kickstarter

In Nevermind, an upcoming horror game for the PC, players take on the role of a doctor working with traumatized patients to unlock repressed memories of their traumatic experiences. The game uses biofeedback to respond to players’ real fears while they’re engaging the game.

A few years ago, I checked out a demo of Taiyoung Ryu’s Maum at E3. Maum was a proof-of-concept of the next evolution of immersive games, using a Brain Computer Interface (BCI) device called Mindset to collect brainwave data and change the play experience. In Maum, players had to keep themselves calm to avoid dangers.

Nevermind seems to take that further, adding the biofeedback element to the horror game genre. As players become more stressed or frightened while playing, the game becomes harder and more frightening. A game that responds to players’ fear is a truly terrifying addition to any horror survival game.

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Nika is an Ancient Greek-themed board game, designed by Josh Raab. Players take command of a Greek city-state, form phalanxes of hoplites, and conquer territory to defeat their neighbors. There’s a working prototype, with two years of playtesting and design tweaking, but Raab has turned to Kickstarter for the funds to make the game commercially available.

Nika’s game mechanics are inspired by ancient Greek culture.  Each city-state has an army of hoplites, but they also have a hostile neighbor on either side and can only succeed by pushing for more territory. The board game can be played by either two or four players. Four players will form two cooperative teams, which two players can control two city-states each.  The game’s board, box and other graphics are also influenced by ancient Greek art.

It’s on Kickstarter now, and in keeping with the Greek theme, the lowest backers are “spear carriers,” then “hoplites,” and then “phalanxes.” I got to see Nika in action last year at NY Gaming’s February demo, and I’m excited to see the game becoming a reality.

Every action has a reaction and consequence. The latest game from Owlchemy (clever) Labs seems to have taken this saying literally when they developed Dyscourse, and I am excited! Most games are like mathematical equations; they may have a few ways of completing the problem, but ultimately there is only one conclusion. Dycourse, on the other hand, is different. While one player could be the reason for why he and the other survivors have all died, another player could end up surviving long enough to be rescued. Everything depends on you, your memory, your survival skills, your choices, and more. If ten different people play this game, there’s a good chance they won’t all get the same ending. That is the beauty of this idea, and it’s not just your ordinary choice game either, it goes much further than that.

Upon landing—well, crashing—in your plane with the other passengers, you are on a large island with no map and surrounded by many dangers! Just like in real life, your only map is your memory. You can leave “memory markers” that make it possible for you to retrace your footsteps back to a particular place. You also have to be able to recall past events, form relationships with the other survivors, hunt for food (fight or flight has been built in, too)—just so many goodies to name! You are going to need to take advantage of all of these and more if you’re going to make it off the island alive.

However, Owlchemy Labs needs help with the finishing touches and they have turned to Kickstarter to do it. They are half-way to their goal amount, and as of today, there are 11 days left to donate. The first gameplay video has been released and it has already gotten the OK to be released on Steam with every donator getting a Steam key once its live. The beta is expected to come out in May 2014. If you want to get the full details on this new kind of virtual survival game, then check it out here because I am pretty much sold.

More awesome games using Kickstarter! Lords of Xulima is a game being developed by Numantian Games, and they have so far raised double their asking amount. Lords of Xulima looks to be a 2D single-player, turn-based RPG with a classic look to it. Going old school is turning out to be the new theme these days, and it seems like a lot of developers want to go back to what got them into gaming in the first place. Lords of Xulima has everything that I remember loving as a young gamer (even though I’m not that old) when playing my old RPGs. It has a detailed and thought out back story, and I also like the fact that it requires a form of actual strategy and intelligence instead of testing how well you can follow a pre-determined set of events after barely completing a mission where you are given step-by-step directions. Finally, it also claims to have a challenging environment. All of your actions have consequences, whether they are positive or negative ones are completely up to you and what decisions you make.

The official trailer was released back in March on YouTube but recently they also released the first gameplay video as well. This video shows the beginning of the game in tutorial mode. It also shows you how to navigate through the game and how the turn-based battles look as you go through the first village on Xulima. It all looks very promising, and the finished project is expected to be released early 2014. The game has already gotten the Steam Greenlight and will be released on Steam as well. So if you want to help fund this game or just find out more about it, their Kickstarter page can be found here. As of today, there are only nine days left to donate.

Now if this is not the point of KickStarter then I don’t know what is. TinkerHouse Games is in need of a few good gamers to help them fund their unique creative venture. Dwarven Delve is an action-play, dungeon crawl, and rotating puzzle game RPG all rolled into one that they have claimed to be Diablo meets Pipe Mania. A heavy comparison considering Diablo’s successful game history and the fact that I think they may have a slightly unhealthy cult following.

Anyway, the name basically explains it all. In this genre crossover you’re navigating a party of six dwarves and you are literally delving into an underground cavern of tunnels (see what I mean). Throughout the levels you are battling goblin looking creatures, collecting resources, ancestral relics, and changing the very structure of the cavern itself, all for the purpose of learning about your past and attempting to break a curse that has been cast over your fading race. Each level is filled with tunnels within rotating hexagon shaped pieces that you have to connect in order to get safely through to the exit. Sound simple enough?

After playing the demo, I do have to say that I am rather impressed with what they’ve done so far. The graphics are well done and shows that they took their time with detail, which I enjoy. The sound is clear, game play fully functional, and it ran well over my browser with no lagging that I could notice. Then, as if anticipating their success in this game’s completion, there is also a vote on Steam Greenlight to get it on Steam. Please do keep in mind (because so many do not), that this is an alpha demo and not all features that will be in the game are available for the test play. So, if you do like the game after playing the demo and want to help along the gaming development process, then head over to KickStarter and help these developers with a $10 donation.