Armikrog
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Claymation puzzler 'Armikrog' comes to the PS4 on August 23
There's no rule that game animations must be done in a computer. The creators of Armikrog elected to use claymation, the painstaking stop-motion process beloved in such movies as Wallace and Grommit. The title raised $974,000 on Kickstarter and was released for PC, Mac and Linux last September, following several delays. The PS4 version was further held up, but we finally have a release date and price on the console: August 23rd for $9.99.
The Banner Saga, Armikrog journey to PS4 in early 2015
Four games from independent developers will arrive on PS4 in early 2015, each courtesy of publisher Versus Evil. The publisher, which specializes in assisting independent devs reach new platforms and regions, revealed Stoic Studio's viking RPG The Banner Saga among the handful of games destined for the PlayStation Network. The Banner Saga's first episode launched in January after a successful $723,886 campaign on Kickstarter funded the game in April 2012. Versus Evil will also help another Kickstarter-funded game to reach PS4 early next year, Pencil Test Studios' clay-sculpted adventure game Armikrog. The other two games arriving on PS4 in 2015 thanks to the publisher are Kyn and Toren, the latter developed by Brazilian studio Swordtales. Players guide a "Moonchild" through the stages of childhood while ascending a tower in Toren, solving puzzles and slashing at enemies along the way. Versus Evil noted in PlayStation Blog's comments that none of the games are slated to reach Vita as of yet. [Image: Stoic Studio]
Crowdfund Bookie: $23 million raised in six months
The Crowdfund Bookie crunches data from select successful Kickstarter and Indiegogo campaigns that ended during the month and produces pretty charts for you to look at. The past six months have proven fruitful for crowdfunded games. In total, 186 different Indiegogo and Kickstarter video game projects earned $23,914,666 from the months of June through November. Those numbers are courtesy of 500,467 backers in the six-month period, who raised $13,173,182 beyond the combined goals of the projects to reach stretch goals that will bring games to additional platforms and grant players more content. On average, crowdfunding projects raised $128,573 in the last six months, but as we examined in our last quarterly report, these mean averages can be quite misleading. By comparison, the median, or middle number in the data set for the amount of money raised by each of the 186 projects, is $25,188. Given that only six of the projects raised at least one million dollars, and just seven more raised at least $500,000 during that time frame, we can conclude that the average amount of money raised by crowdfunding projects in the last six months is positively skewed. Similarly, the median number of backers per project was 542 (a sharp contrast to a mean average of 2,691). Future project creators should take note, then: Your average Kickstarter or Indiegogo gaming project earns closer to $25,188, not $128,573. Additionally, the data shows that strategy games like Hex and Warmachine: Tactics led the genre to the top of the list, as they earned the most money of the group ($6,901,527). Conversely, the adventure genre had the most successful projects, as 46 adventurous or narrative-driven games were funded in the last six months, such as Obduction and Armikrog. Action games had the highest number of backers (145,316), thanks especially to the highest-earning game of the group, Keiji Inafune's Mighty No. 9, which hauled in $3,845,170 thanks to 67,226 people. Head past the break to see the top-earning games and breakdown by genre for the six-month period.
Crowdfund Bookie June 2013: $3.1 million in gravy
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. If June's numbers are to be believed, backers of game projects on Kickstarter and Indiegogo are more than happy to keep donating long after initial goals are met. For the month of June in crowdfunding, 23 video game projects raised a total of $5,594,469, thanks to the contributions of 97,954 people; 55.69 percent ($3,115,579) of that money was beyond the combined goals of those 23 projects. This helped games like Armikrog reach stretch goals for things such as a Wii U port. A case can be made that reaching stretch goals for additional content and platforms is important to funders, and may also explain the month's higher average pledge amount of $57.11. The average backer in June spent nearly enough on crowdfunding as if they'd bought a brand-new retail console game. In some cases, it guaranteed players bonus content or DRM-free versions of the games they helped fund, which isn't as common with regular retail purchases. This sets the foundation for an argument that crowdfunding a game's development could be of better value to the end consumer.
Crowdfund Bookie, June 23 - 29: Massive Chalice, Armikrog, A Hat in Time
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 Kickstarter campaigns for Massive Chalice, Armikrog, A Hat in Time, Our Darker Purpose, Afterland, Nelly Cootalot: The Fowl Fleet and Siegebreakers concluded this past week and there was much money to be had. Double Fine's Massive Chalice earned the most moola this week ($1,229,015), and had the most backers of the group, with 31,774 people funding the project. Afterland had the highest average pledge per person, with each funder averaging a $73.29. Take a gander at the results and our fancy charts after the break.
Armikrog Kickstarter concludes at $974K, obtains Wii U stretch goal
Pencil Test Studios' $900,000 Kickstarter goal to create Armikrog, a claymation point-and-click adventure project, has concluded with the team receiving $974,503 in pledges. It will also be possible to continue supporting the game's development through PayPal. The project is being helmed by alumni of the 1996 classic The Neverhood, including Mike Dietz, Ed Schofield and Doug TenNapel – who has made headlines for his less-than-progressive views about same-sex marriage, among other topics. The game is scheduled to ship in July of 2014.
Armikrog adds Wii U stretch goal days before Kickstarter ends
Claymation point-and-clicker Armikrog has until Thursday, June 27 to reach its $900,000 Kickstarter goal, but developer Pencil Test Studios decided it's never too late to add a stretch goal to its funding initative. In this case, the former Neverhood developers added a $950,000 stretch goal to its campaign that would bring the game to Wii U. An update on the project noted that Nintendo "fast-tracked" Pencil Test Studios to become a licensed Wii U developer, and the studio said Nintendo contacted it recently to see if the developer would be interest in bringing Armikrog to Wii U. Of course, the project still has a few days to reach its initial goal; the project currently sits at $635,887.
Armikrog stop-motions you toward a Kickstarter from Neverhood vets
Pencil Test Studios, a company manned by one of the designers and two of the artists responsible for 1996's classic The Neverhood, is seeking $900,000 in crowdsourced funding via Kickstarter in order to fuel the creation of its new claymation point-and-click adventure project, Armikrog. While story details are sparse, the game's overall premise is pretty straightforward: Tommynaut, a space explorer, and Beak-Beak, his blind, talking alien dog, crash land onto a "weird planet" and are somehow imprisoned in a fortress called "Armikrog." Assuming it's fully funded, the game will be available in both Steam and DRM-free flavors for PC, OSX and Linux. In addition to being helmed by Neverhood alumni Doug TenNapel, Mike Dietz and Ed Schofield, Armikrog will also feature a soundtrack scored by Neverhood/Skullmonkeys composer Terry S. Taylor, in addition to voice work by Mystery Science Theater 3000/RiffTrax's Michael J. Nelson, Napoleon Dynamite's Jon Heder, Rob Paulsen of every cartoon from your childhood, Tekzilla's Veronica Belmont and PvPOnline's Scott Kurtz.
Armikrog is the new clay adventure game from The Neverhood creators
We heard last month that the folks behind 1996's The Neverhood were at work on a new clay-motion adventure game, and the name has now been revealed: It's called Armikrog. The title has also earned a website, a Twitter profile, and a Facebook page. There's also a very (very) short video clip available, but all it shows is a confusingly full whiteboard, the scrabblings on which may or may not have much to do with the final product.We do know that it's all being put together by Neverhood creator Doug TenNapel, with help from Mike Dietz and Ed Schofield (a.k.a. Pencil Test Studios) and Neverhood composer Terry Taylor.
