Lafayette, Colorado – DreamQuest Games launched its Kickstarter campaign today for Alpha Colony, an all-new family-friendly game for iPhone and iPad. What makes this game wholly unique is its interesting balance of competitive and cooperative play as well as its appeal to a broad range of casual gamers.
The goal of Alpha Colony is to explore an undiscovered planet, build and produce resources, and then trade them to become the most prosperous prospector of the colony. It takes more than just being the best to win since the colony must cooperate to thrive as a whole or everyone loses.
Alpha Colony’s emphasis on cooperation and lack of any violence makes it a game the entire family can enjoy. The strategy components of the game create an interesting dynamic for stronger players, while the adorable characters and self-handicapping ensures that younger or more casual players can join the fun without being discouraged.
If DreamQuest’s multiplayer Kickstarter goals are reached, the game will also feature shared hot seat as well as distributed online play enabling even busy families to play together using a cross-platform, asynchronous play style popularized by Words with Friends and other casual iOS games.
“Sharing a family game together is a challenge,” shared DreamQuest Games’ Creative Director, Christopher Williamson. “With Alpha Colony, even busy families like mine can still play together.”
DreamQuest Games has been slowly developing this game for several years and sports a 150-page design document as well as a playable mini-game prototype on its website. The company is now ready to finish the game and hopes to raise at least $50k on Kickstarter.
As a reward for supporting the game, backers receive Kickstarter-exclusive content that won’t be available once the game is available for general sale. This exclusive content includes extra playable races, new planets, stickers, figurines, signed art prints and more. There are even pledge levels for as low as $400 that allows backers to become a game designer and incorporate their own family-friendly game ideas into the game. Opportunities to contribute as a designer include naming a planet, inventing an in-game event or designing a entirely new playable race. Designer-level pledges are available in limited quantities and will go fast.
At Kickstarter, campaigns are ‘all or nothing’, meaning DreamQuest Games will have 30 days to raise at least $50k or no money is collected from backers and Alpha Colony won’t be funded. As a reward for supporting the game, backers receive Kickstarter-exclusive content that won’t be available once the game is available for general sale. This exclusive content includes extra playable races, new planets, stickers, figurines, signed art prints and more. There are even pledge levels for as low as $400 that allows backers to become a game designer and incorporate their own family-friendly game ideas into the game. Opportunities to contribute as a designer include naming a planet, inventing an in-game event or designing a whole new playable race. Designer-level pledges are available in limited quantities and will go fast.
More details about Alpha Colony’s stretch goals are on their Kickstarter campaign page. DreamQuest is also participating in Kickstarter’s Pay-It-Forward program by contributing a portion of their proceeds to encourage entrepreneurship for future Kickstarter projects. A video describing the game and how it will bring families together can be viewed on YouTube. For more information, or to schedule an interview with Eve Park, please call 720/427-9565 or e-mail DreamQuest Games.
DreamQuest Games
Alpha Colony
Kickstarter Project
YouTube Video
DreamQuest Games was founded in 2000 and has shipped over 30 successful game titles on mobile game platforms, including iOS, Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile and Symbian, including being awarded 2 US Patents and PocketPC Game of the Year in 2006 for Championship Spades. The founder, Christopher Williamson, was Lead Programmer on Madagascar 2 at Idol Minds, a game which sold over a million units for Activision in 2008. Most recently, DreamQuest ported their catalog of 13 family-oriented card and board games to iOS and Android with the most recent release being Championship Checkers in November 2012. Copyright (C) 2012 DreamQuest Games. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPod and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.
