Our crowdfunding roundup for July includes several great-looking titles (and a bit of shameless self-promotion). Oddly enough, there are no multi-million-dollar miniatures projects going on that we know of, meaning there's plenty of Kickstarter love for the more casual fare this month.
Casual Game Insider Magazine – Before I get to the games, I'll drop in a shameless plug for Casual Game Insider, our quarterly publication that goes out to over 2,000 game stores and a growing number of direct subscribers. It's the only magazine of its kind and we hope to spread it far and wide to benefit casual gamers everywhere. This Kickstarter campaign will fund our second year and hopefully allow us to increase our distribution to more digital platforms and retailers.
Incredibrawl (Vision 3 Games) – Incredibrawl is an all-out battle between a myriad of characters — from dinosaurs, pirates, and ninjas, to spacemen, witches, and samurais. Each of these characters has a unique ability that is triggered when it comes into play. On a turn, players simultaneously select a character to play, carry out any actions that are triggered by their characters, and determine a winner based on the characters' power levels. Each battle is fought in a different location that favors certain characters over others. Power-up cards can also be played to spice up the results.
The graphics, presentation, and gameplay all appear to be top-notch in this one, making it my favorite pick of the month. Props to Vision 3 Games for their work on this game, and we hope to see many more casual games from them in the future.
The Agents (Saar Shai) – In The Agents, players enlist and lead a faction of disbanded special agents, assigning missions and taking down their opponents to gather intel and score points. Each "double-edged" agent card forces the player to make a choice between either gaining points or carrying out a command, but not both. Whatever is not chosen by the player will be used by one of his opponents, making each decision an important one.
Wok Star (Game Salute) – Wok Star is a cooperative game in which players work together to quickly fulfill orders in their Chinese restaurant. Each customer orders something different, and players have only 20 seconds to fulfill it. Each player has a different role to play, from bus boy to chef, and works on the meals simultaneously but from different angles.
VivaJava Dice (Dice Hate Me Games) – If you're addicted to coffee, here's a game that's bound to fuel that addiction. VivaJava Dice is the successor to VivaJava, the popular Kickstarter-funded game from 2012. In it, players are employees at VivaJava CoffeeCo., trying to secure the best beans and keep the company afloat. On a turn, players must decide to use their dice to make a new blend or conduct research. Semi-cooperative dice-rolling allows players to ride on the success of others.
Paperback (Tim Fowers) – Paperback is a card-based word game that uses a deckbuilding mechanic to allow players to purchase powerful letters to add to their deck, allowing them to create better words and earn more points. Each card also has a distinct ability to help improve your score. This seems like an interesting variation on common word games.
Scopa! (The Spiel) – Scopa (Italian for "sweep") is a classic Italian card game that has been re-themed to include traditional gaming elements in the design, including 6-sided dice, dominoes, meeples, and standard playing cards.
Unless otherwise noted, we have not seen or played any of the above games. Our assessment of each is based on the information given on the crowdfunding project page.
Don't forget the VivaJava dice game also now has an addition for the really cool "Angry Dice" from the Dice Hate Me logo!