Frank Brian Fargo is an American video game designer, producer, programmer and executive, and founder of Interplay Entertainment, inXile Entertainment and Robot Cache.
Icy Tower is a freeware video game by Swedish game developer Free Lunch Design. It is a platform game set in a tower, where the player's goal is to jump from one "floor" to the next and go as high as possible without falling and plunging off the screen. The higher the player's character climbs, the faster the tower's floors move downward and the harder the game becomes. By default, the player controls the character using a keyboard.
Super Mario Bros. Crossover is a fan-made crossover platform Flash video game launched on Newgrounds on April 27, 2010 by Exploding Rabbit. It is based mostly on the gameplay of Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. for the NES. The only major difference is the ability to control characters that debuted in other Nintendo Entertainment System games unrelated to the Mario series, plus the ability to use "skins" of levels and characters from other games and platforms. The latest version available (3.1.21) was released on December 27, 2013.
Video game development has typically been funded by large publishing companies or are alternatively paid for mostly by the developers themselves as independent titles. Other funding may come from government incentives or from private funding.
War for the Overworld is a real-time strategy video game developed by Brightrock Games based in Brighton, UK. The game started as a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter, which ran from November 29, 2012, to January 3, 2013. In the game, players build dungeons containing deadly traps to kill adventuring heroes that enter. The game is inspired by Dungeon Keeper, StarCraft, Overlord, and Evil Genius. It includes a campaign, sandbox mode, and online multiplayer.
Godus or Godus Wars is a god video game developed by the independent company 22cans and published by DeNA. The company launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds and met their funding goal of £450,000 on 20 December 2012. Godus was designed by Peter Molyneux, who described it as the spiritual successor to his earlier creation, Populous. While the mobile versions of the game continue to be updated, the early access Steam release has yet to see an updated beta since 2016. The contract of the lead developer of the game, Konrad Naszynski, expired 28 June 2016, and it has been reported that there is no one left working on the PC version. As of September 2023, 8 years after the last update on the PC version, the game is still being advertised as early access.
Steam Machine was a series of small form factor gaming computers by Valve, designed to operate SteamOS to provide a game console-like experience. Several computer vendors were engaged with Valve to develop their own versions of Steam Machines for retail, offering additional options atop Valve's requirements such as dual-booting options with Microsoft Windows and the ability to upgrade the computer. Consumers could digitally purchase video games on their Steam Machine through Valve's namesake Steam storefront.
Early access, also known as alpha access, alpha founding, paid alpha, or game preview, is a funding model in the video game industry by which consumers can purchase and play a game in the various pre-release development cycles, such as pre-alpha, alpha, and/or beta, while the developer is able to use those funds to continue further development on the game. Those that pay to participate typically help to debug the game, provide feedback and suggestions, may have access to special materials in the game. The early-access approach is a common way to obtain funding for indie games, and may also be used along with other funding mechanisms, including crowdfunding. Many crowdfunding projects promise to offer access to alpha and/or beta versions of the game as development progresses; however, unlike some of these projects which solicit funds but do not yet have a playable game, all early access games offer an immediately playable version of the unfinished game to players.
Consortium is a first-person shooter role-playing video game developed by Interdimensional Games for Microsoft Windows. The game is set almost entirely on a futuristic aircraft called Zenlil, crewed by a complement with chess-themed ranks. The game was principally financed by the Canada Media Fund by awarding a grant for $500,000 CAD in 2010. After a first failed Kickstarter campaign in 2012, $70,435 USD was raised through Kickstarter on April 18, 2013. Consortium was released on January 8, 2014. A sequel, Consortium: The Tower, was released to Steam Early Access on September 21, 2017.
Hand of Fate is an action role-playing video game developed and published by Australian studio Defiant Development for Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, released via early access on 7 July 2014, and then in the full release on 17 February 2015. A PlayStation Vita version was announced but ultimately cancelled due to development issues.
Fig was a crowdfunding platform for video games. It launched in August 2015. Unlike traditional crowdfunding approaches like Kickstarter, where individuals can back a project to receive rewards, Fig used a mixed model that includes individual backing and the opportunity for uncredited investors to invest as to obtain a share of future revenues for successful projects. At the end of 2017, four projects had begun generating returns, returning 245% to Fig investors.
Hard West is a turn-based tactical game developed by CreativeForge Games and published by Gambitious Digital Entertainment. It was released digitally on November 18, 2015, for Microsoft Windows, OS X and Linux, and was released for the Nintendo Switch on March 7, 2019. A sequel, Hard West 2, was released in August 2022.
Rokh is a sandbox, science fiction, multiplayer survival game, the development of which was announced on December 10, 2015. The game was originally under development by independent game company Nvizzio Creations before Nvizzio dropped out of development for Rokh due to a dropped contract. Rokh was published by Darewise Entertainment. The game is set in the future on the planet Mars, and will contain crafting and survival elements. The game was developed using Unreal Engine 4. The game was made available for early access on May 16, 2017. Development for Rokh was suspended in 2018 due to a lack of financial backing and revenue.
Call to Arms is a real-time tactics and strategy video game developed by German company Digitalmindsoft as the spiritual successor to the Men of War series. The early access version of the game was released on 30 July 2015 to Steam. An expansion pack, titled Gates of Hell: Ostfront, was released in 2021.
Reflex Arena is a first-person arena shooter video game, developed by Turbo Pixel Studios and released onto Steam's Early Access program on 4 November 2014, and launched out of Early Access on 8 March 2017. It is an arena FPS that is heavily influenced by the Challenge ProMode Arena mod for Quake III Arena. Players must navigate arena-like levels and fight other players using a focused set of situational weapons. Reflex uses an engine built from scratch specifically for the arena FPS genre and features many skill-based movement features, including strafe-jumping, rocket-jumping, and multi-jumping.
Police Stories is a top-down shooter video game developed by Mighty Morgan and published by HypeTrain Digital. The project was financed through the crowd funding platform Kickstarter in June 2017.
Tanglewood is a puzzle platformer developed and published by Big Evil Corporation for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. It was crowdfunded through Kickstarter and released on 14 August 2018, with emulated versions available for Windows, Mac, and Linux on Steam and a dual-game cartridge for the Evercade along with Xeno Crisis.
Hell Let Loose is a 2019 multiplayer tactical first-person shooter developed and published by Team17 with assistance by co-developers Cover 6 Studios and Expression Games. Players fight in iconic battles of the Western, North African and Eastern Fronts of World War II at the platoon level.
Cruelty Squad is a 2021 tactical first-person shooter developed and published by Finnish indie studio Consumer Softproducts, managed by artist Ville Kallio, through the Steam distribution platform. In the game, the player takes on the role of a biologically-augmented assassin employed by the titular wetwork security company, tasked with performing black operations for its host conglomerate. The game is notable for its surreal, "sensorally aggressive" low-poly aesthetic, inspired by the likes of mid-to-late 1990s low-poly 3D games such as LSD: Dream Emulator and Super Mario 64.
Battlefield 2042 is a 2021 first-person shooter, developed by DICE and published by Electronic Arts. It is the twelfth main installment in the Battlefield series and was released on November 19, 2021, for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Unlike previous games in the series, Battlefield 2042 is solely multiplayer and does not have a single-player campaign. It features support for cross-platform play, a first in the series. Battlefield 2042 received mixed reviews from critics and a negative reception from players for its technical issues, lack of features, and certain changes to the gameplay. The game failed to meet the sales expectations of Electronic Arts.
