Well, out in early access/beta.
Just a reminder to any Harmonix fans that this KS ends in two days.
Hover:Revolt of Gamers ends tomorrow. It looks equal parts Jet Set Radio, Mirror’s Edge, and balls insane. It’s already past its funding mark; now it’s all about the stretch goals.
I like this one: KeeperRL.
http://keeperrl.com/
Sort of a cross between Dwarf Fortress / Dungeon Keeper / a Roguelike game. Build a dungeon, populate it with monsters, then take control of one of those monsters and go and kill innocent people.
Already a playable alpha, which I’ve enjoyed a lot. It’s already made it’s funding goal and it’s backable at $7.
The kickstarter for two expansions for Galaxy Defenders (the coop minis boardgame with an XCOM vibe) just launched earlier this morning and is going gangbusters. There are early bird levels that represent a significant discount, especially for the tier that includes the original game, so you may want to act fast if you’re interested and they aren’t gone already. I’d link but I’m on my phone.
Rain World (slugcats!) has made it to Unity, and it looks wonderful.
I know it’s not a game, but the Reading Rainbow Kickstarter looks awesome.
LEVAR BURTON BEEEYOTCHES!
mok
2833
I saw him in some Zombie movie on Netflix recently - it was all pretty bad. He did not help much. This KS though is obviously going to make (may have made it by the time I type this). Will be interesting to see how high it will go.
Sheesus, the Reading Rainbow campaign has almost reached its goal. In less than a day. Dayum.
I’d think quite a bit of that is - as it’s what, 30 years old - is parents saying “well it helped me”.
Nice to see :)
Thraeg
2836
We’ve subscribed to the app for the past year or so, but this campaign feels weird.
The rewards seem to be focused on physical knick-knacks, where I would have renewed another year’s subscription at a decent price if that was an option.
Also bizarre that they’re putting a big focus on a PC version for the KS, but they still haven’t put out an Android version. Something that works on $99 tablets would seem a much more logical approach to getting it into the hands of as many kids as possible.
The video does actually imply that an Android version is in the works. Is the kickstarter not focused on getting the app in the classroom, hence the PC version?
Reading Rainbow was a huge part of my childhood. I have backed this, and now it is just a question of how high I will go. My wife is an elementary school librarian and she plans on spreading word of this on the various educator mailing lists. What I would love to know is how much the classroom app will cost for unsubsidized schools. And they do mention android in the pitch. The focus is definitely on getting it into the schools…as hard as it may be to believe, there are still many households that don’t have tablets etc.
Nice Brent Spiner cameo at the end of the kickstarter video.
Ahahahaha, that was amazing.
You can get the yearly sub and a bunch of other stuff for $175
Not PC version. Web version. That reaches a ton more kids than Android tablets, however cheap they might be, because there’s public web access in places like libraries and schools, but a kid that doesn’t have a tablet doesn’t have a tablet, and may well not know anyone who does and will lend it to them. Also, depending on what kind of web implementation it is, it might work on tablet browsers. A dedicated app is still nicer, but…eh, maybe that will be a stretch goal?
Thraeg
2843
Yeah… triple the price of the sub to get a bunch of pointless clutter. Not a big deal either way, as I’ll just continue with my existing subscription, but an odd oversight. I get that the reward structure is more like a donation pledge drive, but it’s coming from a for-profit company.
Fair point. Much of the irritation is that they already have versions for iPad and Kindle Fire, so with a working interface already done, expanding it to more tablet platforms should be relatively low-hanging fruit. And a tablet is both closer to the experience of holding a book, and a more intuitive and engaging experience for kids just learning how to read. And probably moot, since there actually was a brief mention of an Android version in the video, though not on the page itself.
In any case, I hope that the mention in the video of adding thousands more books also means going after better books. It’s obvious that a good chunk of the current library is there primarily because the rights could be had for a song.
Razgon
2844
This Reading Rainbow kickstarterhit its goal in 11 hours, and is now at 2,5 million dollars! I’m very impressed! I Guess there is a lot of feeling attached to this? Seems like a great, great programme, but I’ve been unable to find out why it was taken off the air in the first time? Times had changed too much for it to matter as much as it should on tv?
Anyways - congratulations to Levar and of course all the kids this seems to help! Its very important to combat illiteracy and it seems a lot of people think so.
That’s exactly why. Whatever demographic research they were doing showed that their target audience wasn’t bound to television (or at least appointment TV) anymore. So apparently after closing up shop in 2009, Levar and Co. created a subscription-based iOS app in 2011. While the Kickstarter is great for schools with underserved populations, it’s great for me because it made me aware of the app.
Any more comments on the subscription service? I’ve downloaded the free trial and it seems pretty cool, but I’m wondering if folks really think it’s worth $60 a year.
I think it is great that someone is interested in kids & reading. My concern is that the best way to get kids interested in reading is good old Mom & Dad. Reading to your kids everyday has more of an impact than any show or app (those things are great additions to a plan to keep them interested and gaining practice). I would be worried that parents buy the app and think that is the end of their responsibility.
BTW, I also used Audible - I would put book on and then make my family listen to one. They always were against it but then about 30 minutes into the book I would turn it off and they would yell, Dad, why you turning it off (I always get a kick over that). My point, however, is that I listened to the story with them, I do not turn it on and walk away.
