https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1460250988/darkest-dungeon-by-red-hook-studios
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/125859261/starcrawlers

For anyone interested, both these projects look pretty good to me.

Star Crawlers seems awesome, how many gameplay hours does it promise? I couldn't find anything.

Nope it doesn't say anything, but it seems to be just randomly generated levels/traps/loot so you could just say it's a roguelike. So it'll be hard and short but replayable.

I'm not vouching for these games turning out any good mind you, but they seem solid enough based on the pitch, and worth seeing them made.

Well, that sucks. If it's any consolation, they'll be made, at least, since they both met their initial targets.

Not a fan of roguelikes?

Honestly, the only rouge-like I can remember playing is FTL, and it was pretty fun. But if I am looking to play an RPG, I'd like to be able to follow a narrative, or explore the environment, and so I don't think I would find that game enjoyable if it's short.

i had asked c/o also wanting it more RPG and less rogue-esque.

from the FAQ on Starcrawlers:

[i]"Will there be permadeath / ironman mode? And can we turn it off?

Yes, and it will be completely optional. If you've opted to have permadeath on, once a Crawler is dead - they're dead. You can however hire a new Crawler of that class back at base and of course retain all their gear.

There will be a Hardcore Ironman mode: 1 save file, death is permanent. >:D"[/i]

heres a bit about the story:

[i]"NEW -> HOT -> How big a part of the game is story? Procedural content + story = ?!?!

We believe the heart of any decent RPG is it's story.

There is a central plot in StarCrawlers and it doesn't revolve around you saving the universe. Events will be set into motion by your crew and you'll have the opportunity to go from pawn to player (or flipping the table), depending on your actions.
Crawlers are a varied group, and you can play your team however you like, whether that's maliciously, heroically, or just self-serving-ly.

> How do you plan on procedural content working with the main plot?

The main plot of StarCrawlers is comprised of individual missions, all of which serve to advance the narrative of the storyline in some fashion. The main plot also has branching paths with different conclusions, and your choices about how to resolve the missions that make up this larger story alter where you are on the paths. Elements of the mission stories are randomized to keep things fresh (who's sending you, what they're after, where it's at) and the levels / events / enemy groups are procedurally generated from these mission stories."[/i]

Personally I don't think I would like an RPG rogue like. I enjoyed Rogue Legacy but that was because I felt like I was progressing each time I died horribly. Glad to see they have funding already without my input.

I love roguelikes (coming from the days of Nethack and the like) but i think id prefer something with a bit more substance and story.
Ive backed both of the mentioned Kickstarters but im unsure now whether i keep one, both or neither (im still eyeballing Mandate and Balrum although latter isnt available pre order etc right now)

Thanks for the info, but I think the fact that characters, or your teammate crawlers, are replaceable doesn't bode well for the narrative portion of the game; if anything, it sounds like you'll be the only "alive" character in the game, and the rest will have some snippets of things to say/do depending on personality, that's only slightly better than the NPCs from Skyrim.

Also, FTL has a plot as well, in a way, but that doesn't mean it's good for RPG-like storytelling. Whatever the case, not every game needs to tell a story, but that's just something I like from the RPGs I play.

what did you think about "Dragon Fin Soup" ?

29 days to go

i posed the DRM-free questionare in the comments that should be a KS standard

potentially in ironman mode 'you' could die as well, and its just the remnants of your team pushing forwards with the narrative.

hopefully that narrative ai thing works out alright.
i did like that it wasnt a 'your saving the universe' as the standard story, and you could choose to go evil or good or neutral.
the character classes effecting situations was shadowrun-esque, which i liked.

id rather have a few characters constant and do it more RPG like. (avoiding ironman mode)

it did remind me of Wizardry in the perspective and chars live or die aspect of the dungeon crawl.

starcrawlers looks amazing sadly I'm broke at the moment :( cant back it

I think I will back dragon fin soup later :D

Nice find. Fact they havent got Steam or Greenlight plastered allover their page is a big plus. Nice trailer. Graphics look cute :P. Lets see what the devs say. *sigh* why do people need to bring up humble in the comments section? im sure Humble reps scour KS for potential games already (something GOG is missing out on imho).

Kinda off topic, what do people think of many KS keep using 'procedurally generated" stuff over and over?. Geez....

totally gandalf.nho's find

i check out kicktraq (quite sporadically) and our thread here (often) and stumble into the KS.

i dont mind the humble request as long as it doubles down on the DRM-free, but am glad its not steam city in the comments section.
it always seems to devolve into a steam is great so it need to be intrinsic to the code, achievements, MP is needed for a SP game spiral.


'procedurally generated" stuff on repeat is probably to fluff out the game while using $ resources on other sections of the project.
i think its to stretch the funding out, but any of the resident coder experts could shine the light of reasoning on this one, im just hypothesizing.