The Game Crowdfunding Thread

[Human Snorenado]

I'm sure someone would have bought Nintendo ages ago, if they didn't have to take the Seattle Mariners as well.

[Purple Filth]

I was gonna ask the status of Kagari's kickstarter in the thread but i realized that:


1. it was cancelled
2. found the post of Bebpo getting exposed and everything that followed 

[Great Rumbler]

When Yamauchi dies it will be revealed in his will that he adopted Shiggy and Itawa, leaving the company to them.

He doesn't have adopt them to do that. Unless there's some crazy Japanese law forbidding you leaving things to non-family members.

Where did I say that he had to? All I'm saying is that he WILL.

[Momo]

When Yamauchi dies it will be revealed in his will that he adopted Shiggy and Itawa, leaving the company to them.

Miyamoto is the last guy I'd want to lay down an overarching direction for a company, he's pretty senile.

[Cormacaroni]

I vaguely remember hearing the name Ryan Payton before... who is he and why should we care? None of these kickstarters interest me much so far, but if there's anything I'm most apathetic to, it would be an IOS game.

ex-journo, worked under Kojima on some of the later Metal Gear Solid stuff, good guy. Still absolutely no reason why we should care about this until we see something more substantial IMHO.

The fundamental prob with Kickstarter for me is that as yet, I haven't seen one that provides some mechanism for sharing dividends if a profit is made on the game (or movie or whatever). If one of these things turns into the next Angry Birds, the folks who got it off the ground will see none of it. I see friends investing hundreds of bucks in various game Kickstarter projects when they could actually be investing equity into a company (or a 401k!). It's all fun and games 'til the lawsuits start, in other words.

[Great Rumbler]

When Yamauchi dies it will be revealed in his will that he adopted Shiggy and Itawa, leaving the company to them.

Miyamoto is the last guy I'd want to lay down an overarching direction for a company, he's pretty senile.

So is Yamauchi.

 I haven't seen one that provides some mechanism for sharing dividends if a profit is made on the game (or movie or whatever). If one of these things turns into the next Angry Birds, the folks who got it off the ground will see none of it. I see friends investing hundreds of bucks in various game Kickstarter projects when they could actually be investing equity into a company (or a 401k!). It's all fun and games 'til the lawsuits start, in other words.

That's never been part of Kickstarter, which has existed for 3 years already.

[Van Cruncheon]

ha ha, kickstarter.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Kickstarter is going to blow up in people's faces soon enough.  Some of these kickstarters were pigs in a poke to begin with but there are a lot of gamers out there with entitlement complexes who will expect a hell of a lot more bang for their buck than what they will end up getting.

[Cerveza mas fina]

Well hopefully some people will open their eyes and see what money truly buys.

[Great Rumbler]

Most of these Kickstarters are being funded by PC nerds nostalgic for 2D backgrounds and mid-90's gameplay, so I don't know that the bar is really being set that high.

[Timber]

People just go gaga over Brutal Legend!

[Van Cruncheon]

admittedly, i contributed to grim dawn's kickstarter, but they really just need money for asset production -- the game itself is largely done. they actually have A GAME.

[Bebpo]

The fundamental prob with Kickstarter for me is that as yet, I haven't seen one that provides some mechanism for sharing dividends if a profit is made on the game (or movie or whatever). If one of these things turns into the next Angry Birds, the folks who got it off the ground will see none of it. I see friends investing hundreds of bucks in various game Kickstarter projects when they could actually be investing equity into a company (or a 401k!). It's all fun and games 'til the lawsuits start, in other words.

Because then it would be a stock offering and there would need to be all kinds of disclosures, lawyers involved, submissions to the SEC, etc....would be a mess.  I forgot what the number is but my brother was working with a small film who wanted to get a large amount of investors and once you hit more than like 5-20 people it goes from a small private offering (which still has a ton of requirements) to a full fledged stock offering and costs like 1 million in stock offering fees to do all the paperwork and submissions and takes like 6 months to a year before you can do it. 

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Most of these Kickstarters are being funded by PC nerds nostalgic for 2D backgrounds and mid-90's gameplay, so I don't know that the bar is really being set that high.

There will be a kickstarter funded game that underwhelms, doesn't live up to the description of the kickstarter page, peters out halfway through development, or ends up pinching off a turd that people didn't think was going to happen but should have expected in hindsight.  When it does, interesting (to me) things will happen.

[Great Rumbler]

Double Fine Adventure Game has already been blown out of the water, by the way, but not by a video game:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/597507018/pebble-e-paper-watch-for-iphone-and-android

[Stoney Mason]

I've said it before. Yes there will be a backlash when some of these Kickstarter games don't deliver or don't even come out. But honestly I don't think philosophically that's much different from me wasting my money on a $60 dollar game that doesn't deliver. I only contribute to games that have some sort of dependable track record as devs for kickstarters. Which means very few of them. If the game eventually comes out and is good, I'll buy it then. But I get why people are flocking to it. Because the current market isn't serving these niche small genres. I don't have a problem with kickstarter being the outlet for that. There are lots of genres or series that I like that don't exist anymore. What's the harm outside of unrealistic expectations in trying to get some of those back.

[cool breeze]

Double Fine Adventure Game has already been blown out of the water, by the way, but not by a video game:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/597507018/pebble-e-paper-watch-for-iphone-and-android

Most people there are preordering a $150+ watch for $100-125.

[cool breeze]

I'm looking at that Republique game and with the PC/Mac announcement it went up $40 thousand in ~2 days.  11 days left and it needs about $350 thousand.  Yeah, I don't think it will meet its goal.

[Eel O'Brian]

that watch looks pretty cool

[originalz]

I was actually thinking of buying that watch but you gotta charge it on a weekly basis, not the sort of shit I want to worry about on a timepiece.

[Stoney Mason]

http://kotaku.com/5906488/sham-kickstarter-project-found-out-closes-down

[Great Rumbler]

http://kotaku.com/5906488/sham-kickstarter-project-found-out-closes-down

Their Kickstarter page is amazing, it reads like someone's parody of a shady Kickstarter.

Their video is even better.

Seriously, the people who put up money for this are the same people who get snookered by Nigerian princes.

[Cormacaroni]

The fundamental prob with Kickstarter for me is that as yet, I haven't seen one that provides some mechanism for sharing dividends if a profit is made on the game (or movie or whatever). If one of these things turns into the next Angry Birds, the folks who got it off the ground will see none of it. I see friends investing hundreds of bucks in various game Kickstarter projects when they could actually be investing equity into a company (or a 401k!). It's all fun and games 'til the lawsuits start, in other words.

Because then it would be a stock offering and there would need to be all kinds of disclosures, lawyers involved, submissions to the SEC, etc....would be a mess.  I forgot what the number is but my brother was working with a small film who wanted to get a large amount of investors and once you hit more than like 5-20 people it goes from a small private offering (which still has a ton of requirements) to a full fledged stock offering and costs like 1 million in stock offering fees to do all the paperwork and submissions and takes like 6 months to a year before you can do it. 

For a PUBLIC offering, sure. For a private one, things are a lot simpler. The traditional route for a small company is a simple cash purchase agreed upon by investor and company directly. No need to go all Facebook.

The reason game companies like Kickstarter right now is that it frees them from most of the strictures that a truly invested partner would put on them. Most of those strictures are put in place for a damn good reason however - creative types tend to disappear up their own ass and go all Ion Storm if left to their own devices.

[Howard Alan Treesong]

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/subgames/rob-swigarts-portal-1986-reborn

I would love an HD remake of the Portal visual novel with modern fonts, graphics, and music.

This is not that remake.

[Great Rumbler]

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/subgames/rob-swigarts-portal-1986-reborn

I would love an HD remake of the Portal visual novel with modern fonts, graphics, and music.

This is not that remake.

Their idea actually sounds pretty cool, but I think they're trying to do way too much. The remake you're talking about would be far more viable.

[Cormacaroni]

Just realized why I'm so down on Kickstarter - it's years of hanging out on the likes of Planet Quake, reading announcement of wildly ambitious mods on a daily basis, but not getting to ever play most of them 'cause the teams fell apart after a few months...

Then again most of the projects gaining heat seem to be from pro teams so fingers crossed. If it gives people something extra to look forward to in this blighted world, who am I to gainsay it.

[Timber]

Interview with a Banner Saga dev: http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2012/04/interview-the-banner-saga/all/1

I had read this, in fact! Kickstarter is in an interesting position because on one hand they came up as a place where people could get some funding to follow their dreams on small and quirky art projects or gizmos, and some would fail to deliver but it only affected a few people. Double Fine transformed that completely in one day and even though they weren’t the first to hit a million, they single-handedly created a movement.

It’s probably not a bad thing for potential backers to have a sort of “buyer beware” attitude about the whole thing, but at the same time I think the core idea and good will driving the whole thing is eroded by cynicism. I’m not all doom-y about it personally; I think Kickstarter will have growing pains, probably a few major disappointments and a period where it re-establishes itself as a trustworthy source. I’d love nothing more than this current wave of love to become the standard, but I think that’s going to be up to the developers and the backers, not Kickstarter.

It is interesting that Stoic is probably going to be the first ones with a real product out the door and managing expectations is going to be a huge part of making sure everybody’s satisfied with the result. We know we won’t be able to live up to everyone’s expectations but I’m really thankful that we showed the actual game, what it looks like, and what we’re trying to do with it. I think transparency will probably be key; nothing upsets people like feeling betrayed or mislead.

I’m curious to see how Double Fine Adventure pans out – even though I’m unrepentantly 100% behind whatever crazy idea they come up with, I have this nagging suspicion that at least a quarter of the backers will feel passionately betrayed that it isn’t exactly what THEY envisioned, no matter what it is or how good it turns out. It’s funny, I remember talking about how if we somehow hit a million we’d probably be screwed. You’re right, expectation is probably going to be the hardest thing to manage, and nothing sets that expectation like everyone having a direct line to your bank account.

[chronovore]

I’m curious to see how Double Fine Adventure pans out – even though I’m unrepentantly 100% behind whatever crazy idea they come up with, I have this nagging suspicion that at least a quarter of the backers will feel passionately betrayed that it isn’t exactly what THEY envisioned, no matter what it is or how good it turns out. It’s funny, I remember talking about how if we somehow hit a million we’d probably be screwed. You’re right, expectation is probably going to be the hardest thing to manage, and nothing sets that expectation like everyone having a direct line to your bank account.

QFMFT

[Great Rumbler]

You can please some of the people all of the time, but you'll never please all of the people even some of the time.

[Stoney Mason]

I know people will over-expect on all this kickstarter stuff. It's human nature. But even I have a hard time right now setting expectations until a good number of projects come out. The problem for me is that their are some really good retail games that are cheap that have great production values. That Walking Dead game from Telltale for example has great production values and its only 5 dollars. (Albeit, its two hours).

[Great Rumbler]

Leisure Suit Larry Kickstarter just ended, taking in $673,000 [including Paypal money]:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/leisuresuitlarry/make-leisure-suit-larry-come-again

[Mr. Gundam]

They're talking about the Shadowrun Kickstarter project on Seattle NPR right now. Very cool.

[chronovore]

I know people will over-expect on all this kickstarter stuff. It's human nature. But even I have a hard time right now setting expectations until a good number of projects come out. The problem for me is that their are some really good retail games that are cheap that have great production values. That Walking Dead game from Telltale for example has great production values and its only 5 dollars. (Albeit, its two hours).

I should bag that, I know, but I just peeked and it only has 100 GamerScore in Achievements attached. They're all story-progression, so I'd get all 100 just for finishing it, but it's odd that they're getting stingy on the rare 400 pt. title, and yet only bumped XBLA titles to 250 -- well, OK, it's 400 now according to TSOG, but it seems cheap to actually lower the value of some of the rare inexpensive titles.

[Bebpo]

Can't tell if serious.gif

[Takao]

Why is it so hard to search for things on this site? I was looking to see if anyone had pitched Vita/Suite games, but it was like pulling teeth to find all 2 of them. Apparently I can't separate results by category (music, movie, games, etc.) ?

[Mr. Gundam]

[demi]

I know people will over-expect on all this kickstarter stuff. It's human nature. But even I have a hard time right now setting expectations until a good number of projects come out. The problem for me is that their are some really good retail games that are cheap that have great production values. That Walking Dead game from Telltale for example has great production values and its only 5 dollars. (Albeit, its two hours).

I should bag that, I know, but I just peeked and it only has 100 GamerScore in Achievements attached. They're all story-progression, so I'd get all 100 just for finishing it, but it's odd that they're getting stingy on the rare 400 pt. title, and yet only bumped XBLA titles to 250 -- well, OK, it's 400 now according to TSOG, but it seems cheap to actually lower the value of some of the rare inexpensive titles.

This is serious post? The Walking Dead runs on the same operation that Pinball FX 2 does (a container housing several parts). It's not restricted to 400pts at all. It's not going to be segmented into separate items (Walking Dead EP1, Walking Dead EP2) on your gamercard. It's just "The Walking Dead" - the sum of its parts

They will probably jack up the score on some of these, or they might make them 100 a pop. Nobody knows.

And after playing it, giving out more than 100 points would have been hilarious. 100 is being generous.

[Tasty]

Why is it so hard to search for things on this site? I was looking to see if anyone had pitched Vita/Suite games, but it was like pulling teeth to find all 2 of them. Apparently I can't separate results by category (music, movie, games, etc.) ?

It's a lie. No one is pitching Vita games.

[Bebpo]

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1005365109/jane-jensens-pinkerton-road-2012-2013-csg

So now the Jane Jensen Kickstarter is doing 2 games even if they don't make it to 600k.  Moebius and MYSTERY GAME X ( ).  $16 tier gets to choose which game they want.  $50 tier gets both + her iOS game coming out soon.

Looks like it should hit 300k no problem.  Still 15 days to go and it only needs $25k.

[Joe Molotov]

MYSTERY GAME X ( ).

Gabriel Knight 4 if they make enough money to get the GK rights from Activision; Kabriel Gnight if they can't.

[Bebpo]

Yes, of course.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

in text adventure form

[close]

[Great Rumbler]

Jane Jensen and Grim Dawn have both reached their initial goal with 11 days to go:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/crateentertainment/grim-dawn
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1005365109/jane-jensens-pinkerton-road-2012-2013-csg

Republique has gained some traction and is up to 55% with 3 days left:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/486250632/republique-by-camouflaj-logan

[Sho Nuff]

Go Jane go!

I really doubt that Republique is going to get a half mil in three days unless Ryan calls in the mother of all favors :/

[Great Rumbler]

It'll spike in the last 24 hours, maybe enough to put it over the time. And I wouldn't be surprised if Ryan called in a few favors in the final hours.

[Howard Alan Treesong]

I really doubt that Republique is going to get a half mil in three days unless Ryan calls in the mother of all favors :/

Is that the Kojizza?

I hate to be a hater, but I really hope Republique doesn't make it. Sets a bad precedent.

[Human Snorenado]

I really doubt that Republique is going to get a half mil in three days unless Ryan calls in the mother of all favors :/

Is that the Kojizza?

I hate to be a hater, but I really hope Republique doesn't make it. Sets a bad precedent.

A certain podcast might have discussed kickstarter last night during taping, and might have come to the same conclusion.

[Cormacaroni]

Scrounging up half a mill to get industry-best voice acting for a fucking iPhone game is just : to me

but whatever. Shouldn't fault ambition + innovation, I suppose.

[Stoney Mason]

Scrounging up half a mill to get industry-best voice acting for a fucking iPhone game is just : to me

but whatever. Shouldn't fault ambition + innovation, I suppose.

That's because he wants to create art!


 

I love ios gaming but people like this dude moving into the medium to "elevate" it like the media tries to create the impression of annoy me.

[Cormacaroni]

Bar being raised....? These guys are pledging to give back 5% of profits to the Kickstarter community. (of course Hollywood accounting may be employed but it's a step in the right direction, i.e. long-term viability of the concept...)

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/732317316/starlight-inceptiontm

[Bebpo]

Bar being raised....? These guys are pledging to give back 5% of profits to the Kickstarter community. (of course Hollywood accounting may be employed but it's a step in the right direction, i.e. long-term viability of the concept...)

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/732317316/starlight-inceptiontm

You're a bit late on this

Fargo created it (kicking it forward) early on in the Wasteland 2 kickstarter and now almost every game kickstarter has been a part of it.  I'm curious if any of them will show how they choose who to donate to and how much.  Definitely helps the little guys since 5% of 3 million is $150,000 to split between a handful of kickstarters that probably have 300k-500k goals.

[Cormacaroni]

None of the ones I've seen have mentioned it, and no-one mentioned it when I floated the idea a few pages back...oh well. I don't follow gaming news really

[Bebpo]

No worries, just bringing you up to speed on it.  Didn't think of it back then, but yeah it kind of goes with what you were saying about giving some of the money back.

[Great Rumbler]

Definitely helps the little guys since 5% of 3 million is $150,000 to split between a handful of kickstarters that probably have 300k-500k goals.

It's 5% of the profits from the finished product, the Kickstarter total doesn't factor in at all.

[Bebpo]

So this will benefit no one when kickstarter dies before these games actually come out

[Great Rumbler]

Kickstarter didn't just start up a few months ago.

[chronovore]

I know people will over-expect on all this kickstarter stuff. It's human nature. But even I have a hard time right now setting expectations until a good number of projects come out. The problem for me is that their are some really good retail games that are cheap that have great production values. That Walking Dead game from Telltale for example has great production values and its only 5 dollars. (Albeit, its two hours).

I should bag that, I know, but I just peeked and it only has 100 GamerScore in Achievements attached. They're all story-progression, so I'd get all 100 just for finishing it, but it's odd that they're getting stingy on the rare 400 pt. title, and yet only bumped XBLA titles to 250 -- well, OK, it's 400 now according to TSOG, but it seems cheap to actually lower the value of some of the rare inexpensive titles.

This is serious post? The Walking Dead runs on the same operation that Pinball FX 2 does (a container housing several parts). It's not restricted to 400pts at all. It's not going to be segmented into separate items (Walking Dead EP1, Walking Dead EP2) on your gamercard. It's just "The Walking Dead" - the sum of its parts

They will probably jack up the score on some of these, or they might make them 100 a pop. Nobody knows.

And after playing it, giving out more than 100 points would have been hilarious. 100 is being generous.

Yeah, it was a serious post. SERIOUSLY IGNORANT. I was not aware that's how they'd be running The Walking Dead, didn't know there was a model that allowed for it.

Also, I have no interest in pinball. Willfully ignorant there, too. I have whatever the opposite of "interest" is. I'm actively disinterested. I'm as interested in pinball as Creationists are about learning the actual meaning of "theory." So that's why I don't know about that Gamerscore model.

[Cormacaroni]

How are you ever going to get your dream job in the video game industry with an attitude like that Chrono

[Great Rumbler]

Starlight Inception managed to crawl across the goal line at the 11th hour:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/732317316/starlight-inceptiontm?ref=live

[Bebpo]

Awesome.  If they make it, it'll be neat to have a game like that on Vita.

[chronovore]

How are you ever going to get your dream job in the video game industry with an attitude like that Chrono

You're right. And I bet I'd never cut it as a Creationist, either.