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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, 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 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.
