It’s been an exciting time in the world of Kickstarter. In addition to prepping a campaign for a short film I am working on, a game that I backed ages ago, Inner Space, was finally released. It is only when you have tried to raise your own funds that you realise the near-impossible task of creating a crowdfunding project, and the endless hard work that goes in to making it succeed.
But some projects make it look effortless by doing a lot of the groundwork before they open their campaigns for donations. And with video games, it is easier to sell something that looks spectacular, or something that is a labour of love, rather than a product to attach microtransactions to. Which brings us to the frantic shooting extravaganza that is Grood…
Project: Grood
Developer: Claudio Catalano
Genre: 2.5D Side-Scrolling Shooter
Platform: PC (Windows, Mac), Mobile (iOS, Android)
Funding Target: £2,215
What Is It?
Go. Fight. Them. Hard. According to the campaign, “Grood is all about fighting. Fighting Hard.” Essentially, Grood is to side-scrolling shooters what Dark Souls is to action-adventure games. You will die (a lot). But you will get better with every resurgence.
The bare-bones story is that you build Grood, basically a flying gun, to counter an endless onslaught of machines that you have detected, led by big bad boss machines that will take a small miracle and infinite button-bashing to beat. Good luck.
Why Fund It?
If you were ever a fan of games like R-Type or Sine Mora, then you are going to love Grood. However, the 2.5D cel-shaded graphics remind me of the underrated Viewtiful Joe, as well as the way the titular spaceship dances through the various environments, all beautifully rendered in Unity. Italian developer Claudio Catalano has stated that he will consider porting it to consoles, which must be music to Nintendo’s ears, as Grood would be perfect for the portable Switch.
Just like a traditional Nintendo platformer, Grood takes in variety of different environments, including woods, swamps, cities, frozen lands, deserts, and more. The game features a dynamic weather pattern so that the same level will look vastly different if it happens during the day or at night, or whether it is sunny or raining.
As you would expect from the action-packed gameplay, Grood features a kick-ass heavy metal soundtrack to spur you on while you destroy wave after wave of killer robots. You can actually get the soundtrack for a small donation of £2. In fact the donation amounts are very appealing for thrifty gamers. Even better, Grood will also have a global scoreboard, so players compete to be the best machine masher.
Best Rewards?
- Digital copy of the soundtrack – £2
- Digital copy of the game – £4
- Digital copy of the game and soundtrack – £6
- Two digital copies of the game – £8
- Two digital copies of the game and two digital copies of the soundtrack- £12
Until Next Time…
Do not let the small set of rewards put you off. Claudio Catalano has created the kind of game that Kickstarter and crowdfunding was built for. A lot of projects attract people with a lot of physical rewards, so it’s refreshing to see all the focus placed on a game that is actually affordable. Hopefully, enough people like me will want to play it.
