Clique Needs Your Support

Video games have always been dominated by white people. Whether it’s the characters in the games or those making them, the racial difference has always been way more white than any other. But that’s starting to change, slowly but surely, as game development becomes more accessible and games that challenge the status quo are able to be made. Clique is one such game. Clique is an action adventure game whose developers have started a Kickstarter campaign to raise enough money for development. What makes Clique unique is that it’s being designed by an all African-American team. This is truly rare in an industry where 85% of developers are white and a mere 2% of developers are African-American (according to a study by the IGDA). The team have called themselves Dead Art Games and is composed of Neil Jones (@aerial_knight), Daniel Wilkins (@DanielWilkins90) and  DeAndre Hall. These men are channelling their passion for games into an experience that reflects the harsh reality of growing up as an African-American.

The Crowdfunding Confliction

I have a problem. Up until this point in my life I have steered clear of crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter, Indiegogo and more recently Fig. There hasn’t been a game that’s turned to crowdfunding that I HAD to support. There’s been interesting games and projects I’ve thought “oh that’s neat, I’ll play that if it ever comes out” but not something that I felt compelled to support. This combined with the uneasiness I have about putting money towards an unsure thing meant I never contributed to a campaign. Haven’t until now, that is.

With more and more seasoned developers turning to Kickstarter for their projects in lieu of a traditional publisher it’s becoming less and less of an unsure thing and more of a very early pre-order. Such is the case with Knights and Bikes, an awesome new

Hero’s Song Announced

Pixelmage Games have announced a new game titled Hero’s Song. CEO and former Sony  Online Entertainment president John Smedley (@j_smedley on twitter) announced the game’s Kickstarter earlier today. Smedley confirmed in a tweet that Hero’s Song is coming to PC on Steam first and then Mac and consoles at a later date. The game is being developed by a team of seasoned, veteran developers who have worked on such notable titles as H1Z1, DC Universe, Planetside 2 and many more. Hero’s Song features many deep, rich backstories that are being written by New York Time’s best selling fantasy author Patrick Rothfuss, who wrote the critically acclaimed The Kingkiller Chronicles. There is no release date given for Hero’s Song but its Kickstarter is off to a good start having almost $30,000 raised in the first hours.