The active Kickstarter projects discussion thread.

[RightClickSaveAs]

What do you think of Agustín Cordes launching the Dexter Ward kickstarter before finishing Asylum, which has been delayed by quite a bit as they rewrote the game in Unity... :-/ Dexter Ward seems like the type of game I'd like to back, but I kind of want to see them deliver on Asylum first - especially since it's 10 months late... He acknowledged that people may feel that way in the Asylum update but didn't explain if they were doubling the team size or how that was all going to work.

I didn't think he explained it very well at all, when I first heard about this I had to dig around on the two Kickstarter pages and in the comments to find the reason, which he was quoted as saying it was to "ensure continuity for the whole Senscape team". Apparently the artists are basically done with work on Asylum, and they would start right away on Dexter Ward. That sounds odd to me, especially since it was always claimed that they have a really small team, but I don't know game development so maybe it makes sense? He definitely could have made that more clear, it's not enticing me to back the project as is, especially with no real estimate on an Asylum release date (other than talking about a "worst case scenario" of mid 2015).

[matt]

Wow! You dug into that quite a bit. I understand what he's saying, but it doesn't make me want to back the project. I'd rather wait and see how Asylum is.

I think the dream of every studio is to have at least 2 simultaneous projects. That way, you can move around people to have a few people on preproduction for one and the rest on finishing the other project.

Right now, most of the art team is taking it easy or working on kickstarter fulfillment while I try juggling collecting ideas for the next project and doing support/patches/etc. It's not an easy task to say the least.

[LobsterSundew]

I am fine with a studio having two projects in progress if there is a benefit to the consumers. Preventing downtime of specific staff is a legitimate reason. It is a scope increase, so I would prefer if Asylum was finished first, especially because it is late. Their goal is so high that their momentum needs to be increased significantly if they are to have a chance.

Two big campaigns launched.

The Black Glove is getting popular. If you liked BioShock then take a look because it's team worked on that game.

The Flame in the Flood has an amazing trailer. The art design for the Magnolia character is cool.

edit: I forgot to mention the Kicktraq page for Lost Homeland shows those unallocated backers just evaporated.

[matt]

The Flame in the Flood is also made up of former Irrational devs. The Magic Circle is another indie project from former Irrational devs. That's pretty cool that creative indie projects are being formed out of the ashes of the Irrational implosion.

[evilkinggumby]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mo ... act-winter

sounds pretty fascinating to me. I like the style and some of the idea's they're kicking around. I backed it as it feels like a visual opposite to another project I am psyched for:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/50 ... k-the-fall

Which also has a really great art style and what they demo so far looks really awesome.

I did back the Strange Case of Dexter Ward. I actually shot for a physical release for Asylum and I'm shooting for a physical copy for this new game as well. Despite the fact the original game not yet releasing, I appreciate that by kicking it to the new engine it will add a much better depth and atmosphere to the gameplay and produce a better product. As well in one of the updates it was explained that they will not be cutting staff from finishing out Asylum to start work on Dexter Ward, and I understand the value in having both projects going and being able to supplement some of the last funding for Asylum to finish it right and then backfill when the game releases and they (hopefully) sell it for a while during Dexter wards development. DoubleFine is doing something similar to keep their Juggernaut of a studio going (though to a much larger degree). I have faith, I guess, in their attention to quality, detail, and passion for the medium. The fact they rallied folk together to create a free adventure game, Serana, really spoke to me about where their heart lay in game development.

But I do realize if they fail to produce 2 good games, I am going to be stuck with my butt hanging in the wind for quite a lot of money.

[matt]

Nevermind, the biofeedback horror game, has relaunched with a much smaller goal. I've talked to Erin a bit, and I think it's going to be a really exciting game. It's a shame her second campaign has gotten almost no publicity. :-/

[evilkinggumby]

You know what I am finding I hate a lot? Backing a great project and idea and seeing it totally FAIL on kickstarter. Even knowing there is a likelihood of it coming back in 6 months or a year to try again, it just feels pretty aweful. I know NeN was looking to fail towards the end until it made an epic comeback and blew PAST the goal. But seeing some of them come to the 3/4 mark or even 1/2 and then just piddle out breaks my heart. And getting the message from those dev's thanking everyone and talking about next steps is just.. misery.

Currently I have 9 projects on my roster that I tried to back but failed to finish (10 if you include After Reset, but they did a second campaign and that one managed to go ok).

How many do you have ? (directed at everyone or no one )

[ranger_lennier]

I've got 11 failed game campaigns on mine, one of which successfully relaunched. Of those, I'm probably most disappointed about Shadow Of The Eternals, the spiritual successor to Eternal Darkness. I know that the people behind the studio hadn't had the best track record after the GameCube classic, but what they had of this game looked really cool, so I was hoping they'd get another shot to prove themselves with a new horror game.

[evilkinggumby]

I've got 11 failed game campaigns on mine, one of which successfully relaunched. Of those, I'm probably most disappointed about Shadow Of The Eternals, the spiritual successor to Eternal Darkness. I know that the people behind the studio hadn't had the best track record after the GameCube classic, but what they had of this game looked really cool, so I was hoping they'd get another shot to prove themselves with a new horror game.

I remember that. I heard a lot towards the end of their last kickstarter (i think) about stuff that seems tertiary to the game that gave them a bad name. Allegations of this and that (can't recall specifics and don't want to guess). What they had did look awesome, and in a way that worked against their best efforts. I saw a lot of folk criticizing them for having just a polished, finished looking game and the fact it didn't seem to NEED the money they were trying to gather. Or the fact it seemed so far along, but was going to be a split "chapter" game done in installments and the huge pricetag they had was still only for part 1 (which, again, looked almost done).

Personally I didn't think that was true, even a polished demo/alpha may be say 1 part of a map or a chapter and that's it. NeN's demo was a small chunk of the game and as Matt said, was later mostly redone and updated when added back to the final game.

One thing I am catching wind of now is that the campaign for Human Resources is getting a less than idea turnout due to a previous Kickstarter project they did which raised a ton of money and the game was lacking a lot of features and polish in it's eventual release (and still seems like a Beta, they're still not done fixing and implementing everything). Some say the developer simply stating in their new campaigns video that they "delivered" on the last project pissed off a lot of already upset fans. I guess if that does prove true in any capacity, it is good for other devs to cite this and be mindful of what they say in future campaigns.

[matt]

It is painful when you see great campaigns fail. I was particularly sad about Extrasolar, but that is mostly because Rob Jagnow is a friend of mine, and he's super awesome. I think Extrasolar was a tough sell because it was so different, and it had a strange funding model.

Shadow of the Eternals had a great looking demo, but I believe that it was essentially developed by a larger team at Silcon Knights (before they closed) and bought by Precursor. (Precursor denied this to a degree, but they did say they bought some assets from Silicon Knights). I think the problem with their first campaign was that the budget was MUCH too low for how ambitious the project was. I think they pretty much admitted that it was for the budget of episode 1, and with episode 1's proceeds, they would fund episode 2, and so on. I don't think episodic games always work that way. Remember Sin: Episode 1? No probably not. haha There was never an episode 2.

Their second campaign was for more or less the same game - not episodic - but with a much smaller budget. That was a bit of a red flag, but right before their relaunch, Ken McCulloch was arrested for child porn charges. He was Art Direction & Content Supervisor on the original Shadow of the Eternals, and I think was slated to be the lead writer or something on Shadow of the Eternals.

At that point, I think there were really too many things stacked against them.. :-/