The Crowd-fund Funstravaganza - Knowledge is Power

I'm sure we all have excellent memories of 'edutainment' games from our childhood. Where in Space is Carmen San Diego, Oregon Trail, that maze in Encarta - they were much more fun than freaking handwriting. They were generally frowned upon however - and due to the lack of marketability the edutainment industry is fairly limited (even including parody edutainment games like Frog Fractions.)




Of course, children aren't the only ones who can learn stuff - maybe if more people had edutainment games to play, I wouldn't be so much smarter than everyone I meet. And handsomer. It is good news then, that Crowd-funding has breathed new life into the genre and today we're going to look at a couple of titles designed to teach and entertain - at the same time.

The first project is firmly in the realm of childhood education however - Tornado Maker. An iOS game, it is designed to teach children how the weather works, with plans for follow up titles covering earthquakes, tsunamis, cyborgs, evolution and ecosystems. Science lends itself excellently to interactive learning, as anyone who has visited the Sciencentre in Brisbane or Scienceworks in Melbourne will agree. $25 gets you a copy of the game once it is developed and $45 (plus $10 shipping) gets you a backer t-shirt, a temporary tattoo and a... can of coffee.




The next game on the list is not strictly edutainment, but it certainly teaches you - Neocolonialism is a game in which you are 'the man' - a corporate sociopath ruining the world to make yourself richer. There is currently an alpha version of the game available at the official site. $10 will get you a copy of the game on completion and $25 will get you into the closed beta as well.

While there are many more game developers than there were in the past, people who want to make games but lack the technical know-how outweigh them a thousand to one. Programming has an inscrutable barrier to entry and for most people a quick look at the source code for a web page is enough to squash their dreams of making games forever.

The barrier to entry has been decreasing recently however, with the release of Twine, Stencyl and other tools making it easy and cheap to start making games. And if the next two crowd-funding projects we're talking about today are successful the barrier will shrink even further.

For those of us with absolutely zero developing experience, 3 Step Studio looks to be the simplest method, appearing to be an even simpler design tool than Stencyl. The budding game designer chooses a template for his or her game, makes it unique and publishes it - bam.

3 Step Studio will be free on release, with additional sound and art packs available for a price - although those who contribute to the Kickstarter will get one at different tiers. A pledge of $25 will get you beta access - estimated for February - pledging more will get you sound and art packs, although the physical items in the pledges (like a mouse mat or t-shirt) can only be shipped to the US. An international friendly digital only tier might pop up in the future however.




The second game design tool is the Axis Game Factory - and while it looks more complex than 3 Step Studio, it is still ready-made for beginners. Axis Game Factory lets you build 3D games and games are designed directly in the GUI, like a more robust version of the Skyrim Creation Kit or Far Cry 3's map editor.

Axis Game Factory will also have no upfront cost - although the free version will be somewhat limited compared to when you purchase a 'pak' - which gives you access to various assets and art. A pledge of $20 will currently get you the first Pak - the Starter, while $65 will give you all of the paks to play with.

And that's the end of the Funstravaganza today, did you learn a lot? If you're looking for a more traditional video game to throw money at, American McGee took to Kickstarter on the weekend with Akaneriro: Demon Hunters - his upcoming free to play ARPG set in a Japanese version of Little Red Riding Hood. Do you know of any Kickstarter projects you think we should check out? Let us know in the comments below!