Kickstarter is a fantastic website that allows people to share their visions with the general public, and allow people to put their money where the mouth is with support, helping the creator to fund their project. Often there will be several tiers of pledges, allowing people to give more money, usually for a few extra goodies if the project is funded. Only if the project meets its goals is the project created, and the people charged for their pledge.
Many different types of projects can be found on Kickstarter, from clothes, to plushies, to board games and of course, video games. While a lot of these projects showed a lot of promise and garnered a following of excited fans, they never quite saw the light of day, with the projects being canceled.
7 Apocalypse Now
Based on the movie with the same name, Apocalypse Now was posted onto Kickstarter January 25th 2017, and it came with a lot of promise. Not only having the popular legacy of a major motion picture behind it, Apocalypse Now was also going to be the child of many major names in the games' industry that worked on major titles such as Gears of War and Fallout, and even movie director Francis Ford Coppola supported the vision of the game.
It was due to be a foray into pyschological horror while following the story of war. It could have been a fun, exciting and harrowing look into war and how it affects people, which are ideas that have been explored successfully before in other movies such as Jacob's Ladder. However, despite all its potential, it only crowd-funded $170,000 of its $900,000 goal and even that goal was just one fifth of its total development cost. January 27th saw the end to its brief, unsuccessful campaign.
6 Rock Band 4 For PC
Rock Band is a major successful rhythm game that sees players rock out to rock and alternative music tracks with controllers that mimic instruments such as guitars and microphones, allowing players to feel like they are part of the band. The fourth installment brought more rock goodness, releasing on XBox One and PlayStation 4 with songs from legendary bands such as The Cure and Elvis Presley.
There were plans and a Kickstarter campaign to being Rock Band 4 to PC, tapping into another platform of gamers, with the ambitious ideas to allow Steam Workshop integration that would allow users to create and share their own songs. With an eye-watering goal of $1,500,000, Rock Band 4 had one hell of a challenge to get greenlit. Raising only $792,817, Harmonix's dream of a PC release for Rock Band 4 ended April 5th 2016.
5 Midnight Stranger
Game remakes are not a niche idea, with many classic game titles being remade and reinvented for a modern audience on more modern hardware. FMV games are a different breed, combining the medium of video games with live action characters and environments, with Midnight Stranger being one of those titles. Originally released in 1994, Midnight Stranger is an experience that stimulated socialization that sees players in a club one late night, providing a realistic role-play.
The Kickstarter promised to release the game as a free browser game that would run on modern systems with some stretch goals if funded. But, Midnight Strangers didn't even meet its minimum goal of $13,000, which is one of the smallest goals for a Kickstarter game project. Yet, it only scared up $4,100, making it one of the least successful Kickstarter campaigns of all time.
4 Allison Road
On the back of PT's success and renown, many spiritual successors released to offer gamers a replacement for the canceled Silent Hills game, with one of the most promising being Allison Road. The prototype gameplay demo demonstrated the games subtle story that the player must piece together as they walk through a house clearly inspired by PT's looping hallways, all the while trying to survive whatever dark entity stalks the hallways.
Lilith posted their project and vision onto Kickstarter, hoping to secure the funds to make their dream come to life. However, Allison Road just didn't inspire enough confidence with fans, only raising $186,949 (£145,959) of its $320,201 (£250,000) goal. And though it is a significant chunk of money, Allison Road is now list in limbo, its unsuccessful campaign ended in October 2015. Though the creators announced the development would continue under a different developer, nothing has been posted to their social media for years. It's safe to say the project is as dead as Silent Hills itself.
3 Ever, Jane
An MMORPG set in the regency era based on the woks of classical author Jane Austen doesn't strike as something destined for success, but Ever, Jane did seem like it was going to take off from the ground running, but unfortunately it tripped and fell before it could be fully released. Its core gameplay revolved around intrigue and romance unlike other titles such as Final Fantasy 14 or World of Warcraft, promising a unique experience that intrigued enough players to fund it.
It beat its $100,000 goal, reaching a total of $109,563 in pledges. Closed betas and a prototype gameplay were released to give people a taste of what was in store, but unfortunately the game never full released, and in late 2020, the servers shut down due to financial problems. Players got to see a taste of what could have been, and despite seeing the potential and willing to pay a subscription, Ever, Jane joined the list of doomed Kickstarter projects.
2 Shadow Of The Eternals
Fans of Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem may have caught wind of a proposed spiritual successor, Shadows of the Eternals. It promised a survival horror experience, and with minds behind the original at the helm, this game showed a lot of promise, with fans hopeful for a game that would rival or even surpass Eternal Darkness. It promised an adventure that would tap into the players deepest fears, with screenshots and trailers to give players a glimpse into their vision.
The Kickstarter launched with a lofty goal of $750,000, which proved a challenge to fund, with fans pledging only a total of $323,950. Precursor Games did a second campaign with a lower goal following their failed campaign, but that also failed to drum up the needed funds. Though the word 'canceled' was never used, Shadows of the Eternal has been an indefinite pause since 2013, making it highly unlikely it will ever rise from the dead.
1 A Vampyre Story: Year One
A proposed sequel to A Vampyre Story, Year One was to follow the tale of vampiress Mona De Lafitte, exploring the story of her imprisonment in Catle Warg, the place she escapes from in the first game, and meeting her sidekick Froderick the Bat. As with the first game, A Vampyre Story: Year One would have provided point and click gameplay and a charming, vampiric storyline beating at the games center. With the original title being a cult classic among fans, its Kickstarter should have been a success.
However, the game was unfortunately discontinued following its failure to meet its goal, as Year One only raised $77,413 of its $200,000 goal, the Kickstarter ending in tears July 1st, 2013. Despite this, the game would still continue development for a while, but the game ultimately never completed development, and Vampyre fans never got to find out what could have been.