Poll: Kickstarter!

[Cry Wolf]

The Kickstarter is probably the most exciting development in game production in a long time. So, typically, it's become swamped with so many game pitches it's become almost impossible to sort through to find the better ones. This, if your wallet is anything like my own, is a problem - one we can mitigate by sharing the best of the active (and, preferably, not fully funded) Kickstarter projects here! These are (in no particular order) the active Kickstarters I'm most interested in at the moment:

A) Republique

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/486250632/republique-by-camouflaj-logan?ref=category

Holy fuck, I wish I had discovered this one earlier. I discovered this literally minutes ago, and I'm blown away by the concept. It's something new - which is easily the most exciting thing it can be. I urge you to push this one over the line, because it's only got three days to go!

B) Kinetic Void

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/seanpollman/kinetic-void

It's no secret I'm in love with space. Science Fiction films, movies, books and - especially - games. So I had to post at least one Kickstarter space game here, right? Maybe Kickstarter will, ahem, kickstart the space-sim genre again!

C) Skyjacker

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

Okay, maybe I needed two. I'm mainly interested in this one because it combines one my loves with something I find awesome; PIRATES! Perhaps this leaves me incapable of judging the game on it's potential for merit, but so be it. Space + Pirates = /drool.

D) Carmageddon: Reincarnation

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stainlessgames/carmageddon-reincarnation?ref=category

I was pretty tempted to leave this one off, because it doesn't bring anything new or old back to the medium and falls under the 'dumb fun' category of games I play. However, I can't tell you how much I played Carmageddon when I got it and damn it was fun. I just hope the pope will ask for this one to be banned as well.

EDIT: Poll is being retarded, sorry. It's suppose to be:

I love it.
It's okay.
I don't care.
It's bad.
I hate it.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I voted for "I don", because it amused me, but it came out "I don't care", which makes me sad.

It'll be a lot easier to have an informed opinion of Kickstarter once the first games created via it start appearing in full. Until then, I guess I could best be described as cautiously optimistic.

 

[Chairman Miaow]

I like it but I highly doubt it will be anywhere near the revolution people seem to think.

 

[Windcaler]

I like the idea of kickstarter and crowdfunding in general. Right now were in kind of the honeymoon phase with Kickstarter but I fear what may happen in the future. There's no doubt in my mind that many people who put in money to see these games made think of themselves as investors and...well they arent.

Eventually whats going to happen is a kickstarter project is going to fail or even worse, someones going to pull off a successful con and walk away with tens of thousands of dollars. I can only imagine the fallout after that happens and it will probably unfairly brand kickstarter as a service full of thieves and/or lazy developers that cant deliver a product.

The great thing about crowdfunding is the consumer can tell the industry what it wants made. Previously "dead" genre's can be reinvigorated. If you want a game that is essentially Freespace 3 its possible to make it happen through services like kickstarter (assuming you can find a company making that style of game). Its also great for indie devs who are just getting their start because they can get funds to finish their game or in the case of Nekro just get the funds for marketing

Overall I think its an unquestiionably positive service for the industry

 

[go-10]

Republique seems the most interesting of the one's you posted and honestly sisn't that idea came up on a Extra Punctuation?
I seem to remember their being an idea for a survival horror game where the guy looses his eyes and he connects his vision to a camera system in a ship and you must traverse the ship but your view will be from the security camera's perspective
I think it was the Resident Evil Revelation Extra Punctuation... or maybe it was Zero Punctuation, I dunno need to go look now

 

[Laughing Man]

Bored of kickstarter already, so far all it has done is stick a lot of cash in a few developers pockets and resulted in nothing.

If we get a massive game that proves to be a huge success then we have something, but I doubt we will ever see this. The best work comes from the folk that had to approach someone, to prove that what they had was worth investing and had to, at every stage of the way answer and show that what they were creating was worth the risk of the investment.

Stick some sob story along with some nice CGI intro and then beg for money from the public? Is this really ever going to produce any games worth playing?

Besides gamers funding games, the whole ME3 debacle showed us that the last thing we need now is a way of making gamers even more self entitled.

 

[Paladin2905]

Besides gamers funding games, the whole ME3 debacle showed us that the last thing we need now is a way of making gamers even more self entitled.

First, snarky retort for apparent forum cred: Gamers funding games is bad? Who the hell did you think was buying games before this (e.g. funding them)? Libraries?

Now for the more reasoned response:
I'd actually strongly disagree with this, all feelings about that particular situation aside I think that allowing people to make direct contributions to projects like these will reduce entitlement due to the immediate assumed risk and lower cost associated with it. Sure you'll always have whiners, and occasionally the scam artist- but I think the benefit surely outwheighs the risks.

I love kickstarter, primarily for its ability to sidestep traditional publishing barriers. As a small scale machine creator and entrepreneur, I can say that crowdsource funding is one of the best things to come out of the internet. Small scale private projects now have larger reach, and that will hopefully lead to more niche gaming, which modern graphics have tried to kill off.

 

[DustyDrB]

I think it's a great thing. Even when one fails, so what? Failure is the chance you take when you make anything. People, no matter how dumb they might be, have to understand that fact. So I don't see any reason to be against it, unless you're just overly cynical and get off on hating things.

 

[Awexsome]

Looks good now, but just wait for the first big flop from it where people start claiming how much they were swindled out of their generously given money. Kickstarter has just as many setbacks as regular developing and publishing through names like Activision or EA along with its own unique advantages.

Not better or worse, but different.

 

[Phlakes]

The novelty will wear off very, very soon. Especially once it starts being more widely used and we see more scams and failed projects. The system that we have with publishers may have some serious flaws, but there's a reason we still consistently get super high quality AAA releases.

 

[ElPatron]

I think it's a great thing. Even when one fails, so what? Failure is the chance you take when you make anything. People, no matter how dumb they might be, have to understand that fact. So I don't see any reason to be against it, unless you're just overly cynical and get off on hating things.

I am against it for some reasons:
- It has become a fad. People will burn out soon like what happened to Kony 2012.
- A lot of people asking for money don't have enough credibility.
- It becomes annoying to writers in general. Pretty much everyone related to the gaming "press" get dozens of emails about the same game because every "wannabe dev" thinks that they have the right to be exposed.
- In any way you look at it, every time you post a link to kickstarter you're basically asking for money. I guess a lot of people feel like they are being guilt-trip into giving money.

It's basically SPAM. Really, we spent the last two decades fighting spam and now we create our own kind of spam?

entitled.

That word again?

 

[Isalan]

First off, thank you for directing me to the Carmageddon reboot. I LOVED that game back when I was just a wee nipper.

OT: I figure Kickstarter can only be a good thing for the industry, because it allows the development of niche products without the need to justify the idea to an accountant. The real test for Kickstarter (from a games perspective) will come with the first major failure. How the community deals with said failure will massivley influence this method of making games, and there in lies this problem. The gaming community is not known for being level headed and I can forsee a lot of shouting and poo throwing the first time one of the big projects goes down the pan. We shall see, I suppose.

 

[DustyDrB]

I am against it for some reasons:
- It has become a fad. People will burn out soon like what happened to Kony 2012.

Hating it because it's popular. A pretty terrible reason. A fan of niche genres like old school RPGs is not going to "burn out" on Kickstarter if it has led to him getting to play the kind of games he likes.

- A lot of people asking for money don't have enough credibility.

In which case they probably won't succeed in their funding. And if it does succeed, then it doesn't really affect you.[/quote]

- It becomes annoying to writers in general. Pretty much everyone related to the gaming "press" get dozens of emails about the same game because every "wannabe dev" thinks that they have the right to be exposed.

Deal with it? This is a pretty small issue.

- In any way you look at it, every time you post a link to kickstarter you're basically asking for money. I guess a lot of people feel like they are being guilt-trip into giving money.

Then they are far too easily-offended.

It's basically SPAM. Really, we spent the last two decades fighting spam and now we create our own kind of spam?

There's a great chasm between

Spoiler: this

and

Spoiler: this

If you really have a problem with the second thing, then you might as well have a problem with every single preview or advertisement for any game.

 

[Leethe1Girl]

I hope to make use of Kickstarter in the future when I'm posting a web comic. I think it's better than just asking for donations and giving the donator nothing in return.

 

[Irridium]

I love it. It provides an avenue for games that aren't getting made anymore the resources to get made. Mainly old-school RPG's.

Waiting for Wasteland 2 and Shadowrun with bells on my toes.

 

[Darknacht]

Of course there's gonna be alot of shitty projects out there. Nobody is expecting everything (or most) to be good.

Even if i just get a good rpg or two that publisher funding sure as hell ain't gonna give me in this day and age, it's still a major win.

Yep, even if 99% of it turns out sucking Wasteland 2 and Shadowrun: Returns have really good experienced people behind them and will probably be good if not excellent, they may even allow the genre to revive.
Also look what it did for Cthulhu Saves the World, there really is very little downside to Kickstarter, unless your a publisher, it helps smaller game devs make games that people really want but publishers wont fund and they get to keep their IP, it allows people to get games for cheap by helping fund them instead of waiting a year after release for the price drop, and if you don't like it you don't have to participate and the only effect it has on you is you will have a wider selection of games to choose from.

 

[Ragsnstitches]

Another avenue for game development that offers the same free range benefits of indie development but with the added bonus of greater funding? As long as the hearts behind the money are honest and their skill matches their ambitions, then we can expect, at the very least, something refreshing... though I imagine it may take a while before we start seeing anything groundbreaking.

So, I'm optimistic, but not exactly committed yet. Wasteland 2 is my Horse, so future gambles depends on it's success (or quality as a game).