Reviews & Previews of Indie and Kickstarted Games
Reviews and previews of games that are going on, or delivered from, Kickstarter as well as special features for those thinking about crowdfunding themselves.
Don’t turn out the lights, the Boogeyman is coming! Orphanage of fear is a hidden role/social deduction game by Thomas Hornemann, published by Slightly Offensive Games and bringing a new level of creepy to Kickstarter on September 27th, 2016 (for more information about the Kickstarter Campaign, fast forward to the bottom of this preview).
Remember the fun of making your character in games like Skyrim? “Hey you, you’re finally awake; You were trying to cross the border right? Walked right into that Imperial ambush same as us, and that thief over there.” ~ Raloff, from Skyrim. And then five and half minutes later, you finally get to pick your race! Grr… Well, forget loading times and movie sequences. Fairway’s skipping all that frustration and is going play Roll Player, a recent Kickstarter delivery from by Keith Matejka and Thunderworks Games, instead.
This week, Dan asks the creator of the Super HACK Override Kickstarter campaign about the game, using Send From China, and the super-fast delivery option with The Game Crafter. Find out whether Dan’s bank account also got hacked while you’re at it.
This week Fairway takes a look at two great, related games from Daniel Solis and Action Phase Games: Kigi and Kigi’s spiritual successor and Kickstarted game, Kodama. Find out if Fairway is in line with tree spirits or if he demonstrates, again, he should not work with plants.
In this week’s lesson, Dan takes a look at player counts. Using his three Kickstarted games, he explores what’s behind the numbers, how those numbers can affect play, and the importance of playtesting throughout the range.
Simple Design Publishing is currently running the Stop the Germs Kickstarter campaign. Dan asks the creator about the infectious little campaign, the transition from self-publishing to publishing another designer’s game, and the pill bottle box design.
In episode 36, we look at a super adorable game called Cake Duel, in which players are commanders of Sheepie battalions, attempting to bluff their way to taking all of their opponent’s cakes. The first player to three victory points is the winner of Cake Duel!
What if Toy Story were real? (It’s not, right?) And the toy soldiers you had as a kid would enter mortal combat with your siblings’ toy soldiers? This sort of dystopian world is captured in Windup Wars and coming to Kickstarter soon. Fairway delves into this tiny world full of tiny combat.
This week, Dan takes us through his experience with child-safety testing of his game Dino Dude Ranch. For designers thinking about making games for children, this must-read post covers everything from who he used to test, to the costs of doing it, and whether he feels like it actually helped.