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JRPG Project Phoenix continues crowdfunding with PayPal campaign
Japanese indie developer Creative Intelligence Arts has renewed the quest to crowdfund its JRPG Project Phoenix, following up on its million-dollar Kickstarter campaign with an additional funding push via PayPal. The studio has since reworked its reward tiers, announcing an array of additional bonuses to entice new backers. Boasting an all-star development staff consisting of director Hiroaki Yura, artist Kiyoshi Arai, and Final Fantasy series composer Nobuo Uematsu, Project Phoenix seeks to unite traditional JRPG design with squad-based RTS gameplay. The final product is set for release in 2015 for Windows, Mac, Linux, PlayStation 4, and PS Vita. Developer Creative Intelligence Arts hopes that additional funding will propel the project toward its remaining stretch goals, which include advanced skill trees, bonus side-stories, and multiplayer options. Project Phoenix has earned $1,086,659 from its Kickstarter and PayPal funding campaigns to date, and its highest stretch goals require additional contributions in excess of $3 million.
Crowdfund Bookie September 2013: The best of times, the worst of times
The Crowdfund Bookie crunches data from select successful Kickstarter and Indiegogo campaigns that ended during the week and produces pretty charts for you to look at. The month of September embodied the best and, arguably, the worst crowdfunding has to offer video games. On the positive side of things, September saw the birth of Project Phoenix, the month's highest-funded game ($1,014,600). The RPG-meets-RTS features an all-star crew, including Lead Composer Nobuo Uematsu, Art Director Kiyoshi Arai and Director/Producer Hiroaki Yura, each with ties to the Final Fantasy series as well as Diablo 3 and Valkyria Chronicles. September will also be remembered as the month that Ouya's Free the Games Fund left its mark on crowdfunding. One game in the program, Gridiron Thunder, was accused of unfairly bolstering its own campaign by self-funding it past the $100,000 mark in order to earn rewards offered by Ouya. The hardware company's program fell under great scrutiny before being overhauled, at which point developer MogoTXT removed Gridiron Thunder from Free the Games Fund eligibility. As an example of the discrepancy in funding, Evelend Games' action platformer Indiegogo project AdventurOS had over ten times as many funders as Gridiron Thunder (1,899 versus 183), yet the Ouya football game earned over eight times as much money as AdventurOS ($171,009 versus $21,323). Additionally, removing Gridiron Thunder from the action genre for the month takes the category's average pledge per backer rate down from $44.19 to $34.31. As seen in our latest quarterly report, it only takes a few projects like Gridiron Thunder to shape the community's perception of entire crowdfunding platforms like Indiegogo and Kickstarter. While September saw the same number of successful projects (29), the $2,211,975 raised by 40,701 funders were down by $764,575 and 23,218 people from the previous month, and were the lowest amounts seen in the last four months. It's unclear whether potential community distrust thanks to controversial projects like Gridiron Thunder or the release of big retail games, such as the recent launch of Grand Theft Auto 5 will have a bigger impact on crowdfunding in the coming months. Head past the break to see the month's breakdown by genre as well as a list of September's top five projects.
Crowdfund Bookie, September 8 - 14: Project Phoenix, StarCraft Universe
The Crowdfund Bookie crunches data from select successful Kickstarter and Indiegogo campaigns that ended during the week and produces pretty charts for you to look at. This week in crowdfunding, the Kickstarter campaigns for Project Phoenix, Gridiron Thunder, StarCraft Universe and Pro Pinball: Timeshock ended. Project Phoenix earned the most money and had the highest number of backers by a landslide this week, hauling in $1,014,600 thanks to 15,802 funders. Gridiron Thunder, the Ouya football game that has been embroiled in controversy with its involvement in Ouya's Free the Games Fund, had the highest average pledge per person ($934.48). This was due to a handful of suspicious backers that each pledged over $10,000 to the project. Head past the break to see the week's results and pretty charts.
Project Phoenix ends Kickstarter campaign by soaring past $1M
JRPG-styled RTS Project Phoenix blazed to $1,014,600 when its Kickstarter campaign ended this morning. That money plus the $44,241 donated over Paypal meant the final total was $1,058,841, meeting the stretch goal for a "fully explorable overworld with an upgraded combat transition," along with the rather vague "Fight inside the Kraken." Project Phoenix raised ten times its funding goal, backers both buying into the concept of a fantasy squad-based RTS layered with JRPG design, and the illustrious names behind it. Creative Intelligence Arts' team includes Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu and artist Kiyoshi Arai, while long-term RPG dev Hiroaki Yura is directing and producing the game. Project Phoenix is set for Windows PC, Mac, Linux, PlayStation 4, and Vita in mid-2015, while a different iOS version is due too. That's a long old time to wait, but in the meantime fans can still donate to the game via PayPal, although they won't earn backer-exclusive rewards.
Project Phoenix rising on PS4, Vita too
Kickstarter fireball Project Phoenix is scorching a path onto PlayStation 4 and Vita, after successful "long negotiations" ended with dev Creative Intelligence Arts confirming the RTS/RPG for Sony platforms. Now at over seven times its funding goal of $100,000, Project Phoenix was originally announced for PC, Mac, and Linux, with iOS and Android receiving a separate version of the game. However, Creative Intelligence Arts (which has an unfortunate acronym) did say it was working to bring the game to PS4 and Vita too, and sure enough that work turned into reality. There's now the small matter of working those platforms into the funding tiers and allowing those who've already backed the project to switch to one of the Sony platforms. Project Phoenix is the latest firestorm to rise to heady financial heights on Kickstarter, not least because of the RPG talent on its staff, including revered Final Fantasy music-smith Nobuo Uematsu, FF artist Kiyoshi Arai, and Hiroaki Yura, who's worked on the likes of Diablo 3 and Valkyria Chronicles. Project Phoenix is billed as a fantasy RTS combined with JRPG design, and while we've yet to see any gameplay footage, a recent video (above) gave some indication of how the game's squad-based, tactical combat may play out. With five days to go, the campaign is set to soar past the $800,000 stretch goal, earning exclusive posters for Kickstarter backers. The more significant addition of a "fully explorable over world with an upgraded combat transition" looks realistic at $1,025,000.
Veteran RPG devs launch Project Phoenix Kickstarter with Nobuo Uematsu in tow [Update: Funded!]
Project Phoenix, a JRPG with squad-based real-time strategy trappings and an all-star cast, is now on Kickstarter. Among those working on the game are Lead Composer Nobuo Uematsu, Art Director Kiyoshi Arai and Director/Producer Hiroaki Yura. Uematsu is best known for his work in creating music for the Final Fantasy series, and Arai illustrated worlds for Final Fantasy 3, 12 and 14. Yura is the founder of Project Phoenix's developer, Creative Intelligence Arts, and worked on Diablo 3 and Valkyria Chronicles. The credited list of developers includes as-yet-unannounced lead programmers and art supervisors, the latter of which has been credited with work on "some very famous anime that everyone knows." Creative Intelligence Arts is aiming to launch Project Phoenix in mid-2015, and is starting with PC, Mac and Linux as its primary platforms. It will develop separate iOS and Android versions, and is "working to have the game released on PlayStation 4 and other platforms." The developer is seeking $100,000 on Kickstarter by September 11, of which it has already raised $25,921. (As of this writing. Given how quickly that ticker is going up, however, by the time you read this, it'll likely be higher.) Update: We weren't lying about how quickly this thing was getting funded – Project Phoenix passed its $100,000 goal in less than nine hours and shows no sign of slowing down. The first stretch goal is $300,000, and it doubles the number of monster and character models, and adds extended musical numbers from Uematsu.
MechWarrior Online reveals Project Phoenix pre-order program
If you're one of those peeps who loves pre-ordering video games, and you've got a soft spot for the MechWarrior IP, you'll probably want to look into MechWarrior Online's limited edition pre-launch Battlemechs. Project Phoenix offers fans "the chance to nab rare, beloved, and perk-wielding 'Mechs" at prices ranging from $20 to $80. Package purchasers will take delivery on October 15th, and Piranha Games says that the special edition rides with custom exteriors and camo schemes will never be available again following the completion of the pre-order sale. You learn more about all of the available 'Mechs on MWO's official website. [Source: Piranha Games press release]
Pentagon starts Phoenix trial to harvest defunct satellites, MacGyver new ones from orbit
The Phoenix Frankenprogram to harvest the corpses of expired satellites and cobble together new ones seemed like one of DARPA's more daft ideas, but this one has actually kicked off its first phase of development. The plan is to first launch a service craft -- replete with robotic arms and enough processing horsepower to work independently if needed -- followed by the tiny base-unit skeleton satlets. The service mothership would dip into an orbital area called the "graveyard", grabbing pre-chosen cadavers and picking off usable parts, especially valuable antenna arrays, with its robo-limbs. Those parts would be jury-rigged to the bare-bones units, creating usable Pentagon satellites and saving the $10,000 per pound launch cost. So far, a $2.5 million contract to develop the needed technology has been put in place, and bids for the no-frills satlets went out last week. Plenty of dirty work is still needed, so check the video after the break to see if the overly-elaborate plan can un-moot $300 billion of orbiting cold metal.
Vicarious Visions has three unannounced projects, including one for Wii U
Longtime Guitar Hero, Tony Hawk, and now Skylanders developer Vicarious Visions has three new projects in the works, according to a report from GameSpot. Reportedly, an associate producer's LinkedIn page specifies something codenamed "Project Nova" for Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii U, the PS3/Xbox 360 "Project Atlantis," and "Project Phoenix," for Xbox 360, PS3, and regular-style Wii. Of course, no other information was given about these projects -- except that they prove that VV owner Activision is already integrating Wii U into its multiplatform development. Not only would "Project Phoenix" be the first Wii U game from VV, by the way, these would also be the second, third, and fourth PS3/Xbox 360 games from the studio. It's only made Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 for those platforms.
