Kickstarter is a crowd funding website for creative projects tha was first launched in 2008. Since then Kickstarter has funded more than 24,000 creative projects ranging from indie films, music and comics to journalism, and what interests us the most, video games.

In the Kickstarter model, supporters of a project decide how much money they want to pledge and receive different levels of perks in return. That usually includes a copy of the product itself. Many people heard of Kickstarter when the recent success of the Double Fine Productions campaign to fund a new adventure game the first effort in the genre for Tim Schafer after 14 years, proved extremely successful as the game reached an extraordinary $3,336,371 funding.

Since then many projects that have popped up in the wake of Tim Schafer’s smashing success
like Wasteland 2 which is the second most funded game in Kickstarter’s history, and Carmaggedon Reincarnation, it is still a bit hard to keep track of what’s succeeded, and what desperately needs your money. To the rescue Gameconnect dug through the Kickstarter Games page to find projects you may not heard of yet but they look like they worth your hard-earned cash.

Jack Houston and the Necronauts

Warbird Games, is a new independent game developer, which uses Kickstarter in order to fund Jack Houston and the Necronauts, an old-school adventure game which uses stop motion animation to create a unique aesthetic true to the retro sci-fi movies that inspired it.

The game’s Kickstarter campaign has a goal of $56,000, which will allow the team to bring it to the PC using the Adventure Game Studio engine. However an incredible response to the campaign and more than $39,054 raised with 23 days remaining, Warbird games is now stretching to hit $100,000.

The minimum pledge will secure you a”Jack Houston and the Necronauts” DRM-free digital download complete with designer commentary audio track, a new HD wallpaper every month, exclusive access to beta-testing, and access to Warbird’s private forum community and video updates for backers-only.

With the maximum pledge you will receive a Limited Edition signed and numbered Jack Houston 12″ statue (identical to model kit, but fully assembled and expertly painted), one of the original stop motion figures actually used in the final game (including all characters and creatures, your choice. First come, first pick), your face appears as mission control operator in opening sequence, plus a large number of other reward goodies.

Jack Houston and the Necronauts takes place in the year 1999, in an alternate universe heavily inspired by classic sci-fi authors and artists. Jack Houston is recruited by the Venture Aeronautics and Space Transportation to man the first rocket to Venus, only to have a terrible accident leaving him in stasis for 1000 years. When he awakes  Jack will a whole new universe where space travel is common place and aliens are everywhere. A galaxy of adventure he could never have dreamed is waiting for him, if only he can survive the perils of this vicious planet.

Paranormal

Paranormal is a fully dynamic haunting-simulator. Much like in the movies ‘Paranormal Activity’ or ‘The Blair Witch Project’, the viewpoint will be that of a camera being held by a person (the player).

This project has been worked on by one man, Matt Cohen, an indie game developer based in the US. If Paranormal reaches its funding goal, a team of developers will be hired to help develop the game. This would allow the game to feature more content, locations, gameplay elements, and improved graphics.

Anyone who pledges at least $5 will get their named mentioned in the game’s credits. Pledges of at least $15 will get you a full downloadable copy of Paranormal when it is released. As you pledge higher you will also receive a number of other goodies in the shape of the game’s soundtrack, extra copies, the option to help design future games, a gift of any Steam game of their choice, with a price not exceeding $100, while the top pledge of $300 will get you all the above along with the option to get free copies of every game this talented indie developer creates.

Paranormal is planned to launch for both a Mac and PC.

Defense Grid 2

Hidden Path Entertainment is an independent game developer for over 6 years, currently developing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive for Valve,  Prior to that, Hidden Path created Defense Grid: The Awakening and released it on PC & Xbox 360.

Defense Grid is a strategy game where you spend resources on building towers that destroy waves of incoming enemies. As you kill more enemies, your resources grow. It’s a combo of strategy and puzzle play, and because the game is balanced just right, there are a million different ways you can beat a level so your solution is truly your solution.

Now the company decided to make a sequel for the game and wanted to use Kickstarter in order to fund it. If Hidden Path Entertainment raises $250,000, they will release a new, 8 level expansion for Defense Grid: The Awakening. At $500,000, they build a new engine, remaster all of the old levels in it, and add multiplayer support. $750,000 will get us a level editor, release on more platforms (Mac, Linux, etc.), and some more multiplayer features. $1 million is the final goal, allowing the development of a full sequel with a new campaign, new aliens, and new towers.

With a pledge of $15 or more you get a Steam code for a free copy of the original Defense Grid (PC) game immediately, even before funding closes. Then in December, you’ll get a digital copy of DG:Containment, and after that you’ll get any new DG content funded from this Kickstarter when development is complete – up to and including DG2.