If you’ve read through my series of Gen Con recaps, you probably noticed that I mentioned quite a few upcoming Kickstarter projects. Here’s a list of them in one place, along with planned launch dates, so you can start budgeting your Kickstarter spending now!
New to Kickstarter? Check out our crowdfunding primer, and visit our Kickstarter curated page for more projects we love.
Of course, this isn’t anywhere near all of the games that are showing up in the next few months—it’s just the tiny sliver that I happened to see myself!
Super Camelot – Now
Super Camelot is from Catalyst Game Labs, and has just a little over a day left to go! If you like 16-bit adventures, check it out.
Guild Master – August 27
Guild Master is from Good Games Publishing, and features some simultaneous action selection, upgrading your guild and your novices, and competing for contracts. I’ll be receiving a prototype of this one, hopefully in time to cover for the Kickstarter launch. See more here.
Thieves’ Den – August 28
Thieves’ Den is coming from Daily Magic Games and is set in the same world (with the same artist) as 10-Minute Heist. A bit of card-drafting, worker placement, and lots of thievery.
Gemini Dice Tower – late August
Gate Keeper Games adds to its gaming accessories and Halfsies dice with this modular dice tower and trays that snap together with magnets. It’s like gamer LEGO! Visit the Gate Keeper Games website to sign up for updates.
Space Unicorn: Battle Over Cupcake Mountain – late August
Space Unicorn: Battle Over Cupcake Mountain is a cooperative kids’ game inspired by Parry Gripp’s songs about heading up Cupcake Mountain to fight the boss monster at the top! Sign up for updates here.
Bad Maps – September 5
Floodgate Games will be launching this light programming game—competing pirate captains direct the minions to march around the island and dig for treasure, but who’s got the right map? Logan will be covering this one for GeekDad; sign up at Floodgate Games for updates.
Catacombs Cubes – early September
Catacombes Cubes is from Elzra Games, creators of the disk-flicking Catacombs series, but this one is not a flicking game. It actually involves building particular configurations of cubes to create buildings in a city. Sign up here for more updates; I should be getting a prototype of this to try out.
Everdell: Pearlbook – September 10
Everdell was one of Starling Games’ hot releases at Gen Con this year, and it already has an expansion in the works. Sign up for the Starling Games newsletter here. I don’t know much about the expansion—I haven’t even played the base game myself!—but I expect it will get a pretty good reception.
Bee Lives: We Will Only Know Summer – September 10
This game about managing beehives from designer (and beekeeper) Matt Shoemaker looks intriguing, and a prototype just arrived today, so I’ll be giving it a try soon. Want to know more? Visit BeeLivesGame.com.
Artemis Project – September 12
Build a colony on the harsh, freezing moon Europa in this title from Grand Gamers Guild. The dice-placement aspect reminded me a little bit of Alien Frontiers, but with an interesting aspect that lets you bump other players. Rob Huddleston has a prototype in hand and is already working on those colonies. Get updates here.
Tiny Epic Mechs – September 13
The Tiny Epic series continues to impress—this time, it’s a mech battle! Tiny Epic Mechs from Gamelyn Games is a fun programming game, but probably a lot of people will show up for the Itemeeples in their power suits. I’ve had a prototype to try out and it’s been getting a lot of play. Read more about it here.
Lockup – September 18
Thunderworks Games is expanding the Roll Player universe with Lockup, a worker placement game that’s a standalone title. Read up on it here.
Welcome to the Jungle – September 18
Welcome to the Jungle is the first release from Coffee Cake Gaming, featuring anthropomorphic animals locked in turf wars for control of the city. Er, jungle. You can try it out on Tabletopia ahead of the launch.
Tidal Blades – late September
Tidal Blades is a worker placement game from the same team that brought you Grimm Forest: Druid City Games and designer Tim Eisner (this time with his brother Ben), with stunning artwork from Mr. Cuddington. I’ll be checking out a prototype later this month! In the meantime, check out the Tidal Blades Facebook page for more information.
Mammoth – October 1
The Woolly Mammoth Revival Project is working to bring back mammoths, but Soaring Rhino Games beat them to it. This tile-laying game lets you play as mammoths making paths and changing the landscape, in competitive or cooperative modes. Find out more here.
Dreams of Tomorrow – October 1
Dream engineers of the future try to save their past by sending back dreams in this upcoming title from Weird Giraffe Games. I’ve only read a description so far but involves set collection and a shifting rondel, and some very cool artwork. I’ll be getting a prototype soon, but in the meantime, you can sign up for updates here.
Mutants: Genetic Gladiators – October
Lucky Duck Games has this upcoming deck-building game about breeding genetic gladiators, based on the app of the same name. I love deck-building games, so I’m curious to see what this one’s like. Sign up for the newsletter here.
Skulk Hollow – October
Ed Baraf of Pencil First Games first showed me a quick glance of Skulk Hollow last year at Gen Con, when I ran into him at the airport as I was leaving, so I’ve been waiting a year for this one to arrive! It’s a two-player game with a team of fox heroes battling a behemoth. Sign up for updates here.
Rallyman GT – November
Holy Grail Games is giving this racing game a new coat of paint and adding a new play mode. Use dice to increase your speed and hit the curves, but careful that you don’t spin out or stall your engine. Find out more here.
Bosk – November
Bosk is an upcoming title from Floodgate Games about controlling territories with trees, leaves, and squirrels. The prototype at Gen Con was pretty rough, but the finished game will feature artwork by Kwanchai Moriya, so I’m looking forward to seeing how this one turns out. Hit up Floodgate Games for updates.
Sovereign Skies – Q4 2018
The first original title from Deep Water Games is Sovereign Skies, which involves some maneuvering to have the most influence in various factions. If you want to know more, sign up for the mailing list.
Battle of the Bards – January 2019
Return to the land of Tessandor and prepare for a battle… of bards. Junk Spirit Games mixes deck-building and dice in this game, which features more amazing artwork from Justin Hillgrove. Learn more here.
Planetoid – Q1 2019
Portal Dragon’s next title is a space-mining game in which you drill for valuable gems and minerals, but each drill also reveals adjacent tokens that other players could snap up. Sign up for the newsletter here.
Evolution: Oceans – February 2019
Evolution from North Star Games is a personal favorite, and I’ve been anticipating this one ever since it was first announced last year. There’s still a bit of a wait, but I finally got to see a preview at Gen Con, and I’m excited! Join the North Star Games mailing list here.
Fire for Light – February
Fire for Light from Greenbrier Games takes us into a frozen world, exploring locations and staying warm. The game will use an app to give more details about locations as you come across them. Details are still scarce, but I’ll keep you posted!
Titan – June 2019
And now we’re heading into the distant future… both in terms of Kickstarter launches and the theme of this game. Holy Grail Games will be publishing this title about a giant city built around Saturn’s moon, with an impressive 3D board and oodles of components. Sign up for more info here.
Perseverance – Q3 2019
And we’ll wrap up with this one: Perseverance is brought to you by the team that created Trickerion, Anachrony, and Cerebria, so expect it to be a big, immersive game. It’s a five-part story about being castaways on a dinosaur-populated island, and building a civilization there. Stay tuned!
