Getting Started

By: Derek Yu

On: March 19th, 2012

Double Fine’s adventure game Kickstarter (ended) and inXile’s Wasteland 2 Kickstarter (ongoing) have both been huge successes, raising nearly five million dollars between the two of them (congratulations!). On the heels of these high-profile campaigns, I’d like to mention a few smaller ‘starters that sound interesting to me.

CraftStudio – Described as a “game to make games”, CraftStudio is a collaborative design environment that will let you build your own games and movies using a number of intuitive, built-in editors. You can then freely distribute or sell your creations, through CraftStudio’s online store or however else you like. (TIGForums DevLog)

Hardcore Tactical Shooter – Christian Allen, a designer who worked on tactical shooters like Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter and Halo: Reach, wants to develop a shooter that focuses on realistic squad-based tactics and non-linear, objective-based missions.

Americana Dawn – Americana Dawn is a freeware JRPG that’s set during the early history of the United States. The promise of strategic battle systems and large-scale warfare are enticing, but vague. For now, I’m mostly interested in the game’s story and commitment to historical accuracy. The graphics and music seem pretty nice, too!

Auditorium 2: Duet – Cipher Prime wants to create a sequel to their award-winning music game, Auditorium. One of the major additions they have planned is local and networked multiplayer cooperative play.

  • Gnome

    Two worthy projects indeed! Mind you, Christian Allen’s gung ho pitch is quite insulting. I mean: ”
    And of course we aren’t talking about an adventure game here; we are talking a hardcore tactical shooter. And I’m pretty sure these fans are bigger, stronger, and have guns- and hopefully more money. ”

    Really?

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Dick-Move/100001336953862 Dick Move

    I’m guessing that was just a tad tongue-in-cheek.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1245190055 Frank Anthony Intino II

    Earthbound music.  Sold it right there for me.

  • News

    finna swim upstream

  • Hohum

    I can’t wait for another generic realism shooter.

  • News

    hails from Philistia

  • Charles

     Craft Studio looks pretty cool, like a modern ZZT!

  • Snow

    I’ve been waiting for something like CraftStudio. That is going to be a very awesome and powerful application when it’s complete. 

  • Marco Menarini

    and by the way, Allen is not Gardner and Rainbow Six:Raven Shield is not SWAT4. I mean, he don’t seem to have a real project (not like Fargo’s Wasteland, at least) just some vague idea: you have to be at least Schafer to start a campaign with just a vague project in mind…

  • Marco Menarini

    what do you think of Banner Saga and the recently funded Code Hero?

  • Gnome

    This particular paragraph might indeed be an attempt (failed and sad) at humour, but you’ll have to admit this guy sounds far too militaristic to be anything approaching funny.

  • Marco Menarini

    I am serious (sadly). You have to be a great game designer to convince someone just talking about the genre (and Schafer is probably one of the greatest). Besides, if you want a tactical realistic shooter probably you are looking for something more than a better ballistics… SWAT4 was great for this reason: at the highest difficulty  you have not to shoot to anybody, and the IA of your groupmates was great (they look up before climbing the stairs, they cover the doors after entering in a new room, …)

    I wouldn’t fund this game for 2 reasons:

    1) It’s not the kind of strategy I like in my FPS (SWAT4, Deus Ex, Thief)
    2) He doesn’t propose a real project, just some random ideas on the genre. Look at all the awesome projects on Kickstarter: they spend time and resources showing trailers, alpha, and describing minutely all the features of their game. As I said, the only exception is Schafer who simply said that he wanted to make a “classic adventure game with Ron Gilbert” and got funded in less that 24 hours but…well… he  IS Tim Schafer and I trust him: he made my childhood!
     

  • http://www.derekyu.com Derek Yu

    I should have mentioned FTL, also: 
    http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/64409699/ftl-faster-than-light

    Their Kickstarter is already well-funded, but still worth supporting.

  • Anonymous

    Apparently you can’t do Kickstarter in the UK. My boss already looked into it.

    :(

  • GGringo

    lol @ rainbow 6 guy who wants to make rainbow 6 all over again

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/EJUMVRTBBP5JEJ2JOTDNZCQQ5E Sum One

     ZZT was da bomb

  • Arno_madt

    I have to agree. If all you’re doing is talking about how great your game will be, but have no concept art, screens, prototype or proof of concept, etc, then you’re just selling an idea.

  • Mine! Craft

    I thought Demitri Martin was going to make Super Busy Hospital?

  • http://www.derekyu.com Derek Yu

    Just found out about Auditorium 2!  Only 7 days left!

    http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/761471459/auditorium-2-duet 

  • Lilo

    Maybe about time to get a new article up.  Or better yet, adjust the freezeframe on the video by a second or two, so he doesn’t look like Napoleon Dynamite looking at the sun.

  • Socram

    Is it just me or has tigsource really slowed down lately…

  • igor choromanski

    Here’s our own kickstarter campaign for ‘nstaCharge :)
    http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1758096792/nstacharge

  • http://freegameslist.weebly.com/game-creation-tools.html TheMan

    Craftstudio looks very promising!

    Has anyone heard of or tried Dead Deer on Sourceforge?
    http://sourceforge.net/projects/deaddeer/