This Thing Needs a Kickstart

So we have all heard of KickStarter and we know there are an overwhelming amount of choices out there for games that need a little kick start to get going.

I thought I would share 5 of them here:

1.  Bloxels - With Bloxels, you can use physical blocks to build customizable video games for your tablet or smartphone. Create a layout on the gameboard. Capture it on camera. Customize it in our app. Test it out and make it awesome. Then, challenge your friends and try to beat other people’s creations. As you play, you can earn coins and gems that unlock new tools and larger gaming environments. It’s recommended for players 8 and up, but it’s fun for game-lovers of all ages.

Oh man do I want to play this, and I want it for my boys! This looks awesome!



2. Foodtown Throwdown - Foodtown Throwdown takes a tongue-in-cheek look at food trends to build a game all about creating the best food truck business in town. Humor plays a central role as players compete against each other for ridiculous ingredients to complete recipes to add to their menus with absurd results. A grilled cheese sandwich on banana bread? Sure thing. A duck meat hot dog with purple potato fries? Coming right up! You'll also need to establish your territory and publicize your truck, but watch out for attempts at sabotage from the other players!


This looks like a game that would be fun to give a try at least for a go around and see if it becomes a favourite or not. I would try it for sure.


3. Yooka-Laylee - Yooka-Laylee is an all-new 3D platformer from the creative talent behind the Banjo-Kazooie and Donkey Kong Country games. We’ve come together to form Playtonic Games and create a spiritual successor to our most cherished work from the past!



This game is 100% backed and then some. They have reached all their stretch goals and keep adding more.  This seems to be highly anticipated and will be interesting to watch how it does once it is actually out.

4. HotterKeys - HotterKeys is a game for Mac and PC that teaches you keyboard shortcuts on an adventure through spacetime as Olivia, an otter who's trying to protect Otterspace from it's slow menu driven destruction.

It'll be a bit like Mavis Beacon meets Katamari Damacy.


Nothing says fun game like learning hot keys?   I know it's a useful thing, and yes it would be something that people could gain knowledge from.  I am just not thinking there is a high demand for this sort of fun.


5. Wombat Rescue -

Did you know that wombats poop cubes?

It's true!

Scientists theorize that, due to extremely poor vision but an excellent sense of smell, wombats use their poop cubes as "smell markers" to help them navigate their environment. Because their poop is cube-shaped it is less likely to roll away or be moved.

In this novel game by designer Matt Wolfe, you play a Mama wombat. The dastardly dingo has stormed your burrow and chased away 4 of your baby wombats! You will need to eat and digest food in order to produce poop cubes, with which you will build smell areas so you can navigate your environ­ment, find your baby wombats, and bring them home. The player who best plans their smell areas and moves most efficiently will find their 4 babies, bring them home and prove vic­torious!



This is funded.  I am not really sure what to think about that! LOL But I am sure a game about poop and wombats would be a hit around here. LOL

So what KickStarter game would you throw your money behind?

Story Stylus by One More Story Games

On And She Games we love promoting women in gaming, as well as great games, and helping you find new things to play.

I was recently introduced to a company called One More Story Games!! One More Story Games is a an start up gaming company that has a brilliant idea for an awesome gaming portal!  This is a company created by a hubby and wife team.  Blair was a developer at both Zynga, and EA, while his wife Jean is the “talkie” to Blair’s “techie” and oversees administration.

Not only did they start up this company but they are also avid gamers!  They noticed that in recent years, the gaming industry has moved more away from in-depth stories, and is more focused on graphics.  While modern games have amazing eye candy, they don't always engage us female gamers.

A lot of women gamers tend to lean towards storytelling games, or puzzle type games.  One of my favourite video games to play with my hubby is the Laura Croft Series. It has the first person shooter hubby likes, but also the puzzles, and story line that I can engage in.

One More Story Games wants to bring more of that sort of thing back to the gaming world, so they created a new portal called StoryStylus.  StoryStylus is hard to describe but it is sort of like a book meets a video game.

Imagine taking your favourite book and creating a game from it. Then playing that game with all your friends! You could go sit on the porch, or stand on the balcony, walk around the restaurant that is so integral to the story.  What if you could talk to the main characters and get more info, or interact with them?  Wouldn't that be amazing? Well that is what StoryStylus does.  Not only will this be a gaming platform so you can go in and play, but if you have your own story, or a story you want to add in, you can do that too!

I am so excited about this!!!  I think you all will be too! Check out this video for a walk through and information:


They have been working on this for a long time, and are very close to putting out to the world, as well as having great plans for making it more and more spectacular!

In order for it to be the best it can be they have started a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter to raise the funds to improve the art work in the game.

With the Kickstarter, you can purchase in-game currency for games that will be published over the coming months, or you can purchase a subscription to create your own stories.

Library keys allow you to purchase premium storygames as they are published. A key is approximately $1 CAD, with discounts on large bundle purchases.

Published stories range from 1 to 5 keys depending on the amount of gameplay.
    1 Key = 30- 60 minutes of Gameplay
    2 Keys = 2-3 Hours of Gameplay
    3 Keys = 4-5 Hours of Gameplay
    4 Keys = 7-8 Hours of Gameplay
    5 Keys = 10+ Hours of Gameplay

There are also other bonuses depending on your amount. They have options for $1 and up! Let's help them get funded.

Give them a KICK START NOW!

Feng Shui 2: Action Movie Roleplaying Game by Robin D. Laws . . . . NOW ON KICKSTARTER

I wrote a while back about my love for Feng Shui (the roleplaying game, not the Chinese philosophy), and I mentioned that there was a second version in the works. Well, it's finally here, and it looks phenomenal.

Feng Shui is meant to capture the feel of playing in an action movie, particularly a Hong Kong style action movie, complete with kung-fu, a never ending supply of bullets, over the top stunt scenes, slapstick comedy moments and dark bits when things go oh so wrong. Over and above this Feng Shui had it's own unique background and setting, which we had MUCH fun using as our playground over the years.

However some things would trip us up. The game came out in 1996. It was set in Hong Kong just prior to it ceasing to be a British colony. Playing it more then a decade later we felt like we had two options; either pretend it was still 1996, or pretend that Honk Kong never ceased being a British colony. Both options felt flat some how, though we did have some fun playing in a world filled with VHS tapes and sloooow tie-up your phone line internet connections.

If there was ever a game that I would like to see get a reboot it was this one, so I'm pretty excited to see it sitting there on kickstarter (and kicking along at a nice pace, unlocking stretch goals left and right). This game is going to see print. Feng Shui 2 reached it's kickstarter funding goal in under 20 minutes. The reason they are kicking it is 1) to gauge interest and 2)to get the funding to create the most awesome version possible.  I am all for the most awesome version possible.

Here's a few quotes of Robin D Laws that I pulled from both the kickstarter video and from the transcript of a recent live Q&A chat.


"FS2 has been updated to the present day with continuity changes reflecting the evolution of action movies since it was written in 1994."

"...bring the graphic look into the current era."

"The emphasis of game play is on fast-flowing, imaginative combat, where you get to describe wild stunts and imagining fights as cinematic set pieces."

"The kinds of roleplayers who will love Feng Shui are people who love crazy action, who love a mish-mash of genres... run alongside the side of a building firing their imaginary guns, if you want to be a crazy sorcerer, if you just like fun descriptive action... this is the game for you."


As I write this, there's 7 days left to go in the Feng Shui 2 kickstarter which ends on Oct.17th. I'm in, are you?

Flick Wars: A Fun & Strategic Dex Game, Kickstarter Ends Thursday

Flick Wars is a dex game where you flick small wooden disks around. The disks, which represent army units, duke it out in last man standing fashion. You can play with up to four players. The two vs two team variant is personally my favourite way to play.

With just 45 hours left to go, it seems unlikely that this kickstarter will get funded. And that's a shame. I was privileged enough to try out a beta copy and the game is solid. I normally detest dexterity games, but this had enough strategic components to it to keep me interested. And the 3-D terrain, particularly the small hills built by placing things under the play mat, made things surprisingly fun.

Check out my husband's full & detailed review over HERE.

Or better yet, go back the kickstarter and snag a copy before the opportunity passes by (the kickstarter is ending on Thursday May 15th at 10pmEST).

It seems like a crying shame that this kickstarter isn't going to fund, you should at the very least go give it a look-see before the clock runs out.