Cipher Prime hits Kickstarter funding goal for Auditorium Duet, while IH8Zombies Kickstarter lags

This is a tale of two Philadelphia-based game developers who are experimenting with Kickstarter to fund the video games of their dreams.

Cipher Prime, the Old City-based game development shop of Auditorium and Fractal fame, crushed its funding goal for Auditorium Duet late in the month, closing out with $71,061. The money, Cipher Prime told Technically Philly when we covered the Kickstarter, signifies the necessary validation the company needs to build a complex sequel to its original hit, Auditorium.

The effort caught attention from Joystiq and saw a last minute surge in support.

Seth Perkin’s iH8Zombies Kickstarter is just under two weeks into its 45-day funding window, so there is still time for a comeback. Still, that effort is struggling to reach even 10 percent of it’s $35,000 funding goal, lingering below $1,400 as of time of publishing. Perkins has been developing the game for nearly three years and is trying to raise money to hire some help and finish the game, as Technically Philly reported.

The comparison is not really fair, since Cipher Prime is a far more established brand with an impressive arsenal of titles that have fared well in the online and mobile gaming world, not to mention Philadelphia. Perkins, on the other hand, is trying to bring to fruition a passion of his.

In an interview with CraveOnline, the company said its experience in this city has been “really awesome.”

From the interview, Cipher Prime’s Andrei Marks expands on what Cipher Prime likes about Philadelphia:

“Considering the small market size, we can be big fish in a little pond. But then we also miss out on networking and connections to the industry. But, otherwise, we really enjoy the people who do work on games here. We do like having our names associated with Philadelphia.”