The Kickstarter Thread

[Althernai]

The Consortium campaign is doing much better on Fig than it did on Kickstarter -- it has collected as much money in a few days as it had during the entirety of the failed Kickstarter.

[ShadySands]

The Consortium campaign is doing much better on Fig than it did on Kickstarter -- it has collected as much money in a few days as it had during the entirety of the failed Kickstarter.

127k in investments alone, nice!

[GhoulishVisage]

Here's a neat little game:

Empires of the Undergrowth

 

 

 

 

Empires of the Undergrowth is a simulation-style strategy game in which the player controls an ant colony.  Underground the ants excavate their nest, store food and grow in number. On the surface they claim territory, overwhelm insects and arachnids and clash with other colonies!

 

Definitely liking how Dungeon Keeperish the nest construction is looking.

[majestic]

Hopefully the campaign will be successful this time.

[Lexx]

This looks awesome... and extremely creepy.

Dropping the mobile part was a good choice, imo. I still can't believe anyone would really like to play such games on a tablet or phone.

 

/Edit: Still I think KS is done. Unless there is something that people are really hyped up over for years, you'll have a very hard time in succeeding.

Edited April 29, 2016 by Lexx

[apolloooo]

this game looks cool, played the demo and pretty impressed:

 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1892480689/insomnia-pc-max-linux

 

here is my impression of it:

 

 

okay, i tried the demo.

here is some impression:
the gameplay is action RPG, you control one character with WASD like usual. mouse button to attack, typical RPG inventory, looting and crafting system. it surprisingly works pretty well.

if you equip melee item, click LMB will attack, and ctrl to block. so far you can spam block with no timing effectiveness, but its really responsive

if you equip a gun, RMB will make a reticle and crosshair appear and RMB will shot. this works kinda like TPS, but with isometric view.

dialogue is pretty much your standard RPG dialogue with the dialogue box and responses. typically, there are 3-6 (can be more) responses you can choose. so far it is just question, but like fallout the character can have personality trough the dialogues.



stats: like fallout, there are several governing attributes:
STR
PER
END
CHA
DEX
INT

it seems these are levelled by skill points

there are also some skills:
-light weapons = small guns, pistol, etc
-one handed = small melee weapons
-two handed = two handed melee weapons
-rifle = rifles
-big guns = probably grenade launchers, minigungs, etc
-explosives
-survival
-armor
-medicines
-electronics
-rhetorics (kinda like speech or persuation)

i think these are leveled up by bethesda system where you use, you get exp in that part.

each skills is also a skill tree on its own, it's unlcear how you get the points to fill the skill tree, but it looks like this:

one handed consist of several branch:
-more damage
-heavy hits
-more critical change
-more effective blocking

and so on.

there is also traits, that exactly works like perks from fallout game.


Pros:
-great art direction and graphics in general. it felt like bioshock meets fallout. Unreal engine 4 is really good
-decent mechanics so far. it seems they kinda use elder scrolls levelling system where you use stuff and it will level up. shooting is really stat based i think, my aim early on is really a mess and the reticle is wide. guess its gonna improve when you have level up
-decent writing. nothing stands out too much, but it's tolerable at least. great interaction too. early, there's this annoying robot that constantly mocks you. you can hack him and turn him less offensive and obedient. it isn't gated by anything though. i hope they change for skill requirement.

cons:

-crashes after i leave the first map
-few bugs there and there

so far i think this has great potential, and great core mechanics. they just have to expand more, and give it interesting content and lore.

direct link to demo:

http://insomnia-project.com/demo/

[Oerwinde]

Here's a neat little game:

 

Empires of the Undergrowth

 

 

 

 

Empires of the Undergrowth is a simulation-style strategy game in which the player controls an ant colony. Underground the ants excavate their nest, store food and grow in number. On the surface they claim territory, overwhelm insects and arachnids and clash with other colonies!

Definitely liking how Dungeon Keeperish the nest construction is looking.

Sim Ant advanced!

[GhoulishVisage]

For fans of Tribes:

Midair by Archetype Studios

 

 

Edited May 6, 2016 by GhoulishVisage

[Leferd]

Copper Dreams just went live. Sci-Fi Espionage turn based RPG for the duo that made Serpents in the Staglands.

 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1649838104/copper-dreams?ref=thanks_tweet

[Hurlshort]

Looks a bit like Underrail.

[Leferd]

Heh. Kinda, huh?

 

Well, they delivered a good product on Sepents, --old school pixel art and all. So they built some equity.

[Sensuki]

Copper Dreams just went live. Sci-Fi Espionage turn based RPG for the duo that made Serpents in the Staglands.

 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1649838104/copper-dreams?ref=thanks_tweet

 

I'm an internal tester for this one so I can shed some info.

 

It's not like Underrail. It's a party-based RPG and the turn-based system is not a standard turn-based system. It has simultaneous real-time turn resolution and visually, it will look like RTwP with auto-pause. But it *is* turn-based because player (and enemy) input is limited and absolute. 

 

There are a few games out there with similar systems, such as Grandia however I don't think there is a game that has such a combat system in a non-abstract battlefield. The combat here will take place in the exploration world, whereas other games with a similar system (mostly jRPGs) take you to an abstracted Battlefield for combat.

 

The User Interface and controls for Copper Dreams should be a lot more up to date than Serpent in the Staglands. Whalenought still want to keep a few of the interface features old school but usability and accessibility should be much better. Most of the testing I've done so far has been on the controls, UI and camera and most recently on the combat feel.

 

The Z-axis movement is fun and will hopefully be a primary feature of gameplay and combat.

Edited May 14, 2016 by Sensuki

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Well I know what I'm backing now.

[Sensuki]

There should be a combat update tomorrow, FYI.

[Sensuki]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1649838104/copper-dreams/posts/1578885

 

 

We wanted to give a brief demonstration of combat mechanics, as this is a unique system to the CRPG world. We've had some questions on the basics, and while we'll continue to go over specific elements throughout the campaign this should act as a good starter to give you an idea of where we're headed with it. The premise is utilizing turn-based combat with simulated, timed actions. These actions can happen simultaneously, and create a more dynamic battlefield.

 

Below is a walkthrough of an encounter with a patrol guard:

 

[All animations and art are very much still a work in progress]

 

The Combat Bar

 

The core of the combat system is the combat bar, as pictured below. The combat bar shows you the players in combat and their place on the timeline.

 

 

Upon joining combat, everyone rolls initiative to see where they are placed on the timeline, and then progress downward. The timeline is moving until one of your characters hits the Turn Bar. The actions of enemies are instantaneously chosen and the timeline continues without a break.

When one of your characters land on the Turn Bar, the timeline stops and they can choose an action. Once selected, that action plays out and the combat bar timeline continues.

 

During the execution wait time, the length of which is dependent on your action, your character is prepping their action: aiming, re-balancing for a swing, or preparing to use an item. At the Execute Bar they fire off the action, and return to the top of the timeline and resume traveling down again. If more than one action is required (like multi-shot or suppressing fire), the character is held at the action bar until complete.

 

 

             Option to pause at the Execute Bar to see your hit chance and damage rolls

 

Any character on the timeline can be interrupted or stalled by suppressing fire, being hit, or even by getting bio-hacked. With simultaneous actions, there can be weapon draws to see who can get their shot off first, determined by speed and a weapon's action time.

 

When NPCs die, they leave behind a big flesh pile that's sure to raise suspicion. To diffuse this situation it's recommended you pick up up the body and throw it somewhere. A body can also be used as a good decoy, or a perfectly acceptable d8 blunt damage roll by heaving it into enemies.

 

 

 

Gravity

 

Throwing an item instantiates its own icon in the combat bar, and the time it travels is pre-determined by the trajectory of the throw distance. Thrown items use physics, and with a good bounced throw you can get items around corners or onto rooftops.

 

Aiming a throw is a roll. You select a trajectory point, and how close you get to that point is determined by rolling for accuracy. You'll rarely get right on target, but instead a random point if you miss. Higher the roll, the more close to the target. This means trying to lob a grenade through a small window or crevice is more risky than over a fence, and a bad roll might result in your grenade bouncing and landing at your feet instead.

 

You can optionally stop the timeline again as you are performing an action to see the rolls at play. This allows you to get the exact look at what's being determined behind the scenes, and what would normally be too much information to place in the timeline.

 

We'll be having an in-depth interview about the merits of this combat system in the near future that we'll be posting as an update, so if you'd like to hear more about that stay tuned!

 

Simulationist Dice Rolling

 

Copper Dreams and The Burning Candle is a more simulationist ruleset — it's about exploration and exploring these mechanics in systems in ways that are supposed to fundamentally make sense. Unloading a full mag into someone at point blank or dropping a missile on them should be an instant kill save a bad hit roll. The dice are meant to emulate the randomness of human action, and your character's skill is simply trying to overcome that.

 

Weapons themselves have a wide variety of factors that determine their uses, some of these exaggerated to make a more compelling array of choices. A shotgun for instance has very poor accuracy for more than 4 tiles away, as it only gives you a d8 to roll to hit, but works marvelously as a use for suppressing fire.

Suppressing fire targets a cone, and anyone in that cone rolls Mental Stability or gets delayed on the combat bar. A weapon has a suppressing fire number that not only determines the roll, but also the length they are delayed. A powerful shotgun blast can keep even hardened militants at bay, giving time to flank or other party members time to prepare.

 

There are lots of item stats that determine functionality — multi-shot actions are affected by a weapon's recoil, which degrades the to-hit roll after the first shot. The list goes on.

 

 

                                                        Suppressing fire cone

 

Challenge Roll

 

The ways you are rolling to hit are determined by a largely static Challenge Roll (CR) number to get over that is comprised of environmental and opponent's skill factors.

 

 

Each of these have a small, usually single digit value that added together make up a Challenge Roll to beat. Distance is the predominant one for firearms of course, while melee is going to be more concerned with block or dodge.

 

Rolls toward a Challenge Roll

 

There are two ways characters can dynamically roll against an attack to be added to the CR, and that's for melee combatants using block and dodge (extensive XP training and stat numbers would be needed for dodging projectiles). Unless trained otherwise, a character can only block one incoming attack at a time, so these would be negated by any further attacks if they are happening simultaneously.

 

Dodge is stat and skill related, and very useful against slower melee attacks.

 

Blocking is determined by a defending character's weapon block number (a pool of d4) and a blocking skill which can be trained. A character who doesn't have a melee weapon equipped cannot block, so if you're in range of someone with a firearm equipped that's easy prey.

 

The culmination of all this should be that success is determined by a player using logical tactics that are appropriate for a situation, not gauging enemy stats or levels. With this system, a lowly ruffian with a grenade is as threatening as a Copper Face with a grenade.

 

How we make enemies more lethal, and how we scale your lethality, is in broadening your skills and item uses with training, as well as giving enemies more sneaky and predatory AI, making them work together, and giving them abilities that take more than lead to put down. But that's for another update!

Edited May 18, 2016 by Sensuki

[Wrath of Dagon]

Insomnia Kickstarter has 5 days left. It's a very cool looking RPG set on a giant space ship. They still need a little more money to meet their goal, so pitch in if you can. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1892480689/insomnia-pc-max-linux/

[Labadal]

Insomnia Kickstarter has 5 days left. It's a very cool looking RPG set on a giant space ship. They still need a little more money to meet their goal, so pitch in if you can. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1892480689/insomnia-pc-max-linux/

They don't deserve to get funded, imo. Look at their first campaign.

[Wrath of Dagon]

 

Insomnia Kickstarter has 5 days left. It's a very cool looking RPG set on a giant space ship. They still need a little more money to meet their goal, so pitch in if you can. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1892480689/insomnia-pc-max-linux/

They don't deserve to get funded, imo. Look at their first campaign.

 

You mean asking for more money? It's not easy to make a game like that. You have to take chances and try to make it on a shoe string. The fact that they got a playable prologue tells me they actually did work on the game. Problem with Kickstarter if you ask for a lot and don't make your goal, you get nothing, so they game would be dead. So you have to ask for what you think you can get, and hope to manage somehow.

[Labadal]

 

 

Insomnia Kickstarter has 5 days left. It's a very cool looking RPG set on a giant space ship. They still need a little more money to meet their goal, so pitch in if you can. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1892480689/insomnia-pc-max-linux/

They don't deserve to get funded, imo. Look at their first campaign.

You mean asking for more money? It's not easy to make a game like that. You have to take chances and try to make it on a shoe string. The fact that they got a playable prologue tells me they actually did work on the game. Problem with Kickstarter if you ask for a lot and don't make your goal, you get nothing, so they game would be dead. So you have to ask for what you think you can get, and hope to manage somehow.

Look at the first pitch and look at their game now. I would have been less than pleased if I backed something and then got something entirely different.

[Wrath of Dagon]

What's changed? I haven't noticed.

 

Edit: OK, it looks like in 2013 they were trying to make an on-line game, but in 2014 Kickstarter it seems to be single player, so far as I can tell and remember.

Edited May 25, 2016 by Wrath of Dagon

[Labadal]

One was a real-time-with-pause game with a high camera angle. One is a third person action rpg.

[Sensuki]

Nice Copper Dreams update including Stealth Systems detail and Experience system detail: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1649838104/copper-dreams/posts/1591538

 

Also a cool updated character art gif

 

[daveyd]

I don't know why Copper Dreams isn't funded yet... Is the retro graphics turning people off?  

 

Obviously they're not getting enough media attention but they still have almost 400 fewer backers for this than Serpent in the Staglands ended up with.  I hope there's lots of people set up for email reminders who will pledge in the final two days.  

 

Perhaps the upcoming appearance on Matt Chat will help, too.  

[ShadySands]

I just backed it but it doesn't really speak to me for some reason. Luckily this fool and his money are easily parted

[Orogun01]

Nice Copper Dreams update including Stealth Systems detail and Experience system detail: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1649838104/copper-dreams/posts/1591538

 

Also a cool updated character art gif

 

snip

I hate that feminist and SJW have made me think that any exposure to black and female characters is far leftist propaganda. Even should it be a heartfelt and honest action....that said she is both female and black and later we will probably learn that she's also disable or some such. Someone should really come up with a SJW checklist for character traits.