Things that Make you Want to Fund

Greetings!

It is another Monday morning here in the center of the US and another day of zany weather. Cold and clear currently after last week's 70 degree days. It's no wonder I came down with a nasty cold that pretty much had me laying in bed all weekend. I am back up and feeling better though and ready to let you guys know what I found on Kickstarter that seems to be interesting.

In this week's installment I moved a little bit away from just games and am beginning to explore the gaming paraphernalia like plans for folding gaming table, miniature war game scenery and a new game. So, without further adieu, let's get to it!

The New

Inceptor

Join the Dream

The Game of Your Dreams - FUNDED! - 17 Days to Go

Four years ago a movie hit the screens called Inception. Featuring Leonardo DiCapprio in the lead role it was about a crew of individuals who were thieves in the most unexpected sense. They would break into people's subconscious and steal thoughts, ideas, blueprints and any thing else that that unknown part of the brain can hold. The majority of the plot revolved around an idea called Inception. This idea had the mind thieves planting an idea, not stealing or taking an idea. This was a difficult and often impossible task as the idea would need to seem natural to the target, as if they were the one that came up with it. Inceptor is a game where you get to play this type of scenario out.

In the game you have to move from dream level to dream level attempting to meet the goals of your mission by accruing a certain number of cards in the following categories:

Architect: a detailed, realistic environment must be created

Forger: authentic characters need to be involved

Extractor: secret information has to be retrieved

Inception: the main idea must be carried out completely

While you are going about trying to fulfill your goals in these categories you may be attacked by the mark's mind as it becomes aware of your attempted manipulations. Finally, once your goal is complete you have a limited amount of time to return to the first dream level for the Final Kick, or the time when you wake up. If you fail, you may be sent into limbo, something akin to a Coma thus severely reducing your victory point total.

I was a fan of the movie and this game seems as though it will capture that same kind of mind-bending dream running atmosphere quite nicely.

6mm Sci Fi Wargaming Buildings

Multi-part resin models - FUNDED! - 16 Days to Go

I am a fan of playing miniature wargames and possibly an even bigger fan of good quality wargames scenery. These models that will be created by Wasteland Game Studio look absolutely stunning. The Gothic details and variety of structures present in this kickstarter is absolutely awesome. The only draw backs that I can see are that they are all resin, which can be brittle or lose detail at times and that they are scaled for 6mm figures. I am not sure if I know of any 6mm sci fi games off the top of my head but having these buildings in the collection just to show off and paint would be pretty worthwhile as well.

Folding Game Table

Folding game table for general gaming - FUNDED! - 29 Days to Go

I don't know about you guys but I am always looked for a way to increase my gaming real estate in ways that don't sacrifice my house floor plan. Enter this beauty. It is a folding table that can roll to an out of the way location. The table folds up, like an old school chalk board so that its floor profile is reduced to a minimum and also allows you to post campaign maps and things on it. The cost for the plans is only 15 bucks and then you too can have one of these fancy tables. I think that it could well be worth it.

The Old

Here is the status of the games and things that I have mentioned before in this crowd funding series. For more information on these, please refer back to one of the older posts.

London 1888 - 7,003 of 20,000 - 8 Days to Go

Totally Medieval - 845 of 5,500 - 40 Days to Go

Game Devloperz - FUNDED! - 11 Days to Go

Counterblast - FUNDED! - Kickstarter closed. This will fall off of the list next week. Those that backed, congrats!

Guild Ball - FUNDED! - Kickstarter closed. This will fall off of the list next week. Those that backed, congrats!

Dulega - 5,229 of 10,000 - 4 days to Go

Cave Escape - FUNDED! - 5 Days to Go

King's Favor - 3,993 of 40,000 - 5 Days to Go

Baseball Highlights 2045 - FUNDED! - 10 Days to Go

Epic Resort - FUNDED! - 13 Days to Go

Kingdom Bots - 10,275 of 60,000 - 10 Days to Go

Crone - FUNDED! - 20 Days to Go

The End

Welp, that wraps things up for this week's edition of the Crowdfunding info. We'll see what the coming week brings as we move forward.

Thanks and take care!

The Crowd Source Mania Continues

Greetings!

Here we are back at Monday after what I hope was a relaxing weekend for all. Now that we are back to the grind, let's see what we can do to alleviate that gaming itch while we are all at our 9-5. What follows is another sampling of some games that look interesting on Kickstarter. I will also pass along updates each week on the campaigns mentioned in previous weeks. So, without further adieu, the Kickstarter campaigns for this week.

Greed 

Gang Themed Card Drafting Game - 22,938 of 5,000 dollars - 4 days to go



Greed is a card drafting game set during the late 1960's in the height of the counter culture movement. In it your role is that of a mob boss looking to take over the entire city. The other players are rival mob bosses. You must look to invest in legal businesses to make additional money but can't be afraid to unleash your thugs on those that would try to thwart you. During play you draft actions such as theft etc, thugs which are assets that generate regular income and can be used as muscle and holdings which are legitimate business holdings that also generate regular income. However other players can attack your holdings in an attempt to take them over. The winner is the one with the most money at the end of the game. If you like the theme, jump on this one quick as it only has a few days left.

London 1888

Historical Turn Based Horror Game - 5,774 of 20,000 pounds - 22 days to go

This is a game that was originally printed in French and became a best seller in France in 2005. This Kickstarter is aiming to produce an English translated version of the game with updated rules and additional components. In it, you play a character that is investigating the murders that occurred in 1888 London. This is the time that Jack the Ripper that ran rampant and Scotland Yard was baffled. It seems as though this game is something like Clue on steroids mixed with Fury of Dracula. Needless to say, loving both of these games and being a history nut, this one appeals to me quite a bit.

Totally Medieval

Fantasy Themed Card Game for Kids - 600 of 5,500 dollars - 54 days to go

I put this game on here because of the story. So Ethan, this 5 year old kid, loves Knights and Dragons and math. So, his father, being the excellent dad that he sounds like, began making him a game based on these principals. You have Knights and Dragons of various strengths and it seems like the Dragons are not revealed at the beginning of the game. When they fight, the winner is the one with the most strength i.e.  the highest number. Also, there is mention of Clerics, Wizards etc so there may be some basic addition as you add up the strength of your adventuring party. Either way, this game would be awesome for the kiddos and has an excellent theme about it.

Game Developerz

Games Industry Card Game - 16,277 of 8,000 pounds - 25 days to go

In this game you take on the role of a video game studio CEO. The company that you choose to work for will provide you a special ability and a base source of income. From there, you hire your team of crack programmers, artists, marketing folks and game designers in a quest to create the greatest video game ever! Along the way you will need to play business development cards which seem like actions suited to messing up the other players and determine which features your game will have giving you the goals you will need in programming, art, marketing and game design. Random event cards will occur and can pose a serious threat to all of your careful planning forcing you to be on your toes as the game progresses. Special events will lend prestige to your project and the company who scores the most Beta Points, through completed features, spectacular reviews etc, will be declared the best Game Developer!

Previous Mentions

Counterblast - Science Fiction Medieval Wargame - FUNDED! - 11 Days to Go

Guildball - Medieval Football Game - FUNDED! - 12 Days to Go

Duelga - Martial Arts Themed Dueling Card Game - 3.750 of 10,000 dollars - 19 Days to Go

Cave Escape - Push Your Luck Dice Game - FUNDED! - 19 Days to Go

King's Favor - Card Based Intrigue Game - 3,691 of 40,000 - 19 Days to Go

5 Games that Would Be Worth Backing!

Greetings!

I spent the better part of a few hours the other day scouring over Kickstarter wondering what kind of games where out there. I have only backed one project, Zpocalypse, and I found it to be quite rewarding. Knowing that your money is going to indie game developers is a pretty good feeling and it certainly does allow games that would not be deemed profitable enough by larger publishers to see the light of day.

During my search I managed to find 5 games that I am seriously considering backing. I tried to find games that used different types of mechanics as well as different themes but I still ended up with two minis games. Alas! The plight of a wargammer. I will list them below with a blurb about each. Directly underneath the name of the game, which will be linked to the actual Kickstarter page, will be the "vitals" i.e. the game type, the funds raised displayed as "x of x" and the number of days left until the project is funded or scrapped. Let me know what you think!

Counterblast

Science Fiction Miniature Wargame - 27,176 of 15,000 dollars - 18 Days to go.

Counterblast is a pulpy science fiction wargame. This is not the hard, gritty future of Warhammer 40k but something along the lines of Twilight Imperium and Buck Rogers. The forces are comprised of Cthulu looking aliens, crazy alien shark dudes, robots that are probably a result of Skynet, the trader race from Twilight Imperium and Marvin the Martian. The creators of the game have managed to pull most every iconic figure type into the game and while I have yet to read the free online rules they offer, having the opportunity to paint these models and put them on a gaming table to fire random laser blasts that turn people into insta-ash may override all rules concerns that could crop up.

Hello Twiarnet Sharkigulu.

Guild Ball 

Medieval Football (read Soccer in America) Game - 57,805 of 30,000 pounds - 19 Days to go.

Does anyone remember playing Blood Bowl back in the day? Having your Dwarf running team slam into an Orc line backer and jab him while he's down? When I read this, I thought of Blood Bowl, but with my figures playing soccer instead. Some key differences though are that the factions are all humans, no fantasy influence out in the open hear, they are playing soccer so no passed the ball with your hands and the minis look considerably better than Blood Bowl. In fact, this one may get actual attention unlike the beloved Bowl which is wasting away within the bowels of Games Workshops "specialist game" trash can. Pic of a figure is below.

This fisherman means business.

Also the factions are based on Guilds within the various Medieval towns so you have your everyday Fisherman, Brewers, Butchers, Morticians and Masons taking on each other it what promises to be a good ole sports themed head bashing game. Check it out!

Duelga

Martial Arts Themed Dueling Card Game - 2,786 of 10,000 dollars - 25 Days to go.

Ever wonder what Soul Calibur would look like as a card game? Look no further because I believe that I have found it. While the prototype cards don't look to be as lavish as Soul Calibur's graphics, the content seems to be similar. Each player gets a martial artist of their choice, a style and a weapon. Then you build a 20 card deck to act as your maneuvers. When play begins you begin moving your cards around your opponent, literally, trying to get to a weaker point to launch your offensive attacks. Each player does this with different styles and weapons having different effects. You can also play multi-player matches as well, something that isn't possible in Soul Calibur. Ready to face off in an epic melee like the Sharks and the Jets?! I am. Don't forget to snap.

Pics of 2 of the Martial Artists.

Cave Escape

Push Your Luck Dice Game - 1,588 of 1,000 dollars - 26 Days to go.

I always like the idea of PYLDG, the modern acronym, coined just now by me, for Push Your Luck Dice Games. In these style of games you roll dice choosing to keep certain things and continuing to roll knowing that at any moment the dice could turn against you and force you to lose everything. Zombie Dice is another game that uses this mechanic. These games are easy to learn and fun to play.

In this version of the PYLDG mechanic, you play a group of Archaeologists (I call Indiana Jones) who have descended into a tunnel in the ground to rob....er....catalog some ancient artifacts. There's only one problem though. The tunnel begins to collapse and the top is only big enough for a single person to fit through. Thus begins a mad, vertical dash up the shaft to get to the top. Oh, and don't forget to commit murder by making sure your friends don't make it out alive!

Good looking components and neat dice.

King's Favor

Card Based Intrigue Game - 3,437 of 40,000 dollars - 25 Days to go.

The King is dying and he has no remaining air. In this power vacuum wait four noble houses and three powerful guilds. The players take on a personality with two conflicting loyalties, one to your house and the other to your guild. You must use both to attain victory and become the dying King's heir.

I brought this game forth because it can support up to 12 players which is pretty awesome considering that most games max a six or so. This game also seems to provide quite a lot of depth despite being a pretty simple looking game meaning that you can teach it to a bunch of friends fairly quickly and be off and playing in no time. That and I like games where you get to "cooperate" with other players and secretly scheme against them.

Game components in full color.

So, in short, I highly encourage all of you to go out and check out these games. In next week's installation of crowd funded games I will present 5 more as well as updates on these.

Thanks for reading!!

Wednesday Morning News Reel

Morning All!

 I have compiled a few articles to kick this Wednesday morning in board gaming off in the right way!

Digital Moves to the Board

 For those that are like me and absolutely loved Mega Man as a child, and perhaps even to this day but have moved on from playing Nintendo or haven't but are looking for something to help freshen up the Mega Man twitch, look no further! Mega Man is being put out as a board game! I thought about kickstarting this when it was doing its initial funding but decided against it due to limited funds at the time. Luckily, the company is now taking pre-orders. So, if you need to itch the Mega Man itch, here is a way to do it.

Mega Man Board Game

In this same category are several other video games that are being transitioned to board games by Cryptozoic. This particular article is the news announcement of the Portal game's board game rendition. It also mentions that Assassin's creed will be made into a board game as well. Both should prove to be interesting but I was a little saddened to hear that a portal gun that defies the laws of physics wouldn't be included.

Cryptozoic Announces Portal Board Game

Restaurants Embrace Less Than Traditional Board Games

Lately there seems to be a growing movement by some businesses, mainly food places, to incorporate board games into the menu. What follows are several locations, one in the US and the rest in Vancouver, where the proprietors are either offering a discount on your food if you bring your games in to play or are providing the patrons with games to play during their meals. I think this is an excellent business idea and hope that some savvy entrepreneur opens one of these up near my home soon.

The Lamp Post Cafe 

Metro Vancouver Bars

Instant Kickstarter Success!

It's not very often that a game on Kickstarter comes out and blows their goal away in an hour or less. It's only happened a hand full of times before Arcadia Quest did it again. I think that Kickstarter makes it easier for indie developers to get their games to the public allowing a greater variety of games to enter the market. Some of them are not so good while others are excellent titles. I will be following this one on Kickstarter not only because of the massive success so far, thus guaranteeing its release, but also because it looks like a genuinely awesome game!

Arcadia Quest Breaks Kickstarter Goal in 1 Hour

Let me know your thoughts on these articles in the comments below and, as always, thanks for reading!