The idea of Kickstarting adventure games is brilliant -- it finally allows the fans to show support for their favourite developers in a meaningful way; developers whose games wouldn't otherwise see the light of day. And if you don't want to pledge for one reason or another, no one is forcing you.
It's not all sunshine and roses, though. There have already been a couple of not-so-great game campaigns, like
Class of Heroes 2 Deluxe, where they're asking for $500,000 to translate an existing PSP game, and a pledge of $60 to get the game. Yeah, that's not going to work.
Then there's Leisure Suit Larry -- the Duke Nukem of adventure games -- but hey, if people want it they should be able to get it. My only complaint is the lack of transparency with the project. Reading their Kickstarter page, you never would know that this remake was already announced and was presumably going ahead before the whole Kickstarter craze began. Which makes it look like Kickstarter was just a way for the creators to save their own money and shift all the risk on to the fans. I'm not saying that's what
has happened, but for me there wasn't enough transparency there.
I think the one flaw with Jane Jensen's campaign is that she doesn't have access to the one game that people really know her for. That didn't seem to matter for Double Fine because Schafer and Gilbert teaming up was enough, but Jane Jensen's slightly more niche, and her Kickstarter isn't a simple one game venture. Don't get me wrong, it's a great idea, but would it have just been simpler to ask for money for a "spiritual successor to Gabriel Knight"?
