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The Crowdfund Watch: March

It's been a couple of months since our last look at the crowdfunding scene, but now we've found a few titles worthy of your attention.

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We're back with another edition of The Crowdfund Watch and this month we've got four new interesting project that may be worth your hard earned money. No big names behind these projects so they'll have to rely on the strength of the concept instead, and in some cases it looks as if that may be enough...

Planets³ (PC)
Cubical Drift
Kickstarter page
Progress: $106,818 pledged of $250,000 goal (3,910 backers) 21 days remaining

Planets³ (pronounced "planetscube") is a "3D open-world voxel-based RPG" seen from first person perspective. What's novel here are the planets that are cubes - making for some interesting gravity. It's all built by billions of voxels. There's a ton of stuff to do in Planets³ - exploration, crafting, jobs, and an very open approach to classes and combat.

Here's how the developers describe the story and setting: "Rumors have it that aliens who look like humans, crashed onto the planet some years ago. What happened? Where are they from? Why did they crash? Are there survivors? To discover the answers to these questions, Planets³ players will have to solve a number of mysteries and build up their own little world, before expanding into the universe. Many adventures await them and they'll find plenty of help -and enemies- along the way. As they progress, they'll be able to level up their character to achieve more and more freedom, till they can roam the universe in their own starship, which, by the way, they may have created themselves..."

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Outlook: According to Kicktraq the game is trending towards a successful campaign, but typically most campaigns hit a slump towards the middle where it's hard to keep up with these kind of projections. Still having hit three figures already is encouraging and if the campaign is properly managed with solid updates from here on in it could very well hit the target with a bit of margin.

Epoch: Return (PC)
Innate Games
Kickstarter page
Progress: $24,401 pledged of $150,000 goal (329 backers) 26 days remaining

Epoch: Return is the first game in a proposed series from Innate Games that's headed up by a couple of Bioware vets Nathan Moller (creative director) and Cookie Everman (lead writer). Innate's first project Return lets the player explore an enormous open world any way they wish. The team is asking for $150,000 - a modest sum all things considered and this is their pitch:

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"Be a part of an ambitious indie project to deliver a focused, engaging experience of exploration and discovery. Help us develop a game that will immerse players in a story about sharing the adventures, trials, and triumphs of life with your better half, told against the backdrop of a blasted, alien world."

The Crowdfund Watch: March

Outlook: With less than 20 percent of the target achieved at this point Innate Games needs to pick up the pace if they want to succeed. At this point there aren't a whole lot of updates or information available so hopefully they've got a plan set up to release more intel over the next few weeks as they'll no doubt need to massage their backers in order to get there.

Proven Lands (Linux, Mac, PC)
Thesetales
Kickstarter page
Progress: £14,453 pledged of £299,000 goal (738 backers) 27 days remaining

Proven Lands is "a 3D science-fiction sandbox survival game", that should appeal to fans of games like Minecraft and Don't Starve that are craving a sci-fi setting. The ambitious project endless procedurally generated terrain and adds farming and housing for a bit of player generated flavour. The plans is to build in mod support from the start.

As you'd expect this game is being built by a small team of three that get assistance in various areas by friends. Their pitch is as follows: "Explore a unique, vast and beautiful science-fiction sandbox survival game, procedurally generated and studded with an AI storyteller." What's nice about this project is that they've made a pre-alpha tech demo available for download - that curious potential backers can take a look at.

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Outlook: It's an ambitious game, with an ambitious target. There are no big names attached to the project and it's difficult to see how it can attract the needed funds in the time remaining (given the current pace of backing). There is certainly something appealing here though, and I think given the nature of the game (it's going to need tons of player testing) perhaps they should look at the potential of going via alpha funding or potentially (if greenlit by Steam) the Early Access route. Let's hope this promising title finds a way forward.

Duelyst (Mac, PC)
Counterplay Games
Kickstarter page
Progress: $61,017 pledged of $68,000 goal (1,796 backers) 26 days remaining

What stands out about Duelyst at first glance is the vibrant design. It almost reminds us a little bit of the style Super Giant Games (Bastion, Transistor) uses. "Squad-Based Tactical Combat with Ranked Competitive Play. Brought to you by veterans from Diablo III and Rogue Legacy", that's the one sentence pitch for Duelyst. Sounds pretty appealing doesn't it?

There are five factions in the game and more than a hundred units, the developers are clear about it not being free-to-play (and thus, certainly not pay-to-win) as ranked multiplayer is one of the key features.

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Outlook: Things are looking great for Counterplay Games as they've almost reached their target sum of $68,000. There are naturally stretch goals - the first one kicks in at $100,000 (additional battle units + spells), and there are potentially a couple more that could come into play that will also help flesh out the game.

Last month's Crowdfund Watch:

To The Death (Linux, Mac, PC)
Scary Mostro & Section Studios
Kickstarter page
Failed: $36,022 pledged of $400,000 goal (494 backers)

The "gravity defining, genre combining, beat 'em-up, shoot 'em-up" To The Death never really got the momentum it needed to reach its ambitious $400,000 target. Scary Mostro and Section Studios are back to the drawing board to see how to proceed with the project. Perhaps they could give it another go, perhaps they could alpha fund it, or perhaps they could try the traditional route with a publisher.

The Crowdfund Watch: March

"With the To The Death Kickstarter winding down, we wanted to extend our deepest thanks to all of you that have supported us. Over the past month we've learned a lot, met some amazing people, and had the chance to share one of our big game visions. We'll all reflect on this and see what the best next steps for everyone will be. Thanks to everyone that helped us with the campaign and especially THANK YOU for your loyal support! "

Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen (Mac, PC)
Visionary Realms, Inc.
Kickstarter page
Failed: $460,657 pledged of $800,000 goal (3,157 backers)

Brad McQuaid of Everquest fame failed in his bid to secure $800,000 for his next MMORPG after Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen offers challenging gameplay and an open world. Instead of rolling the dice with another Kickstarter campaing the team at Visionary Realms opted for a portal site where fans can pledge and contribute directly to the game. Currently 1,364 backers have raised $154,020, so it's still some ways to go to secure the money needed for the development of a big MMORPG. A nice touch is that you don't have to pledge to be a part of the process:

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"The portal is a gateway to help develop Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen, and we're turning to you to not only help us fund the game, but to be a part of its creation. To find out how to get started, click the Sign Up button above and select your level of development involvement. Signing up is free and there are plenty of options on how you can contribute. "

Unsung Story: Tale of the Guardians (Android, iOS, Linux, Mac, PC)
Playdek, Yasumi Matsuno
Kickstarter page
Funded: $660,126 pledged of $600,000 goal (15,824 backers)

Yasumi Matsuno (Final Fantasy Tactics) and Playdek managed to hit their target for Unsung Story - a new strategy RPG that's heading to PC, Mac and tablets. Here's a happy quote from the devs: "What started out as an idea so many months ago has grown into this amazing collaborative project with the most amazing group people we could ever want to join our team; and by that we mean all of you!"

The Crowdfund Watch: March

You can still contribute to the project via PayPal on the official website. Sadly the 3DS, PS Vita, and PS4 stretch goal never came to fruition, but hopefully we'll get versions of the game on those platforms as well at some point.

The Repopulation (PC)
Above and Beyond Technologies
Kickstarter page
Progress: $176,525 pledged of $50,000 goal (2,270 backers)

The Repopulation had already succeeded in their second Kickstarter when we wrote about it, but the game also had a very successful end to the campaign adding almost 500 backers in the final 48 hours. The final stretch goal reached was PvP Gladiator Arenas in player cities - something that surely helped spur people towards the end. March is the month when "Alpha 3" comes into play and we're slowly moving towards the inevitable beta of this sandbox MMORPG.

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Currently there's a third round of crowdfunding running on the official website that runs until the end of July, and you can also sign up to help test the game.



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