A Kick for Kickstarters: Of Micro Mages, Bushiden, and Log Jammers

It has once again been a while since I last made an “A Kick for Kickstarters” post, thanks to the low amount of intriguing video game-related crowdfunding campaigns around these days. But that’s a good thing from a certain point of view. There was a time when there were too many campaigns happening at a time, which reached its most egregious point when the Mighty No. 9 and Shantae: Half-Genie Hero campaigns occurred almost simultaneously. It’s better that we have some quiet periods, especially as some projects in development still haven’t released. While I sometimes worry that video game crowdfunding is on its death bed, it’s still kicking.

Developers have asked for funding for several NES-style games through crowdfunding in recent years, while others have crowdfunded reissues of older games. But Micro Mages is different, as German developer Morphcat Games is crowdfunding an actual NES game, where the main backer reward is the whole 40kb game on an NES cartridge. For anyone that doesn’t own a working NES anymore, they’re also offering a digital ROM for a much cheaper price, which will be playable through an NES emulator. But that’s clearly not the main tier they’re pushing, and it’s not the one most backers have pledged for.

Micro Mages is a platformer where one-to-four players can go on an adventure through a demon fortress, which contains menacing creatures and hidden secrets. But the developers made sure that even solo players won’t have to truly go it alone, since assistants will be available to help them. The lengthy pledge video shows a game that doesn’t look quite as tough as the more notorious NES titles (especially those made tougher to combat game rentals), though it looks far from easy. The Mages themselves are flexible, with the ability to shoot quickly, climb, and wall jump, and its levels are being designed around those mechanics.

While several faux NES games have been released that look authentic enough to invoke nostalgia, like Shovel Knight and Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon, there’s nothing like a development team making a game for the actual system. It will come with some of the graphical glitches associated with the games that few remember, but that’s a worthy sacrifice.

The main game is already done, meaning the campaign is here so the developers can acquire the money to manufacture and ship the NES cartridges. They only asked for $17,394, an ostensibly awkward amount thanks to being translated from Euros. Only three days remain in the campaign, but the team raised far more than what they needed. It’s at $122,564 as of this writing. They’re hoping to ship the title in April 2019, and they might make that timeframe considering the game is finished.

The campaign for Bushiden is more recent, a ninja-based Metrodivania action platformer reminiscent of some ninja platforming games released during the late 80s and early 90s. Here, players will control Rylee, the last member of the Iga-Ryu Clan, who’s on a quest to save his sister. There’s a minor twist in a familiar ninja-based revenge and rescue story outline, since they’re usually on quests to save their loved ones — though sisters kind of count there. She’s being held by Gaoh, who commands a cybernetic army. Rylee will venture through a series of levels, which consist of locations like a lab, a desert, and a city, just where you’d expect to see ninjas in video games.

The sprite use is one of the most immediately appealing aspects of this project, which looks beautiful. The game resembles one designed for a 32-bit system, something not often seen on Kickstarter. It’s clear the development team is proud of the spites they created, as the Kickstarter page is flooded with animated GIFs. Rylee has several attacks for basic melee attacks along with a bunch of special techniques, and they didn’t skip on the animation for all of them. There’s a good reason why the page specifies how 65 percent of the budget is going to the art and animation, though this ideally isn’t coming at the expense of other elements that need attention. It’s clear they’ve already been working on the game for a while.

Hopefully they’ve done a good amount of the work on Bushiden’s gameplay, because they may not have much money to work with given the campaign’s funding rate. The developers at Pixel Arc Studios are asking for $70,000 to finish it, but the campaign has only received a little over $24,000 after being active for around five days. That’s not the greatest amount given that campaigns tend to raise the most money in the first few and last few days, though it’s hardly bad. It should reach its goal when the project finishes in 24 days, but it may not make much more than the amount they asked for. The game looks good, and they’re putting a lot of work into the sprites, but hopefully they’ll have enough money to live on. They plan to release the project by August 2020 for PS4 and Steam.

I also received an email for Log Jammers, a crowdfunding campaign for an arcade sports game that features activities like axe throwing and blade catching. The game will have multiple characters to choose from, all with their own techniques and attributes, and power-ups are available to make the game more interesting. If this sounds like Windjammers, that’s because this game is heavily inspired by those titles.

It’s due for a release for PS4, XB1, Switch, Steam, and NES, though you’ll notice how one of those is not like the other. Like Micro Mages above, the NES version will receive a cartridge release. Unfortunately, there isn’t a big look at the NES version on the main page, and screenshots for it are relegated to an update. Footage of it is also available through a YouTube video. It looks fine, but it’s clear they’re prioritizing the other versions, while the 8-bit version is a niche bonus.

The developers at Mega Cat Studios have raised $14,424 as of this writing, with ten days remaining in the campaign. This should be enough for it to reach its $20,000 goal in time, but like Bushiden, hopefully the developers aren’t expecting to receive much more than that. The developers specify on the page that they’re saving stretch goals for when they reach the minimum goal, but they may not have the opportunity to add them given the number of days left. Good luck to them.

Sure, video game crowdfunding isn’t as popular as it was at its height, thanks to developers who have either misused it or cynics who think everything is a scam while ignoring the successful projects. Though I can’t blame anyone for wanting to be hesitant with pledging their money if they’ve been burned on some projects, or know others who have. But it’s still viable enough that some developers can get their projects funded, and hopefully it at least stays that way.