There are 6 new games in this week's Crowdfunding round-up. The high numbers of summer have now passed and the short lull in campaigns has begun. The number of projects each week will stay reasonably low now until the year end spike around November. This week we have a hefty looking 4X game in Ascendancy and some stunning art work from Mistwind. I look forward to seeing how both projects progress.
As always, remember, back with your head, not your heart and most importantly, love your games.
"It's the lunchtime rush at your café, and you have a queue of hungry customers! Can you make enough sandwiches to fulfil their orders before they get fed up of waiting?"
'Crumbs!' is a solo/cooperative 18-card puzzle game, with 1-2 café owners working to serve sandwiches to their customers.
Stack ingredient cards (Bread, Ham, Cheese, Salad, Egg, Salmon, Avocado) to make sandwiches. Every time you makes a sandwich matching a customer order, your actions reset to five. If your actions reach zero without having made a sandwich, your customers get tired of waiting and leave, losing you the game. Complete a number of orders (depending on your difficulty) to make it through the lunch rush and win the game!
ON A ROLL: Efficiency is your key to happy customers, planning ahead for upcoming orders and managing your ingredients to make the most of your available actions: PREP - Place any number of a single ingredient onto your prep area. TOAST - Flip any number of bread/sandwiches to their toasted side. RESTOCK - Return any number of one ingredient from your completed orders to the counter.
TWO BREADS ARE BETTER THAN ONE: Team up with a colleague and work together to serve your customers, but you only have access to half the ingredients each! Careful planning and communication are vital in this mode, as you pass ingredients to one another as part of your actions to achieve seamless efficiency.
ORDER UP!: Each time you serve a sandwich, you may return all of one ingredient from your completed orders to the counter for free. Choose wisely, as your decision could make the difference between happy or hungry customers!
Radioactive waste from local power plants has granted you and your fellow farm animals both sentience and an insatiable hunger... for power. Now you must take up the weapons of your former masters, the humans, to fight both them and each other for control of the countryside.
Farms Race is a 1.5-2 hour strategy game that parodies Eurogames like Catan and Agricola. Players play as the Supreme Leader of a species of farm animal racing to accumulate 10 Victory Points by building Barns and Armoires, recruiting Spies, building the most nukes, and conquering opponents' regions with their herds.
In Fighting Fantasy Adventures, Martin Wallace has adapted the Fighting Fantasy solo adventure book line into a card game format, letting you experience the stories in a whole new way.
Now you can play with up to three friends (1-4 players) in a co-operative or solo format. Gameplay is easy to learn and engaging, downtime is minimal, and your characters will gain new abilities after each adventure. The card-based system lets you have the feel of a role-playing game, without the need for a gamemaster. The map is revealed as you play, and event cards tell you what you have discovered.
This campaign will comprise five adventures based on the four stories below:
The Warlock of Firetop Mountain
Island of the Lizard King
Deathtrap Dungeon
The Forest of Doom (in two parts)
Each adventure takes roughly 90-180 minutes to play, providing 10-15 hours of total game time.
In Algomancy, you are an Algomancer vying for control over an AI simulation. By manipulating the source code of the world you are able to cast spells, summon armies, and augment game objects to modify their capabilities. Players use these Algomantic powers in a conquest to vanquish the opposition and become the last one standing.
Algomancy is an expandable cube-style drafting card game with CCG-like player interaction and a variety of game modes.
The dynamic draft mode allows players to draft their hands from a communal deck during the game so they can adapt their strategy on the fly and works best for 2-5 players.
Pre-draft or cube draft allows players to draft a constructed deck through a traditional drafting method before the game begins, and works best for 6-10 players. Players can either play a series of 1v1 games or larger group games in a free-for-all or team structure.
Constructed is where players build decks of cards from the card pool to challenge other players who have done the same. This works for any number of players.
Team constructed allows a team of players to create a group deck, which that team will draft from during the course of the game. This works best for 6 players (3v3).
In the newly explored frontiers of the Mistwind Islands, bustling cities are filled with hard working townsfolk from fungus farmers to deep mist divers. Transport whales are seen soaring above the thick mist, transporting citizens and cargo from port to port. Mistwind is growing rapidly and our leaders are looking to connect with neighbouring nations to expand trade networks that will be beneficial for many years to come. You are the head of a trade company, with a chance to make a name for yourself. You've trained your transport whales well and now you need to gather resources to build your outposts and maximize your network efficiency while keeping up with the supply and demands of the local capitals.
Mistwind is a strategic game of building networks and meeting the demands of each nation. Players will gain resources to build outposts or train transport whales, gather and deliver cargo to fulfil territory demands and complete networking contracts with neighbouring nations in an effort to become the most Trusted Trader in Mistwind.
Players will have a hand of action disks numbered 1-5 but at the beginning of every round, you must choose one to discard and not use for that round. The game board will have 4 sections, each with their own spots numbers 1-5 where players will play their matching numbered action disk. Each spot on the board only allows one action disk. Players take turns placing their action disks until each player has used all 4 disks, thus ending the round. The game consists of only 4 rounds so players must choose carefully when and where to spend their actions to maximize their turns.
Players will earn points from, among other things, completing network cards, delivering resources to capitals, and overall majority of Demand Tokens from each region. The player with the most points wins!
Ascendancy is the ultimate 4x fantasy board game experience.
Lead 1 of many asymmetric houses of royal lineage, each vying for the throne. Reclaim your family name, through a hero's (or villains) journey spanning multiple generations, or a single scenario.
Build your empire skyward, seize control outward, manipulate the economy, or dominate the battlefield. There are several paths to victory. Every decision counts, and no two games of Ascendancy are ever the same.
At the heart of the game, a deep melting pot of interesting decision points awaits you. Tried & true gameplay mechanics such as worker placement, yet with novel innovations, such as "social class" based action programming & progression. Almost everything (and everyone) in the world of Ascendancy can be upgraded and improved. Reward Your Loyalists, exile your traitors, or promote outlaws to land holding lords. Master your strategy, and you will be rewarded with a limitless kingdom of your own design.
As labour of love in active development for over 4 years, it's inspired by classics from the likes of Heroes of Might & Magic III, Civilization, Magic The Gathering, and Game of Thrones. The world of Ascendancy wears its epic fantasy roots proudly, yet exists for you to blaze your own trail.
Core mechanics; Engine build your tableau, Worker Placement, Move to explore, place tiles, establish area control outwards, and build upwards.
Gameplay features:
Solo, Competitive AND Co-operative team modes.
Single scenario, or multi-session campaigns, with multiple branching generations, marriage decisions, legacy family traits, and heirloom inheritance.
“Choose your own adventure” style narrative structure, where decisions matter. 4 victory point tracks; rule by Cunning, Might, Intellect, or Loyalty.
Rock paper scissor based JRPG side style combat, combining deep strategy, and a bit of dice chucking excitement.
Deep branching tech trees, with over 200 unique unlockable.
18 champion class evolutions. 6 Schools of Elemental Magic, with creature summoning, lycanthropy, equipment crafting, and epic boss battles that you'll be talking about for a long time.
Secret objectives, hidden roles, family vendettas, and personal agendas.
Eurogame style economics, with anytime market access, and dynamic pricing of goods.
3 Correlated Gameplay Loops, with 6 Ways-to-Win Strategies. Play How YOU Want, Including;
Go Wide or go Tall (empire building) Grow fast, or slow roll out-tech (engine building) Push-your-luck, or minimize risk (encounter resolution)
100% optional combat, and PvP