This Week In Kickstarter we've got a slew of projects sure to make you open your purses and throw your wallets. A horror game by the creator of Clocktower and the director of The Grudge (the original one), a phone case that prints photos, a portable arcade, and the most backed Kickstarter campaign in history.

 Games

Project Scissors

@night_scissors

In the mood for some horror? How does a game by the original Director of Clocktower sound? Not enough? What if it also had the director of the Ju-on (The Grudge) and the monster designer for Silent Hill signed on?

Project Scissors aims to create a chilling horror game of the same game as the infamous Clocktower during the SNES era. To accomplish this, Himfuni Kono assembled an all star line up of veteran game makers: Nobuko Toda, a multi-award winning composer for Metal Gear Solid; Kyoshi Arai, a famous concept artist for Final Fantasy's XIII and XIV; Michuru Yamane, famous composer of the Castlevania series; and Masahiro Ito, creature designer for the Silent Hill series.

Originally planned for iOS, Android, and Vita, the "overwhelming fan support" convinced the team to bring the game to PC, and even possibly to other platforms. The story of the game takes place on a cruise ship, with your character trapped at sea. The Kickstarter page also mentions that your actions will determine how many of the passengers survive.

The game is a point and click style adventure, and its core gameplay comprises of two modes: exploration and escape. Players can explore cabins and rooms looking for items, but should they be found by the evil that stalks the ship, they must flee or hde. Fighting back is not an option. While escaping, players can look back over their shoulder to see if the presence is still chasing them.

As a lover of all things survival horror, I couldn't be more  excited to see this game be made. The veteran line up Komo has assembled really helps breathe enthusiasm for the project. I've seen too many horror games that fail to live up to their potential because the game makers feared restricting the player options would make the game less enjoyable. There's always a place for action/horror (Resident Evil 4 is one of my top 10 games) but after so many instances of putting combat over scares (I'm looking at you Dead Space 3) it's refreshing to get a game that puts scares first.

At the time of writing, Project Scissors: NightCry raised $38,925 of its $300,000 goal. The Kickstarter retires on February 23, 2015, so there is still time to make this game fully funded. Even if not, the Kickstarter seems to indicate the funding is for crating a PC version of the game, while the portable platforms appear to still be funded. If the Kickstarter does not succeed, a mobile to HDMI cable could still be used to play this game on the big screen, the way it deserves.

Nanoarcade

@NanoArcade

There's a magic to arcade gaming. The lights, the joystick, the super compressed soundbites. Phones can emulate the game, put the feel, that's something you can't download. In comes Nanoarcade, a portable arcade system at a reasonable price.

Nanoarcade brings retro style gaming on the go with an authentic feel. The machine is a mere one-tenth the size of other arcade machines. The Nanoarcade comes with a 360-degree joystick and six action buttons.The machine uses a red power button to simulate the old school arcade feel and completes the look with a coin slot. The Nanoarcade runs java-based games, meaning the selection of games it can run is massive. You can install and uninstall games smooth and easily. Supporting Nanoarcade on Kickstart will gain you access to a select number of the 100+ games the Nanoarcade designers have made in the past. Other games can be installed through the USB 2.0 port.

I love the idea of a portable arcade, and overall I'd love to have one. The Nanoarcade does seem like something I'd buy and use a few times before barely using it again, because as portable as it is, a hard plastic block probably won't sit to well in your backpack or messenger bad, meaning the machine is portable so long as you're fine carrying it around. However, I'd see my use with this being more in home. I'll use my 3DS for playing in public, and the Nanoarcade while at my desk or laying in bed. Speaking of desks, the Nanoarcade looks like the ultimate desk adornment.

At the time of writing the Nanoarcade successfully funded itself, raising $42,837 of its $30,000 goals. With funding open till Febuary 11, 2015, the Nanoarcade is in the clear!

 

 

 

 

Exploding Kittens

@gameofkittens

At this point, you've likely already heard of it, but just in case you haven't here's Exploding Kittens, the most backed Kickstarter campaign in history.

Exploding Kittens is a whimsical card game where the players take turns grabbing cards from the center deck. Eventually one of them will pull the titular Exploding Kitten card and subsequently to removed form the game. However, the player can negate the Exploding Kitty with various defusing cards.

I can see why this is  the most backed Kickstarter campaigns in history. It's a simple but clever set up and one I could easily see playing with friends for hours at a time. Of course the only way to tell for sure how fun the game is, is to actually play it and see all the various cards. Never the less, the fun spirit of the game is something akin to Munchkins, another fantastic and humorous card game, but it still maintains it's own identity and definitely has me intrigued.

At the time of writing, well, the numbers are irrelevant. Exploding Kittens made 100% of its donation goal within 20 minutes, and made 1000% of it in less than an hour! Look for Exploding Kittens in the near future.

 

 

 

 

Technology

Branto

@Mybranto 

A smart home device with full remote presence, Branto assists the user with home security, 360 vision, and hands free communication and control of the home, whether you're in the house or out and about.

The Branto aims to be a streamlined wireless device that can assist in a wide range of functions, without the need for expensive modules and add ons. The main line of features the Branto offers are:

• Security System
• 360 Camera
• Music/Audiobooks
• Always Online
• Smart House Keeper

The Branto can used for such functions as seeing and hearing your baby from another room, operating the air conditioning and TV from your smart phone, looking after your home while you are gone, and more. The Branto works for both Android and iOS.

I could see the use for a product like Branto, though it still hasn't convinced me I really need it. I can play music through practically everything these days, and the always online feature is really dependent on how steady my WiFi is (my WiFi is crap so Branto's functionality would be severally limited in that department for someone like me). It also has cloud storage, but once again, so does almost everything else. The talk features are pretty much one way visually, so there isn't much of a reason to use it; you would either stick to a phone call or move to Skype.

This leaves Branto with just its security feature and baby watching ability as its sole reasons for purchase. To some, those two alone could be big, BIG reasons to by the Branto, and to them, this device could be incredibly handy. For many others however, the Branto looks to be of limited value provided they already have the tools to accomplish Branto's other features. Do not take this as my saying it's a bad product, by no means, Branto is a slick little device, but perhaps not a universally valuable one.

SEER

We've all had the fantasy of a sweet augmented reality SEER is designed to make that fantasy a reality.

With AR becoming all the rage these days, SEER sets itself apart boasting a larger FOV than any other AR device including Google Glass. Most of the power actually comes from your smartphone rather than the device itself, keeping manufacturing costs down. In addition, SEER features open hardware and users are encouraged to tinker with the device. With its open platform design, users can create their own apps for SEER.

SEER seems like a really cool tool and while I would never use it on the subway, putting it on when I get home would be pretty cool. Creating apps could lead to some pretty interesting stuff. Having information spread out in front of me would be a great help. Studying for instance would be made more efficient. If I was hungry but also trying to study, I could simply throw the SEER on and go downstairs to make some food while I read.

At the time of writing, SEER has been able to raise nearly half of its intended goal; $46, 905 of its $100,000 goal. The project still has until March 3, 2015, so there is still plenty of time to make it.

 

 

 

 

Prynt

@prynt

A phone case that acts like a Polaroid camera. Need I say more?

Sometimes posting to Facebook or Instagram isn't what you want, you'd rather have a real photo, but you don't want to go through the hassle of printing it. The Prynt phone case turns your smartphone into a glorious instant print camera. The case is compatible with iPhone 5, 5S, 5C, 6, as well as the Samsung Galaxy S4 and S5. The case simply snaps on to connect and doesn't require bluetooth or an online connection to work (presumably it uses NFC), nor does it require ink as the ink is already in the paper. The device comes in pink, blue, and white.

I could see this being really useful for vacations or big events that I would want physical photos for. To some people, physical photos aren't really a big deal to have, and if so then this product is utterly and completely pointless to have. However, for those that like to decorate with their personal photos, they could get some serious usage out of this device.

At the time of writing, the Prynt has been successfully funded, reaching $345,873, well over its intended goal of just $50,000. The Prynt still has an additional 32 days left, going all the way to  March 3, 2015.

 

How do you feel about this week's crowd funding efforts? Did anything stand out as a must have? Did anything seem like a pointless buy? Was there something else that should have been in here? Let us know in the comments, and it might show up in next week's "This Week In Kickstarter!"