Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania – October 28. Two independent game designers decide the best way to make themselves rich is to give away free stuff.
“This is an industry where the key to success lies in strong worldbuilding and high-quality breathtaking art. So naturally we emphazised everything else. Battle Century G is about its solid and flexible rules, you know, the things that most gaming groups homebrew for their personal use if they even care about them.” – Juan Herrera, head designer of Battle Century G.
The game in question, Battle Century G, is a mix of action and science fiction themed around giant robot battles with a distinctive anime influence – the so-called ‘Mecha Genre’ the game defines itself as part of. Not only is the product a niche within a niche, they are giving away the best feature for free. What their backers will receive are the additional features, the ones where they make do with whatever they’ve got as a small-time team of two.
“Games are meant to be played,” says Herrera. “I want the Game part of Roleplaying Game to be fun, that is why I chose to focus in making good rules over everything else.” When asked about the debatable business sense of giving away the best part of your product for free, he said “Like I said, games are meant to be played. It is like the try before you buy model, only it depends entirely on the honor system because you can try indefinitely.”
While the debate whether Kickstarter is or is not a store is most likely never going to be resolved, Battle Century G takes a definitive stance towards “No.” with a straightforward project fueled by the passion of creators and backers. Either you love what they are doing or you don’t, there is no middle ground.
Battle Century G will be live on Kickstarter until November 23, when we will all know where their project falls between genius and insanity.
