Shantae: 1/2 Genie Hero was a mostly by the numbers Shantae game. That isn’t bad per se. The game was fun, just less fun than its excellent predecessor, Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse. And while the sprite work in 1/2 Genie Hero is very good, I found it less charming than the pixel art of the previous games in the series.
For a Kickstarter game, WayForward Technologies had been making games for so long that there were no major controversies. Well, announcing a physical version well after the Kickstarter ended was not great. I suppose that was more timing than anything. I believe WayForward Technologies was going to self-publish digitally. It didn’t have a publisher at first then it got one. That says more about the perils of crowdfunding so I can’t really blame WayForward Technologies for that because it wasn’t as if it was dishonest about anything. I ended up double dipping and getting the physical version on Switch. Anyway, the studio knows what it’s doing so I don’t remember any issues coming up during development. It delivered the product that was promised. The Kickstarter didn’t hit some of the stretch goals I felt would have really helped the game stand out from the rest of the series like animated cutscenes and voice acting. However, I’ll die on the hill of “Dance Through The Danger”. It’s corny but still so so good.
I do kind of wish WayForward Technologies would settle the F down with the sexy anime girls, but that’s basically the company’s calling card for its original IPs. I find at least mildly off-putting.
Development for Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night was rocky. ArtPlay missed several deadlines and had to bring in other developers to help out. There were definitely growing pains for Koji Igarashi as this was the first major game he produced outside of a corporate structure. There were pros and cons. Konami told him to make a Castlevania game by X date for Y amount of money. He worked surprisingly well under those restrictions though it probably stifled him creatively.
For a Kickstarter game, it mostly delivered. There are no Wii U or Vita versions and one major stretch goal had to be scrapped/replaced. The Switch version was largely butt for about eight months. Considering a bulk of sales came from the Switch version, the biggest audience for this kind of game is with Nintendo so that should be the lead platform next time. It’s easier to scale up than down, and Ritual of the Night wasn’t exactly a graphical showcase so I don’t think IGA loses anything by targeting a lower spec machine first. Honestly though, I hope Igarashi ditches 3D models in favor of sprites.
Overall, once the Switch version received the second major patch in early 2020, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night was almost exactly what I wanted as I hadn’t played a Metroidvania since Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia.
I contributed to the Indiegogo for Indivisible which I regret because I’ve seen it on sale physically for $30 recently (though I technically have two copies so maybe I’ll sell my unopened physical copy as “rare” in a few years). More importantly, Lab Zero Games is more or less defunct largely because studio head, Mike Zaimont (Mike Z.), sucks as a human being, notably an insensitive “I can’t breathe” joke on a live stream then numerous counts of abusive and other problematic behavior.
Due to the dissolution of Lab Zero Games, development on stretch goals ended and the final update was released in October 2020. This was definitely my least successful crowdfunded game. Indivisible released, and from what I played, it’s perfectly fine though the presentation is rough around the edges (i.e. inconsistent cutscenes and voice acting in that both are sometimes absent for whatever reason).
As for the future, we’re well past the peak of crowdfunding. Stories of games that delivered have largely been overshadowed by the controversial ones like Shenmue III, Star Citizen, Unsung Story, and everyone’s favorite punching bag, Mighty No. 9. I think some games will still get crowdfunded though we may not see another on the scale of Shenmue III and with good reason. 🤷‍♀️
While I didn’t contribute to the crowdfunding campaign, I’ll talk myself into buying Blasphemous eventually (sub-$10 is likely my line). Additionally, I’m looking forward to Hazelnut Bastille, another game I didn’t crowdfund. I absolutely will contribute to the Infinity Kickstarter in June. It’s a nearly finished Game Boy Color RPG finally getting completed by some of the original development team. I want that physical cartridge.