Play puppeteer to a space crab in Crabitron, then follow its success on 'Crabstarter'
Holy crab
An Australian indie developer called Two Lives Left has launched its latest iPad game Crabitron as part of a "reverse Kickstarter" campaign.
What does that mean?
Well, you're asked to fund this space crab simulator's $100,000 development, you see. Instead of lending your money to a developer in the vague hope it might release an app in this century, though, you pay your £2.99 / $4.99 and get the game UPFRONT.
The developer concedes that, yes, this is how a studio normally sells a game. But Two Lives Left explains that "you also get to see how well (or poorly) Crabitron is doing financially, and exactly how well Crabitron is ranking on the App Store" by backing its "Crabstarter" campaign.
After a few days, in-depth stats (automatically pulled from the latest iTunes reports and AppFigures data) will show up on the Crabstarter page, and reveal the game's sales, revenue, and hourly US chart positions.
There will also be some stretch goals. If the campaign attracts more than $100k in funding, you can look forward to future updates to the game, which will include power-ups, mini-games, difficulty modes, and even same-screen multiplayer.
The game itself is delightfully silly. You play puppeteer to a rampaging space crab and use four fingers to mimic the movements of the cosmic crustacean's deadly pincers.
You'll then use your claws to crack open cars, swat away missiles, and pull apart busses to eat the helpless humans inside. You can also eat bullets to burp and - after buying a few upgrades - wield laser sword ships and unleash special powers.
The controls are perfect - in fact, it's a game that just wouldn't be possible on any other type of device. We'll have more thoughts in a full review soon, mind.
Crabitron is exclusively available on iPad, and is available in the App Store now for £2.99 / $4.99.
