[Banter]

It is too bad jane didn't use Gabriel Knight as the centerpiece of this fundraiser. By now she must know exactly what it takes to license a 4th game, if that was part of the pull things would be much better. The vague suggestion that if these 3 games succeed GK4 will be more of a possibility 4 or 5 years from now won't get anyone very excited.

Just imagine how successfull would a GK4 kickstarter be. She would probably be able to buy back the rights and fund 1 or 2 games with it. I think she would easily get more than a million on the first couple days alone. Take me as an example: I donated 50 bucks for this and feel good enough about it. If this was directly about GK4 I would probably donate 500 or maybe even more. That is how much I want this game. I'm sure a lot of people feel the same way.

It is not that I don't want more games from Jane. I do. I even want GM 2. It is just that GK4 is unfinished business. Going for 13 years now. Until she does it it is inevitable that people who are fans of GK put everything else she does under its shadow one way or another.

[Banter]

I think this whole thing is teeming with marketing errors from the start too. The whole "pick 1 out of 3 games" has put a LOT of people on the fence, and understandably so because in a way they don't know what exactly they will be getting. These are mostly people who want new adventures from Jane but are not die-hard fans, they need to be sold better.

The anglophile concept has put a lot of people off too and like many of you, I still don't understand why that children's e-book is mentioned at all at the kickstarter. That is still confusing a lot of people, and thinking that a children's book is part of the funding is putting a lot of people off.

Lots of people on other forums have also been concerned about the recent explanation about the different difficulty options. Some people seem to fear that means fans of vintage adventures won't necessarily be the target audience... bad mistake too, I don't think any "casual" gamer is giving this the time of day. Difficulty options have been around for a long time(MI 2), but the way it is described in the kickstarter... "casual" and "true adventure"? Sounds really bad... appealing to casual gamers shouldn't be a concern with games that are obviously going to be funded by hardcore adventurers.

If it's true that press kits are only being sent by her staff now, then it is totally understandable that her kickstarter has not caught on yet. Chillax people, it will work. The worst that can happen is getting little more than 300k(meaning: it won't be as successfull as other kickstarters). But a lot of the criticism here and else is valid, things would be a lot better if everything was better planned. And that goes with or without GK4 as part of the package.

[Jaesun]

Originally Posted by Banter

It is too bad jane didn't use Gabriel Knight as the centerpiece of this fundraiser.

Because Activision owns GK. Getting that licence to make a new game is more complicated that you think.

If perhaps this Kickstarter is successful that could be something in the long term future possibly.

[Terabin]

I'll take Jane's word for it that a successful ks campaign for the new studio is the best way to establish a bid for the GK rights:

"We would love to do Gabriel Knight in the near future. Because that IP does not belong to us, it's not a given. Having our own studio, and successfully shipping a title, will make obtaining the rights more likely than ever before."

[Terabin]

Question for all y'all who are trying to get the campaign funded. Have we all done our part in getting the word out? Where have people posted news? Which gaming forums? Which blogs? Which social media sites? We need to get our bases covered in addition to the impending press release. Perhaps even more important than just contributing money is spreading the word. I would imagine there are plenty of Jane fans who have grown tired of frequenting game sites (and perhaps frustrated with the current generation of adventure games) and would return to gaming to support Jane's new company.

[Lhurgoyf]

Everybody likes the kickstarter video, but I got som criticism on that. Raleigh is surely cute, no doubt, but is there anybody like me who wants to see more Jane and Robert just talking to the camera about the project? Instead we got some cheesy acting, cheap visual effects and a rubber werewolf mask. Just point the camera at Jane and let her talk for 5 minutes about her passion for making great adventures with intricate writing. Let her talk more about her past and future games, her current situation, and also the future plans for the proposed business model. The money dumped into hiring the film crew could be easily given to the artist to make 3 more concept art paintings for each of the proposed game, so that we can feel more what is JJ trying to do.

Also, why she chose for her first season the sequel for Gray Matter (the game wasn't very popular to start with), and Jane Austen type of a story, which she's not known for? Why she didn't just propose the three new gothic style adventures that everybody wants and expects from her? Just take out the big guns right now, and then in the second or third season, you can start to propose some other type of games and ebooks for kids. If you want to get the finances, you must take out the big guns.

[Banter]

Originally Posted by Jaesun

Because Activision owns GK. Getting that licence to make a new game is more complicated that you think.

It is about money and nothing else. I doubt that IP is considered valuable enough to be worth anything more than money at this point, after all these years. Obviously Activision has no plans for it other than holding onto property like it is custom, they would not demand reputation, and if they did... well, aren't we talking about the developer that created those games in the first place?

Making a bid for it and using kickstarter to gather funds would work. Not gonna happen now off course... but it would have worked. Activision is not a monolithic and otherworldly mistery. They bartered with Telltale without complications for KQ.

Buying the rights back could be somewhat complicated, but licensing a 4th game? Not at all. Can't be.

Originally Posted by Jaesun

If perhaps this Kickstarter is successful that could be something in the long term future possibly.

That is really good, but it is not enough to make fans of those games open their wallets. I'm sure every fan of GK is supporting this wether or not they care about Gray Matter and the other concepts(I actually do), but they are obviously not going to support it as well as they would if GK4 was part of the package. It kind of is, but in the form of a very vague innuendo... that if years from now these games succeed we would be "closer to it". That is not good enough for most people.

[fov]

The press release went out this morning, and it has actually had a lot of nice pick-up. Here are some of the articles.

http://www.theverge.com/gaming/2012/...ng-for-funding
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/a...ew-studio.aspx
http://www.gamesradar.com/gabriel-kn...rter-campaign/
http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/04/05/ga...venture-games/
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...dventure-games
http://www.gamezebo.com/news/2012/04...ames-interview
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...re-game-studio
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/jane-j...c-and-tablets/
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/1...new_studio.php
http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/pos...o-kickstarter/
http://www.capsulecomputers.com.au/2...r-csg-project/
http://beefjack.com/news/jane-jensen...inkerton-road/
http://feedthegamer.info/2012-04-05/...ded-developer/
http://brutalgamer.com/2012/04/05/an...n-road-studio/

Yesterday:
http://www.gamespot.com/news/gabriel...n-road-6369623
http://www.adventuregamers.com/newsitem.php?id=2390
http://www.vg247.com/2012/04/05/jane...ded-developer/
http://www.gamepolitics.com/2012/04/...pported-gaming
http://www.bluesnews.com/s/131322/ja..._s-kickstarter
http://shezcrafti.com/jane-jensen-la...arter-project/
http://www.strategyinformer.com/news...-funded-studio
http://www.justadventure.com/news/13...er-jane-jensen

International:
http://www.golem.de/news/adventure-k...204-91010.html
http://www.gamestar.de/news/branche/...ne_jensen.html
http://www.gameswelt.de/news/158145-...anzierung.html
http://www.game7.de/7878-kickstarter...nden-25285.php
http://www.krawall.de/web/news/id,61610/
http://www.eurogamer.de/articles/201...twicklerstudio
http://www.adventuresplanet.it/index...ata=1333619986
http://www.oldgamesitalia.net/conten...no-jane-jensen
http://games.fok.nl/nieuws/535748/1/...projecten.html
http://gamezilla.komputerswiat.pl/ne...-kickstarterze
http://www.gbase.ch/global/news/1187...rma-52947.html
http://www.iamgamer.de/news/geruecht...neues-projekt/
http://www.jeuxvideo.fr/tag-marche-e...tu-485402.html
http://www.jeuxvideo.com/news/2012/0...ray-matter.htm
http://www.gameblog.fr/blogs/spades/...ur-kickstarter
http://www.videogame.it/kickstarter/...ckstarter.html
http://www.gry-online.pl/S013.asp?ID=67235
http://polygamia.pl/Polygamia/1,1071...e_na_gre_.html
http://gamecorner.pl/gamecorner/1,86...kosmiczne.html
http://games.tiscali.cz/tema/jane-je...e-studio-59031
http://www.gamezone.de/news_detail.asp?nid=109564
http://www.games.ch/7878-kickstarter...nden-25285.php

I think it's interesting that people are basing the success of this campaign (after one day! with 43 days to go!) and of others on what happened with Double Fine's. That was an anomaly, and it was awesome, but not every campaign needs to follow the same curve in order to be successful. As people have pointed out, Jane's fan base is different, and the situation is different (when Double Fine's happened it was the first, now people are being more selective about projects like this and the press are less eager to talk about it). It certainly didn't help that another Sierra game went up on Kickstarter two days earlier (and one day *after* Jane started teasing this announcement -- too late to change course). That's life... but it doesn't mean instant failure.

(Believe me, I understand the anxiety. I'm a huge fan of Jane's games and I want to see this succeed so badly. Not just because it means new games from my favorite designer, but because the chances of us ever seeing another Gabriel Knight game are WAY higher if this succeeds. But worrying about it and posting that we're worried about it isn't necessarily productive.)

Something that does help, though, is feedback on what grabs you about the campaign and what doesn't make as much sense. There have already been some great suggestions that Jane's taken on board (she's made some edits to the page and has video updates planned). Personally, I'm curious what led people to pledge one amount or another. If you're not, comfortable talking about it, that's totally fine, but if you are, what was it about the reward that made you choose that amount? (Or did it have nothing to do with the rewards, and was it just the amount you felt like giving?)

Originally Posted by Terabin

Question for all y'all who are trying to get the campaign funded. Have we all done our part in getting the word out? Where have people posted news? Which gaming forums? Which blogs? Which social media sites? We need to get our bases covered in addition to the impending press release. Perhaps even more important than just contributing money is spreading the word. I would imagine there are plenty of Jane fans who have grown tired of frequenting game sites (and perhaps frustrated with the current generation of adventure games) and would return to gaming to support Jane's new company.

Ah yes - this is also more productive than worrying! Something I have noticed is negative comments about the campaign from people who probably aren't Jane's fans and probably would never donate to it anyway. That's fine, they're entitled to their opinion - but it would be nice to see some positive comments to balance those out. I'm not suggesting that people sign up for a bunch of forums/blogs/etc and turn into that guy who just pops in to sing something's praises and then disappears again. But if it's being discussed on sites you frequent, you could always chime in on why you think the campaign has your support...

[Lhurgoyf]

Everybody likes the pitch viideo, but I got som criticism on that. Raleigh is surely cute, no doubt, but is there anybody like me who wants to see more Jane and Robert just talking to the camera about the project? Instead we got some cheesy acting, cheap visual effects and a rubber werewolf mask. Just point the camera at Jane and let her talk for 5 minutes about her passion for making great adventures with intricate writing. Let her talk more about her past and future games, her current situation, and also the future plans for the proposed business model. The money dumped into hiring the film crew could be easily given to the artist to make 3 more concept art paintings for each of the proposed game, so that we can feel more what is JJ trying to do.

Also, why she chose for her first season the sequel for Gray Matter (the game wasn't very popular to start with), and Jane Austen type of a story, which she's not known for? Why she didn't just propose the three new gothic style adventures that everybody wants and expects from her? Just take out the big guns right now, and then in the second or third season, you can start to propose some other type of games and ebooks for little kids. If you want to get the finances, you must go for it with the BANG.

[Arial Type]

Originally Posted by Banter

I think this whole thing is teeming with marketing errors from the start too. The whole "pick 1 out of 3 games" has put a LOT of people on the fence, and understandably so because in a way they don't know what exactly they will be getting. These are mostly people who want new adventures from Jane but are not die-hard fans, they need to be sold better.

I think that if it was for her alone, she'd prefer to make Gray Matter 2, as she has probably the story and design ready for a long time. But since GM is not that popular among fans, she decided to offer Moebius - a Gabriel Knight with a slightly different concept. I think that Anglophile Adventure was added just for fun, so we're really choosing between old-school and modern JJ.

[Banter]

Originally Posted by fov

Something that does help, though, is feedback on what grabs you about the campaign and what doesn't make as much sense. There have already been some great suggestions that Jane's taken on board (she's made some edits to the page and has video updates planned). Personally, I'm curious what led people to pledge one amount or another.

I pledged 50 bucks because I enjoy her games, even Gray matter with all its flaws still holds me. She somewhat threw a bone to us old GK fans, that also helped(even though it is a dry, chewed and tasteless bone).

I could have donated more if some of the higher options were better. Seriously, I am a fan of collectors editions, memorabilia... Why not offer cardbox games with such stuff? Like in the good old days? Participating on the design process or receiving digital design documents doesn't interest many people. A lot of people consider physical copies of games better than digital ones, that could be part of the pledge offers. It worked to great effect on the wasteland kickstarter(they offer 3 different types of collector editions).

I'm also personally interested in two of the concepts(Moebius and GM2). Anglophilia doesn't really pull me and a lot of people seem to feel the same...

The really urgent things that need changing on that kickstarter page are the mentioning of that children's book and the "casual" and "true adventure" options... that really is blowing it for some people. If people understand that casual gamers are part of the picture, they will keep a foot back. It makes sense to ditch it because I honestly don't think any of the pledgers are casual gamers.

[inm8#2]

Remember that the 1 out of 3 games reward is only for the $16 option. All 3 games will be made eventually, but you only choose one. You could certainly buy the other games later on, but if you put down a higher pledge in the kickstarter funding you are guaranteed all 3 games.

[Yachmenev]

fov: I´m missing Rock, Paper, Shotgun in that list. What´s up with that?

And you really should get succesful kickstarters, adventure game makers and Jane´s friends in the industry to mention this on twitter. I follow Tim Schafer, Ron Gilbert, Brian Fargo, Chris Avellone, Dan Marshall, Dave Gilbert, etc, and not one of them has tweeted about this yet.

[Borgar]

Originally Posted by Lhurgoyf

Everybody likes the pitch viideo, but I got som criticism on that. Raleigh is surely cute, no doubt, but is there anybody like me who wants to see more Jane and Robert just talking to the camera about the project? Instead we got some cheesy acting, cheap visual effects and a rubber werewolf mask. Just point the camera at Jane and let her talk for 5 minutes about her passion for making great adventures with intricate writing. Let her talk more about her past and future games, her current situation, and also the future plans for the proposed business model.

Agree completely, the video is unhelpful, they should have dropped the cheesy in-family goofiness, which was frankly quite lame imo, and just stuck to the basics.

[skaata]

Heck, this whole chain of events, kickstart, JJ, Gabe4 and so on finally
ended up me being facebook friend with Dean Erickson so no matter what, I got something fun out of it
And the nice fella even wrote to me and said that he was hoping for Janes project to succed but that himself didnt see him self in games in the future. Sadly.

Just a moderately fun anecdote to share with you all

[inm8#2]

Originally Posted by Yachmenev

fov: I´m missing Rock, Paper, Shotgun in that list. What´s up with that?

And you really should get succesful kickstarters, adventure game makers and Jane´s friends in the industry to mention this on twitter. I follow Tim Schafer, Ron Gilbert, Brian Fargo, Chris Avellone, Dan Marshall, Dave Gilbert, etc, and not one of them has tweeted about this yet.

That's what's really bothering me. Many of those guys have stumped for each other but not one seems to have given Jane a shout out.

[Terabin]

I'm going to be contributing 50 dollars because I support what Jane is doing even if all I get is one new game (I say one game because I agree that the kids e-book is not as appealing and think it should be de-emphasized as much as possible, for example it should be mentioned second not first on the kickstarter page under the "what do I get included in this csg season").

However, for gamers who are not huge Jane fans or who have tight budgets, I wonder whether they would be inclined to wait to see what happens with the campaign to decide whether to donate the 16 or 50 dollars. It would make a huge difference to some people whether the full season includes one game ($300,000 campaign mark) or two games ($600,000) as far as people feeling like they were getting their money's worth were they to choose the 50 dollar donation level.

[lobotomy42]

Originally Posted by inm8#2

That's what's really bothering me. Many of those guys have stumped for each other but not one seems to have given Jane a shout out.

*cough* Boys Club *cough*

[Terabin]

I've started a new thread for fan testimonials but I leave my original post here as a placemarker. If you have a testimonial please post in the other thread. Thanks. - Tyler

An idea for an update Jane could do: a compilation of supporter/fan testimonials concerning, "Why I'm supporting Jane's studio and kickstarter." Examples of testimonials could include: what Jane's previous work has meant to me personally, what sets Jane's work apart from other game writers and designers, why you trust Jane to deliver an amazing product, and so on...

For me personally:

I first encountered Jane's work in the '90s as a teen. I played Gabriel Knight 1. I was immediately taken with the unique gaming experience: an incredible twisting and mysterious narrative filled with characters I became invested in and driven by a combination of humor, suspense, pathos, and horror. The narrative was tied closely to the gameplay itself: the puzzles made sense in the game world and helped advance the mystery. I wanted to solve the puzzles not only to see "what happens next" but to help Gabriel out. I cared about what happened to Gabriel and Grace. The narrative and gameplay were supplemented by a Score that perfectly mirrored the tone of the scenes: haunting during the dream sequences, comedic when Mosely was involved, etc. The visual aesthetics of the game were vivid and brought the city of New Orleans to life. There is a reason why fans of Jane's games seek out the real life parallels to the in-game locations: these places are imbued with a special significance/aura that Jane gave to them through her visual interpretation of the places and creativity in planting her story and characters within those places. Simply put: Jane knows how to create a narrative world that feels so real to us as we play that the world sticks in our memory.

What I describe above is true for all of Jane's games that I've played. My adolescence was shaped by playing Jane's games. I put her games on the level of the great art experiences of my life, among the great films, great concerts, great paintings, etc.
Playing Gray Matter as an adult was a breath of fresh air for my gaming life. Jane's games have always piqued my imagination, drawing me into vibrant game worlds like no other. They are truly inspiring to me as fleshed out artistic creations. Jane is one of gaming's true "auteurs." I support Jane's new studio and kickstarter campaign as a token of my thanks and my hope in Her future projects. I trust that Jane will be true to her own artistic spirit in making games that speak to her, that inspire her. Thank goodness she has interest in continuing to share her creations. She is a true artist.

[millenia]

I pledged 50$ because that's pretty much as high as I can go. I am hoping for two games at that price which would be a very decent price but I will be happy for any of those games. And I like the e-book too, too bad my kids don't really speak English yet .