Preview: The Banner Saga (PC)

Preview by Sam M.

The Banner Saga was a successful Kickstarter campaign back in 2012 and now the full release of the game is right around the corner.

The appeal of The Banner Saga is immediately obvious; it brings the same gameplay elements found in games such as Fire Emblem and Final Fantasy Tactics. Drawing from Norse culture, The Banner Saga also brings a fantasy world to live thanks to its stunning hand drawn art style.

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Interview with Australia's Morgan Jaffit on Kickstarter and Defiant Development's Hand of Fate

Interview by Matt S.

One of the first game developers to jump on the Kickstarter opportunity when it launched in Australia was Brisbane-based Defiant Development, and its game, Hand of Fate, is currently over halfway there, having earned $27,605 at time of writing out of a total goal of $50,000.

Hand of Fate is an interesting looking game to boot; a mix of roguelike and card game, and it has plenty of game industry veterans involved. The director of Defiant, Morgan Jaffit, has been involved in the local games industry for over a decade, starting out at Irrational Games, then moving on to Relic Entertainment, A2M and Pandemic.

With the big studio business model all but disappearing in Australia, Jaffit now finds himself running a Kickstarter for an independent developer. He sat down with us to have a chat about the opportunities he sees in Kickstarter, the inspiration for Hand of Fate, and the opportunities he sees in the Australian games industry.

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Hey, so that weird lacrosse game being developed by Aussies is now on Kickstarter

Remember how we reported the rather weird news that an Aussie developer was involved in the development of a lacrosse game? A sport that 99 per cent of Australians would barely be aware exists?

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Aussies still can't release awesome cricket games, but they're making Lacrosse games now?

Big Ant Studios, the developer behind many sporting adaptations on consoles, including AFL Live and Rugby League Live, is working with Crosse Studios to release a lacrosse game.

Let's just start by pointing out how insane it is for an Australian developer to be working on lacrosse. You're lucky if you even meet a person in the country that has watched a lacrosse game, let alone played one. I'm sure it's a very fine sport, but Australian developers could be better spending their time working on sports Australians care about, methinks.

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Kickstarter is formally live in Australia

It's been coming for a while, but Kickstarter, that wonderful crowdfunding platform that allows game developers to directly ask the public for financing to build their games, has formally launched in Australia and New Zealand.

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Ambitious action-RPG, Reborn, looking to get Kickstarted

Everyone loves a good Kickstarter, right? Well, here's a rather ambitious one that, should it succeed in what it promises, will be something truly incredible.

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Square Enix's crowdfunding initiative is genius

Earlier today Square Enix announced its own crowdfunding initiative; Square Enix Collective. In partnership with Indiegogo, Square Enix is offering independent developers the ability to post up their game ideas, and if they're popular enough they'll gain funding via Indiegogo, and publishing support via Square Enix.

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Mighty No. 9 Kickstarter rakes in over $4M, releasing on eight platforms

Comcept’s upcoming Mighty No. 9 seems to be living up to its title already, at least monetarily. Headlined by Keiji Inafune of Mega Man fame, the 2D platformer amassed $4,031,428 between over 67,000 backers and hit all of its announced stretch goals in the process.

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Oh wow this is the most awesome Kickstarter ever

Golum Arcana might not be a name that means much to you, but if you're a fan of tabletop gaming, you better hustle over there and drop down the biggest wad of cash you can find. Because this thing is everything you ever wanted in a game.

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Project Phoenix: One Kickstarter to watch

I don't often support Kickstarter projects. As far as I'm concerned it's still an unproven service and frightening in how little it holds the people that run the projects to account.

But every so often a project with real potential emerges that would not have been possible in any sense of the word without Kickstarter support, and without supporting it the chance for the vision to be realised is next to nothing.

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Crowdfunded Project Phoenix rising to iOS, Android, and PC

The upcoming crowdfunded game Project Phoenix managed to soar to its $100,000 goal today and is now slated for a multiplatform release within two years.

Project Phoenix aims to fuse elements of western and eastern design choices to attract a worldwide audience. Developers from all parts of the world are working together to merge JRPG and RTS elements for the game’s mechanics. The game will feature two types of combat; story battles and random encounters, which both revolve around a point and click battle system. 

The game, despite being an independent project, certainly has a few known names behind it. Japanese composers such as Nobuo Uetsuma and Tomoki Miyoshi of Final Fantasy and Soul Calibur fame respectively will be contributing to the game’s soundtrack. Others include Australian game designer Vaughan Smith (L.A. Noire) and the German 3D modeler Steffen Unger (Halo 4, Crysis 3).

Perhaps equally as noteworthy as the game itself is the speed with which it was funded. Just nine hours after its unveiling, Project Phoenix hit the minimum $100,000 threshold. As of this writing, it sits at $198 418 - just short of doubling the original goal.

The game’s release will not be quite as speedy though, currently estimated to be released during mid-2015. The game is planned to launch on various PC operating systems (Windows, Mac, Linux) via Steam as well as iOS and Android but versions for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita are being considered.

Creative Intelligence Arts's Project Phoenix Kickstarter page contains various promotional concept art and musical samples as well as a developer video.

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Review: Cloudberry Kingdom (PS3)

From the moment "Press Start" appears on the screen, players get a glimpse of what awaits them in Cloudberry Kingdom. The Kickstarter-funded side-scrolling platformer by Pwnee Studios features the customisable hero Bob as he traverses his way through various levels of increasing difficulty to the point of near-impossibility.

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Review: Shadowrun Returns (PC)

While Dungeons & Dragons is the most recognised tabletop role-playing game, there are other RPGs which share the tabletop spotlight. One of those is Shadowrun, an RPG about doing undercover corporate work in futuristic cities filled to the brim with both common criminals and the supernatural. Yes, Shadowrun blends a future of augmented computer hackers and magic wielders into one whole, making the game a surprisingly unique fantasy/ cyberpunk-esque experience.

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MAJOR FEATURE: Independent developers and IP; Trials, Tribulations and Opportunities

Being a startup or independent developer is a significant business challenge. Many of the experienced game developers in the industry are joining people just out of university to give the indie life a go as it does offer a great deal more creative control over the projects that they undertake, but by the same token it offers no real job security, and freedom aside, there are challenges in building games as an indie.

One of the greatest of these challenges is one of the first decisions that needs to be made before starting a game project; where does this game come from?

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