The Funding Crowd 38

Welcome to a much delayed and slightly shortened The Funding Crowd #38! It's been a whopping two whole months since we put together a TFC article due to the various reasons that muntdefems outlined in his Call to Arms article earlier. It only takes 30 minutes to an hour to properly research a game for its inclusion in these articles, but with that pesky thing called "life" constantly getting in the way of that research and creativity, it's been a real struggle over the summer months to get an article ready. To that end, we've reduced our article count a little and of course for this article, we've dropped the Still in the Running section.

Speaking of the Call to Arms, many thanks for the handful of responses we got, but more help is always welcome! Even if you're not comfortable writing, you can still research a project, outlining the facts for one of the writers to put fancy words around. Or you can help Munts on the WIKI, or even PM one of the team to suggest a project! This isn't a huge commitment and we'll never let it become one.

But enough waffle! Let's introduce you to some lovely Hidden Gems.









We'll start with a very brief mention of this quality RPG. Why brief? It's nearly at the end of its campaign and you'll have hours, if not scant minutes to pledge if you think there's room for another game like "Wasteland 2".




Beautiful 3D animations, lots of strategic turn-based warfare and some 4X faction gameplay thrown in for good measure. It's already been Greenlit, it will be DRM-free, you can get on board for only $18 and it's due out in 18 months. Be quick!







Montreal studio, q-bit games is hoping to catch your Canadian dollar pledges in their cutsey side-scrolling platforming follow up to their first game, Machete. Indeed, not only set in the same world, Holobunnies puts you in control of one of four playable, er, Bunnies in the quest to discover what stole the Machetes eyes from the first game. Each character will sport a different power in their quest, which involves jumping, jetpacking and shooting their way through The Pandemonium, a cave complex featuring 6 unique map styles as you progress.




If q-bit can nail the platforming mechanics, Holobunnies looks like it will promise a healthy chunk of side scrolling goodness. You can play two-player co-op, or just drop into an arena battle for 4-player brawling. The graphics are a big step up from Machete and offer some nice detail in the environments. I was torn between several games to draw a likeness - Rogue Legacy, Gateways, Dustforce or even Cave Story. We only get a glimpse of two of Pandemonium's themed levels, but what there is looks pretty special.

It's due out next year, it's yours for ten Canadian dollars and you can even play it on Wii U if you don't have your Linux box handy!







Her Majesty's SPIFFING is Northern Irish developer BillyGoat Entertainment's second attempt at funding their classic adventure game. As last time they're looking to collect £30k, but managed to surpass their final tally from the last round within the first couple weeks of this campaign. Having a playable demo this time around is definitely a good move, and I suspect it might explain the increased interest as it both plays well and is funny as heck. If you're a fan of spoof comedy such as Airplane! or Johnny English the humor in this game will almost certainly be right up your alley.




If the campaign is successful, it will ensure that the first of three chapters gets made. The developers plan on making each chapter feel like a complete game with distinct storylines that tie into a larger whole. Each chapter will also have 4-5 hours worth of gameplay. For £12 or more you will get a DRM-free digital copy of the chapter once it's released, and if you step up your pledge to at least £30, you will also get access to the subsequent chapters as they're released.







Aerannis is a platformer that blends classic action, stealth, and a rich story. Presented in lovely and detailed pixel graphics, it gives you a wide range of strategies to progress through missions, from the traditional guns and bombs to hiding in doorways and vents -- or even using hostages as human shields.

What most sets the game apart from contemporary games is that the protagonist is a trans-woman assassin, living in the last remaining city on Earth, populated only by women. With Aerannis, the developer Ektomarch hopes to highlight gender identity issues, without sacrificing the fast-paced platformer gameplay.




The game is developed in LÖVE and the developer seems determined to do a same day release for Linux alongside Windows and Mac. In the event that they hit any snags in the Linux port, their fallback plan is to release the source code to Linux backers.







It's great to cover a game that represents an under represented genre for our platform and Air Brawl is just that. Sure, we have X-Plane as far as true simulation goes, but there's precious little in the way of arcade dog fighting games for Linux.

And make no mistake, the emphasis is on the arcade element here. Trick flying, twitch controls and a variety of insane weaponry will keep you on your toes in your team-based struggles. At the moment, the gameplay revolves around team games such as capture the flag, and the planes have been themed accordingly. The planes effectively become classes and range from warrior, through sniper, to team support roles and even a medic role.




But it's in the smooth, fluid stunt flying that Air Brawl really shines. One man studio Wilhelm Nylund has so far created a single map to barrel roll, swoop and dive through, but he plans a further 3 before launch and, depending on stretch goals, may add more maps, or indeed further planes to the mix.

The game is developed in Unity, but as you can see from the Linux demo, it runs well so Wilhelm hasn't just hit the export button and hoped for the best. The game is hoping to be Greenlit on Steam and we've asked Wilhelm for clarification on whether it will include any other form of DRM. You will need to pledge in Swedish Krona and it's a minimum kr100 SEK (about $14) to get a copy of the game on its release in about a year's time.










Well, it's been two months, but we would be remiss not to update you on the status of the last games we covered. Let's start, as always, with the bad news.


The Losers

After a decent run of only covering successful projects, the tide turned and we felt some keen disappointments with the failure of Kaptain Brawe 2, Fritz, and Script Kiddies. Kaptain Brawe was already the second funding attempt, so the team will be looking for more conventional funding sources rather than gearing up for another crowdfunding attempt. Fritz came in fairly close to the goal, about $3k away not counting the accidental over-pledge that caused the creators to cancel it. A second attempt could easily be successful, if it were attempted. Script Kiddies, on the other hand, needs some effort put into community-building before a relaunch is likely to be successful.

The final failed campaign from that batch of Gems, Major Drip: Case of the Runnies, was cancelled as a lost cause a couple of days before the deadline.



The Winners

Rising Angels: Fates ended up at 162% of the minimum goal, which translates to funding for the first 3 stretch goals, notably including voice acting.


Ray's the Dead had a very lively run as well, reaching 172% of the base goal for over $50k pledges. This encompasses 4 stretch goals, for example an additional boss fight. Fans of Ray who somehow managed to miss his comeback campaign are invited to preorder with a Humble widget.

Elysian Shadows continues our run of projects that succeeded with a comfortable margin, over $35k above the ambitious $150k base goal. The 16-bit RPG gamers turned up in droves, to the tune of 2,282 backers, together raising enough to hit the first stretch goal: bonus events that are unlocked after the first playthrough.


Hard West had a lot of momentum as well, funding half-way through the time period and accumulating an extra $24k during the second half of the campaign. $10k of that stretch goal money is earmarked for work on Mac and Linux ports, which should now get simultaneous release with the Windows version!


Stash: No Loot Left Behind was the only close call among this batch of winners, reaching the $50k goal in the final 48 hours with the help of over 120 new backers including some GOL members - Frogdice even stopped by GoL in that article thread to thank us for our support! Linux gamers with a fondness for role-playing should definitely keep an eye on Stash, which will be an RP-heavy MMO with a fully supported native Linux client.













And there we have it. You want more? Well, you know what's coming right? Yep, it's the standard sign off outlining how you can get involved!

Please PM one of the team: (scaine, Speedster, muntdefems, or new recruit flesk) if you think you can help or just want to chat about Crowdfunding! And of course, remember that you can use the comments, Wiki, forums, or direct messages (PMs) to keep us up updated on any suggestions that you'd like to see covered.

As for next time, we'll be back with more Biggies, with more Gems, and hopefully with more Winners, including the newly expanded Funding Crowd Team!

See you next time! Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.