Why the lack of interest in the Hepler RPG Kickstarter?

[BrotherRool]

I'm curious why Ambrov X, the sci-fi RPG isn't doing very well? It got a lot of media attention when it was announced that Jennifer Hepler was going to be onboard as a writer for a stretch goal and the concept seems sound and they've got some fairly good looking footage (for pre-alpha) up already.


I can see some possible reasons but I'm wondering what the reason is that has stopped people going for this one?

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/aharon/ambrov-x-a-sime-gen-roleplaying-game

 

[shrekfan246]

Well, personally I hadn't heard of it in the first place.

But then, I don't really have money to throw at Kickstarters, either.

Looks pretty interesting, but I imagine some of the more reactionary people out there are going to accuse it of being a Mass Effect rip-off or something.

 

[The Madman]

Bluntly put none of her work at Bioware really blew me away so her name alone isn't enough, and the game itself doesn't seem like something I'd be all that interested in throwing money at before hand. It could be intriguing, but it's the sort of game that if it were coming out I'd be waiting for reviews before considering, certainly not pre-ordering and most definitely not throwing money at in the hopes it gets made.

 

[TheIceQueen]

Most of her previous experience comes from writing characters in games and a -few- storylines. We don't have much to go on for what she wrote on Dragon Age: Inquisition, but I don't exactly have the highest of hopes for that game.

So, let's see, and this is all going to be so dearly subjective:

Dwarf Commoner Origin. - My least favorite origin. So very uninteresting.

Anvil of the Void questline, Branka and Hespith especially. - This was probably one of the creepiest questlines I've ever seen in a game and I recently played a game that had questlines that got very rape-y and dealt with suicide.

For Dragon Age 2, she did a bit more. Anders, Bethany, Leandra, Elthina, Cullen, and Sebastian Vael. - in other words, pretty much all of the game's annoyances in one spot.

Legacy DLC - mediocre at best. Bland overall.

Then, she apparently put out a bunch of work on The Old Republic, but that's not too much of a plus.

~~~~~~~~~

Others will say it's because of her comments on gameplay, and they'd be right because gamers should definitely be worried about a lack of focus on gameplay in their video games (That doesn't mean you should threaten her, though, people; that's just rude), but for me she just doesn't have the sort of pedigree that would make me want to throw money at her or anything involving her, especially seeing as how she's not that great of a writer.

 

[BrotherRool]

Others will say it's because of her comments on gameplay, and they'd be right because gamers should definitely be worried about a lack of focus on gameplay in their video games (That doesn't mean you should threaten her, though, people; that's just rude), but for me she just doesn't have the sort of pedigree that would make me want to throw money at her.

And thats why modern art sucks because there's barely any paint on their paintings and why shaky cam is so brilliant because it puts more more motion into their motion pictures and sculptures follow a linear progression where the more fine details you sculpt into them the better they get.

There's something called 'pure gaze' where fans of a medium put increased focus on the aspects of a work that make their medium different from everyone elses in exclusion of looking at the work as a whole. There's a pretty cool article about it here if you're interested (although I think it might be a bit too aggressive for the message it's trying to convey?)
http://joewebb86.wordpress.com/2013/08/23/bro-gamers-and-the-sociology-of-taste/


It might be an answer to the question though, because they never really conveyed that they've already got two well established sci-fi writers doing a big bulk of the writing, Hepler is only an additional stretch goal. But then she's also probably the only reason people heard about the game in the first place

 

[FourCartridge]

Maybe most people are already throwing their wallets at Mighty No. 9? It's way more attention getting than this. The successor to Mega Man vs. a Bioware writer of disputable quality? I know which project I'd be backing.

 

[TheIceQueen]

Others will say it's because of her comments on gameplay, and they'd be right because gamers should definitely be worried about a lack of focus on gameplay in their video games (That doesn't mean you should threaten her, though, people; that's just rude), but for me she just doesn't have the sort of pedigree that would make me want to throw money at her.

And films are so much better when they put more motion into their motion pictures and modern art sucks because there's barely any paint on their paintings and sculptures follow a linear progression where the more fine details you sculpt into them the better they get.

Indeed! Personally, I loved the adaptation of new technology that Peter Jackson used for The Hobbit. I hope that it can be better utilized in the future and I definitely welcome more of it. I also have a great dislike for post-modern art and believe that even deviantArt artists are better than most of those quacks.

There's something called 'pure gaze' where fans of a medium put increased focus on the aspects of a work that make their medium different from everyone elses in exclusion of looking at the work as a whole. There's a pretty cool article about it here if you're interested (although I think it might be a bit too aggressive for the message it's trying to convey?)
http://joewebb86.wordpress.com/2013/08/23/bro-gamers-and-the-sociology-of-taste/

But that honestly isn't truly my problem with Hepler. While I can understand gamers as a whole not wanting gameplay to be trounced in such a way, I don't really care. You can take the parts where I bolded as merely repeating the opinions of those who actually do care more about such a thing.

Me, I just think she's a crappy writer. Even if she's a stretch goal (in which case, your title of "Hepler RPG" is a bit of a misnomer), I don't want to throw any money at anything to do with someone as bad at writing as her. Except maybe J. K. Rowling. And even then, she's nowhere near as bad as Hepler.

 

[Ruzinus]

The asked for budget just doesn't seem to be enough for the game they want to make, which makes me think that the final product will be disappointing.

Looking further at their kickstarter page I see that they only plan to use the kickstarter funding to get episode 1 out... at which point I guess they think it will make enough profit to fund the next 4 episodes. The episodic nature for a game like this is also weird. I guess the idea is that it follows in the style of The Walking Dead, perhaps? But it's weird for an ARPG... and while Walking Dead was enjoyable, it failed in giving any feeling that its decisions had consequence, so the same worry applies here.

The presence of Hepler as a stretch goal is also worrying. Her work as a writer just hasn't been good. Why would we want to hire her?

 

[T_ConX]

I guess people are just tired of throwing money at Kickstarters out of sympathy over online trolling.

People, myself included, think Jennifer Hepler is a terrible writer because games she has worked on tend to have terrible writing. HOW MISOGYNIST!


Not to mention that the ENTIRE controversy was partially manufactured by Bioware...


On a more positive note, it would seem that funding for the game has effectively flatlined. It would seem that the 'Misogynist Troll Hoard' has either deemed Ambrov X a non-issue, or thinks the best way to sink this ship is to not draw attention to it. Don't be surprised if a week or two from now Loreful starts making unsubstantiated claims that they're getting rape/death threats in a desperate move to secure last-minute funding.

 

[AuronFtw]

Nobody wants to play a gay space marine adventure with a mediocre story. Not a huge surprise.

If we wanted to read a novel, we'd do that. If we wanted to play a game, we'd do that. Paying money to support the development of a game made by someone who doesn't like the interactivity of games just seems like a waste of time.

 

[Gennadios]

Never heard of it and just watched the video. "Fully voiced, story driven, action RPG" killed it for me.

The problem with fully voiced and story driven games is that they're really only as good as the writers, and I'm sick to death of the Mass Effects, Dead Spaces, and Tomb Raiders. The only way those 3 descriptors would sell it for me is if Obsidian was at the helm.

EDIT:

Also, "MMO inspired boss fights" in a single player game! I almost want to find that MLP "yay" meme video now.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

Well, I hadn't heard of it, but having now done so, seems pretty eh to me. In fact it seems like Mass Effect lite, with even the false promise of choices playing out.

And to be honest, Hepler's involvement isn't anything to spur movement for me. I'm not one of those ones that thinks she shouldn't have been involved in game development, but I do prefer my writers to have some affection for the gameplay.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

I can see some possible reasons but I'm wondering what the reason is that has stopped people going for this one?
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/aharon/ambrov-x-a-sime-gen-roleplaying-game

Didn't know about it. Thanks for the link!

Pledged 25 bucks for all 5 episodes. That's a pretty good price, plus I'm glad to help out Ms. Hepler.

Edit: Saw that she's a stretch goal. Still, looks like a neat project in a Mass Effect clone sort of way.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Ignoring the whole writer episode they are asking for too much as well as promising everything in return.

500k is big money for any kickstarter, especially one with no big names helping it. The content as well is an issue, fully voiced and multiple languages? It looks really risky from my standpoint if they could complete the game even if they did reach their goal.

 

[nogitsune]

I think it's partly that the Honeymoon's over with Kickstarter and people are needing more evidence of a good prduct before throwing money at it. Also the pedigree is kinda eh, Hepler is a stretch goal and not a core developer and even if she was, she doesn't have the Reputation That Chris Avalon or Brian Fargo have, she's just a game writer that a lot of people hate, I don't think she's bad, but not that good.

Though I really think the killer is the game seems to be overreaching, it wants to be Mass Effect but really, you can't be mass Effect on an Indie budget, even with kickstarter help. Mass Effect really needed the over the top nature that it had to be good, and I just don't see an Indie team pulling it off. Throw in a comment about MMO inspired boss combat, Which is like a resteraunt going that their menu will be inspired by McDonald's, and You really aren't doing a great job of selling. I also think the universe is a bit lame, based around an overt sexual metaphor and having a really lame demihuman species; They're just humans with wrist tentacles, how lazy of a design can you get. Seriously, you could sell this setting to me if Brian Fargo, Chris Avalon, Sid Meier, Notch, Lord British and Jeff Volgel were on staff.

 

[loc978]

Woof. That one's bombing hard right now. Never heard of Sime~Gen... the universe looks mildly intriguing in a future-fantasy sort of way.

That said... color me skeptical about a fully-voiced action RPG of any substantial size being developed for half a million dollars. Unless they're releasing two-hour chapters with plenty of filler, this kickstarter is headed the way of Double Fine's, even if they double their stated goal.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

Honestly, I turned off the video as soon as I saw the laughable run cycle, but I decided to give it a few minutes of my time and finished it to the end. There's a lot of stock descriptions used for the game that could mean anything. I also don't think they explained Sime-Gen very well because it sounds kind of random and contrived. They also don't know how to model humans.

Look at that neck... LOOK AT IT!

It's promising a lot of things that I don't have any reason to trust they can deliver and that I've already had in other games. I've seen much better situations that forced two people to work together or that required two people to need each other to survive that didn't need it to be so... as I said before, contrived.

There's just nothing about the setting or combat or story that seem worthy of me throwing money at it. It's just bland.

 

[Kyrinn]

1) I had no idea this was even a thing. So it looks like the project has pretty much no exposure.

2) I don't back Kickstarter projects unless they get me genuinely excited and/or blow me away. This project did neither. Sure, I love me some RPGs and this one has potential, but I am not going to go throwing my money around at every project that promises choices that matter.

This is one of those cases where I'd rather fork over $60 if the game turns out to be good rather than give up $25 and risk disappointment.

 

[BoredRolePlayer]

Maybe most people are already throwing their wallets at Mighty No. 9? It's way more attention getting than this. The successor to Mega Man vs. a Bioware writer of disputable quality? I know which project I'd be backing.

Screw that I threw my money at the Shantea kick starter .

 

[Specter Von Baren]

Maybe most people are already throwing their wallets at Mighty No. 9? It's way more attention getting than this. The successor to Mega Man vs. a Bioware writer of disputable quality? I know which project I'd be backing.

Screw that I threw my money at the Shantea kick starter .

Screw that, I threw money at both of them.