It's been Greenlit, but WayForward has been too busy to finish the job. I believe they said that after the Kickstarter campaign is over, porting Risky's Revenge will be a much higher priority. Presumably done within the next few months.

Also the third game will be getting a trailer on 3DS eShop sometime soon.

Obviously I backed it immediately and looking at high tiers. Wayforward has become one of my favorite companies, especially their excellent 2D entries.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1236620800/shantae-half-genie-hero/posts

New update. Reveals one of the stretch goals. :)

She's also not so white in these artworks.

If they are an established developer why do they need funding for this? One of the main things I don't like about Kickstarter is people who have money, want other people to put their own money up to develop a game. Meaning they, the developer, take no risk and reap all the rewards from a game.

I will start supporting Kickstarter when they start giving back the money plus interest to those that front money. Til then its just a scam to increase their own bank accounts

Now that is only for established developers, those just starting I can understand why they'd need help but I still feel they need to give the money back since they aren't putting any of their own money in.

In case you guys didn't know, they are making ANOTHER shantae game. Talk about awesome.

That reminds me I should get the original on the eshop.

It is designed to remove risk for projects.  I do not view these as investment opportunities.  I would have gladly have given them $15-25 for this game when it was released, so if I pre-order and get input on its development that is just a bonus for me.  No one is forced to do this and allows gamers to put money where there mouth is to see if certain games are desired or not.

Before you spammed VGC about the KS, I had no idea this series existed.

 What happens if they just spend all the money and never make the game? You get nothing. It is an investment only the risk is on the people putting their money into it not the actual people making the game. However they reap all the rewards if it goes on to be a success. It doesnt remove the risk. It just changes hands from the developer to the investor with no chance of return. Companies making money have no reason to look to Kickstarter, have other people pay all the bills, then release the game and pocket every cent made off of it while never putting a dime into it. It is an investment by every definition of the word, only you only get back what you put into it, if that much. The only difference in Kickstarter and investing in a company is you own part of the company you invest in and you usually make your money back  plus some. This just takes all the risk and moves it from the company to the individual investor who has no chance of recourse

WayForward is experienced and known, but also not particularly large or profitable. I don't think it's right to assume that they can completely fund it by themselves and still release it on all of their target platforms.

That being said, the Kickstarter most likely isn't being used to fully fund the game, because there's no way in hell that it'll cost $400,000 or less. WayForward is still taking a financial risk, as well as putting the goodwill of its fans on the line. I'd go as far to say that Half-Genie Hero will make or break them.

Now, if you want a better examples of potential Kickstarter abuse, check out Obsidian Entertainment's "Project Eternity", where a rather large well-known RPG developer turns to their fans. Or look at how Double Fine and inXile have double-dipped, with two Kickstarted projects. At this point, I think those devs have decided to forego traditional publishing as much as possible, becoming over-reliant on fan-donated money.

If WayForward does that (which is not going to happen) then they would be absolutely destroyed by their loyal fans.  It would be career suicide.  This is not some fly by night company, these guys have a long history of making games I love and they do already have work on this game.  

I will say, if you are not certain about a game, do NOT support it.  I did exactly that when Silicon Knights did there project because I do trust them at all.

I don't look at supporting games as an investment, I view it as a hobby and a passion so again agree if you look at it that way do not participate.  For investments I use the stock market.