Jesus: Okay, not that big a deal... *gets out and stands on the water* Better?PunkRex said:
OT: Susan -- you gain many respect points from me!
Escapist Podcast: 092: Star Wars, Electronic Arts and The PS Vita
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OT: Susan -- you gain many respect points from me!
eh? well then maybe it is time for someone to form a indie based funding group that only allows small timers to put their projects up.Entitled said:
However this really ignores the underlying problem. I easily foresee this becoming a trend for companies to habitually preorder all their products to the consumers. Now this may well be a model that works(if the corporations set reasonable goals) but will most likely allow for corporations to make you the consumer risk your money to develop a product that has not been made yet meaning they do not need to risk their own private fortunes. Meaning that quality assurance and time scales goes right out the window.
The reason kickstarter makes sense as a business model for small independents is because they usually do not have any money to risk but a good product that they have made a prototype of. It also means that their goals for production and fundraising are going to be more in line with the particular audience they are trying to reach.
Just to be clear my personal sentaments about Penny Arcade have to do with my own frustrations that people willingly ignore the spirit of the thing because it is technically a moral thing for them to do. Never mind that Penny arcade has their own web site in place they used Kickstarter because it is popular and guaranteed to get attention.
Additionally the name Kickstarter does imply the purpose of the system is to help people kickstart a product that they otherwise would not be able to. If they want to be normal greedy big industry types then maybe they should be politly asked to change their name to "Preorder funding anyone or anything".
Good idea. Maybe call it "Hipstarter". Their slogan could be: "No mainstream need apply"Ashoten said:
What risk? Assuming that the games actually get made (and as scammy as big publishers can get, they rarely take preorder money and run away with it), the worst risk that consumers are taking would be the same that they are taking with preorders now anyways, and even with released games (after all, you always risk that you might not end up liking it).Ashoten said:
In turn for that, the fact that enthusiastic fandom-driven games are more likely to get funded than media juggernauts that actually most of it's players are "meh" about, would be a pretty big improvement on it's own. The fact that it would be for a studio to finish a game without needing publisher's approval, would be even better.
The real risk that studios would avoid, wouldn't be something that they place on the players, but something that's automatically eliminated by unprofitably unpopular projects failing before they could even get started.
On the other hand, the smallest indies can actually run out of KS money if they still misjudge it, and they rarely have a proven track record, so you are taking more risks with them than with established studios. Quid pro quo.Ashoten said:
Morality is not technical. And using the more popular way to get atention, is not immoral. PA is not harming Kickstarter by being there, it's not "taking away space". I don't see anything wrong with grabbing opportunities to catch attentions with your fundraising projects.Ashoten said:
The name could just as easily refer to projects as to creators. If you are backing PA, or Obsidian, or Zach Braff, you are still "kickstarting" a project, that is, you are paying the profits that it would need to earn anyways, except that you are kicking it at the start of the production process, instead of at the end.Ashoten said:
Origin-dependent Star Wars is my nightmare, and part of me hopes EA goes bankrupt before 2014 so that the exclusive deal becomes voided.
I'd really like to see an X-Wing / TIE-Fighter redux / continuation, whatever.
I'd really like to see more Republic Commando. More non-Jedi action adventure.
I'd really like to see more Jedi Knight with physics and destructible objects. (And no, Force Unleashed doesn't count).
I'd really like to see a good Star Wars based space trader game.
But none of these on Origin. Never, ever, ever Origin.
I are sad. All the sads.
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I'd really like to see an X-Wing / TIE-Fighter redux / continuation, whatever.
I'd really like to see more Republic Commando. More non-Jedi action adventure.
I'd really like to see more Jedi Knight with physics and destructible objects. (And no, Force Unleashed doesn't count).
I'd really like to see a good Star Wars based space trader game.
But none of these on Origin. Never, ever, ever Origin.
I are sad. All the sads.
238U
Oh and... if you are interested in seeing a Star Wars-esque version of Seven Samurai / The Magnificant Seven, check out Battle Beyond the Stars [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080421/] (1980) one of the decent knock-offs from the orignal 1977 Star Wars craze.
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No, YOU are putting those values into the name. I don't think the name has those implications. The name implies that this is a service where users can help kickstart a project, any project. Stop putting your own exclusionary values into this, please.Ashoten said:
Using kickstarter does feel manipulative and disingenuous to me when used like this. Pennyarcade doesn't need it, but their using it anyway, and the logical explaination for why is because they know they'll probably make more money through a kickstarter than without one.
Okay, I could be wrong about this, but I get a feeling people are more likely to donate money to something on kickstarter than if the creators ask for money on their own site. In fact it seems like using kickstarter, if you're already a well known entity, is basically a guarantee of significant donations. kickstarter is just really popular right now, and has a very positive, grassroots brand identity to it, and that, whether consciously or subconsciously, affects peoples' willingness to support things through it.
So by using kickstarter, PennyArcade, which is not a grassroots organization by any means, is taking advantage of a system never designed for causes like theirs and reaping the benefits, while kickstarter's image as a place for humble monetary requests from people who actually require the money, is slowly eroded away.
Next thing you know every AAA developer and industry leader has their own kickstarter page requesting money for whatever project they have coming up because they know it'll help them reap some extra profits on the side and soon the whole point of the site goes down the toilet.
Okay, I could be wrong about this, but I get a feeling people are more likely to donate money to something on kickstarter than if the creators ask for money on their own site. In fact it seems like using kickstarter, if you're already a well known entity, is basically a guarantee of significant donations. kickstarter is just really popular right now, and has a very positive, grassroots brand identity to it, and that, whether consciously or subconsciously, affects peoples' willingness to support things through it.
So by using kickstarter, PennyArcade, which is not a grassroots organization by any means, is taking advantage of a system never designed for causes like theirs and reaping the benefits, while kickstarter's image as a place for humble monetary requests from people who actually require the money, is slowly eroded away.
Next thing you know every AAA developer and industry leader has their own kickstarter page requesting money for whatever project they have coming up because they know it'll help them reap some extra profits on the side and soon the whole point of the site goes down the toilet.
Kickstarter is more about marketing now. If PennyArcade just put a donate button on their website only fans will see it. If they put it on Kickstarter and the entire industry goes apeshit over it like you guys did, then everyone knows about it.
Not to spoil things too much, but the reason why I really love the Imperial Agent storyline, and why most people do... is because the storyline actually has ending options where you're not good or evil. There's endings for being neutral, and you can almost literally become the Batman of the Imperials. It's AWESOME.Parakeettheprawn said:
I actually sort of was already spoiled on some of that, but with a severe lacking in terms of context. I look forward to seeing it play out for my Imperial Agent, although I really did prefer taking a lightside/neutral approach to matters. She hated the Sith, and I intend to keep that as a common thing for her.Quiotu said:
There seems to be this implication that using Kickstarter "the wrong way" is damaging for "the littte guy" but reasearch shows that the big name Kickstarter has multiplied the amount of funding that goes to smaller projects. Kickstarter is clearly working, and the high profile projects aren't dreaining the market, they are fueling it.
What I really want to know is if you guys found the Pazaak app for iOS. Seriously. I managed to find the Android App that Greg was talking about, but when it comes to an iOS Pazaak app, my Google Fu fails me. And if it doesn't exist, someone should get on it.
I was gifted Thomas Was Alone by one of my friends here on the Escapist a couple of weeks ago, and boy did I give him an internet hug with cookies. I LOVED Thomas Was Alone, I thought it was incredibly charming, witty, the characters were endearing (which I didn't expect from a bunch of rectangles and cubes). The gameplay was just perfect in its simplicity, and the puzzles had a healthy balance between hair tearingly complex and gorgeous simplicity. Susan had the right of it, there was one puzzle in particular that was driving me insane (as in smash my head against the keyboard frustrating). Stopped playing, went back to it the next day, made it on the first try. Baffling!
The only thing that bugged me was that I felt the end kinda left me hanging and craving for some sort of resolution. It definitely felt a bit abrupt to me.
About the whole Penny Arcade on Kickstarter thing... I really don't know what to say. I blame the Penny Arcade guys for using Kickstarter, I blame people for throwing their money at them... In the end, I feel that Penny Arcade could've used some other means of raising money (there are just so many other means to do a fund-raiser). But what's done is done.
I was gifted Thomas Was Alone by one of my friends here on the Escapist a couple of weeks ago, and boy did I give him an internet hug with cookies. I LOVED Thomas Was Alone, I thought it was incredibly charming, witty, the characters were endearing (which I didn't expect from a bunch of rectangles and cubes). The gameplay was just perfect in its simplicity, and the puzzles had a healthy balance between hair tearingly complex and gorgeous simplicity. Susan had the right of it, there was one puzzle in particular that was driving me insane (as in smash my head against the keyboard frustrating). Stopped playing, went back to it the next day, made it on the first try. Baffling!
The only thing that bugged me was that I felt the end kinda left me hanging and craving for some sort of resolution. It definitely felt a bit abrupt to me.
About the whole Penny Arcade on Kickstarter thing... I really don't know what to say. I blame the Penny Arcade guys for using Kickstarter, I blame people for throwing their money at them... In the end, I feel that Penny Arcade could've used some other means of raising money (there are just so many other means to do a fund-raiser). But what's done is done.
I'm not a fan of the Penny Arcade kickstarter, but I did FINALLY back The Escapist. I've been consuming the podcast and Zero/Extra Punctuation for about a year, and decided to put my money where my mouth was. This also explains how this is my first post on the site. Seriously, this place is awesome, and I want to explore more of the community.
I'm hoping so hard that EA can do a little research into the consumer base and get BioWare started on KotOR 3. Although I don't know how that might go without Drew Karpyshyn.
I hope I get to see Republic Commando 2 and Battlefront 3 as well. Star Wars 1313 better get done too.
I hope I get to see Republic Commando 2 and Battlefront 3 as well. Star Wars 1313 better get done too.