A Kick for Kickstarters: Gamedec and Enchanted Portals

Video game crowdfunding campaigns appeared to at least be on the cusp of another resurgence after overwhelmingly successful initiatives like The Wonderful 101: Remastered and Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous. Others like Sea of Stars and Battle Axe also did well. But this period will likely be short-lived thanks to the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Several people have lost their jobs or have been furloughed because of it, while others who’ve kept their jobs are rightly spooked enough that they’ve reduced their amount of more frivolous purchases. When future payments are unpredictable, investing in projects that won’t release for months if not years is not as enticing.

It’s a pity this is happening through no fault of the crowdfunding format, but you’re seeing this post because there are still intriguing projects worth highlighting. Some will be successful regardless of the current time, others, however, not so much.

One is Gamedec, a story-driven single-player RPG in a cyberpunk setting. It’s about a private detective, the titular Gamedec, who solves crimes in the real and virtual worlds. Leaving the description of the game there would do it a disservice by making it sound generic, which would potentially be enough to push its crowdfunding campaign over the funding edge. There’s one key detail: The game won’t be driven by combat, with the focus placed on approaching crime solving from multiple angles. This would ostensibly make it a tough sell on a platform where pledgers tend to prefer games inspired by other titles, including those who like to think they’re all in with supporting innovation. But the results of this campaign might surprise you.

Gamedec will allow for character creation and customization, to let players develop adequate hacking skills and personality traits necessary to talk to and interview witnesses and suspects and explore environments across the real world and cyberspace. The lack of combat allowed for the team at Anshar Studios to place focus on player decisions and successes, with the characters and worlds reacting to them. They were guided by players who weren’t fans of linear RPGs during the creation process, and wanted a resulting title that was just as, if not more, player-driven than old school RPGs.

The risk of having no combat is paying off fine for Gamedec. The initial goal of $50,000 was reached shortly after the campaign launched in March. This is thanks to the developers clearly and concisely explaining what this game will be on the crowdfunding page, and the screenshots, GIFs, and videos showcasing its pleasing aesthetics. The campaign has raised more than $137,000 as of this writing, enough to fund a number of stretch goals for features like Detective Mode, additional interactions, and further character customization features. It’s very close to the next stretch goal to add a Virtualium for H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu at $140,000. With six days to go in the campaign as of this writing (yeah, I’m late here), it could also make the next yet-to-be-revealed goal by the time it ends.

If all goes well, Anshar hopes to release the game for PC via Steam and GoG in Q4 2020, following a beta in this current Q2. This is a crowdfunded game, so don’t be surprised if it gets delayed, especially given the current times.

The campaign for Enchanted Portals, a side-scrolling shooter, um, inspired by the popular Cuphead, was previously set to launch last fall. It was delayed indefinitely after developer Xixo Game Studio noted how they’d entered negotiations with an unnamed publisher. Their hopes were high that this would work out, since it would have enabled them to work on the game faster and easily secure funding. But you’re seeing this here for a reason: It did not work out, and they’ve now gone ahead with the Kickstarter campaign with the justification that getting the project crowdfunded would grant them better creative control.

Look, I could focus on the fact that saying Enchanted Portals looks “inspired” by Cuphead is putting it hilariously lightly. I could also explain how venomous the reaction towards the game was when it was first revealed because of that. But I won’t do that because it would do a disservice to the current product. To Xixo’s credit, they’ve adjusted features so it will look and play less like a direct rip of Cuphead, with an art style pleasing to the eyes despite it generating less nostalgia.

For example, the game’s tempo will be a little slower, and its music will be more diverse in terms of the styles represented. There will also be more platforming stages for better gameplay variety. This won’t stop it from looking a lot like Cuphead in action, but it won’t be so shameless about it.

Unfortunately, we live in a time where first impressions matter too much, so it’s funding start is not great. Xixo is asking for $130,332 to fund the project, yet it’s only raised a little over $11,000 as of this writing despite the campaign being active for about a week. Campaign starting periods are of the most important for funding and generating buzz among the gaming audience and press, and the tepid reaction means this could be over before it’s barely began despite it having 24 days to go. Hopefully they kept that publisher’s contact info, assuming relations between them aren’t shattered.

Xixo hopes to release Enchanted Portals for PlayStation 4, Switch, and PC in October 2021. With how the campaign is progressing, there’s no telling whether establishing relations with a publisher could complicate development matters, or if it releases at all.

It’s sobering for all the developers who wanted to crowdfund games that the resurgence was figuratively here today and gone tomorrow, thanks to a pandemic that’s thrown everything in disarray. But I still expect more campaigns to go live regardless, so look forward to the next A Kick for Kickstarters entry.