Kickstarter dreaming

[GrayingGamer]

So I recently discovered Kickstarter, and just a couple days ago I threw some money towards Wasteland 2 and FTL. I'm REALLY excited about the whole thing, I think it's great.

So I was wondering what people would like to see on Kickstarter?

I've got lots of ideas, but the biggest one in my mind would be a good Master of Magic reboot / 2. Elemental was supposed to be something along these lines, but apparently failed pretty badly - everything I read was so meh I just never tried it. I had tons of fun with Master of Magic back in the day and would love to see it updated, polished, and expanded upon.

 

[Maniacal]

It hasn't been a month yet and I am already tired of this trend. While it is great to see funding for some games that need it like DoubleFine and Wasteland 2, it has quickly become the new cool way to fund game development and not just for indie games (which I'm not sure is better or worse). I also worry that because so many people are starting to jump onto the bandwagon there will be a major kickstarter burn out. I look forward to the inevitable disappointment that will more than likely follow failed or poor quality kickstarter funded projects. Although I do look forward to the good ones hopefully turning out very well.

I also wish it had come about when I had a whole bunch of extra money to throw around :/ As it is my gaming budget is gone until later this year/whenever I finish another couple dozen unplayed games.

 

[Rub'Rum]

I think like Maniacal a bit. But at least, it sends a message to the bigger industry that there is a lot of untapped business potential in the business of "listening to the opinion of your frickin' customers", and that there is also a lot of money available in unconventional games.

Lately though, I've seen some strange things. Like for the game The Banner Saga. This awesome-looking game was announced by the company over a month ago, nothing about a kickstarter then. Then suddenly a few days ago... a wild kickstarter for the project appears! So wait... you guys actually need kickstarter money? At this point it feels more like a "oh dang we're late to the party but let's jump on the bandwagon and see what happens", and it almost becomes a promotional event too. It's win-win, as in, they get money AND they get medias to talk about their game again and about "omg they got the money they needed in less than 2 dayssss!". It's a bit cheesy. Especially when it came after the game was announced a month ago.

 

[MoonFlare]

Spoiler :

I think like Maniacal a bit. But at least, it sends a message to the bigger industry that there is a lot of untapped business potential in the business of "listening to the opinion of your frickin' customers", and that there is also a lot of money available in unconventional games.

Lately though, I've seen some strange things. Like for the game The Banner Saga. This awesome-looking game was announced by the company over a month ago, nothing about a kickstarter then. Then suddenly a few days ago... a wild kickstarter for the project appears! So wait... you guys actually need kickstarter money? At this point it feels more like a "oh dang we're late to the party but let's jump on the bandwagon and see what happens", and it almost becomes a promotional event too. It's win-win, as in, they get money AND they get medias to talk about their game again and about "omg they got the money they needed in less than 2 dayssss!". It's a bit cheesy. Especially when it came after the game was announced a month ago.

It sounds like an extended preorder. Things like that should be dealt with. As for FTL and Wasteland 2 - both show great promise. Never played the original Wasteland but i'm a huge fan of Fallout 1 and 2. If they succeed, big-ass publishers may get some actual knowledge about what people want to see.

 

[The_J]

It hasn't been a month yet and I am already tired of this trend.

+1
If there'll be a lot of kickstarter news in the next time, it might be that I'll avoid them.

Lately though, I've seen some strange things. Like for the game The Banner Saga. This awesome-looking game was announced by the company over a month ago, nothing about a kickstarter then. Then suddenly a few days ago... a wild kickstarter for the project appears! So wait... you guys actually need kickstarter money? At this point it feels more like a "oh dang we're late to the party but let's jump on the bandwagon and see what happens", and it almost becomes a promotional event too. It's win-win, as in, they get money AND they get medias to talk about their game again and about "omg they got the money they needed in less than 2 dayssss!". It's a bit cheesy. Especially when it came after the game was announced a month ago.

Same here, but also about the last part, it's good for the project, and I'm actually interested in it.


----------------
But now again @ the topic:
I think another MoO or another Planescape: Torment would have good chances (the former sure more than the latter).
But honestly, where you donate your money shouldn't mainly rely on the game, but rather on who's behind it, and that part has been (at least in the news which I read) pretty neglected. It shouldn't be "game X is on kickstarter, donate", but rather "experienced team of people is on kickstarter, donate".

And I also wonder what will happen if...if nothing happens.
Is there anything which would prevent me from setting up such a project and making then a long extended holiday in Brazil with the money?

 

[Kozmos]

Fund science programs.

 

[OrsonM]

I'm actually working on a project that originally got it's initial backing from Kick starter. However that backing was minimal. I didn't start the project, my employer did and he got a bit over north of 5000 dollars. I'm probably not in full liberty to disclose the project's name, but mostly out of the possibility of embarrassment if the project doesn't go through.

However, that is probably a project that fulfilled the original premise of kickstarter: to help out small projects with some seed money, bypassing the usual methods of financing.

Most of these star video game projects are a bit of aberrations of that ideal. They are started by people that seldom need the help. And in the case of Double Fine, are basically to re-hash an old idea, not necessarily make an entirely new ground breaking project (their originality comes out of market comparison).

But hey it could be worst, there's a lot of projects in kickstarter (successful projects at that), that are nothing but full blown vanity projects (as such).

I would donate good money to see an updated version of Tiberian Sun though, I'll give you that.