In terms of coverage in the games media the Kickstart Spring has rapidly turned into a saturation of April Kickstart Showers. There are countless projects with a newfound you-donate-we-develop, and it’s impossible to know which ones could drop the baton. Which games should sites pluck from the morass, when so many are unproven?
Well, Hookshot Inc has the answer. The one’s being made by our mates, of course!
(All this goes by way of explaining away the fact that Wall Street Titan is being developed by Dark Tonic games – whose Creative Director is a nice man called Eric Boosman who I used to work with.)
Of all the games riding the Kickstart wave it’s likely that those on iPhone and Android will be those left behind paddling in froth – fan investment in short-term blasts are far less of a draw than promised lengthy spells in familiar old school gaming on more traditional platforms. That’s why, other than a clear bias in instances like this, I’ve got a keen eye on the likes of Republique and whatever comes of the successfully funded College Ruled Universe.
Are iPhone and Android genuinely platforms upon which developers can raise money and deliver results? The current surveys come in with results that say ‘sort of’, and ‘we’ll see…’
So then, we come to Wall Street Titan. Dark Tonic’s approach isn’t exactly the most cutting satire you’ve ever seen in the world, but destroying Wall Street as a giant robot from a top-down first person perspective looks rather lovely. It’s a bit like Burnout Crash with none of the initial Crash and all of the ensuing explosions. You’ll flick cars into street furniture and traffic – causing chain reactions, collecting points and crushing those greedy banking SCUM as revenge for DESTROYING OUR WORLD.
So can a game that’s footloose and franchise-free, yet doesn’t need a mega-budget, gain development funds like Schafer and the cool kids? Watch this space. Or watch this space, if you’d like to donate as well.
