foxdvd

Jay G.

More news on Code Hero:
http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...Code-Hero-devs

A pretty damning quote from that article:

In other news, the developers of Dizzy Returns admit defeat, as their Kickstarter is highly unlikely to reach its goal:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...ns-kickstarter


Not gaming related, but the creator of a Kickstarter for an iOS transit app has stopped development on it. They're refunding all backers their full amount (eating the Kickstarter and Amazon fees) and releasing what they've built of the app so far as open source:
http://mashable.com/2012/12/14/kickstarter-refund/


Meanwhile, more money is pouring into video game kickstarters than ever:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/1..._than_ever.php

Eurogamer complains that the big names and nostalgia are overshadowing what Kicstarter should "really" be about:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...ng-kickstarter


A few new Kicstarters:

Galcon 2
The newest entry in an RTS series
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...actic-conquest

Dream
This game has already been greenlighted for Steam. The Kickstarter is to put the finishing touches on the game.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/samread/dream-0

SKYJACKER: Starship Constructor
The developer already tried (and failed) to get the full game Kickstarted. Undaunted, he continued with development of the game. Now he's back with a more modest goal of Kickstarting a standalone starship constructor for the game:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...ip-constructor

War for the Overworld
This game originally started about a year ago as fan-made sequel to the Dungeon Keeper series. Now they've removed the direct DK references and added influences from Overlord, StarCraft and Evil Genius.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...the-overworld/

Jay G.

I haven't seen much in big or interesting Kickstarters recently. I'm guessing many potential projects may be waiting until after the holidays to launch.


Some buzz has built around a particularly poorly put together Kickstarter called Lore, which a blog post on Forbes called the "most entertaining Kickstarter ever":
http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain...t-of-all-time/

An interview with the creator:
http://www.gatheryourparty.com/artic...players-grind/

The majority of backers have apparently done so just so they can harass the creator in the comments section:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...ore-0/comments

JasonF

Here's one called Merriwether that looks pretty interesting:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...-american-epic

It sounds like they took Oregon Trail and made it an RPG. Id really like to play this, so please go pledge.

Duran

It did look interesting, but I'm at the point where I question any video game kickstarter requesting less than $100K.

superdeluxe

Why is that? Some games might be half finished but might need additional funding to complete.

Anyways elite dangerous is at 88% needed out of 1,250,000 pounds

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...ite-dangerous/

Duran

I work in IT, and I know how much good designers and coders cost. If they are $35K away from completing the game with 3D animation, third person shooting, and the rest of the bells and whistles they speak about, they are either in final testing or the end product will be fairly amateurish. In either case, I can wait for general release and the inevitable steam sale/bundle/whatever.

Jay G.

Here's what the Kickstater page says about their funding:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...-american-epic
From an interview with the developers:
http://www.thenervousbreakdown.com/c...oshua-debonis/
According to the blog on their site, they started developing the game in April 2010:
http://meriwethergame.com/


So it sounds like they are indeed near the end of development for this game. However, it's still a risk. One would assume that after over 2 years of development they would have an idea on how much money they need to finish it, but you never know.

superdeluxe

Elite Dangerous has surpassed their Kickstarting goal (I didn't think they would hit it..they were stagnant for quite sometime). Now it looks like they will clear it quite easily:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...erous?ref=live

They are at 1.4 million pounds (Goal was 1.25) and they have 16 hours to go

Jay G.

Mark Cuban is apparently a big fan of Kickstarter and thinks every startup should use it:
http://www.businessinsider.com/cuban...tartups-2013-1


New Kickstarters:

American McGee is looking for funds to help finish his new F2P ARPG Akaneiro: Demon Hunters
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...-demon-hunters

OUYA is getting some competition in the Android console market with Game Stick, which has an eye on portability. And you thought the OUYA controller looked bad...
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...s-console-ever
http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/04/g...tarter-funded/

Axis Game Factory wants to let everyone build their own game based on a pre-existing engine and art assets:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...reate-and-play

starman9000

Love the idea of something like the Game Stick.

superdeluxe

Elite Dangerous has about 60 minutes to go in its Kickstarter, It has raised 2,537,093.30 USD, Which would place it 4th amongst video game Kickstarters after Project Eternity, Double Fine, Wasteland 2.

The way it started I didn't think anyway this would reach its funding goal.


Not a video game, but this Board game looks really good (The Intro video is awesome)

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...r?ref=category

Has raised more than a million dollars and has 3 days to go.

superdeluxe

Its reached its funding goal with 53 hours to go.

shizawn

Gas Powered Games (Dungeon Siege I and II, Demigod, Supreme Commander) have created a Kickstarter campaign for their latest game, Wildman. Looks like a ARPG/RTS hybrid type of game.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...ary-action-rpg

superdeluxe

Hrmm interested, but going to wait on some gameplay video

superdeluxe

Pathfinder Online made 200k and 20% remaining to reach their Kickfunding goal.

http://www.kicktraq.com/projects/167...o/#chart-daily

Crazy

Duran

The last update on this was just weird. They laid off their staff? Why would I give money to a company that's circling the drain?

Jay G.

Frontier Developments cut some staff right in the middle of their Kickstarter for Elite: Dangerous.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news...nts-Cuts-Staff

Double Fine revealed that right before their Kickstarter, a publisher deal had fallen through, and they would've had to have laid off some staff if the Kickstarter hadn't been as massively successful as it was.

This seems more precarious though. It seem like the problem may have started when Microsoft ceased development of Age of Empires Online, which was GPG's last project:
http://www.pcgamesn.com/article/age-...cost-effective

Chris Taylor may have been holding onto staff from that cut project in the hopes that this Kickstarter panned out. But paying salaries for a whole team when you don't have backing can probably eat into cash reserves fast. What's interesting is that he laid the staff off now specifically so that he could pay them severance and remaining paid time-off. So some of this staff may have what amounts to a paid month off before being hired back, assuming the Kickstarter succeeds.
http://www.kotaku.com.au/2013/01/lay...n-kickstarter/

I've funded a few Kickstarters where basically they're starting a new company to make the game, so it seems like a portion of that money is going to go just getting the company off the ground. The idea of backing an existing company that's just in need of some cash doesn't seem any worse to me, and in fact seems like it'd have advantages.

I guess what I don't get is why they set the Kickstarter deadline for a month if they were going to need the funds before then to keep staff on. I guess a month seems about standard, but Kickstarters get the bulk of their funding at the beginning and end of it. Have any tried shorter campaigns, like 2 weeks?

Jay G.

Some new Kickstarters:

GCW-Zero
On open-source handheld console. They're going with Linux for the operating system for some reason, but I'm sure someone will port Android to it.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...ming-handheld/

Vendetta Online
This MMO already exists on PC, Mac, Linux, Android, and Windows 8/RT. The Kickstarter is for funding to port it to iPad.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...endetta-online

Jay G.

Some interesting articles on Gas Powered Games and the Wildman Kickstarter:
Chris Taylor talks layoffs, planning for an uncertain future, and Kickstarter

Gas Powered Games situation looking “much better”

It looks like at least on laid off employee is staying on as a volunteer for the Kickstater campaign, likely in the hopes of getting his job back if it's funded.

Jay G.

Akaneiro: Demon Hunters has added additional Karma (in-game currency) to its Kickstarter tiers. Now you can get $20 worth of Karma for as little as a $5 pledge:
https://sites.google.com/site/kickstartertiers/

Gamestick tried adding a tier that would give game developers 100% of sales revenue from their games for six months, but Kickstarter killed it, saying it violated their terms concerning not offering "financial incentives."
http://venturebeat.com/2013/01/23/ne...of-game-sales/

Meanwhile, Small World 2 canceled their current Kickstarter campaign, due to a muddled focus, and are going to launch a new campaign focused on only the Android and PC versions:
http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2013/01...2-kickstarter/


Interesting Article where the developers behind the seven $1 million+ game Kickstarter project last year explain what they think help made their Kickstarter fundraising campaigns a success:
http://venturebeat.com/2013/01/24/wh...012-did-right/

Duran

Personally, I'd prefer them to wait until they've actually delivered a quality game before they open the champagne and call it a success.

And I still have no idea what the hell Homestuck is.

Jay G.

The article is specifically about successful Kickstarter funding, not success of the overall project. I've edited my post to make that clearer.

Jay G.

New article where Andy Schatz, creator of the indy game Monaco, comments on the concept of stretch goals.
http://penny-arcade.com/report/edito...ains-why-stret

The comments section for the article has a lively discussion, which Andy Schatz participated in. Basically, he argues that stretch goals that affect design, such as additional game modes, are a bad idea. Instead, the game designer should figure out what works best for the game and include it. Also, the idea of promising a particular game mode before it's been designed and tested in the game locks you into creating the game mode, regardless of whether it works for the game or not.

Stretch goals that don't affect the game design, such as porting to other platforms maybe or better art or music, are more acceptable.


What's interesting to me is that the concept of stretch goals apparently arose out of the concept that the project creators must direct all funds to making the game, and thus if they get more money than they ask for, they have to expand the scope of the game. So if a game makes, say, $20K more than their goal, they have to add a $20K feature instead of just pocketing that money (or at the least, holding on to it in case the game goes over budget and it's needed).

This is a bit different that something like a standard pre-order system, where the game is pretty much already locked in features, and if the game receives an incredible number of pre-orders, it's just counted as game sales, and anything revenue generated over the game budget would be considered profit.

Duran

I understood. If I were in the project creators' shoes, however, and I was invited to one of these panels, I would politely decline until after I had delivered. Beyond the hubris side of things, how can they know whether they have been successful fundraisers or not if they haven' t finished the work? If a game raises $1MM, but it ends up costing $1.5MM to finish, were they successful fundraisers?