Hidden Path's Kickstarter was a strange campaign. Despite the "Defense Grid 2" title, what backers were actually funding was Containment - a DLC expansion pack for the first game of the tower-defence series. The sequel wasn't secured unless the total reached $1 million - $750,000 over the supposed target fund. In total, the campaign raised over $270,000, which technically made it a success, but was far short of the needed DG2 stretch goal.

But! Despite the shortfall, Defense Grid 2 is now in production thanks to the money injection of a secret investor. The team explain more in a video update.



"Through the DG2 Kickstarter campaign we were able to not only raise money and make more Defense Grid content, but we created a shared engagement around the project with thousands of backers for several months," says Hidden Path CEO Jeff Pobst. "The excitement, involvement, and passion that the community displayed around Defense Grid directly helped us engage an investment partner and make DG2 a reality."

Hidden Path expect the game to be ready for the first half of 2014. In addition, they're holding a Defense Grid 1 sale this weekend, bundling the game and all additional DLC - including Containment - for £3.74.

Hidden Path's Kickstarter campaign for Defense Grid 2 edged past its minimum goal of $250,000/£156,400 back in August, providing funds for Defense Grid: Containment, an expansion for the alien-annihilating tower defense original releasing January 23 for $5/£3.

Containment continues the story of Defense Grid: The Awakening right where it left off in eight new levels and 32 challenge modes. As before, you'll herd and zap columns of aliens wandering into your tower jungle, but as Awakening's increasingly elaborate map layouts proved, the task quickly turns into a challenging frenzy of resource management and effective emplacement patterns. It's also one of the few genres that continually reminds me how amazingly bad I am at micromanagement.

Hidden Path also chose four user-made maps as a bonus pack launching alongside Containment. Kickstarter donors received access to a private forum with the Level Previewer tool, which players can use to model and preview custom levels before submitting them to Hidden Path for consideration. The studio chose four of the most popular submissions for inclusion into Containment's Community Levels, which you can get by registering an account after January 23. It'd be nice if the Previewer took the final step and allowed mappers to publish their work independently of Hidden Path's approval, but the extra content never hurts.

As for Defense Grid 2, it's still well under construction despite missing its ideal funding mark of $1 million. Hidden Path looks determined to eventually hand a final product over to fans, saying, "We’ll need to do extra work on our end to earn or raise the remaining funds in order to complete DG2, but when we do, you’ll still be a part of the team."

The Defense Grid 2 crowdfunding campaign has concluded just above (well, $21,000 above) its minimum goal of $250,000. That minimum was the target for funding of Defense Grid: Containment, an eight level expansion for the original game which is due out this December. That's now underway, but to fund the full sequel, with a new engine and 20-mission story, developer Hidden Path had hoped to reach $1,000,000.

Defense Grid fans and backers shouldn't pack up their turrets, though: according to Hidden Path, backers will still receive Defense Grid 2 when it's done. From the Kickstarter page:

"We'll need to do extra work on our end to earn or raise the remaining funds in order to complete DG2, but when we do, you'll still be a part of the team. Crossing $250,000 gets you DG:Containment this December, and DG2 when it is complete."

Without the seven Kickstarter digits Hidden Path was looking for, it isn't clear exactly how Defense Grid 2 will be funded. The FAQ suggests that the developer may even take on other projects to raise the necessary funds, but that in the end, "you will still get a code for DG2 when it is released." So it's not cancelled, which is good news for us and all the people below. Especially Chris Taylor. He's hurting.

Graham, Tom Francis, Rich and Chris discuss Steam sales, the state of Kickstarter, Valve's Greenlight project, Dota 2 and more - including your questions from Twitter. Also featuring Graham's Steam press account hubris, Rich's need to be brilliant at everything, Tom's on again, off again relationship with Defence Grid and how Dota 2 made Chris realise that he's a bad person. On the subject of Dota, Tom Francis would like it known that he disagrees with the imaginary Tom Francis whose opinions Rich quoted in the last podcast.

"I said something along the lines of: it seems like if you get behind early on, you can never catch up because the enemies are too high level to kill, but it still takes you 45 minutes to lose. Which, if true, is bad design. There are lots of other reasons Dota 2 isn't my kind of thing, but the others are just a difference in taste."

Apologies to anyone offended by the views of imaginary Tom Francis. Blame Rich. He's brilliant at taking the blame.

We're aware of a few interference issues with the sound. Sorry about that, everyone - Graham was waving his phone around. We've managed to cut his yells of "woo, look at me, I've got a phone" out of the mix but unfortunately the interference itself is harder to isolate. We've all learned a very important lesson about phones.

Download the MP3, subscribe, or find our older podcasts here.

Show notes:

High Tea - the historical trading game that Tom mentions.
Gravity Bone, the predecessor to Thirty Flights of Loving, is available on the Blendo Games website.
Tom's write-up of the Steam Greenlight announcement.
Our Tribes: Ascend showmatch. No, we are never going to stop linking to this.

 

Add Defense Grid: the Awakening developers Hidden Path to the pile of game creators diving into the scrum for a piece of the Kickstarter pie. They're looking to raise a full million as a stretch goal, but have milestones at every quarter-mil that will allow them to deliver at least part of the DG2 experience. They've also partnered with AMD to give away up to 565 Radeon HD graphics cards to contributors above the $225 line, which is certainly a unique incentive for PC gamers.

At the $250 level, there are 265 HD 6770s available, which are going for about $125 on newegg at the moment. Bump up to the $325 tier, and you could own one of 300 HD 6870s, which are about $180 on their own. Other reward tiers include Razer Naga Hex gaming mice, and the usual t-shirts and unique physical editions we've come to expect.

This particular fundraiser is tiered. If it can raise $250,000, Hidden Path will release a new, 8 level expansion for Defense Grid: The Awakening. At $500,000, they build a new engine, remaster all of the old levels in it, and add multiplayer support. $750,000 will get us a level editor, release on more platforms (Mac, Linux, etc.), and some more multiplayer features. $1 million is the final goal, allowing the development of a full sequel with a new campaign, new aliens, and new towers.

There are still 34 days left to back this one, but some of the tiers have limited quantity "early bird" bonuses, that get you more stuff for less money. So if you want the best value, you may want to back sooner rather than later.

Come with me, back into the distant past. Don't mind that wibbly blurry effect and that "WooOOoOOooOO" noise, that's just what happens when you go back in time. We're almost there. All you have to do is click this link and make the transition to April 4 2011!

I've always wanted to say that. If you just took the trip, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. You'll also have a good idea as to whether or not you'd like to purchase the games going in the return of the potato sack sale on Steam.

http://youtu.be/n7bkewdgjKA

Glados has escaped the confines of the Aperture Science testing facility, and has decided to spend a bit of time tormenting tower defence gamers instead. You Monster, the new expansion for Defense Grid, will add eight new maps and 35 challange missions, in which Glados will challenge you to hold back another alien invasion, noting your progress all the while and designing new tests for you to complete. The DLC is set to come out on Steam on December 7. Check out the Defense Grid site for more info.

The Potato Sack sale kicked off over the weekend on Steam. The sale knocks 50% off 13 indie games, including Super Meat Boy, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Killing Floor and more. The whole bundle is 75% off, and you'll get a potato hat in Team Fortress 2.

This isn't just an ordinary sale, thought. There's something weird and potato related happening. Several games in the potato pack have received some unusual updates. Egyptian hieroglyphics have been found in Amnesia, potato references have been found in Defence Grid: The Awakening, and plugging a Razer peripheral in to Kick It! will trigger one of fifteen potato related phrases like this one "never trust a potato...they have eyes everywhere. They are always listening...we never went to space! SPUDnik was a Russet Conspiracy!" What the spud is going on?

VG247 note that a wiki has been set up to collect the mounting clues, though nobody has any idea where any of it is leading. Valve revealed Portal 2 through a series of encoded images and radio messages patched into Portal 1. Could there be another reveal on the cards, or is it all an elaborate, long running April fools hoax?

Here's a list of the games that are part of the potato sack sale. Head over to Steam to take advantage of the deals. There's no end date for the sale yet.

1... 2... 3... KICK IT!
AaAaAA!!! - A Reckless Disregard for Gravity
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
AudioSurf
BIT.TRIP BEAT
Cogs
Defense Grid: The Awakening
Killing Floor
RUSH
Super Meat Boy
The Ball
The Wonderful End of the World
Toki Tori