Author Topic: The Kickstarter Blues  (Read 48237 times)

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Blackthorne

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The Kickstarter Blues
« on: August 28, 2012, 11:14:14 AM »
Well - it's really going into full swing.  The Kickstarter Blues.

I'm seeing more and more larger projects go up to the plate for a big swing - and coming back wanting pretty hard.

A lot of us knew this was coming; the budgets asked by people for Kickstarters started getting out of control, and the system (and fans) couldn't sustain it.  It sucks, because there's a few projects out there I'd love see succeed - but I just don't think they have the chutzpah to raise the hundreds of thousands of dollars they want for it.

Our little project got lucky - sometimes there's no rhyme or reason to it.  I'd like to think we did a good job - presenting information, having a decent playable demo and I tried to be available for people and to put a face to our group. 

So - most of the people here are Kickstarter veterans.  What do you think of the current KS trends?


Bt
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Lupin

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Re: The Kickstarter Blues
« Reply #1 on: August 28, 2012, 12:02:03 PM »
It is exactly as you say, there are some project's out there that are just asking too much. I think part of the reason might be because Kickstarter has proven to be so successful with quite a lot of large budgets. Tim Schafer's project famously raising over $3 million. So people think that "If $3 million can be raised, so could $50,000" not realising that in those cases, there were huge fans of the people behind such projects, so that is why the money was raised.


But naturally, there is also the fact that crowdfunding is an easy way out for a lot of people. Rather then go to the banks and get a loan, or investors into your project, you can plead to the public with minor rewards offered.


But then, I really only look at the books and games sections of Kickstarter, so I do not know what the rest of the projects are asking for and offering in return.

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Re: The Kickstarter Blues
« Reply #2 on: August 28, 2012, 12:24:20 PM »
The biggest problem is that Kickstarter fatigue has slowly been setting in.  Lots of people want to back lots of projects, but most of them are so close to each other.  Add to that the fact that some projects are asking for a LOT of money.  I'm backing Through the Fire, which is a movie project being done by Michael Dorn and a few other Star Trek alums.  They're asking for $750K, an amount that seems like too much.  They're not doing so well.  Even smaller projects like Reincarnation and Detective Grimoire had a hard time selling their products.  After the School for Heroes project comes and goes I'm pretty much tapped out.  I really should have stopped after QFI, to tell you the truth.
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Lambonius

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Re: The Kickstarter Blues
« Reply #3 on: August 28, 2012, 12:29:30 PM »
I think there's something to be said also for the amount of high-profile projects that were technically abusing what Kickstarter was supposed to be all about.  First you had Jane Jensen's "Send me a ton of money to launch a studio that might create an as-yet-unspecified adventure game," and then the worst of it was the Penny Arcade Kickstarter to make their site ad-free, which was basically the Penny Arcade guys playing a joke at Kickstarter's expense--except that they gladly took the money when it turned out to be successful.  That project, for me, was the moment that Kickstarter itself essentially sold out---they allowed the project, which was a blatant violation of their Terms of Use, to go forward because Penny Arcade was a high profile company and they knew they'd get a nice fat cut of the funds raised.  That kind of shit gives the whole crowd-funding process a bad name, and makes people not want to support it.

Frankly, I think Kickstarter itself is kind of full of shit--but it did work out well for us, though, so I guess I can't be too irritated by it.  Then again, we are EXACTLY the type of gaming project that Kickstarter was created to support, so go figure.
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Blackthorne

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Re: The Kickstarter Blues
« Reply #4 on: August 28, 2012, 02:30:15 PM »
Oh yeah - I forgot about that Penny Arcade debacle.  That was $528,000+ of public shaming of Kickstarter.  Which meant $25,000 for Kickstarter themselves.  Think of that.  OUYA  made 8,000,000+ - that's a whopping $400,000 cut for them!  Their 5% cut of OUYA was more than many projects made!!!!

Yeah - I feel bad, because "the little guys" get boned on this. 

Bt
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Lambonius

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Re: The Kickstarter Blues
« Reply #5 on: August 28, 2012, 02:47:22 PM »
Yeah, totally.  Though OUYA's success was more than merited, in my opinion.  It's a great concept--a console specifically designed for ease of development of indie projects.  I look forward to seeing what we can eventually do with it.  You got your hands on one, didn't you, Steve?  Or at least, you've got one coming?  I forget.
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Blackthorne

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Re: The Kickstarter Blues
« Reply #6 on: August 28, 2012, 02:55:57 PM »
Oh, yeah - I loved OUYA's project, and I definitely got my hands on one of those.   I didn't have a problem with that project - I was just reminded that for every successful Kickstarter Campaign, KS makes a sweet cut of money.  So of course they'd let something like Penny Arcade run on there.

Bt
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Re: The Kickstarter Blues
« Reply #7 on: August 28, 2012, 03:13:28 PM »
Except that some profits or cost cutting can be detrimental to the future of a business. Taking on something that can sour people on your business can put an end to it.

Blackthorne

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Re: The Kickstarter Blues
« Reply #8 on: August 28, 2012, 03:20:57 PM »
Except that some profits or cost cutting can be detrimental to the future of a business. Taking on something that can sour people on your business can put an end to it.

Absolutely - Kickstarter themselves can only profit from this for so long, until the bubble bursts.


Bt
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Lupin

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Re: The Kickstarter Blues
« Reply #9 on: August 28, 2012, 05:03:40 PM »
The biggest problem is that Kickstarter fatigue has slowly been setting in.  Lots of people want to back lots of projects, but most of them are so close to each other.


This is something that I agree with so much, but yet there isn't anything we can do about it. There are a lot of projects that I wanted to support and wanted to donate a lot of money to, but all of their finish dates ended up within the same two week period and I couldn't afford to do all of them. But that is just bad timing on the project start dates


Does anyone else find it annoying when celebrities make Kickstarter campaigns for things they should be able to either afford themselves or at least get the money through other means due to their celeb status. I remember Whoopi Goldberg did a Kickstarter, I can't remember the details, something about honouring one of the first female black comedians. Now nothing against Whoopi personally, I think she is a well respected woman and I have enjoyed many of her roles, but why does she need Kickstarter for something like this?


Kickstarter used to be for people, such as you guys at Infamous Quests, to raise money for various small projects, and that maybe we could have some input on. Now it seems to become just an easy way to make money for people.

Lambonius

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Re: The Kickstarter Blues
« Reply #10 on: August 28, 2012, 05:19:55 PM »
Right on.

Like I said, it's being exploited by people who either don't need it, or shouldn't be using it given the nature of their "projects," and people are starting to catch onto that.  And this exploitation is being embraced by the company itself.  By not being stricter about their own rules, Kickstarter is signaling it's own death knell.
Lambonius...Rarely has our moderating team encountered a forumite as consistently unpleasant as you, and you've burned through far more chances than you deserved. A person really has to try hard to be so obnoxious that they're banned from AG, but you've managed it and then some.

Blackthorne

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Re: The Kickstarter Blues
« Reply #11 on: August 28, 2012, 05:49:04 PM »
Yeah - that kind of stuff does make me mad - if I could have funded QFI myself, I would have.  Fortunately, we had the support of an amazing community.  If I had the kind of success Whoopi Goldberg has, and I wanted to work on a passion project, you're damn right I'm putting up my own money. 


Bt
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Re: The Kickstarter Blues
« Reply #12 on: August 28, 2012, 10:25:54 PM »
You guys all make great points.

Particularly this one:
we are EXACTLY the type of gaming project that Kickstarter was created to support, so go figure.
I didn't get in on the KickStarter (unfortunately for me), because I found out about it roughly a day or two after it ended.  Hadn't been around since April or so before that.  I do, however, plan to purchase a copy of QfI, and to support future projects by IQ.  This is not only because you guys are the kind of team that needs the funding, but you're also making games that are worth the investment.

SarahLiz

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Re: The Kickstarter Blues
« Reply #13 on: August 29, 2012, 04:59:17 PM »
Right on.

Like I said, it's being exploited by people who either don't need it, or shouldn't be using it given the nature of their "projects," and people are starting to catch onto that.  And this exploitation is being embraced by the company itself.  By not being stricter about their own rules, Kickstarter is signaling it's own death knell.

 
See, this is exactly why I don't ever check Kickstarter anymore (unless it is a link that someone has suggested on these boards).  I feel like so many people are becoming a bit greedy & not using it for the "right" reasons now.  Ha, that and because after my pledge to QFI, the husband kinda flipped his lid.  I expected no less from him though because he will never get the passon I have for old-school adventure games.  (We just have to amicably agree to disagree.)  Anyway, although I happily wanted to support the making of this game, I haven't really seen anything else so far on KS that quite caught my fancy the same way since.  And to be honest, a lot of the "goal" amounts are so high that it kinda puts me off...

Blackthorne

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Re: The Kickstarter Blues
« Reply #14 on: August 30, 2012, 07:57:31 AM »
Sarah - thanks for such kind words about our game.  You know, we really are just a small group of independent workers - we may not have raised as much money as other Kickstarters, but every dollar pledged MEANT something to us.  (Not to say it didn't to others.) I can honestly say to us - every bit counted.  Every dollar we made was not just financial backing, but it was an active way of sayin 'we support you and we believe in these games'.

I know that our game is going to be amazing - we've got an amazing team, and even now - it's exciting to see progress on the game.


Bt
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