‘Islands of Chaos’ Kickstarter Enters its Final Week

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Erik Reichenbach and Billy Laurain recently teamed up together to create an interesting competitive multiplayer social challenge for iOS/Android devices that derived heavy inspiration from reality TV show: Survivor. Their project – entitled Islands of Chaos – will randomly create teams out of 16-24 players, selected from all around the world, and then pit them in an epic challenge to see who will be the last player standing. While your game playing skills will certainly be put to the test, and will definitely be important, the unique design of Islands of Chaos means that you’ll also need social finagling to win.

5d9be21addc3dee2be5c99bb8244ab36_largeAs players go through the many days of challenges – with the specific amount being player selected during a session’s creation – they must compete in a variety of mini-games, of both reward and elimination varieties. Award mini-games will provide those who win them with valuable supplies – such as temporary score boosters – which can then be saved for personal use, or strategically traded with others. However – on the other hand – it’s the elimination competitions where things truly get dire, and your social abilities may be the only thing that can keep you from being kicked off the island.

The unfortunate team with the lowest cumulative score at the end of an elimination challenge will be forced to pick one of their own to eject, done so via their own private chat room. Players who’ve made the best social alliances with the rest of their team will generally stand the best odds of not being selected as the fall-man, unless – of course – those very same teammates had been planning to backstab them all along. However, the elected fall-man can then use a Talisman – if he has one – to force his respective team to vote off someone else instead (knowing that he will now be treading on extra thin ice).

The biggest twist of all comes when only four players remain, for it is at that point when the spirits of everyone previously thrown into the volcano will magically come back to life. Now the four potential victors must plead their case to the departed – whom they might have voted off, or even backstabbed – as to why they should be elected as the round’s final champion. This nice twist ensures that it will be very hard for someone to enjoy victory purely by backstabbing every last person on their team, as those he betrayed will have one last chance to return the favor.

Chaos2While a master scoreboard will keep track of each player’s running totals, combined across various sessions of Islands of Chaos, players won’t actually know if they’re playing with the same person again at the beginning of an entirely new game. This is because – instead of being represented by their main account – players will make a unique avatar, using a robust character creator, each time they join a new game session. Players with a specific strategy in mind can take advantage of the avatar maker to create an appearance that suits their agenda, such as a hot girl for those planning to flirt their way to dominance.

However – as with all things – Erik Reichenbach and Billy Laurain’s vision for Islands of Chaos will require both time and money, something that is often in short supply for everyone alive. To this end – like many others – they have turned to Kickstarter in order to raise the $8,000 needed to cover software licensing fees, of which they’ve already raised 60% of their required total. However – with less than a week left – things are going to have to pick up fast, or else Islands of Chaos will be the next indie project that sadly gets voted off the entirety of existence.

While they plan to release the final version of Islands of Chaos entirely for free to the masses, those who donate a mere $5 shall forever be remembered within the game’s credits as one who helped vote to keep the project alive. Those whom are even more generous will be eligible to receive exclusive backer only avatar options, the chance to help design one of the game’s various islands, or even help create one of the actual mini-games. If everyone pulls together and makes this Kickstarter become a reality, then players all over the world will be able to practice their social strategies some time around October 2014.