Cinemaware Announces Wings: Director's Cut Kickstarter Campaign

Wings: Director's Cut

Game developer Cinemaware today announced that it is the next studio to throw its hat into the Kickstarter campaign ring, looking to gamers to fund the development of what it is presenting as an "Amiga-cult classic game" -- Wings -- which it hopes to publish for Windows PC, and the iOS and Android mobile platforms sometime in February of 2013...

We have been observing as the trend towards leveraging Kickstarter to fund development -- or often to partially fund the development -- of video games over the course of the past six months or so, and we have to confess that the trend is rather disturbing... It raises the question of whether or not games of marginal quality or planning are now being funded and published after they have failed the traditional process of being presented a publisher or publishing group for underwriting. We are not saying that this is the case with Wings, but the fact that any game finds it necessary to dip into the wallets of gamers just to get made strikes us as cause for alarm.

This new and reborn Wings is meant to reach new heights according to publisher Cinemaware, who have stated that in addition to being re-imagined the game will be created in full HD graphics and sound, a remake with new missions, new story elements, enhanced animations, art and sound and additional music tracks for an ultimate DirectorÂ’s Cut edition. That all sounds great, and if what it takes to make that happen is Kickstarter funding then so be it.

According to their press release today, gamers who want to join in on the Kickstarter campaign for Wings can make a variety of pledge levels that are meant to fit every budget -- but the incentives to dig a little deeper more profound it seems... A pledge of $15 will deliver an in-game credit and a set of "Wings: DirectorÂ’s Cut" desktop wallpapers while a donation of $10,000 will deliver an acrobatic ride in a real WWI-style (not era) bi-wing airplane as well as some other cool though unspecified WWI-related tours.

In between those fairly wide bookends there are a number of other levels of support with different rewards -- T-shirts, posters, in-game credits, the chance to contribute to the game design and even a real-life replica of the Wings' diary (as seen in the actual game) are on the block. Cinemaware has created prizes which are unique and related to the game playing experience of Wings, which is rather nice considering that a lot of the Kickstarter campaign rewards we have seen with other games appear to be more of an after-thought than a well-planned-out system of rewards.

Wings: Director's Cut will be co-developed by Cinemaware in coordination with Raylight Games of Naples, Italy. Raylight are the original developers of Wings and the game Speedball 2 for the Game Boy Advance, two great classic Amiga games. Ken Melville, one of the writers of and composer for the original game will once again be deeply involved in the game's production, writing and music composition.

"Keep the flame of Cinemaware burning bright by buying Wings' pledges! Wings: Director's Cut will have everything you loved about classic Cinemaware games: Great characters, immersive stories and seat-of-your-pants gaming," enthused Melville. "You just grip it and rip it!" (Whatever that means?)

Cinemaware has stated that they will post regular updates about the progress of the project, including video updates, graphic and sound development, concept art and developer interviews. There will be a backers' only forum where backers can contribute ideas and feedback directly to developers, and pledges will receive the game (DRM free) on the platform of their choice along with other potential rewards. The game is currently slated to release on PC, iOS, and Android in February 2013.

For more Cinemaware information hit their YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/cinemaware or visit the official website at www.cinemaware.com. To learn more about the Kickstarter Campaign for Wings: Director's Cut and make a pledge hit the official Kickstarter Website for the game.