The Kickstarter campaign for the turn-based combat game Warmachine: Tactics easily surpassed its goal of raising $550,000.
As of Saturday morning, Bellevue, Wash.-based Privateer Press Interactive has raised $693,631 from 7,209 backers. It still has 27 days to go in a 30-day crowdfunding campaign. The title is the sort of old-style strategy game mixed with modern 3D animation, and it’s not the sort of game that gets funding from game publishers in search of blockbuster games. It’s the sort of title that Kickstarter makes possible.
Matt Wilson, owner and chief creative officer of Privateer Press Interactive, said in the video that the title is based on a tabletop miniatures game that he created ten years ago. The game is set in the steam-powered world of the Iron Kingdoms, where magic and technology have shaped a new landscape of war.
“It’s all about superhuman battle mages and steam-powered robots that beat the scrap out of each other,” he said. “The battles are intense and dynamic, with the warjacks just slamming each other all over the battlefield.”
A magic powered character known as a warcaster controls her giant robots, or warjacks, with her mind.
The first campaign is dubbed No Man’s Land, and it stars the female character Allison Jakes, created in collaboration with partner WhiteMoon Dreams. It will have asynchronous play-by-mail and synchronous multiplayer game modes that allow players to battle anyone in the world.
The PC and Mac game will ship with No Man’s Land and two factions. More factions will ship if the company hits its stretch goals. The game is inspired by titles like Valkyria Chronicles, Final Fantasy Tactics, and the X-COM franchise. The company hopes to ship the game a year from now.