Many of you no doubt remember the Tamagotchi craze of the late 90's to early 00's. Those annoying little pocket pets were the thing to have on the playground, though they required a significant amount of attention as you had to effectively care for a virtual pet, well before Nintendogs ever came into the picture. Now, a new mobile game called My Child Lebensborn has popped up on Kickstarter and it aims to put a much darker and more complex spin on the virtual care genre. Better yet, the developers seem to be keen to bring it to the Switch.
The game takes place in a post-war Norwegian village, in which you act as the ward of a young child named Klaus or Karin. This child is a Lebensborn—a child whose father was a German soldier—and the game will center around your efforts to take care of him or her. Resources are limited and the child will have a unique personality which will be shaped by your interactions. It seems pretty cool, and while the Kickstarter still has quite a way to go before the Switch port is greenlit, there's still a chance of it happening.
What do you think? Would you play this if it came to Switch? Do you think it'll make the stretch goal? Drop us a comment in the section below.
[source kickstarter.com]
Comments 31
Eh...No.
I don't like during / after war background story.
At this point I don't pledge for stretch goals; I can hedge against failure and buy it the old fashioned way if nothing goes wrong. For the right game I'll still pledge now and then; I've been burned a few times, but not enough to turn my back on the idea of Kickstarter, which I love.
Very interesting. I'm off Kickstarting for now though ALTHOUGH I did finally get my Fidget Cube today, only about three months after everybody else got theirs. (Not to knock on the Fidget Cube people because it was worth the wait. Definitely the nicest thing I've ever gotten off a Kickstarter.)
Honestly if they made another Nintendogs I would buy it in an instant for the Switch.
@YouSeemFRAZZLED Yeah, this isn't for me either, but I think it's a cool idea.
Although I've never pledged to Kickstarter before,after the Wii U ports that never came to be over the last couple of years,I find it hard to trust any of them,at least ones planned for Nintendo systems anyway.If sure bets like Yooka Laylee and Bloodstained can be cancelled,then why take a risk with an unknown dev like this.It's not their fault,they may well stay true to their word but it's not worth the risk if you ask me.The few dishonest devs have spoiled a good thing for the majority.
Sounds… good? I love virtual pet games and life/dating sims, but sadly there just isn't a big enough market for them in the West.
Incidentally, I would love to see previously handheld-exclusive games on Switch, including Nintendogs, Tomodachi Life and the like. While they are best enjoyed as handheld games, it would be nice to be able to show them off (particularly Tomodachi Life) on a TV to a room full of family/friends. The main downside to Nintendogs on Switch is that there is no way to pet the puppies and kittens while docked (unless Nintendo releases a "gamepad"-type accessory at some point).
One of the developers of My Child: Lebensborn here.
I do see that Kickstarter has burned a lot of people, sadly. I have been burnt myself. So it is understandable.
We will work hard to reach our goals, make sure that the game gets out and that we serve our backers better than others have.
Thank you for the article and the interest in our game
@OorWullie aren't both those coming out for Switch eventually though? It shouldn't be a surprise they canned the Wii U versions (heck I backed Yooka Laylee for the Wii U version but I think their reasoning is justified) after all Nintendo essentially dropped support for the systems themselves, why would they waste resources on a dead system? Agreeing to make a Switch version is really the best they can do at this point, heck if Sony had dropped PS4 support during the development period they'd probably do the same unless it was quite simple to make it alongside PS5 (hypothetical scenario of course). I mean especially given the poor Wii U install base, to know at this point it won't really grow anymore then...
Nah i dont want to play daddy. Theres not much play left. Seems interesting though.
@ShadJV I just used those 2 as high profile examples.I can understand why they didn't want to bring them to Wii U at this stage,Bloodstained especially seeing as it's still so far off.Playtonic though said it was due to technical reasons rather than it not being a viable platform anymore,whether that's he real reason or not,who knows.But there are so many other examples on Wii U.
I had a look at a list there of successfully funded Wii U projects,it's even worse than I thought.
From the 70 successfully funded projects with the Wii U stretch goals reached only 17 have so far been released.45 are still waiting to be released and 8 have been flat out cancelled or moved over to Switch.I can't imagine many of those 45 will ever come at this stage.At least with those 8 cancelled ones ,the devs have let the backers know by now their game's not coming to their preferred platform anymore.A 17 out 70 success rate is shocking poor.
https://www.reddit.com/r/wiiu/wiki/kickstarter
When I see that top picture:
We're walking in the air
We're floating in the moonlit skyyyyyyyyyyyy
@YouSeemFRAZZLED : I'm such a dummy. I forgot all about HD rumble!
Screenshot hinted shovelware, footage punched me right in the heart.
Hmm, this will be a tear-jerker.
@OorWullie on one hand true, on the other I still think I'd side with the developers, the Wii U install base was too abysmal for these developers to afford to port to and few people expected Nintendo to pull the plug on their system so abruptly. I'd hardly fault the developers here. And there isn't really dishonesty when, if you read into the Terms or Service for Kickstarter, no one there is required to fulfill anything (especially stretch goals), you're more or less donating money. You are not preordering a product, which many people fail to realize. It's closer to investing, and investments can fail or succeed. Ultimately the kickstarters are run by companies and companies exist to make a profit; if one of their goals no longer can make a profit then they have to look on ways to cut the budget. The Wii U failed, I loved the system but it failed, and a company would be, for lack of a better word, stupid if they continued to invest resources on a system that is more or less discontinued.
Yes some companies handle it worse. I think the ones who announced they're releasing on Switch instead handled it best. I don't think any should continue developing for Wii U, because wishing that is wishing companies to lose profit, if I paid to back a game then I want that company to succeed.
This is such a lovely and ambitious take on the subject. I don't have a CC, so Kickstarter won't be an option for me, but I'm keeping an eye on this project.
Best of luck, @CathInShadow!
Pants and brown Skiddy ones at that
While I have nothing against the game, I don't want to see the Switch receiving smartphone/tablet ports like this... most people have a smartphone nowadays anyway, so there's no need for it.
It seems like people are just seeing the Switch as a tablet and using that as an excuse to milk as much money out of their games as possible.
It's a poor use of the Switch's potential, and could easily lower people's opinions of the Switch as a result... just like what happened with all of the shovelware on the Wii.
I'm not saying smartphone ports should be prevented completely... some will likely be good matches for the Switch... but Nintendo will need to be careful to restrict this.
Nope, i'll pass. Not keen on Tamagotchí-esque games, much less keen on War-Drama.
Also, Protip: Dont look up Lebensborn if you're squeamish...
So, it's a literal German unclaimed child raising simulator. Oh, god that kind of funny and dark concept for a Nintendo game.
Lebensborn was an SS program to increase the birth rate of Aryan children. It was more "master race" nonsense.
@Akropolon Thank you
@Mr_Zurkon It was. What the game tackles is what happened to these children after the war ended. Being born of Norwegian women and German fathers, the kids were seen as the enemy. We use the game to tell their story.
@CathInShadow Certainly a facet of the Third Reich that many do not know about and an interesting subject to explore. It's good that you and your team can make this program and its aftermath more well known.
@CathInShadow Best of luck. I think the most important thing to say is follow through on the release and be honest and up-front if something goes wrong...interesting idea to me.
@BlueKnight07 Yeah, bad things happen sometimes and I can imagine how difficult it must be to be open about it.
Thank you. Great to hear
@Mr_Zurkon
We do have a unique perspective on it. As I am Norwegian and was really distraught to learn that this had happened (it is conveniently absent from the historybooks).
Thank you for the kind words.
I backed looks good. And heres to hoping for the switch version.
Don't really care for this sort of game, but I really feel games like this help strengthen the industry as an art form. If it reaches Switch all the better because these sort of artsy titles don't typically make it to Nintendo platforms.
Day 1 buy for me. Looks great. Looks completely different to anything. Shame it's not an exclusive.
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