Kickstarter Projects

[SirFozzie]

I was jacked for Heavy Gear Assault, but it had a horrible first day, and I don't see anyway they can make it.

[Danny]

90 minutes left on galaxy defenders!

Galaxy Defenders - Co-op Sci-Fi Miniature Board Game by Ares Games » Comments — Kickstarter

If you do purchase, can you within 2 hours from joining - send a message (using the "Contact" button below their logo in the sidebar), including ONLY the words: "Agency, I was Recruited by "Daniel D."

[Danny]

If you do that, we both get free figures!

[Abe Sargent]

That was a close call on JA but it made it:

Jagged Alliance: Flashback by Full Control — Kickstarter

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by Abe Sargent

That was a close call on JA but it made it:

Jagged Alliance: Flashback by Full Control — Kickstarter

Good for them, I was hoping it would slide by. Looking forward to this one.

[mckerney]

This sounds awesome. A bit like Crusader Kings meets XCOM.


Double Fine's MASSIVE CHALICE by Double Fine Productions — Kickstarter

MASSIVE CHALICE is a single player turn-based tactics game within a multi-generational strategy campaign built for replayability.

As an immortal King or Queen, you must unite your kingdom under a powerful dynasty, eliminate the demonic threat, and reforge the MASSIVE CHALICE!

The game is structured into two main layers: strategy and tactics. In the strategy layer, you oversee your kingdom, arrange royal marriages, conduct research, and make the far-reaching decisions that will determine the fate of your legacy.

In the tactics layer, you fight brutal turn-based battles to defend your kingdom using small squads of customizable heroes.

Permadeath is inevitable: your heroes will grow, age, and eventually die. You'll have to choose between keeping your favorite heroes on the battlefield or retiring them from combat to foster a new generation of warriors.

Drawing from roguelikes we love, content is modular and randomized. Each playthrough begins with a random assortment of male and female heroes from various bloodlines, guaranteeing that each game is unique. Your knowledge and skill will increase over multiple playthroughs, but the details of every game will change based on your decisions and the whims of fate.

[twothree]

Originally Posted by mckerney

This sounds awesome. A bit like Crusader Kings meets XCOM.

I've backed several different board game projects on kickstarter, but this will be the first computer or video game I have backed.

Always nice to have another turn based strategy game for the computer.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Massive Chalice... Backed.

[Lonnie]

Backed it!

[Crapshoot]

One hesitancy factor is that their last Kickstarter project raised 10X what they had targeted, and yet is still over budget - I'm not sure how much I trust them to deliver.

[Abe Sargent]

Playt the old TradeWars 2002 on BBSs and want a MMO version of it?

Finishing the Tradewars® Rising strategy MMOG by Sylien Games — Kickstarter

[MacroGuru]

Shadowrun Steam keys were emailed out.

I have entered mine into Steam, it will be available on the 25th...I might be sick that day....

[Bobble]

Originally Posted by MacroGuru

...I might be sick that day....

Oh, no! I hope you feel better. Maybe you should play some Shadowrun to take your mind off your troubles.

[MacroGuru]

It's awakening day!

Won't be available on Steam until 1pm EST...I will be at work...I will be remoting into my machine to initiate download.

[Blackadar]

And here's the downside of a kickstarter (no, I wasn't a backer):

The Doom That Came To Atlantic City! by The Forking Path, Co. » Terminus — Kickstarter

4x the funding amount, late updates, 26 updates without any major bad news and it was cancelled on 27th update. The real kicker? People who bought it AFTER the kickstarter are getting their funds sent back first.

It sounds like the guy totally misused the funds.

After paying to form the company, for the miniature statues, moving back to Portland, getting software licenses and hiring artists to do things like rule book design and art conforming the money was approaching a point of no return.

Unfortunately I can't give any type of schedule for the repayment as I left my job to do this project and must find work again.

KS funds are to be used to make the product first and if there's anything left over, that's called profit. KS funds shouldn't be used to form a company or move back to Portland. I think it's also likely that he's been drawing living expenses from the KS funds and unless that's specified, that's also a no-no. This is especially true when the project is a material good (in this case a boardgame with miniatures), where there's going to be substantial real hard costs on each unit produced (unlike a digital product like a game or music MP3). If I were a backer, I'd be rather peeved about now (and if I lived in Oregon/Washington, I would probably be filing a small-claims lawsuit today).

PS - one of the unpaid artists associated with this project came on to post this:

Yesterday, Erik Chevalier of the Forking Path announced that he has cancelled the Kickstarter to produce The Doom That Came To Atlantic City, a board game designed by Lee Moyer and Keith Baker, which is to say, me.

When Lee and I first heard this news from Erik, it came as a shock. We’ve been working on this game for over a decade. In 2011 we had it ready to go to the printer with Z-Man Games, until a change in ownership dropped it from production. Based on the information we’d been receiving from the Forking Path we believed that the game was in production. It’s a personal and financial blow to both of us, but what concerns Lee and I is that people who believed in our work and put their faith in this Kickstarter have been let down.
First of all, I would like to make one thing crystal clear. Lee Moyer and Keith Baker are not part of the Forking Path. Neither one of us received any of the funds raised by the Kickstarter or presales. I haven’t received any form of payment for this game. Lee and I were not involved in the decisions that brought about the end of this project, and we were misinformed about its progress and the state of the game.

As a designer, I want the ideas I come up with to bring people joy—not frustration, disappointment and anger. Once I sign a contract granting a company the rights to produce one of my games, I am putting my faith in that company and trusting that it will carry out production and delivery in a professional and ethical manner. I’ve worked with Atlas Games, Wizards of the Coast, Steve Jackson Games, Goodman Games, Green Ronin, Pelgrane Press, and many more, and I’ve never been let down until now. Lee and I don’t know exactly how the money was spent, why the backers were misled, what challenges were faced or what drove the decisions that led to the cancellation of the game. Not only did we not make any money from the game, we have actually lost money; as soon as we learned the true state of affairs, we engaged a lawyer to compel The Forking Path to come forward to the backers and to honor its pledge to issue refunds.

With that said, all that really matters to Lee and I is that our idea has led to frustration and anger instead of bringing happiness. We can’t change the past. We can’t produce the game as presented in the Kickstarter on our own. But under the terms of the contract the rights to the art and design are back in our hands, and we can at least share those. Lee and I will be producing a print-and-play version of the game as quickly as possible, and getting that to backers at no cost. You’ll have to use your own cardstock and paper, and we can’t produce the amazing miniatures sculpted by Paul Komoda. But we can share our ideas and our work, and we hope that you will enjoy it.

There is one snag: neither Lee or I have access to the list of backers and their email addresses. We don’t even know who you are, and we have no way to thank you directly. If you backed Doom, please contact me through my website Keith-Baker.com. If you know anyone who backed it, please direct them here.

This is not the end of the road we thought we were on. Neither Lee nor I know how things reached this point, and when I look at the images from the manufacturer that show so clearly that the game could have been made, it breaks my heart. Lee and I will do our best to get you the game in print-and-play form as soon as possible. It’s not what we expected or planned on, but we at least hope that you will finally be able to get some enjoyment from the game we’ve worked on for all these years.

Sincerely,

Keith Baker

He has since gotten the customer list, but there's definitely a misuse of funds on this one.

[Dutch]

Yikes

[Dutch]

Chaos Chronicles
Chaos Chronicles | rpg codex > your daily antidote to thinking you’re getting anywhere in the world of CRPGs

Not a Kickstarter, but another awesome indie game is about 95% likely to get shitcanned even though it's possible that it's almost complete. This time it's some sort of producer/developer legal battle over....money (if you can believe that).

When you can't figure out how to split the loot...share nothing equally!

Dumbasses.

[Passacaglia]

I thought Kickstarter was designed for independent people, as opposed to people who have engaged production companies. I guess I'm saying, if it's their game, shouldn't they have been the one to do the kickstarter page?

[Dutch]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

I thought Kickstarter was designed for independent people, as opposed to people who have engaged production companies. I guess I'm saying, if it's their game, shouldn't they have been the one to do the kickstarter page?

I don't know the story other than they can't go to Kickstarter because a producer is in control. Or something like that.

[Matthean]

A number of companies regardless if they need KS or not use it as a preorder system.

[Matthean]

POSTAL 2 by EVENT FILM — Kickstarter

Where the money goes

The money goes all for cocaine for the stars down the nose.

(starts throwing money at my monitor)

[Marmel]

The Phoenix Project - City of Titans by Missing Worlds Media — Kickstarter

Spiritual Successor to the City of Heroes MMO that was shutdown about a year ago. The game is being created by all volunteers.

[Abe Sargent]

Get your Brony on!


Dark Skyes -- an EPIC brony dating sim by Michael Harms — Kickstarter

[Dutch]

Bear Simulator by Farjay Studios — Kickstarter

[tarcone]

They allow anything on kickstarter.

[Dutch]

TL;DR - "It's like a mini Skyrim but you're a bear"

I'm not so sure about that.

[sabotai]

And it's already blown by its goal...

[DaddyTorgo]

LMAO

[bulletsponge]

Originally Posted by Abe Sargent

That was a close call on JA but it made it:

Jagged Alliance: Flashback by Full Control — Kickstarter

oh shit! why didnt i know about this? JA2 and the modds were some of my favorite games

[Blackadar]

For me, the Kickstarter craze is done. I haven't "pre-funded" a game for months and don't have much interest in doing so. I have not received any of the 5 games I have funded:

Enemy: due out December 2014, still waiting. Small project by a one man team and the delay could be expected. At least I get semi-regular updates and the guy seems to love this project, so I think it will turn out ok. Plus at $10, it's not a big loss if it turns out to be crap.

Torment: due out December 2014. If something like this came down the pike again I'd fund it, but it would have to be something of this magnitude. This is the one project I funded that I'm still truly excited about.

Project Eternity: due out April 2014. It won't even ship this year. I've really started to lose faith with this team. I think there's too much money involved to truly bust, but I think this might be a dud.

Castle Story: due out October 2012. Still waiting. They're currently refactoring the game. What I do have thus far is a bad tech demo with lousy controls. Of the 5 I've funded, this one probably has the greatest risk of total failure. What should be a cute open-world concept has turned into a cluster fuck.

Dead State: due out December 2013. What I have is a 7 day demo. Looks ok but I wasn't overwhelmed by the demo. I wasn't totally discouraged either, so that's good.

Now add that to the Early Access games I've ordered from Steam (yeah, I know there's a difference between KS and EA, but really it comes out to the same thing):

Craft the World: What I played was cute, but I'm waiting for the complete game.

Darkout: Dishonest developer sold game as "complete" but now says he's only on Phase 1 of 4. I have zero hope for this one. So technically it's not EA, but I list it as such because it's nowhere close to being finished. For those who are considering this one, STAY AWAY. Buy Starbound instead.

Project Zomboid: I got a few hours of enjoyment from this already, but I'm again waiting for a complete product.

Starbound: A pre-order from many moons ago. I'm thrilled with the direction of this one.

Starpoint Gemini 2: Ordered on the recommendation from a friend. Played a little and there wasn't much there, but supposedly they've made great strides in the recent builds.

Kerbal Space Program: Probably my best pre-order in years. What a truly fantastic game/program.

So what's that...11 games that I've paid for and haven't yet received the final product? As such, I'm not interested in funding anything else until I start to see some finished products.

The majority of the dollars that go through KS are for games. One type of KS user is someone who looks at KS as charity to fund projects they'd like to see. Another type of KS user is someone who uses it mainly as a games preorder site. I believe there are a lot of folks in that last category, including me. I've heard from a number of people that they're migrating away from KS because of the lack of fulfillment.

[Abe Sargent]

Yeah, I hear ya. I only fund large stuff that I have a very very strong idea will come out, so something I don't mind taking a flyer on.

Wasteland 2
Torment
Shroud of the Avatar
Jagged Alliance: Flashback

These are all from companies or individuals I trust. Two have hit beta months ago. One is close to getting there. Torment will be a while, and it's not out yet either.


After that, I took out a flyer on Stasis because it looked really good. Note that most have not year hit estimated delivery yet. Here they are with their original estimated delivery, according to Kickstarter:

Wasteland 2 - 10/20/13 - They announced their super funding would require longer to make the game with the extra additions and we were okay with, because that would make it a better game. Went into Beta in December.

Torment - 12/2014 - Probably going to get pushed back because of the Wasteland 2 pushback, plus great funding for extra levels with it.

Shroud of the Avatar - 10/2014 - Already in beta since Jan, on schedule to release at expected date.

JA: Flashback - 11/2014 - Beta on way and probably will arrive in a month or so.

Stasis - 8/2014 - Probably was dreaming on this date, but not there yet.



So all were funded in 2012 and all originally had goals of 18 months or two years out (or Torment with 30 months out from funding date or one years from release of Wasteland 2).


It's a hit and miss proposition. Some games, like Shadowrun Returns, have been out for a while. I think you have to do your homework and invest wisely, or else admit that some games we are just taking a flyer on. I view my money for those like a donation. I'm thinking of throwing $10 at the Brony dating sim, just because it's funny.

[tarcone]

I gave up on KS some time back. I backed a few board games. The delays from one company mixed witht he lack of communication and the poor product from the other game has made me realize I can wait for the finished product. And I really dont need the extras.

[PadresFan104]

I might back this one....

1st & Goal® Digital Football Game by R&R Games, Inc. — Kickstarter

[Blackadar]

Originally Posted by Abe Sargent

Wasteland 2 - 10/20/13 - They announced their super funding would require longer to make the game with the extra additions and we were okay with, because that would make it a better game. Went into Beta in December.

Torment - 12/2014 - Probably going to get pushed back because of the Wasteland 2 pushback, plus great funding for extra levels with it.

Shroud of the Avatar - 10/2014 - Already in beta since Jan, on schedule to release at expected date.

JA: Flashback - 11/2014 - Beta on way and probably will arrive in a month or so.

Stasis - 8/2014 - Probably was dreaming on this date, but not there yet.

I was tempted on Wasteland 2, but I'll get it on release. Same goes for JA: Flashback since the last JA game wasn't very good. I played the Statis demo and liked what I saw, but I'm not a huge fan of most adventure games. It will take something special for me to purchase it (though it does have that Sanitarium feel and I loved that one).

As for Avatar, I actually pledged on this and then pulled it. There didn't seem to be a clearly articulated vision on the single vs. multiplayer components. In addition, there was no reason that Garriott would need KS to fund anything, so it made me wonder his level of involvement. If it turns out to be good I'll be all over it, but there were enough questions during the KS campaign that I walked away.

[Blackadar]

Just some KS stats - the boom is definitely over. KS isn't dead, but it's a much tougher market.

In 2012 33% of video game projects were successful, while in 2013 that goes down to 24%. Moreover, total pledge amounts in 2013 are 28% higher than in 2012, but successfully funded projects went up 50%, which means both that a higher percentage of projects are being unsuccessful and that those that are successful are getting less money on average. It's a typical market saturation example. Big projects with good marketing are getting the money, for sure, but that's due to a lot of marketing expenses.

I really think there's an exhaustion factor coupled with a lot of "I'm still waiting on my current pledges" and that's tempered the market.

[Alan T]

Just my opinion, but I think Kickstarter kind of followed what happened with the DotCom boom in the late 1990s. It was the hot new thing for a while, and there were some great success stories from it.

Then as those successes built up, everyone started jumping on the train to try to join in, and eventually as it became saturated, you ended up with a smaller and smaller percent of success stories to the point where investors just did not feel any longer that the risk was worth the reward.

[Abe Sargent]

I think we're just in a lull. If these highly funded and touted games roll of and are just absolutely what we expect, i would not be surprised to find another round.

[Abe Sargent]

Jagged Alliance: Flashback is now officially in Alpha. That keeps them about on schedule for their anticipated release date in November.

[Abe Sargent]

Jagged Alliance: Flashback is on Early Access, and I'm thinking about getting it. I just bought the game, but they sent us a special coupon for 1/2off if i want to get on board. What do you folks think?


EDIT: Maybe I should ask this question in the V Games 2014 thread?

[ColtCrazy]

I currently have 3 that I've backed:
Masters of the Gridiron
Shipwrights of the North Sea
and Victory in Europe

MotG is due in the next couple of weeks. It and ViE are from big companies so I think I'll be okay. The other one sends me constant updates and seems on the ball. Even if all 3 end up being successes, my buzz for it is waning as well. If a big gaming company uses it as a way of funding a project and providing exclusives (much like Victory in Europe did) then I may be in. Otherwise, there's too many established games I'd want instead.

[Matthean]

Good and Cheap: Eat Well on $4/Day (the PDF is free!) by Leanne Brown — Kickstarter

Granted, I would argue the serving size is on the small side.

[molson]

I'm not sure how to feel about this. Either kickstarter is done or it's just beginning.

Potato Salad by Zack Danger Brown — Kickstarter

[ISiddiqui]

For those of you who are Christians (or who just want a Bible that is primarily designed for reading narratively instead of picking out verses), this is a fantastic project:

BIBLIOTHECA by Adam Lewis Greene — Kickstarter

17 days left and it's at 400% above its goal (so I hope he can deliver by December as he expects)

[Abe Sargent]

I'm backing my next project:


The Flame in the Flood by The Molasses Flood — Kickstarter

[Bobble]

Originally Posted by Abe Sargent

That was a close call on JA but it made it:

Jagged Alliance: Flashback by Full Control — Kickstarter

Did anyone else back JAF? Anyone else played it yet? Thoughts?

[Abe Sargent]

Originally Posted by Bobble

Did anyone else back JAF? Anyone else played it yet? Thoughts?

It came out today. I have it and I'll be playing it over the next bit to see how it rolls and let ya'll know.

[JAG]

This is crazy. A kickstarter for a card game about exploding kittens raises over 1M in 7 hours.

Exploding Kittens by Elan Lee — Kickstarter

[Blackadar]

Note that there's a new KS for the Shadowrun PC series. That's generally been a decent series with good support. The new one takes place in Hong Kong and the devs really improved Dragonfall over the first one. So for $15 I backed it.

It's a low risk backing - due to come out this year, the engine is already complete and solid, the team has been formed, the company should be in decent financial condition due to their past games and their past products have been quite solid.

Shadowrun: Hong Kong by Harebrained Schemes LLC — Kickstarter

[Lonnie]

Re: Exploding Kittens

Must be a Reddit thing. They love their cats.

[ColtCrazy]

Originally Posted by JAG

This is crazy. A kickstarter for a card game about exploding kittens raises over 1M in 7 hours.

Exploding Kittens by Elan Lee — Kickstarter

Uh…okay, then.