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Kickstarter Projects
There has been some talk about Kickstarter on the board as a way to entice Jim to make a new game, but what I wanted to do here was give us a place to talk about KS projects that we want to share with others on the board with.
I've backed 3 Kickstarter projects this past year with the most recent being the one for The Order of the Stick (click here for the project). I've been reading this online comic for what seems like years now, it's based on characters in a D&D type universe. In the past I've backed Coffee Joulies which I gave to a friend as a Christmas gift and the Glory to Rome Black Box Edition Rome Demands Beauty game reprint. I know that some of you have also backed projects and I thought it would be cool for us to share what we have backed in the past and also bring attention to those that you are looking to back in the future. |
Yeah, this is great. I never get around to looking at Kickstarte,r and when I do I get quickly overwhelmed, so I'd love to hear about good projects.
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What I've backed:
No Time To Explain (video game) Glory To Rome - Just the mini expansion level Eaten By Zombies! (Card Game) Oh My God! There's An Axe In My Head (Board Game) Double Fine Adventure Game - Hooray adventure games! |
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Everything I've funded has been something I've read about somewhere else, haven't given to anything I've just seen on the Kickstarter website listings. |
Yeah, whatever I've seen I've usually been linked to from Facebook.
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Wow. Order of the Stick hit it. 38 hours to go!
 The Order of the Stick Reprint Drive by Rich Burlew — Kickstarter |
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I've backed:
Elevation Dock - iPhone dock Wishbhone - Headphone cord tie Both were successfully funded but I haven't received them yet. |
Here's a good one for baseball fans.
The Hall of Very Good Hall of Very Good by Sky Kalkman — Kickstarter |
A Show with Ze Frank by Ze Frank — Kickstarter
One of the internet's most entertaining corners will be buzzing once again. |
Double Fine Adventure by Double Fine and 2 Player Productions — Kickstarter
Double Fine's adventure game Kickstarter closed at $3.3 million. |
A few video game Kickstarters.
Wasteland 2 For anyone who didn't see the thread about it. They're currently at $1.4 million. The Banner Saga Turn based combat strategy game with cartoon style animation that is being made by several former Bioware developers. It looks like they're going for episodic content as a $10 backing will get you the first episode. There will also be free multiplayer. It just went live yesterday and they've raised $97,350 for their $100,000 goal. FTL: Faster Than Light Roguelike-like where you command a spaceship, focused on exploration and ship combat. With 10 days left they've raised $120,000 after a goal of $10,000. There's also talk of a Kickstarter for Dead State and a possible Baulder's Gate III. It's great to see developers are starting to be able to get projects started or completed this way and avoid going to a publisher for greater revenue down the road and keeping full ownership of their IPs. |
Here's another video game Kickstarter:
Shadowrun Returns by Harebrained Schemes LLC — Kickstarter It's a turn-based Shadowrun RPG. It looks cool and they are almost already at their goal of $400,000 in the first couple of days. This brings the number Kickstarter projects I back to 3: Wasteland 2, The Banner Saga and Shadowrun. Since we all know that video games are "art", I think this makes me an official Patron Of The Arts, so long as that art is a turn-based RPGs of some kind or another. |
There is a Leisure Suit Larry Kickstarter Project!
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I still remember playing a text version of Leisure Suit Larry waaaay back in the day. |
Shadowrun has enough funding for a Mac version, soon to be enough for Linux as well. They should go well over their initial goal so it should be interesting to see how much they can add.
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It's interesting to see how many games are getting Linux versions as were a game done with a publisher mostly comes out for Windows and maybe a Mac.
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I'm curious what developers we will see turn to Kickstarter to revive an old series or genre next. I had thought of Doug Church of System Shock and Thief fame, but then remembered he is at Valve so he can do what he wants there with the endless resources Valve has. |
There's also a Tex Murphy kickstarter beginning in May...can't wait!
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Double Bear is planning a Kickstarter for their game Dead State that has been in development for a while. I think it is currently a part time project for them with everyone on the team working full time jobs. Would be awesome if they could raise enough to work on the game full time.
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I'm betting that the Larry Kickstarter is the first high-profile one of the post-DoubleFine era to fail. I think they'll top out at $250 or $300K. The Jane Jensen project is one that I'd love to support, but it's a "subscription", and I'm still not certain what I'd be getting for my donation.
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I have been following the development of "Dead State" for a while now. I think it would be a perfect game for a Kickstarter. |
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Yeah I wasn't really sold on the LSL one when I read it. Make Leisure Suit Larry come again! by Replay Games — Kickstarter It has gained steam since yesterday though and is now up to 180k. |
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Such massively under appreciated games. I have such fantastic memories of The Pandora Directive and Under a Killing Moon. Hell I still play through them on occasion. They hold up incredibly well. |
Isn't the Leisure Suit Larry just a remake rather than a new game? A remake on it's own doesn't excite me that much.
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I felt the exact same way looking at the Jane Jensen one. |
I was tempted to start a beer tent kickstarter.. but i'm afraid that kind of large transaction over the internet may cause some unwanted attention...
Anyway, i'm looking forward to the shadowrun game |
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I'm surprised by it, but the Leisure Suit Larry project was successfully funded. Still have the same feelings about the Jane Jenson Kickstarter, though they have at least provided details on the GK style game they'd making. And it is great to see that it looks like it has a good chance of being successfully funded having raised pledges of $237k of the $300k with 21 days to go, even though I'm still unsure if it's something I'd want to fund. |
I do love me some Kickstarter. A few of the ones I've recently backed:
Gungor Live CD/DVD by Gungor — Kickstarter Hall of Very Good by Sky Kalkman — Kickstarter Rooster Sauce: "It's Cluckin' Awesome!" by John de Mars — Kickstarter Blue Blood Playing Cards by Uusi — Kickstarter These two are still active (well one for a few hours): Pure Sodaworks: Taking Our Sodas from Fountain to Bottle by Pure Sodaworks — Kickstarter Mystery Pets Art Book by DianaSprinkle — Kickstarter |
I'm backing the Pirate Farmers. They're doing urban farming here in Buffalo and need the money to pay for a dump truck to transport compostables to the farm to enrich the soil.
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I sort of feel like the Double Fine thing was the beginning of the end for Kickstarter. I have nothing to back this up, but it feels like more and more 'big' projects are getting on Kickstarter, and they are all getting massively overfunded, which is leading to more and more of the same. In all this, I have to believe the truly independent little guys are going to get lost in the shuffle, as there is only so much funding to go around. Which of course was the problem Kickstarter was trying to solve, wasn't it?
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I dunno, I don't think that most of the money that has gone to those projects would have been use to back other Kickstarter projects. |
I kicked in 15 last night for Shadowrun which ended at 1.8 mill I can't wait for it to be released now.
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I took the plunge on supporting my first Kickstarter project, a zombie role-playing game that is set up to work with multiple systems, including (my favorite) Savage Worlds and Modern Path (the contemporary Pathfinder version). The cool thing is that all we're really covering is the final printing costs as it is ready to go. They made their money but the rewards are really nice and the guy, from talking to him, seems really cool. So if any of you guys are RPG players, consider taking a dive on:
Mortiston, USA-An All-American Zombie-Apocalypse |
I am supporting this one, though I doubt he will reach his mark.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...=home_location |
This could easily go in the game board thread, but Zombiecide had a goal of $20K and it finished with $781,597. The game is basically made so they are just trying to lower cost.
Zombicide by CoolMiniOrNot — Kickstarter |
I was surprised that one made so much with so little actual information about gameplay and a lack of any user reviews what so ever. I am confident in my choice to kickstart Ogre instead of Zombicide.
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Yeah I was surprised too. The artwork is stellar though. OK, I just went and watched their minor walkthrough, and I'm still not sure. It seems like the board should be twice the size although the smaller size might make it more exciting/challenging. Not sure I like one person shooting zombies and another player having 6 zombies show up because of it. |
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Heard cool things about Tammany Hall so I backed it.
As well as MoveeGo to help with my sports video taking. And then this for my kid, American Ace Arcade. I like the idea of supporting unique ideas. |
Xenonauts, that "spiritual successor to X-Com" that's been in development for ages has finally launched a Kickstarter to help it get over the hump:
Xenonauts by Goldhawk Interactive — Kickstarter |
I'm surprised at some of the video game projects that are being successful and that some of the projects that have recently started didn't wait a bit so they weren't coming on the heels of some of the larger projects (which also makes me wonder what is in the works that will pop up in a couple months).
I'm also wondering if we'll see Steam start doing Kickstarter/Desura style alpha funding, as it's the sort of thing Gabe Newell had talked about wanting to do in the past. Plus there are Kickstarter projects that will be doing betas on Steam or providing Steam keys to project backers anyway, it seems like a logical next step for Valve to do. The one roadblock I could see is that Valve doesn't release any sales numbers for Steam and they often have developers signed to a NDA so they cannot either, and the amount raised seems to be something popular with and necessary for a Kickstarter project. |
What happens with surplus of money btw ? Just going into the pockets of the companies or even individuals ? :confused:
In an ideal world, wouldn´t the extra money be wired back to the funders ? (If they get double of what they need, everybody gets back 50% of what he paid) Not really interested in the games aspect much, but there are a ton of interesting ideas floating around. The sort of thing i think is just pretty cool : POSTCARDS FROM NOWHERE by Going Nowhere — Kickstarter |
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I'm not sure what happens with the surplus, or if it's even fair to call it that. For example, if you are looking to raise $10,000 so that you can print 1000 copies of some card game you invented, and people donate $10 and in return get a copy of the game, just because 2000 people donate doesn't mean you just got an extra $10,000 of 'free' money, because you have to now print 2000 copies and give those extra 1000 people a copy of your game. Now, for video games that are digital downloads or something, it's a bit different I imagine, as the costs associated with giving copies to those extra 1000 backers are not nearly the same as for the first 1000 backers. At that point I agree, I'd like to have a clearer picture of what happens with the money, although I'm assuming it just becomes profit in the same way it would if I bought the product commercially at a later time. |
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In projects that have had excess funding it's typically been spent on things more programmers to add features or port to different platforms, hiring people for music or voice work, licensing tools used in making the game. There's plenty of things for money to be spent on in a making a game other than printing copies, though some of the projects do offer physical rewards to some reward tiers. A few examples from projects that went way over their goals: Wasteland 2 -At $1.5 they were able to do Mac and Linux version. -At $2.1 million they contracted with Obsidian for help writing and software tools for making the game. -At $2.5 million they hired more designers to create more areas within the game. -At $3 million they hired programmers to create a mod toolkit to be released with the game. Banner Saga -$600k allowed them to hire the composer of the PSN game Journey to create the soundtrack. -At $650k they were able to put the game on different platforms. -At $700k they added more content to the game. Shadowrun  |
Isn't there also the "pay it forward" thing, where projects agree to kick 5% of their excess forward to other projects?
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The kick it forward is not excess funding (which I think would be against Kickstarter rules, all funding must be spent on the project). Those who are doing kick it forward are committing to give back 5% of the profits made from the project after release to other Kickstarter projects. |
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What happens if you get so much funding that you can't even find good ways to spend it all on the project? Do you start just making things stupid-extravagant? "The game board will now be made from only the rarest oak trees hand-cut by indigenous people and glossed to perfection by a 100 day process involving the cured sweat of Tanzanian armadillos." |
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For a board game I would assume that they would spend the money to print as many copies as possible, as that is likely a rather significant expense for a small independent publisher. |
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But then doesn't that mean that every sale of those extra printings is just 100% profit? I don't know, I think Kickstarter gets sketchy once things become overly funded. |
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A project is only going to be that far over funded without rewards to give out is there are people that make huge pledges to the project since there is the cost of fulfillment of the lower tier pledges which for something like a board game on the ones I've seen you typically get a copy for about the same cost as the game would cost you to buy it after release. If people are willing to do that they probably don't have much of a problem with the owner of the project making a big profit on it, so I'm not sure how that is sketchy. |
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I don't have a problem with it at all, in fact I encourage it. I'd love to know that the creator of some item I think is awesome is going to get nice and rich if we overfund the project. I just want to be clear about what's going to happen. Transparency is all I ask for, and I find Kickstarter a bit lacking in that regard. |
I backed American made UNDERWEAR! Woots! ;)
Flint and Tinder: Premium Men's Underwear by Jake Bronstein — Kickstarter |
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Isn't that ultimately why people are in business, to make money on something? I mean, they love the game and want to share and all that stuff, but eventually at the end of the day they do this because they want to make a profit... |
Exactly. If they make money due to more people than they thought digging their idea, then it's simply being rewarded for a great idea.
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This is the first project I've sent some money to. I loved the original version of the game!
Carmageddon: Reincarnation by Stainless Games — Kickstarter |
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Also saw this and I bookmarked it. I'm tapped for games right now, but by November it should be an easy pick up. |
So if I wanted to start a KickStarter project, what would be the best way to do it? What kind of incentive could I offer to people donating? If I am thinking of a starting a starting a subscription based game, could I offer future seasons in exchange for funding?
Also, as a brand new project, would I need some sort of prototype before people would donate? |
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If you aren't an established developer you will need to have something done to show that can demonstrate you'll actually be able to make the game you're pitching. Even then it may not be very easy to get support for the project. |
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That's the thing. People who fund kick starters are essentially investors that are guaranteed a zero percent financial return. At best the product doesn't suck and they can enjoy it. I just don't see this working long term without some type of financial return on investment. I'm amazed it's been ass successful as it has. Right now there may be some big time investors that don't expect anything in return, but once the hype drys out or a couple duds are delivered it will die. I like the idea of mass micro investments much more. |
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This is what bugs me about the success of Double Fine and the recent influx of 'big name' projects. Kickstarter is not supposed to be about investing, it's supposed to be about helping indie guys fund projects that otherwise wouldn't see the light of day. I feel like a lot of these newer projects are just companies that see a risk free path to product development. |
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I don't see how that doesn't apply to Double Fine or inXile for Wasteland 2. Tim Schafer couldn't find a publisher that would back a point and click adventure game and Brian Fargo had tried pitching Wasteland 2 for years. They're not two guys pounding out code in their garage to make a game but they're both indie developers making projects that wouldn't see the light of day if not for funding through Kickstarter. And I don't know why this shouldn't be the case. Backing a game on Kickstarter is basically an early preorder that helps fund development. If you're going to do that it should be a developer who you trust to make a good game either on their reputation or they're able to show their on their way to making something good. Anyone who would back a project from someone unknown to them based solely on a concept of a game is a fool. |
Found my first project to fund. Great book and Lillard, to my surprise, did a great job on the audio so I have some hope in this movie version.
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Saw a trailer for it a month or so ago. I didn't know they were doing the Kickstarter thing, but it looked decent enough. |
I'm backing Battle of the Bulge.
It's an old fashioned boardgame style Wargame made for the Ipad. The best part is for $20 (admittedly high for two iPAD games) you can get games from both designers John Butterfield, and Mark Herman .... two of the most well respected war game designers in the board game community. |
I will say I'm getting partly annoyed with Kickstarter exclusives when it's like an additional expansion pack. A free t-shirt, or game tokens is one thing, but finding out about something soon after it ended and seeing what was made exclusively extra can be frustrating.
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I wish someone would make a career-play football simulation focusing on elements of the game I don't find in more traditional games.
They could fund it through kickstarter perhaps. |
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That got me to check out the site for the first time -- just backed it as well, it's tough finding good underwear! |
I'm backing Far Sight Studios project, the makers of pinball arcade on various platforms, to secure the money to fund the licensing for the classic Twilight Zone pinball table
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First one to make me actually think of backing.
Zombie Playground (#zpg) - 3D Action, Online Battle RPG by Massive Black Inc — Kickstarter |
I have only backed two kickstarter projects, both board games.
Ground Floor GROUND FLOOR - A business building board game by Michael Mindes — Kickstarter Agents of Smersh AGENTS OF SMERSH - A Spy, Storytelling Board Game by JASON MAXWELL — Kickstarter Both successfully funded. Ground Floor still has 11 days to go before being funded. And, the final stretch goal is another new board game. Well, the stretch goal is actually a 60 dice game, but it also sound like a fun game. |
"Dead State" has finally launched a Kickstarter.
Dead State is a game I've been tracking for a few years now. It's a zombie survival RPG. It's a turn-based game similar to, say, X-Com or Jagged Alliance. You have a character and your "base" is a school. You have to gather allies, get supplies, keep up morale, build up your base, etc. Dead State: The Zombie Survival RPG by DoubleBear Productions — Kickstarter Here's a bit more on it: Overview Dead State is a compelling, high-tension RPG set at the beginning of the zombie apocalypse. As society is beginning to fall apart, the player must organize allies, fortify a shelter, scout for food and supplies, and make uncertain alliances, attempting to hold together a group as humanity teeters on the brink of extinction. And although the zombies lurk as an ever present threat, the biggest obstacle to the player may just be other humans with the same goal: survival at any cost. Interact with dozens of characters in over 10,000 lines of branching dialogue that affect gameplay, story outcomes, and multiple endings. Explore multiple surrounding towns and areas to find supplies and recruit allies. Fight the living and the dead in strategic turn-based combat. Upgrade your shelter to provide new ways of keeping morale high, creating new weapons and armor, and keeping the dead out. Your leadership will mean life or undeath for the survivors of the zombie apocalypse. Core Features -A PC RPG with stats, skills, and perks that make a huge difference on your character’s abilities. -Dozens of characters with branching, reactive dialogue, and randomized events that unfold over months of in-game time – player decisions and the death of loved ones can change relationships drastically. -Turn-based combat where line-of-sight and noise affect whether you are spotted or not, making for extremely tense encounters. -Base-building mechanics featuring multiple upgrades, NPC jobs, and item manufacturing. -Scavenging mechanics that require players to find supplies, weapons, armor, and other items to keep their allies fed and alive. -A morale system that factors in player success/failure, allies’ faith in the player, and the overall strength of the shelter. -Crisis Event dialogues that factor in political maneuvering and making difficult choices that affect your whole shelter. -Reactive AI that responds realistically to combat situations, player commands, and the state of panic from the presence of zombies. |
Neal Stephenson is looking to make a sword fighting game called Clang, video mostly worthwhile for video of Gabe Newell making a crowbar saying, "These things, they take time." |
One of my office mates is involved with a project designed to educate people about the Constitution using political cartoons and such. It's a non-profit organization, so I believe your donations are tax-deductible. In any case, I think it's a worthwhile project, given all the political polarization and misinformation on both sides of the aisle these days.
Feel free to take a look and see if you want to chip in: A More Perfect Union by Jim Earp — Kickstarter |
Anyone use other sites like Fundable?
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This is the only one I funded. It just sounded too good not to throw $20 at. |
I'm sad that it doesn't look like the Defense Grid 2 kickerstarter (my favorite Tower Defense game) is going to make 250k. Sad indeed.
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A number of projects get funded via a last minute spurt of funding. It would be interesting to see if it flat out failed. It might be one of the first name games to not get funded. It's a board game, but Flash Point 2nd edition is on KS. Kind of bugs me that a game, which smoked past its first KS project goal by just over 10x is back for a second project and the funding point is $3K. Not surprising to see it's already at $64K with 6 days to go. |
Dead State looks very cool.
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I was hating on stylus' in the MSFT tablet thread - I've come to see the light. I finally found one that supposedly writes a very fine line so you can take notes on your iPad. Unfortunately I'll have to wait until September at least to get it.
HAND Stylus by Steve King — Kickstarter HAND Stylus - A finely crafted, pen-like stylus. |
My friend just launched a Kickstarter project for these posters he's designed of historical figures!
Historical Figures Typographic Poster Series by Devin — Kickstarter |
I have cooled off on Kickstarter funding of late, after backing several video game projects, but I just came across a new one to back.
Looks very promising: Project Eternity by Obsidian Entertainment — Kickstarter Project Eternity is an isometric, party-based RPG set in a new fantasy world developed by Obsidian Entertainment. Obsidian Entertainment and our legendary game designers Chris Avellone, Tim Cain, and Josh Sawyer are excited to bring you a new role-playing game for the PC. Project Eternity (working title) pays homage to the great Infinity Engine games of years past: Baldur’s Gate, Icewind Dale, and Planescape: Torment. Project Eternity aims to recapture the magic, imagination, depth, and nostalgia of classic RPGs that we enjoyed making - and playing. At Obsidian, we have the people responsible for many of those classic games and we want to bring those games back… and that’s why we’re here - we need your help to make it a reality! |
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Last 3 hours of Project Eternity funding. They are closing in on 4 million.
Project Eternity by Obsidian Entertainment — Kickstarter They are also live streaming from their office. |
They're currently at $3.9 million including PayPal funding.
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Project Eternity will most likely be awesome, but with an expected released date of 2014 I think i'm just going to grab it at retail.
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I backed Lost Valley by Pandasauras Games. It is a reprint of an awesome looking game. It is way over funded and is basically a pre-order with some cool stretch goal additions. Free shipping aw well.
Lost Valley by Pandasaurus Games — Kickstarter |
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They just got word that Tammany Hall, Pandasauras' first Kickstarter, is ready to be shipped to them from the printer and they'll be able to start shipping before long. Looking forward to my copy arriving. |
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Was just coming here to post that, given the discussion we had in the other thread. Video game projects have a somewhat high failure rate and some people are putting in thousands of dollars. I'll be very interested to see what happens if a higher profile project fails |
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Yep. I won an auction on BGG from a guy who backed Tammany Hall on KS. He was facing some financial uncertainties. So I am getting this as well. I am very excited for Tammany Hall. It looks like an amazing game. |
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What's BGG? |
Board Game Geek
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This game looks pretty sweet, no?
Limit Theory: An Infinite, Procedural Space Game by Josh Parnell — Kickstarter |
Wow, nice find. Longterm commitment, but for just $15 it's worth the risk if he pulls it off half as well as described.
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Yeah - that was my thought. From the description it sounds frigging sweet...if he can get it 50-75% of the way to that it'll be phenomenal. I'm not familiar with the procedural-generation thing, but he seems to say that it makes things more possible, because he doesn't have to code say each individual planet, but just the general "planet creation algorithms" i guess? So maybe that makes it more feasible for one person?? I don't know. I can't take credit for it - it popped up when I was checking Zite earlier in my "gaming" feed from Kickstarter. Looks like it's on trend to make it - hopefully the guy can deliver. |
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Yeah, pretty much. Much more work initially to create the generation algorithms, but once you've done that, well, the thing writes itself... literally. :D Definitely the best way to go about a game like this IMO. I find it pretty interesting that this guy is a graphical artist, because generally speaking with games of this type we are stuck with vector-esque graphics because the person has the coding skill but not the graphical abilities... |
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