Even games from the 1980s are hoping to capitalize on the crowdfunding boom.
Developer Retroaction Entertainment wants to “reintroduce gamers” to classic games from the Intellivision console. It’s partnering with former employees, including Intellivision Productions president Keith Robinson, Realtime Associates president David Warhol, and designer John Sohl. Together, they’re asking for $100,000 on Kickstarter to help make updated “Gen 2” versions of these games for PC and Mac.
Retroaction will release them in three-game catalog packs, with the first containing Astrosmash, Shark! Shark!, and Night Stalker.
The goal of the Gen 2 label is to update the games for modern tastes while keeping the features that made them popular in the first place. All of them will have new retro-style graphics along with more enemies, modes, and power-ups. Astrosmash is an Asteroid-like game where players must destroy waves of aliens and falling asteroids. In Shark! Shark!, you play as a fish who has to eat smaller creatures to get bigger while avoiding the dreaded shark. And Night Stalker challenges you to survive dangerous mazes filled with robots, bats, and spiders.
If the campaign is successful, the companies will work on the next set of Gen 2 games: Utopia, Sea Battle, and B-17 Bomber.
“We’re reinventing them, but reinventing them from where they started — keeping [them] very close to their original spirit,” said Warhol in an interview posted on the Kickstarter page.
Toy manufacturer Mattel released the first Intellivision console in 1980 to compete with the Atari 2600. It sold more than 3 million units over a 10-year period.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/756513245/intellivision-gen2-video-games-for-pc-and-mac/widget/video.html