Crowd-funding waxes
and wanes in public mythology. The drama around Double Fine's first Kickstarter
run with the $1M raised in 24 hours seems like so long ago now. I remember
everyone crying from the rooftops how crowd-funding would democratize development
and change the world. Then a few years later, the moaning - handfuls of high-profile failures and a myriad of slipped dates, with Double
Fine like the cherry on top coming in tremendously over-budget and
over-deadline just like any other AAA project.
There was a period
of saturation, with everyone and their dog asking for money, and then a period
of ambivalence as indie creators and punters alike realized crowd campaigns
were not a universal salve or automatic ticket to funding.
I don't have any
data to support this feeling (there's your first bullshit flag) but it seems to
me that crowd-funding is only now reaching a period of maturity - fewer copycat
or on-the-fly campaigns, more infrastructure for manufacturing and delivery -
and that's pretty cool.
I've backed 2 campaigns in the last month that I want to share, both games, both by
friends/acquaintances, and both fully funded within the first few days:
Dreaming Spires
Jeremy's
Oxford-themed board game is rich in history, characters and a gorgeously
scholastic aesthetic. They say "write what you know" and as Jez is an
Oxford alum and consummate board game geek, Dreaming Spires most certainly
comes from an authentic (and well-researched!) place. It also looks fun to play
- strategically building a college up from the medieval era, attracting
scholars and competing in historical Oxford events? I can get into that!
Everyone who knows
me as game developer also knows "I hate games" - especially board
games, which I perceive as a hindrance of social gatherings. I'm decidedly a single-player
gamer. At parties I prefer to, you know, talk about shit and drink alcohol.
Jez has often
assured me you can do both while playing board games, as has Gracie, but I've
never quite been sold. However, Dreaming Spires appeals to me in a way other
games haven't due to the solid biographical emphasis on characters. I can get attached to characters. They are the heart of storytelling for me. I
may not be interested in leading a faceless army or civilization but I want to
attract Oscar Wilde to my college, damn it!
Also interesting
about this project is that it's being run in partnership with board game
publisher Game Salute, veterans of the Kickstarter business. To me this is a
fascinating signal of the maturity of the crowd-funding platform - indies
working with publisher support for logistics, especially in a physical goods
space like board games, just makes sense.
Night In The Woods
From Alec Holowka of the venerable
Indie House back home in
Vancouver comes an adventure game that I actually want to play. Plus, it is
beautiful.
Everyone seems to be
into adventure games nostalgia. For many years I thought I was too - until I
realized most people's nostalgia, adventures and fantasies didn't match mine. I crave new game
worlds where I can explore aimlessly, with deep characterization to immerse
myself in. I don't give a shit about puzzles or normal "game stuff"
which is perhaps why I enjoyed Sworcery so profoundly while none of my gamer
mates rated it. I love it when the mundane aspects of life are reflected in
alternate universes. I am one of those people who relished every moment of
waiting for the bus to my forklift job in the original Shenmue for Dreamcast.
So Night In The
Woods looks well up my alley. In some ways it reminds me of Cheap Thrills the webcomic -
except with mystery. I'm really drawn to all of the character concepts and
designs, the world aesthetic, and the fact that the main character is female
and that her femaleness seems to be of absolutely zero consequence. (That she
looks like a punk cat and is therefore totally unsexualized may help on this
front.) Also, I love things that are darkly, hopelessly sarcastic and I love to
play bass and break stuff.
There is a lot for
me to potentially love about Night In The Woods. But even if the game doesn't
turn out precisely how I'm envisioning it, I'm happy I can do my small part to
support some artists I respect to create work of their own imagining. And maybe
that's the real point of crowd-funding in the end.
Have you backed
anything recently?
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