other than the fact that it will have turn-based battles and tell the story of Roman Emperor Caligula. That concept actually sounds interesting, so I’m a bit put off by the lack of concrete details concerning game mechanics, engine, etc. I’m also concerned that the developer is asking for only $650 to cover “the art, voice overs, data fees and everything else needed for the game.” (Seriously, $650 wouldn’t even cover concept art for an RPG, let alone the game’s entire art budget plus voice acting.)

• Knight’s Destiny — This one has a pitch video with some rather nice concept art and music, but it shows no gameplay whatsoever and tells me absolutely nothing about the game. Based on the game’s purported inspirations (the Legend of Zelda and Diablo), I can only assume that it’s going to be an action RPG. Beyond that, I know only that it’s a dungeon delver with 100 levels and top-down 2D graphics. It asks for a mere $4,000, so there’s a chance it’ll pull through.

• The Meridian Shard — This appears to be a jRPG with pre-rendered 3D environments and a dark, wRPG-style setting and story. The presentation is a bit rough, but it has plenty of time to reach its relatively small goal of $6,500 CAD.

There are more games in this vein: vague delivery or rough presentation combined with very low funding goals. I’ve now run out of motivation to keep posting them. Why not check out the ones above and see if there’s something you think is worth boosting?