Indie Game Watch (IGW) is a look at a few great games from a few great indie developers who are actively seeking funding. Think we missed a great project? Are you working on a game you think deserves a spot on the list? Email Cat (cat [at] qwerty cafe [dot] com)!
GripMat
Once again we’re featuring a game peripheral – essentially a piece of gaming related equipment. I’m specifically excited about GripMat because of the experiences I’ve seen my boyfriend have with his too-tiny, not very durable Magic: The Gathering play mats. GripMat has grip on BOTH sides of the playmats – helping to keep your game pieces (cards, etc.) in place.
It’s brought to you from Break From Reality Games, based out of Seattle, WA.
From their Kickstarter page:
Made in the USA – GripMats are introducing a patented material that is ideal for use with board games and miniatures. In development for the last 2 years, this approximately 1/8″ thick mat has a specialized surface with more frictional or “grip force” than cloth, velvet, or any other material currently offered in the game accessory market. In addition to this, it can be printed in full color vivid images, and will survive common abuse that vinyl mats, and paper mats would not be able to withstand. We need you, our backer, to help spread the word that a solution exists to table bumps, spilled sodas, and clumsy meeples.”
And check out the promo video:
If it suits your fancy, back GripMat by January 8, 2014.
Collusion
Collusion bills itself as a mobile-enhanced board game, essentially using both a phone and board game style play together to try and create a more unique experience. It comes to us from Tinker, Tailor Games in Seattle, WA and is about “lying to your friends, stealing from your allies, and cheating your way to victory.”
From their Kickstarter page:
Collusion mandates lying, stealing, cheating, and murdering in order to win. Players must work together while simultaneously plotting against each other in order to gain influence over the region. Selling out an ally to an enemy, blackmailing an opponent, or paying another agent to carry out an assassination on your behalf is all in a day’s work.
YOUR OBJECTIVE
At the outset of the game, each player is given two possible ways to win. Any player can win by maximizing their own influence within the game. Alternatively, each player is given a secret opponent and is able to win by totally depleting their opponent’s influence.During the game, you are able to monitor what your agency believes to be the current influence of each player via your phone.
MISSIONS
Throughout the game, your HQ assigns you missions via your phone. And completing those missions determines your influence. But it isn’t always black and white. HQ doesn’t always know best, and sometimes the outcome of a mission isn’t always desirable. You decide in the field how to handle what comes down the chain, who to help, and who to antagonize. Just be careful not to get burned…CHEAT, JUST DON’T GET CAUGHT
For spies, cheating is part of the job description. In fact, it’s basically the entire job. So we’ve embraced it. In Collusion, you’re encouraged to cheat. Illegally trade cards. Take turns while someone is in the bathroom. Do whatever it takes to win… Unless you get caught. If you’re noticed or called out, players use their in-game influence to democratically determine your guilt. And your punishment…
And check out the promo video:
Back Collusion by January 16, 2014.
New Orbit
Brought to us by Blackish Games in Graz, Austria, New Orbit is a game set in space and features “realistic gravitation, custom ship building and a fully voiced story.”
From the Kickstarter page:
Earth is gone.
Only some survived.
Everyone who could, fled the planet and settled in the asteroid belt.
Years passed, factions formed, WAR ensued over scarce resources and precious knowledge.
You are a young engineer of the Node Collective, lost deep inside enemy territory. Your mothership was on an important mission, but you weren’t senior enough to know its goal and purpose. Now here you are – in a tiny, badly damaged shuttle – alone amidst the burning debris of your mothership, with nothing but the cold voice of your computer to keep you company.
Back New Orbit by or before January 24, 2014.