Two Kickstarter projects have caught my eye recently, both of them computer games, but both of them very different from each other.
The first game is one that I’ve had my eye on for a while now. Dead State is an ambitious RPG that focuses more on the group survival aspect of surviving the zombie apocalypse than pretty much any game out there. While you will have to go out to scavenge for food and supplies and fight off zombies and other enemies, you’re biggest concern is finding allies and keeping everyone safe back at your home compound, while keeping people happy with the tough decisions you’ll be forced to make throughout the game. You’re in charge, but that doesn’t mean everyone will follow you just because of that. It’s an aspect that very few computer games have explored at all, so I’m psyched about it. The game is being made by Double Bear Productions, a tiny studio with a big pedigree. It was founded by Brain Mitsoda who worked at some amazing companies and worked on such games as Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines. (If you’ve ever played that game, I assume that you are suitably impressed.) The people at Double bear have been working on this game for a while, but due to limited funding it’s been mostly a side project for everyone involved and they’ve finally gone to Kickstarter to seek out more funding so they can work on it full-time. Check them out to see if it’s something you might be interested in.
The other game is Zombie Playground, by Massive Black. It’s a co-op third-person action game set in the zombie apocalypse, from the point of view of children. It seems to have been inspired by this picture done several years ago by Jason Chan, the senior artist at Massive Black. I always loved that picture, it was Left 4 Dead with kids, which just seemed awesome to me. Apparently their goal is a lot more modest than what they really need, but from what I can tell, they’re using Kickstarter to get the game off the ground and the first part of it in people’s hands as well as advertising the game a bit while they work on finishing the complete game. Whatever happens it’s definitely an interesting idea, and very visually appealing.
