This week's nostalgia trip comes courtesy of Tex Murphy and From Bedrooms to Billions, while Micromon brings "gotta catch 'em all" monster hunting to the iPhone.
This Week on Kickstarter is a weekly look at some of the most exciting, brilliant, and downright crazy projects seeking crowd funding. This week, we delve into the seedy noir world of Tex Murphy, go monster hunting with Micromon, and learn about the history of British game development with the film From Bedrooms to Billions.
We'd love to say we discovered the wonders of Tex Murphy on our own, but we were too busy developing click-induced RSI from Diablo and eating something called a "Puk" to notice. So the kudos go to you, the GameSpot audience, that pointed us in the direction of Tex Murphy: Project Fedora, a brand-new PC/Mac instalment in the detective adventure game series.
Project Fedora marks the sixth outing for the down-on-his-luck detective Tex Murphy, who's played by original series creator Chris Jones. It follows on from '90s classics such as Under a Killing Moon, The Pandora Directive, and Overseer. And, like its predecessors, it's set in a hyper-stylised postapocalyptic San Francisco.
What's promised for the new game is a fully interactive 3D world where you search for clues, solve puzzles, investigate crimes, and question witnesses and suspects. There will also be a full-on narrative complete with the same weird humour and noir and sci-fi influences courtesy of longtime writer Aaron Conners.
A pledge of $15 gets you a copy of the game, $30 a digital download of the soundtrack and documentary, and $100 a boxed collectors edition complete with a physical copy of the soundtrack and downloads of the original Tex Murphy and games. The real fun starts at $500 where your photo will be in the game featuring commentary from Tex himself.
There are some people in the world that don't like Pokemon--emotionless, zombie-like creatures that are dead inside and should be avoided at all costs. If, however, you love nothing more than catching monsters and kicking Team Rocket's ass, then you're a wonderful, wonderful person. Also, you should feast your eyes upon MOGA's Kickstarter for Micromon.
Micromon is a take on the classic Pokemon formula for iOS devices. There are towns to visit, a vast world to explore, and more than 100 monsters to catch, including "rare" and "epic" types, all of which evolve. A deep story is promised, and there are also online leagues, tournaments, and a social network to get stuck into.
Where Micromon differs from Pokemon is in its visuals, with current screenshots showcasing a rich, cartoon-like style that walks all over the somewhat dated 16-bit-era visuals of Nintendo's baby. It will be a cold day in hell before we see an official Pokemon game make its way to an iOS device, so Micromon is shaping up to be an ideal substitute.
There are some neat rewards for pledging too. Because Micromon will be a free-to-play game, a $5 pledge doesn't get you a copy of the game but instead rewards you with $10 worth of in-game currency. Further reward levels include T-shirts, hoodies, signed artwork, and your own character in the game. For $5000 bucks you can even design your own Micromon and receive a 7-inch statuette too.
OK, so our last pick this week isn't strictly a game, nor is it on Kickstarter. But hey, it's our feature, so we'll let it slide. Over on IndieGoGo, filmmakers Nicola and Anthony Caulfield (The Story of the Young Ones, Doctor Who - Stripped for Action, Immodesty Blaize – Burlesque Undressed) are seeking $35,000 to finish producing Bedrooms to Billions, a 90-minute documentary film that's set to tell the story of the British Video Games Industry between 1979 and 1996.
Cue shots of Alan Sugar looking grumpy around Amstrad's offices, Clive Sinclair sporting a spectrum, some stock footage, and video game soundbites from Iain Lee. Because, for some reason, no documentary is worth its salt without commentary from a jobless presenter.
Still, it's certainly a story worth telling. While Japan (and to a lesser extent, the US) often gets credited for much of the growth in the video games industry, the UK has a rich heritage of programers and entrepreneurs who shaped games development in ways that are still seen to this day. And with two hugely experienced documentary makers at the helm, From Bedrooms to Billions has a lot of promise.
So too do the rewards, with a $25 donation netting you a digital copy of the film. For $50 you get the film and a high-resolution download of the film's poster, which is designed by Oliver Frey. Hard copies of the film start at $100, while further tiers get your name in the credits, T-shirts, signed posters, and tickets to the premiere. For $8,000 you can feel like a big shot and get your name listed as "Executive Producer" in the credits, as well as schmooze it up at the after-show party.
Writer, riff maker, purveyor of fine foods. Mark currently spends his days trying to overcome his small (large) obsession with high-top trainers and mobile games. He's known to respond well to Long Island Iced Tea, falafels, and karaoke, but not necessarily in that order.
I want to thank Mark and GS for this article. Others in the future? I picked up all the Tex Murphy games from GoG a few days back. They are a nice break from games of today, not high on gameplay but a fun experience. If the trend holds as I play the games, I will go contribute to Project Fedora. The games would have remained unknown to me without this article. Thanks!
I agree, nice to see Gamespot highlighting these games. I'm psyched for a new Tex Murphy game!
2 Like Thank you Gamespot for highlighting these. It's nice to see that AAA aren't the only thing that get reviews sometimes. (I'll forgive you all for the facebook games pap last week.) They may not be a sure shot but it seems the only way we can avoid stagnation of creativity coming from the suits.
1 Like Tex Murphy W000000t!! Never thought I'd be seeing him again. Thanks for the tip, will buy immediately :))
1 Like Pandora Directive is one of my all time favorite adventure games such a unique series, so im down for a decent amount
its great to see all these legend adventure devs come back Tim Schafer, jane jensen, all lowe, even charles cecil is working on broken sword 5 in classic 2D (not a kickstarter) thank god im skint
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@Gelugon_baat lol, talk about glass half empty :p
Of course they can, but hopefully, at least somewhat less likely. I think the risks with Kickstarter are obvious, but we'll have to wait and see how these games eventually pan out. Might turn out really well, might not, but we'll have to wait and see.
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@Gelugon_baat Oh great... you again... Are you going to troll these kickstarter articles every week? Have you made it your personal mission to turn everyone against kickstarter with your negativity. Come on man... Get a life.
I think this is an interesting Kickstarter game. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/474644443/escape-from-zombie-u?ref=live Simple sexy fun.
I was excited for MicroMon till I saw that they use in game currency and on mobile devices they are huge rip offs giving you hardly anything for your dollar to advance in a game that is difficult and not fun to play for free alone. I wish they would just make solid games not based around paying for power that you just pay for upfront.
1 Like @thediscoeffect @another_drew I wish! How nostalgic was it hearing his voice in the pitch video!
It's funny that I was thinking about Tex Murphy and how great it was then boom, all this arrives! That said, I'm going to replay Mean Streets thanks to gog.com.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1948602774/macrobots-design-and-duel-artificial-intelligences
You should check out MACRObots on KickStarter. That game looks pretty unique, I think it launched this weekend. Could have a lot of potential! It sounds like you design the AI for a group of asteroid mining robots... and your AI competes against other players AI in a battle of the nerdy minds! I am just nerdy enough to give it a try! It's old school graphics, but still sounds kind of sweet...
2 Like Ta for the news. :)
"We'd love to say we discovered the wonders of Tex Murphy on our own..."
@markypants - I realise we can't expect miracles regarding comprehensive coverage of games independently developed and published, but I've long thought GS could do with some mechanism that provided more dedicated coverage in this area - the Downloads blog ( http://www.gamespot.com/news/blogs/downloads-blog/909186646/index.html ) doesn't really seem up to snuff these days, and although we do see the odd bit of news come through, there are still a lot of struggling artists and artisans out there, with projects eminently worthy of exposure.
No criticism of any individual staff is here intended, but if GS were *really* serious about "serving the gaming community" (whilst simultaneously increasing site traffic), the powers that be might consider fortifying the idea of this site as a "one-stop" destination for all things gaming, rather than this absurd (imho) focus on social networking. As it is I spend a lot of time elsewhere, such as HookShot Inc. (a source thoughtfully provided by your esteemed colleague of the female persuasion) in order to satiate my desire for games that *really* excite the appetite, rather than overindulging in (and/or being force fed) the bland AAA fare trotted out by every other gaming site on the Internet.
My $0.02
3 Like @s_h_a_d_o @markypants Totally agree we need to do more, hence why we're taking a weekly look at Kickstarter and The App Store. Danny is delving into the more esoteric world of indie games with Secret Code too.
Oh, and as I'm sure you're aware, there are a lot of independent projects operating outside the (excellent) Kickstarter structure, and some operating similar means for funding (e.g. http://www.pathofexile.com )
3 Like I LOVED playing the Tex Murphy games back in the day! I pledged $150 to the kickstarter campaign because I think waiting 14 years to resolve the cliff-hanger end of Overseer is long enough.
2 Like For me personally, Tex Murphy's comeback is the most exciting game announcement in years. Under a Killing Moon and Pandora Directive are both in my top 5 adventure games of all time, and they might be #1 and #2.
The pitch video is amazing too. Even without gameplay footage, seeing Tex stroll down an HD version of Chandler Ave just sent chills down my spine. I can't wait to get back.So glad the funding is going well, too. It's a big goal for a smaller cult-classic series, but Tex fans are the best fans and it's really coming along.
3 Like Tex Murphy, my childhood hero! Hell, it was about time we got a new game in the series. Great pitch video too, the guys still got it.
Tex walking down Chandler Avenue again.. Ah, goosebumps..
1 Like Omg Tex is back? Pandora Directive is one of my favorite games! I'd love another game. Where's my wallet? Time to pledge...
3 Like Very cute. I haven't played any Tex Murphy, but it looks fun. I'll have to look into it.
2 Like "but instead rewards you with $10 worth of in-game currency."
$10 worth of in-game currency.
IN-GAME CURRENCY.
Yup, this is mobile gaming allright. And the reason this will be no more than a cheap knock off of Pokemon, instead of reinventing a formula for itself.
If I wanted to play Pokemon, i'd play Pokemon. Oh and BTW I can emulate all the classics so this whole ordeal is pretty pointless anyway. BUT, the effort as to be appreciated nontheless. Good luck anyway.
