[LauraKat]

I have no doubts it'll make it either.

Just got another $1000 pledge.

[zane]

Originally Posted by LauraKat

Just got another $1000 pledge.

Im going to try to put my happy hat on and go to my happy place, because i hate feeling negative about this.
But first, heres a tip if you want to get a sense for what to watch for over the next 24 hours or so: ignore the dollar amounts. a 1000 dollar pledge at this point is an outlier (and probably always will be). The real indicator for success is the number of backers. If that number is trending up, you can expect it to continue to go up because of social networking. If you had to choose between adding 1 person donating 10,000, or 100 people donating a combined 10,000, you want the 100 every time. Because theyr going to tell several hundred+ of their friends, the one guys only going to tell a few.
okay, *happy place time*

[diego]

Originally Posted by Gonzosports

"Jane Jensen's Pinkerton Road 2012-2013 CSG" is...awkward, and doesn't sound like a game.

Because it's the different kind of concept, with choosing the game. I agree it's a little vague and probably too confusing for an average player, which might be one of the reasons why Shadowrun which started at the same time is doing faster, not only looking at the income, but social network spread, which is probably the crucial aspect for these campaigns, no matter how appreciated Jane Jensen or another author is. That's why it's easier to come forward with a simple, bombastic game title or sequel, and i'm thinking if it would be better if this campaign was rather "Gray Matter 2", as it is already popular "franchise", and then building up from there.

[LauraKat]

Originally Posted by zane

Im going to try to put my happy hat on and go to my happy place, because i hate feeling negative about this.
But first, heres a tip if you want to get a sense for what to watch for over the next 24 hours or so: ignore the dollar amounts. a 1000 dollar pledge at this point is an outlier (and probably always will be). The real indicator for success is the number of backers. If that number is trending up, you can expect it to continue to go up because of social networking. If you had to choose between adding 1 person donating 10,000, or 100 people donating a combined 10,000, you want the 100 every time. Because theyr going to tell several hundred+ of their friends, the one guys only going to tell a few.
okay, *happy place time*

Hehe yeah the $1000 pledge isn't why I think it'll reach 300k, although I can see how it read like that. It was just an excuse to come out of lurking and go yay! Clicking the refresh every 5 seconds paid off!

I don't think it'll reach Double Fine or Wasteland 2 heights, although I hope I'm wrong, but I think 26k in 13 hours is a really good start.

I get the impression that not many people knew about the countdown page so I think we haven't seen the peak yet. It's just starting to hit the news sites. Jane said on her Facebook that Gamespot has a 24 hour exclusive but I assume they're going to start pushing even harder to get the word out there after that.

[Winterfury]

If I didn't know better, I'd think that Jensen & Co. plan to make small-budget casual games (the kind of games I'm not interested in at all). The kickstarter page gives me exactly that impression. The concept art screams casual, the analogy with the organic farm where subscribers get a basket of fruits each week doesn't help either. Oh, and then there's this kid’s e-book/game...

Please don't misunderstand me. I'm not trying to troll or anything, I'm trying to understand, why this kickstarter project is having such a slow start.

[zane]

Originally Posted by Winterfury

Please don't misunderstand me. I'm not trying to troll or anything, I'm trying to understand, why this kickstarter project is having such a slow start.

Watch the video on kickstater, and read her interview on gamespot. I know what you mean about the casual vibe, but she does say the reason shes doing this is because she misses making longer novel-like games like the old days.

[fov]

Here's a quote Jane came up with for the announcement materials, that didn't end up being used. Consider it an AG forum exclusive.

Originally Posted by Jane Jensen

"I've founded Pinkerton Road as an adventure game studio. I'm excited to get back to the classic, 3rd person adventure games I loved as a Sierra fan and designer. I've learned a lot over the years about what's really valuable in a game and what just costs a lot. I'm confident we can make rich adventure games, and hopefully a lot of them, without needing million dollar budgets"

So, yeah. The goal is adventure games like she used to make for Sierra, *not* casual games like she's been making for Oberon. (As I mentioned in an earlier post, Lola & Lucy is its own thing, and not at all like the other games that are presented in the Kickstarter.)

[inm8#2]

Well, I must say 416 backers as of 9pm PST is much lower than I'd expect.

Where are all the GK fans and Sierra fans? Al Lowe's project has 4000 backers. Are people wearing out on kickstarter?

The exposure on Gamespot and AG should have helped. I'm a little worried about how many people know about the kickstarter or are willing to fund it.

Someone above mentioned the marketing. I hate to say I partially agree. I love the sound of "community supported gaming" but it seems the project title hasn't caught people's attention like it should.

Hopefully with more emails, tweets, facebook posts, etc. we can spread the word.

[Winterfury]

Thank you, fov. I think it should be on the kickstarter page, written in big red capital letters.

[zane]

You know, i think it would be a good idea to put on the page maybe in update form that these are specifically not "casual games". I can see where someone might be unsure about it.

[darthmaul]

It seems sloppy and uninformative that there is no word on whether the games will be DRM free or not. I will not support a product with DRM.

[Terabin]

Before anyone freaks out about backer/money numbers, remember what Fov has already told us: the official press release goes out in the morning. That's what will bop around on gaming sites web-wide.

[Gonzosports]

I've spent much of today thinking about this and obsessing with the low rates of signups.

I really think
1. Using the tagline "A Year of Adventure with Jane Jensen," would be so much better than the current title which sounds like an address.
2. Why wasn't the quotation FOV sprang on this forum used? It hits people in the nostalgia, and makes an emotional connection when you mention the lost Sierra-style adventure - a tactic Brygo nailed when talking about the old school RPGs.
3. The child's game and the lack of a clear statement distancing these games isn't helping.
4. The video is terrific.
5. I don't think enough people grok what a CSA is, unfortunately.
6. I actually love the Anglophile concept - the market needs more innovation. While I love 'em, how many thrillers can the adventure market really bear? (evidently a lot.)
7. There's lessons from Chris Serellan's successful KS bid which could have been learned here.

I desperately want to double my pledge but I'm seriously nearly bankrupt from Kickstarter. But I love the CSG concept.

Good luck - the product/idea is a winner, but the marketing seems a bit undercooked.

[Yachmenev]

I think that it´s a bit shameful that not a single one of the people who are adventure game developers and/or succesful kickstarters have given a mention to this yet. Especially the adventure game scene can´t afford to be that picky that not this project is not given even a tweet.

[inm8#2]

Originally Posted by Yachmenev

I think that it´s a bit shameful that not a single one of the people who are adventure game developers and/or succesful kickstarters have given a mention to this yet. Especially the adventure game scene can´t afford to be that picky that not this project is not given even a tweet.

I was wondering the same thing. This should be much bigger news. But, someone else said the official press release comes tomorrow, so maybe that will change things.

[Oscar]

Personally I think Jane Jensen IS better than Dan Brown. A lot better.

[A.A]

My favourite part of that Jane Jensen interview?

GS: Tim Schafer and Double Fine made quite a splash with their Kickstarter campaign. What have you learned from watching that process unfold?

JJ: First of all, it was really intimidating. It was so amazingly successful, and it was wonderful to see that it was so successful based on that it was an unknown adventure game. But Tim is a god and he's done so many great things

I love hearing my second favourite adventure game maker saying nice things about my first favourite adventure game maker.

I'm not sure why...but there you go.

I was getting anxious before too, about the slowness, but that interview, plus watching the video on the kickstarter page have calmed me down a bit.

Plus...there's 44 days to go! That's a LOT of days!

[subbi]

I'm still not keen on a Gray Matter 2, but the Moebius thing sounds like it could be something GK'ish....

If someone, preferable Jane herself, can confirm that WizarBOX is NOT one of the "external" developers working on her behalf?
Then she'll have my pledge aswel.

And PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, never EVER make a game again with such awful cut-scenes as Gray Matter......you know with the weird style as if all objects are cut from paper, plotted on top of eachother and moved by a human hand
If you really must do comic-book style animation, then simply do it "Sins of the fathers" style.....even though it's from 1993, it was much much better than Gray Matter's! Or take a look at "The New Beginning", which is also quite decent.

[UPtimist]

Still no exposure on Finnish gaming sites. It's not a large audience, but I think Finns are pretty active in this front - also, our gaming press seems to be rather devoted, there's a relatively large crowd and I guess that it says about the success of something when it's not just major English, but also smaller and different-language sites that report on it. And it seems that in the Finnish press, when one site reports, they all do.

I should hope that they catch on to this.

The Double Fine success probably got the "ooh" factor out of this, so that might explain something. Still, I'm hoping that the press release gets going and gains momentum, and I hope that everyone isn't on their Easter break already...

[diego]

Originally Posted by UPtimist

Still no exposure on Finnish gaming sites.

Official press is still to come, so there's no exposure on ANY site yet, spare for AGs and Gamespot. Not even on majority of adventure gaming sites, i've seen it only on German ones. And one thing to remember is that gaming blogs like Kotaku, Joystiq and Destructoid are extremely important in spreading the word.