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Game News Kickstarter Round-up: Balrum, Cataclysm, Dungeonmans, Liege

Crooked Bee

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Tags: Balcony Team; Balrum; Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead; Dungeonmans; Liege

Today's RPG Kickstarter round-up features a new turn-based isometric RPG and two roguelikes. First there's Balrum, which we just got a message about:

Hi there almighty codex!

A Kickstarter campaign for the isometric RPG called Balrum has been launched. Balrum features a real-time world with turn-based combat, building, non traditional crafting, farming, hunting, and a non linear story line, mixed with the interesting ideas of two young developers.

Check out our Kickstarter page here:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/balconyteam/balrum


The target is $50,000; $20 gets you a digital copy of the game for PC, Mac, and Linux.

Next there's Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead, an "open-source roguelike survivalcraft/driving game in a sci-fi zombie apocalypse" looking to raise some money so that it can be worked on full-time and get even better. The base goal of $7,000 has already been met, but there's also a bunch of stretch goals that you can contribute towards:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/568375735/cataclysm-dark-days-ahead-dedicated-developer

An open source game running a Kickstarter? Wtf, mate?

Yep! Cataclysm has been open source for a good while now. Originally developed by a man named Whales over the course of several years, development eventually came to a halt. Then, in January of this year, a community driven version of the game was relaunched as Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead, attracting a rush of new contributors and leading to an explosion of improvements. The game improved at an impressive pace. But I think we can do better. Despite the amazing progress we've made, there's a lot left to be done, and we're all, each of us, doing this as a hobby. Think of how much we could accomplish if we could do this full time! [...]

Which lead us here - with your support, we're hoping to allow Sean "GalenEvil" McLaughlin, a valued member of the team who's worked for several independent game contracts in the past, to pursue his passion 24 hours a day 7 days a week. His passion, in case that wasn't clear, is developing Cataclysm, and he seems to be disagreeing with me pretty vehemently about that number I just wrote down, so that may be an exaggeration. Still though, we're hoping for a boatload of dev time, and we've got a lot of awesome things we're hoping to accomplish with it!​

Dungeonmans is another, more "light" roguelike with 16 days still to go:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/56637190/dungeonmans-the-heroic-adventure-roguelike

According to the message we received about it, it even has a playable demo that you may want to give a try:

I thought you might want to take a look at Dungeonmans, which just put out a new playable preview (along with a Kickstarter). The game is a graphical roguelike game, so it's a very tough dungeon crawler, but it has hilarious humor and a persistent overworld, and lots of potential. Unlike most roguelikes, it has tactical combat and a bunch of abilities, and you can build your own class. If you die, some of the things you did carry over to your next character in the Academy.

The preview build is a pre-alpha version, so there are still some bugs (make sure to read the F1 help and use Spacebar to open the menu), but it's fully playable up to level 12 and has a special preview endboss. You can get it here (make sure you have the XNA binaries installed, you can get them from a link on the page): http://www.dungeonmans.com/?page_id=290

In yet other news, you may remember Liege, which we posted about in the previous Kickstarter round-up. The game has been more than 200% funded already with 11 days left, and the developer has sent word to us that he's going to release the game on PS4/Vita as well if they reach the $52,000 stretch goal (which looks likely):

Hi! I just wanted to give a heads up that Liege has gotten Sony's official approval for PS4 and Vita! I've set up a stretch goal in my fundraising campaign to cover the costs for the port. Here are some details in case you're interested:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/codagames/liege/posts/540145

So if you care about console-style tactical RPGs, be sure to give it a look. $10 gets you access to a digital copy of Liege on all supported platforms.
 

getter77

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Dungeonmans and Cataclysm are both good projects going in entirely different directions---Dungeonmans I especially hope does well as it was almost left to vanish into nothingness some years back when it first got started. I don't know what to make of Balrum---I thought they last decided to delay the KS for another good while after the initial feedback was mixed and skeptical that they'd indeed be able to pull all this off?
 

Spectacle

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Backed Balrum. I love open world games with crafting, construction and exploration, so this looks just up my alley.
:takemymoney:
 

Stabwound

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Cataclysm is a pretty great game, but their biggest problem is that the game will always be free, and their lowest tiers that gave you something (named NPC) were limited and filled out pretty quickly. Some of the stretch goals are great, but I don't see them hitting any of them.

Dungeonmans looks like a disaster with some potentially cool ideas, but even the name alone gives you a bad impression.

Balrum looks like a much better Eschalon. I like that it's pretty in-depth with the need to craft and build your own house and shit.
 

hakuroshi

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Balrum is interesting, but I somehow doubt they'll succeed. Backed them just in case.
 

KickAss

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Balrum has potential. What about Codex funding? for 3K the Codex can design a badass dungeon..
Edit: Ugh, the farming parts gives me farmville vibes... :S
 

crawlkill

Kill all boxed game owners. Kill! Kill!
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the original Cataclysm roguelike was fucking BOSS. the original dev left, so I dunno what it's like these days. but it seems like a great project for this kind of KS--freeware, no final "release date" or anything, just a formalized donation/reward tool. glad to see they made funding! (too lazy to actually read their KS, so I hope they're not trying to go to some kind of 'for sale' system on $7k.)

edit: okay, glanced at it. not sure how long he'll be able to full-time dev for $9k, but glad to see they're not changing their model! also ALL the cheers for goofy cheerful Kickstarters. ugh, I can't stand the somber, sober ones.
 

Stabwound

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the original Cataclysm roguelike was fucking BOSS. the original dev left, so I dunno what it's like these days. but it seems like a great project for this kind of KS--freeware, no final "release date" or anything, just a formalized donation/reward tool. glad to see they made funding! (too lazy to actually read their KS, so I hope they're not trying to go to some kind of 'for sale' system on $7k.)

edit: okay, glanced at it. not sure how long he'll be able to full-time dev for $9k, but glad to see they're not changing their model! also ALL the cheers for goofy cheerful Kickstarters. ugh, I can't stand the somber, sober ones.
Their plan is to hire a 3-month contractor, so 7-10k isn't far off. A professional working full-time on a game like this can get a shit load done.

This is a great kickstarter and it sucks that it can't do well by virtue of the game being freeware. The game is pretty awesome.
 

Crooked Bee

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Cataclysm is pretty cool, yeah.

In other news, Liege has reached the Bigger Battles stretch goal so I've caved in and backed it (for $10), 'cause one of my main worries has been what I took to be small battlefield size (judging from the screenshots):

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/codagames/liege/posts/544827

This means we'll be adding sequences where, in addition to controlling your main party, you'll also be commanding larger groups against enemy armies. Until now when these battles took place in the story, you would've controlled your main heroes through the battlefield, but the overall outcome was fixed. Now, the outcome of these battles will be up to you, and your ability to lead the units under your command. The battles will take place on a larger scale and for higher stakes than in the rest of the game: you'll be fighting to defend entire towns, sack enemy forts, secure important locations like bridges, and more!

For the most part, the battles will use the same mechanics as the rest of the game, but with some tweaks that will allow you to manage having more units under your control. The main change will involve adding the ability to group, organize, and issue commands to multiple units at once.
 

Vistaer

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Was happy to back Balrum, and I really hope they make it. At first it seemed like just another great little RPG, but then the crafting and the farming aspects made me think those systems have a lot of potential to be useful to compliment such an RPG. It reminded me of when in Ultima 5 I'd do preparation before venturing into the Underworld. Stock up on rations, torches, potions, etc. Basically, I'd feel more like I'd be preparing for an "expedition" that required I make preparations and be ready to manage my resources, more than just venturing into a dungeon. The farming aspect could compliment such an idea, where before you go off on your excursion, you make sure your fields are planted so that when you return, you can harvest your food, reagents, etc., which can help prepare you for your next expedition.
 

crawlkill

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This is a great kickstarter and it sucks that it can't do well by virtue of the game being freeware. The game is pretty awesome.


Oh, I dunno! They got funded, which is more than poor Dropsy can say. And they can always throw together another one at the end of the three months! People might be willing to support another three months/even more after they see what he cranks out, if good shit comes together. I think we should remember that it's only the big boys who plan around getting huge takes in stretch goals. I think most four- and low-five digit Kickstarters are happy just to get funded, and sometimes just don't know what to DO with excess.

(Unless you were talking about Balrum?)
 

Minttunator

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The Balrum Kickstarter is ending in 4 hours and is currently at $48,201 pledged of $50,000 goal - looks like they might just make it. :)
 

Vault Dweller

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Looks very promising and well thought through. Glad it got funded (well, not yet, but I'm sure it will).
 

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