My main worry is that so many companies are jumping on the Kickstarter bandwagon before we've even seen what it can truly achieve. It's all well and good people cheering how it cuts the middleman, brings consumers closer to the developers, etc, but isn't it a bit early to celebrate when we haven't seen the fruits of its labour yet?
Whilst I have every confidence in Tim Schafer, it's only going to take that one other company to fail to meet expectations, for money donors to request their money back, and for future investors to avoid kickstarter like a rash. Then companies that could benefit, and meet expectations, may lose out as a consequence.
I'm not saying Kickstarter is a bad idea, but I'm surprised at how so many on this thread are so optimistic of a concept that's yet to give us results.
For instance, whilst I know this is a touchy subject for some, but so many gamers have gone nuts over the recent Mass Effect 3 ending milarky. People complaining that they invested X amount of money and time on a game to then complain they'd been cheated because they weren't given precisely what they were expecting. Doesn't anyone fear something similar could happen with kickstarter?
Also, anyone remember the Bad Brain Entertainment fiasco some years back? One man who made a great many promises which lead to complete disaster.
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Who cares how many kickstarter projects are coming out. If the phenomenon is such that Jane Jensen can make a new game free from the constraints of a publisher than the movement is completely justified for this gamer.
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Not neccessarily so. Some artists' stories have benefit from constraints of major investors, or from having been under some form of control.
This is certainly the case in the film industry. The original ending to E.T. left the story with the alien having died. Pretty Woman was originally written to have Edward dump Viviane back on the streets (amongst other gritty elements). Many films like these benefit from contributions and ideas brought fourth by their funders.
On the flipside, after several blockbusters, director Paul Verhoeven was given backing to do pretty much whatever he wanted. His next film was Showgirls. And anyone heard of Heaven's Gate? I don't consider myself a corporate whore, but there are times when constraints or input from others can be beneficial to the final product, and us, the consumer.
Sorry if my post appears to have gone off on a tangant. I hope people see the point I'm trying to get across, which is that complete creative control doesn't always work.
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If people are fed up with it, then it will die of its own accord.
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True, but if it does, I fear it won't do so quietly. It'll die with some sort of controversy.
Bottom line I think is, whilst I see Kickstart as a fantastic idea, it's a concept that's going to need trial and error, and likely some restrictions before for the protection of developers and investors, and for it to finds its place. I reckon there are going to be mistakes, and some out there suffering financially as a consequence. And with so many kickstarts appearing so quickly, the risk of several terrible mistakes my become quite high.
Finally, anyone wanna take bets on a kickstart for another Broken Sword?
