Dammit...now I'm depressed coz this likely won't reach that last stretch goal. :/
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Shantae: Half-Genie Hero (PS3/4/Vita/360/XB1/WiiU/PC) Kickstarter [800K/400K Funded]
- Thread starter DenisQc
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Dammit...now I'm depressed coz this likely won't reach that last stretch goal. :/
Mauricio_Magus
Banned
They just posted a new update that seems to further improve the colour palette:
It also explains the additive lighting they are using.
Edit: Forgot the link
I'll be surprised if it reaches any stretch goals beside Risky Mode :/ here's hoping I'm very wrong.
It might not even make the goal
I would be so disappointed.
I'm sure at this juncture it ought to reach the stretch. It's practically halfway there.
Been putting off actually putting in a pledge myself as my girlfriend and I want to raise some money for a $350 pledge.
I just thought it was funny that they posted the "fixed" image in the same post with the old designs so you can see how much whiter she really is.
her design has been getting worse, ds version's best also he ingame sprit look.
TheUnknownForce
Member
Frankly, I'd pay for the extra chapters as DLC if need be. Animated cutscenes would be badass though. Might up my pledge later.
twothunder
Member
It might not even make the goal
I would be so disappointed.
Me too. Really hope they reach at least the 400.000.
I wonder what the best thing is that they could do to increase the amount of backers/amount pledged...
Thanks for correcting me re: Nick Fury. I did nor know that.
As for the other thing not being equals, you're probably not going to be able to convince me. I'm in the camp that thinks what Robin Hood was known for (take from the rich to give to the poor) was wrong and inexcusable. For me, stealing is bad regardless of the target's wealth.
RocketDarkness
Member
Ignoring race does not fix the existing inequalities.
Would be apt if Shantae ever had a race. She has elf ears, had cat eyes, then blue (Caucasian) eyes, and has naturally purple hair, and lives in a world where it's normal for people to have blue and green skin too. There's no race of humans on Earth that looks like that, which is why focusing on her skin color is silly. If the skin color is all that matters, she could just as easily be any other tanned ethnicity (like Hispanic) as Arabic.
RocketDarkness
Member
I guess if you ignore everything else in the game, like the Arabic-inspired music, her costume, her dancing styles, and the design of the main town and its villagers, then sure, she could be anything.
The game was clearly based on an existing real-life culture, and both the people making and the people playing the games exist in the real world, where middle-eastern people are often discriminated against because of their general appearance.
Wayforward guys sadly suck balls at character design, just look at their horrible version of Rayne.
I don't doubt for a second that there are middle-eastern inspirations in the Shantae games, but there are loads of other inspirations as well. The pirates, as you see them, are much more of European in nature. The giant robots are not Arabic in design at all. The type of monkey that Shantae transforms into looks a lot more like a South American monkey (specifically, a tufted capuchin or a night monkey) than any monkey from somewhere close to the middle east. Et cetera.
And you can't even tell where in the middle east it would supposedly be. Parts of it look Arabian, parts look Egyptian, parts of it look Indian (not ME, but close enough), and parts look Turk.
How about some idle theories.
They might be having problems inciting "higher-level" Backers. Sure, there are the usual nutcases that splurge on 200-Dollar-plus pledges (I'M NOT ENVIOUS), but most of the Backers are pooled around the 10 to 15 dollar pledges. They need to do something to convince everyone that their game is worth more than that, methinks.
Source: I looked through my finished campaigns on KS and gathered the average spend of a backer. No fancy weighing, just total divided by number of backers as per kicktraq.
Might just be my particular tastes skewing this sample, but I believe there seems to be a sweet spot between 40 and 60 dollars per average pledge, and Shantae is quite a bit below that.
If they're unlucky they might end up falling below Limit Theory, which is pretty much a one-man project of a random nobody (who gave an extremely good pitch and had perfect timing, admittedly). Still, chew on that. Backers had roughly the same amount of faith in a random Indie as in an established developer with quite a track record.
Now we need to find out whether the pledges that will come in during the drought between start and ending of (any) campaign will affect the average spend positively or negatively, and what impact the final sprint will have. I'm a pessimist, I say it's gonna be worse before it gets any better. The last sprint may push the average back up again, but I'm not confident they'll reach 40 Dollars if things stay the same.
They might be having problems inciting "higher-level" Backers. Sure, there are the usual nutcases that splurge on 200-Dollar-plus pledges (I'M NOT ENVIOUS), but most of the Backers are pooled around the 10 to 15 dollar pledges. They need to do something to convince everyone that their game is worth more than that, methinks.
Source: I looked through my finished campaigns on KS and gathered the average spend of a backer. No fancy weighing, just total divided by number of backers as per kicktraq.
ze Research said:
Might just be my particular tastes skewing this sample, but I believe there seems to be a sweet spot between 40 and 60 dollars per average pledge, and Shantae is quite a bit below that.
If they're unlucky they might end up falling below Limit Theory, which is pretty much a one-man project of a random nobody (who gave an extremely good pitch and had perfect timing, admittedly). Still, chew on that. Backers had roughly the same amount of faith in a random Indie as in an established developer with quite a track record.
Now we need to find out whether the pledges that will come in during the drought between start and ending of (any) campaign will affect the average spend positively or negatively, and what impact the final sprint will have. I'm a pessimist, I say it's gonna be worse before it gets any better. The last sprint may push the average back up again, but I'm not confident they'll reach 40 Dollars if things stay the same.
well Egypt is arab, unless you mean ancient Egypt.
I think it's mix between Persian and Arabic/Andalusian-Arabic like the PoP series.
Andalusian-Arabic would make sense, since that seeds into both modern-day Spanish and Arabic.
Still, it feels like they took that as a base, then incorporated all sorts of other cultures into it in various ways to make Sequin Land.
Shantae creeps you out? How? Why?
And the series is comparable to Metroid/Castlevania/Zelda I'd say.
Mauricio_Magus
Banned
I don't care about race or whatever, I just wanted it because Shantae has always been brown and brown girls are hot, screw needing a "politically correct" reason to want something. I just doubled my donation, I hope they show more stuff because I want this kickstarter to at least reach some stretch goals.
how can Shantae creep you out?!?!?! She's mostly cute in this game.
how can Shantae creep you out?!?!?! She's mostly cute in this game.
MrCunningham
Member
I think it compares to Monster World the most In terms of game design. This game here in particular:
Monster World IV for the Mega Drive, which was never released outside of Japan originally. But it has been released in English on the virtual console and other Sega Genesis digital release compilations.
Shame that this kickstarter hasn't reached 200k yet.
Catalix
And on the sixth day the LORD David Bowie created man and woman in His image. And he saw that it was good. On the seventh day the LORD created videogames so that He might take the bloody day off for once.
That'd be so cool, but I don't think they have the balls to make her that dark. Not for this game anywayA little basic color correction:
But at least this update is an improvement. Closer to the Shantae I know and appreciate.They just posted a new update that seems to further improve the colour palette:
It also explains the additive lighting they are using.
Edit: Forgot the link
So good on WF for actually addressing fan concerns. It might seem insignificant to some, but believe me, it goes a long way.
there are some reasons for that
- WayForward made the recent Shantae games for NDS/3DS/iOS so the fans are locked on handheld, now this game is on different platforms (consoles).
- WayForward track record outside of Shantae games is not that good, BloodRayne: Betrayal killed the IP, Mighty Switch was bad, DuckTales: Remastered is horrible, their 3D games (The Smurfs 2 ,SH:BoM) are even worse, their last good non-Shantea game was A Boy and His Blob.
- The entire white skin thing made many fans upset, it's fixed now but I guess it's just too little too late, damage is done.
- Awful fucking stretch goals with pointless crap no one care about.
Linkstrikesback
Member
I'm not convinced it will reach the first stretch goal, lt alone the last one.
It'll probably be funded (got in an early pledge at $12) but it's a shame the game probably won't reach the extra chapters. If the DSiware game is any indication, it could have used them.
1) DuckTales was not horrible.
2) How are the stretch goals awful? They are basically adding more content. Not sure how that's awful.
AcademicSaucer
Member
Im afraid they woouldnt be able to meet any stretch goal , and thats if they get funded at all.
TheFLYINGManga_Ka
Member
If this doesn't meet its goals (ill be disappointed), hope we can at least get this on the 3DS using Risky Revenge/Pirate's Curse graphics.
This is reasonable. It's been going at a steady pace and there will be a last minute push. It will get more exposure over time.
Just because several of the most popular gaming Kickstarters have been funded in the first couple of days doesn't mean that's the norm.
Maybe they can do them as DLC if they don't meet the goals. It would be a shame if they're not made at all, and I'd be willing to pay for them in that case.
twothunder
Member
-Have to disagree about Mighty Switch force being bad. I enjoyed it and it seems it got pretty good reviews. Haven't played the others.
-The first two goals are a new character and extra content. Seems okay to me.
I wouldn't mind that myself.
The rate of pledges is on a downward trend, as is fairly typical for Kickstarter campaigns. An easy assumption to make is that most of the people willing to back it aren't waiting around to do so, and thus already have. That's not necessarily true, but so far there's little to say otherwise.
FlyingSaucer
Banned
ShinMaruku
Member
Gaf tends towards hyperbole. How it's tracking it should atleast get funded. Also remember the last few days is where funding cranks up into overdrive. It should make 2 stretch goals. I am hoping for atleast 4.
Giolon
Member
DuckTales is pretty great IMO. I just wish it were easier to skip the cutscenes for the 1000th time. As for BloodRayne Betrayal, that's been one of my favorite 2D games in recent years. It has decent reviews to back it up too. Unfortunately it didn't sell, but the BloodRayne franchise was dead before Betrayal came along which was Majesco's attempt to revive it. It probably did put the nail in the coffin the franchise was already in though.
And while Mighty Switch Force I just don't find to have terribly compelling gameplay, I don't think it's bad.
On a separate note, I'm powering through Shantae GBC. I'm at the 3rd dungeon now, and this game keeps being a lot of fun. My only complaint is that Shantae's attacks never get powered up, so I'm starting to encounter enemies that take 6-10 attacks to kill, especially at night. I know there are items to help fight enemies, but I'm trying to save my gems up to buy the special movies.
deddonpachi
Member
i couldn't disagree more!
- mighty switch force is freaking great and i can't wait for the wii u version of part 2
- ducktales is simply awesome! faithful remake through and through
- bloodrayne looks, sounds and plays amazing
- thor ds (a little bit on the simple side, but who cares?), contra 4 and aliens infestation are great games, too
edit: the main reason is the mighty no. 9 kickstarter.. as sad as it is
Yeah, it's only been up for what? 2-3 days? Almost half funded by that time isn't that bad. I mean, it makes some of those stretch goals seem unlikely, but going even at this pace steadily should see the game get funded. I think Mighty No. 9's steamrolling has given people some rather unrealistic expectations.
Mauricio_Magus
Banned
This will EASILY get to 400k, the problem is the stretch goals, they need to hype us.
SHANTAE WILL GET BROWNER WITH EVERY 100K, as a perfect example.
SHANTAE WILL GET BROWNER WITH EVERY 100K, as a perfect example.
She looks like a sexualized little girl in this game and so do her sprites in the prior games.
ShinMaruku
Member
If we get Ninja Shantae I'd back it for 20 more bucks.
Did you think Jasmine was a creepy sexualized character in Aladdin?
Jasmine didn't do erotic hip shakes. Nor did she look like a 12 year old.
New Update.
Heh, virt on video. It's always nice to be able to assign a face to an internet handle.
Boy, is he ever excited. Kinda infectious.
...not much of an interview though. Not like I'm complaining or anything. I actually prefer this.
Heh, virt on video. It's always nice to be able to assign a face to an internet handle.
Boy, is he ever excited. Kinda infectious.
...not much of an interview though. Not like I'm complaining or anything. I actually prefer this.
This is probably the youngest looking version of Shantae just because they cute-ified her, but I'd consider it more of a chibi-version thing than an indicator of actual age.
And I'd call her belly dance movements more cute than erotic, but hey, if you're not comfortable with your interpretation of it, then you're not comfortable.
The chibi design is a result of using the same sprite for large illustrations as in-game. In the GBC and DS games, her player sprites were pretty much just as chibi. That's a design decision which allows for better proportions on the screen while still being able to see the face well enough. If the body was scaled up proportionately, Shantae would have taken up too much screen real estate.
This is why so many games have "midget" like characters, such as Megaman, Viewtiful Joe, Spelunky, The Wonderful 101 and Mario in his powered down state.
This is why so many games have "midget" like characters, such as Megaman, Viewtiful Joe, Spelunky, The Wonderful 101 and Mario in his powered down state.
Bomber Bob
Banned
2013 chara design reminds me of Disgaea
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