Games on Kickstarter! (Previously Project Awakened)

[lugaru]

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1312036782/project-awakened

It is going to be a very open ended, highly mod-able game where big powers are possible.

For me freedom force is not just the RTS, the cool characters and fun story. For me it is also the open ended modding oportunities to make the "game you want" out of it. This game appears to have that potential... to let me play superheroes, cops and robbers, zombie apocalypse, medieval fantasy, etc.

What do you think?

[BWPS]

Looks awesome!

[hoss20]

It looks very interesting. Unfortunately, my thoughts were more consumed with the "Kickstarter" aspect of this project. It sure looks like they set themselves up to fail in regard to getting the proper funding, as they only gave themselves 30 days to raise half a million dollars. I also didn't see anywhere what would happen to all of the money given to the project if they don't reach the pledge goal and the game never gets off the ground. I mean, these developers could have put in enough work to make the demo videos (admittedly, a fair amount of work) and then walk away with what amounts to nearly $220,000 (as of late afternoon today). The Kickstarter site states that they can only step in on behalf of those that have invested if the developer doesn't follow through on what was promised (in this case, producing a bare bones game if they receive $500,000). If the initial goal isn't met, then it is the responsibility of the developer to take care of refunding any money. Kickstarter states something about the developers risking their reputation and name in the industry if they don't fulfill their obligation, but let's be honest; one would really only need to pull this off once to be sitting pretty comfortably.

I really didn't mean to go on a rant and rain on the parade here. I do appreciate you posting this, lugaru, as it does look exciting. I guess I just have my cynical, old man hat on today.

[lugaru]

No prob... just wanted to point out though that with kickstarter if the project fails to meet the goal, nobody gets charged. The only big risk is it meeting the goal, and then falling apart leaving a lot of people out of their 25 to 50. That said I've kickstarted a few projects in the past and always gotten my product, usually with some extras.

I do hope it works out, my favorite games (these days) are stuff like Minecraft, project zomboid and DayZ.... never finished, mod quality sandboxes that are being constantly updated.

Also... I might be kickstarting a project of my own before the year is over... the only part that hurts is that you literally give up like 10% of what you make to Amazon (billing) and kickstarter (organizing).

[hoss20]

Thanks for providing tha info. I figured that you may have had some experience or familiarity with Kickstarter and knew more of the details. I'm glad that you cleared up the part about people not being charged if the project doesn't meet their funding goal. I guess that's why the goal was set for only 30 days, so people's donations are only held for that relatively short amount of time. Good luck on your project. I'm also starting up something and this is now another option available if I need it. Keep us posted on your project.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

Actually, no, the donations are not held at all.  When you pledge, you don't put any money up front at all.  You do agree to let Amazon charge whatever payment method you prefer on the day the drive is over, if they meet their goal, but don't get charge at that time.  At any time before that time expires, you may change or drop you pledge.  If you drop it, even at the last second, you will never spend a cent on it.

[hoss20]

Ah, so it actually is a pledge. If they meet the pledge goal, then the money is collected. That's the way it should be, so I'm glad to hear that it's set up that way. My apologies for not researching enough. I had looked through all of the "Accountability" subjects and didn't look at the "Backer" section, which is where the info you provided is located, Cat. Thanks for correcting me, guys and I'm sorry for misinterpreting how Kickstarter works and my unfounded suspicions of the developers.

[lugaru]

Yeah, the site has been a boon for oldschool gamers like us, since a lot of the designers we love have brought new franchises or old properties we love. An example is Wasteland, which is honestly before my times but it is what gave birth later on to Fallout and Fallout 2. The beauty is that it is a mix of promotion, financing and market research... if your kickstarter fails, at least it is failing BEFORE you took out a loan from the bank and sunk in 10,000 hours into something that maybe only 40 people out there would actually buy. For example if I decided to make a graphic novel about Benito Juarez and needed to hire an artist, I could pay for the first few pages, put them up... and then find out nobody knows who Benito Juarez is so I better not sink in another $10,000 into art.

That said I am a little cynical, I'm much more likely to pledge to something that is DONE and coming out in two months than something that is a sketch on a napkin and will be delivered in 2015. 

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

While there have been cases where someone has taken the money and run, it's been exeedingly rare, and not the case with any of the projects I've backed.  I've recieved the finished product twice so far now, and have been very much pleased with the results.

[lugaru]

Now that one pretty much failed which is one of the problems that game developers have with kickstart... it is easier to kickstart a sequel or continuation or remake than it is to kickstart something new.

Example:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/torment-tides-of-numenera?ref=live

On the other hand it is awesome that this Plasecape Torment clone is doing great!

[hoss20]

Now that one pretty much failed which is one of the problems that game developers have with kickstart... it is easier to kickstart a sequel or continuation or remake than it is to kickstart something new.

They didn't leave themselves very much time to reach the pledge goal. That was one of the reasons I initially had my suspicions about the process before you guys clarified things for me. I just don't think it's very realistic to be able to collect half a million dollars in 30 days as an independent developer in this format. I've read through the comments section and a lot of people are asking them to resubmit or enable the creator's own site to gather donations. Even if they try a second attempt, they may get more new backers, but they also can't depend on getting all of the previous backers again. It's too bad. There were a lot of people excited about this project.

Thanks again for posting this, lugaru. I have Kickstarter in my Favorites now and will be checking in frequently.