(Don’t worry, my look at bird lawyers is on the way.)
So when I saw a Kickstarter to localize a game where you interact with princes who have been enchanted into animals, with a special “Cuddle System” where you pet their animals forms, I laughed for a while and then said, “This is adorable, I want it.”
Beastmaster and Prince is an otome game (visual novel marketed to a female audience, usually romantic) about a young woman named Tiana who wants to be a Beastmaster. She meets four princes who have been cursed into the shapes of animals: one became a lion, the second a wolf, the third a duck, and the fourth a rabbit.
While searching for a way to life the curse, Tiana learns of a conspiracy within the kingdom.
The game was pretty popular in Japan, and now Gloczus, Inc. and b2g Studio hope to bring it to the West.
However, this project is for more than just the original Beastmaster and Prince game. It also includes the Snow Bride fandisc which continues the story, as well as additional side stories.
It will be the complete Beastmaster and Prince experience, with the original Japanese voice acting, available for Steam. After its Steam release, they may consider a Vita version, as well.
If the Kickstarter project meets its goal, that is.
It suffered early on from a disorganized setup and lack of higher-tier goals. Since then, it’s improved a lot and more backers have joined us… but will it be enough? At the time I’m writing this, Beastmaster and Prince has 26 hours left to make the remaining $78,000 it needs.
So if a game about curses, princes, animals, and romance sounds good to you, or if you just want to support otome localization in general (as they hope to bring more otome games to the West if the market is there), head over to the Beastmaster and Prince Kickstarter!
Since then, I’ve contributed freelance work to Nostalgia, so it holds an even more special place in my heart.
Therefore, I’m excited to announce that the Nostalgia: Two Worlds | One Soul Kickstarter is now live.
Nostalgia is about a girl named Alice who was forced to participate in experiments meant to determine whether or not an alternate universe exists. Set 12 years later, the game will involve both the characters and their alternate universe counterparts.
Gameplay is split between choice-based visual novel sections, escape-the-room puzzles, and occasional battle sequences. There are multiple endings.
The Wii U version will have features exclusive to the Gamepad, such as object scanning. Some puzzles will also be different depending on which version you play.
A prototype demo is available, although I had trouble getting it to run.
If you like what you see and want to support Nostalgia: Two Worlds | One Soul, tell your friends about it or visit the Kickstarter page.
The latest delay of Mighty No. 9 is only one of several events that cast a shadow over Kickstarter games. Yet at the same time, Kickstarter has produced hits like Shovel Knight, Divinity: Original Sin, and Undertale.
Some people have sworn off contributing to video game crowdfunding entirely, while others say it’s perfectly safe as long as you do your research. Since I’ve contributed to several, let’s take a look at my own experiences with crowdfunded games.
(Note: I’m only looking at projects for video games, so others like the Hatoful Boyfriend Plush Project won’t be discussed here.)
Republique
Now, I didn’t actually fund Republique, since I didn’t have the means at the time. However, I encouraged people to in one of my earliest blog posts.
Since then, Republique came out, and I have it in my Steam library waiting for me to play it.
Asylum
The first game I ever backed was Asylum, in 2013. A new adventure game by the creators of Scratches (an excellent horror game) with a Lovecraftian story? I couldn’t resist.
Asylum had a troubled development and numerous scheduling difficulties, so it still isn’t out. Nevertheless, backers receive regular updates, so I know it will come out eventually.
Among the Sleep
The next game I backed was Among the Sleep, a first-person horror game from a child’s perspective.
It sounded fantastic, and best of all, this is another success story! I played Among the Sleep and reviewed it last year, finding it to be creepy and enjoyable.
To the survival horror fans out there, Among the Sleep is worth checking out.
Ghost of a Tale
One of my only non-Kickstarter crowdfunding contributions, went to Ghost of a Tale, which looked like the closest thing I’d ever get to a Redwall game. (Though there’s one of those in development limbo now, too.)
Ghost of a Tale has gameplay inspired by The Legend of Zelda and Dark Souls, and it follows the adventure of a brave little mouse.
It didn’t come out in 2015 as planned, but the developer posts regular updates both for backers and on the official website. (I also backed a tier that included physical rewards, and I got those long ago.)
I have a lot of confidence in Ghost of a Tale, and I can’t wait for it to come out.
A Hat in Time
Another one I’m incredibly excited for is A Hat in Time, a 3D platformer in the style of games like Banjo-Kazooie. Not only did I back it and blog about it, I also had a ton of fun with the early builds released to backers.
A lot of time has passed since A Hat in Time’s Kickstarter, but I’ve had enough fun with the beta to be confident about the game’s future.
Soul Saga
I also played the beta for the next game I backed, the RPG Soul Saga. Few things get me as excited as a classic JRPG, and Soul Saga looked like a game I’d love.
That beta build follows Garen, the tragic villain whose story will be included in Soul Saga. While a later build gave us control of the actual main hero, I spent too much time giggling thanks to Tales of Symphonia to actually record Mithos’s saga.
Left: Mithos as he appears in the game. Right: Mithos as he appeared in the Kickstarter.
Soul Saga saw some controversy due to its art-style change. After the Kickstarter, the developer went away from the chibi characters initially shown in favor of more realistic proportions.
(The chibi versions of Mithos and Elise will now be available to backers as in-game costumes.)
It doesn’t particularly matter to me, since I don’t play RPGs for their character designs, but it did cast a shadow over Soul Saga.
Soul Saga suffered some setbacks, which made me concerned for a while, but we still get regular updates about it. And, like I said, multiple versions of the beta. I’m still looking forward to it, though not as excited as was before.
Mighty No. 9
Oh boy. Yes, even though I’m not a huge fan of 2D platformers or Mega Man, I got swept up in the hype and backed Mighty No. 9.
It worried me when they announced all sorts of tie-ins, because I thought they should wait for the game to come out before banking on its success. Similarly, the disastrous Red Ash Kickstarter made me wonder why they couldn’t just focus on Might No. 9.
Amid all the worries and delays, I got to play the Mighty No. 9 demo… which reminded me that this isn’t one of my preferred genres, so why did I get involved anyway?
Cosmic Star Heroine
After my list of anticipated games for 2015, anticipated games for 2016, and anticipated turn-based RPGs, it’s probably no surprise to see Cosmic Star Heroine on the list.
Despite its delays, this sci-fi RPG has consistently looked like one of the most polished games I backed. Since I’ve already raved about it recently, I won’t go into all that again… but know that I’m very confident this will 1) be released, and 2) be an excellent game.
Kodama
My first experienced with a failed project was Kodama, a 2D platformer about yokai. I may not love 2D platformers, but I found this Kickstarter during the period when I was championing Yo-Kai Watch and writing “Rokurokubi.” Yokai anything got my attention.
Sadly, not enough people shared my interest. Kodama failed, and I’ve heard nothing about it since. Poor Kodama. I’d love to see it given a second chance…
Source
We’ve now entered my period of crowdfunding bad luck, because next I backed the game Source, a gorgeous Metroidvania. I blogged about it alongside two other games… and they all shared the same fate of Kickstarter failure.
If there’s one thing that gets me running faster than “inspired by Banjo-Kazooie” and “inspired by classic JRPGs,” it’s “inspired by H.P. Lovecraft,” so I backed The Eldritch Cases: Dagon immediately.
Dagon was set to be a horror adventure game in the Cthulhu mythos, and we need more of those. Last I heard, it was still in development, but changed to be a more story-focused 3D adventure game than a puzzle-focused 2D adventure game.
It doesn’t sound quite like the game I backed, but I love story-driven games, so I’m ambivalent.
The Great Gaias
The third of the doomed trio I blogged about that day was The Great Gaias (not be confused with the great Gaius, my main reason to recommend Tales of Xillia), another game inspired by classic JRPGs.
It just barely missed making its funding goal, and the Kickstarter fell silent.
However, from the looks of the developer’s website, it’s still being made! I hope for its success, though I can’t help but wonder if I missed an announcement to follow the site, or if backers were somehow left out of the loop.
After its campaign failed, the developer vowed to continue pursuing Luna’s Tale, but the website suggests they may have moved on…
H.P. Lovecraft’s The Case of Charles Dexter Ward
Lovecraft. Horror adventure game. Charles Dexter Ward. When I saw H.P. Lovecraft’s The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, I went crazy, immediately backed it, and encouraged everyone else to do so, despite it being from the developer that had not yet released Asylum.
The campaign failed, though I have hope Senscape will return to it someday… after Asylum comes out.
Aviary Attorney
Ace Attorney, but with birds? I fell in love with the idea for Aviary Attorney, which successfully launched last month!
There were some concerns over one of its endings not being in the released game, but now that everything is in order, I hope to play (and review) Aviary Attorney soon.
The Dekker Records
I supported The Dekker Records from the start, and although this turn-based noir RPG didn’t meet its funding goal, it didn’t disappear, either.
It was only the first part, since the Kickstarter failure meant they had to split the game, but it was a lot of fun.
An enhanced version is due out later this year, and I’m sure we can look forward to Part 2.
Happy Hell
3D platformers began to pop up on all sides, and I supported many of them, such as Happy Hell.
Happy Hell’s development is plugging along, with a new update this past week. It’s one of the weirder platformers I backed (a bit Faustian, as I said before), and so far everything seems to be on track.
Clive-N-Wrench
Clive-N-Wrench definitely had Banjo-Kazooie in mind, but despite my love for such games and attempt to help it out, its Kickstarter was a veritable disaster.
Yet Clive-N-Wrench live on! The developer is still hard at work creating the game and sharing updates, so it seems like this one will definitely come to fruition.
Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odan
After Clive, I was a bit burned out on crowdfunding projects, so I didn’t back anything for a while… until I spotted Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odan. Add action RPG “inspired by the old school ‘Tales of’ series” to the list of phrases that catches my attention.
In addition to a great description, Aurion had something I love to see in crowdfunding game projects: a demo!
After I played the basic demo (and I really should return now that I have a controller), I backed the game and blogged about it. It’s still too soon after Aurion’s campaign to judge its progress, but things seem to be going smoothly.
Muv-Luv
I’ve become a fan of visual novels, so when I heard people raving about how one of the greatest visual novel series ever would finally be localized, I pitched in and backed Muv-Luv.
As near as I can tell, Muv-Luv is a school romance story and its sequels are about fighting aliens. Or something. It sounds crazy and interesting, and it blasted through its stretch goals thanks to the incredible devotion fans have to the original Japanese games.
I really want to see what the craze is about, and so far Muv-Luv’s Kickstarter seems like a safe bet.
Psychonauts 2
Maybe I shouldn’t have done it.
I try not to back crowdfunding projects if they seem at all sketchy. I steered clear of Shadow of the Eternals even though I desperately wanted that game to exist. And I had a bad feeling about Psychonauts 2.
But… it’s Psychonauts 2! I never thought this game would exist at all! No matter the risks, I had to contribute to this game becoming a reality. Time will tell if it was a good decision or not.
In conclusion…
I feel I’ve done well with crowdfunding, with only 2 or 3 games I backed causing me concern and a lot of great games in my future, but what do you think? After hearing my experiences, how do you feel about video game crowdfunding projects? Which of these games looks the most promising… or the most concerning?
By now you probably know that while the dark, twisted part of me writes Lovecraftian horror and loves Silent Hill, another part of me plays games about lawyers and bird romances.
The game was pretty popular in Japan, and now Gloczus, Inc. and b2g Studio hope to bring it to the West.
