[Majsan]

Well, I have just pulled my little straw to the stack by pledging!
And I feel really good, because I will at least give JJ a chance to do SOMETHING!

Actually I want all three games because I really think they will all be very good, because it's a JJ story, and her stories are always better than average...

[zane]

Another 130 backers gained on day 7!
That makes 3 straight days of stability. If we can keep it going and the vote puts us in the 200 range, things will look pretty positive.

The big picture: If we assume that by the time we reach 300k the average $ per person will be around 60, then we would need at least 5000 backers total. EDIT: that actually would be enough if we could continue to average even about 90 backers per day.

[TalC2]

Originally Posted by millenia

I agree with this and most of what nm8#2 has said. Many people seem to take offense from his passionate posts but as he said it is not aimed for people who are not interested on the project or capable of pledging.

I am not as angry as nm8#2 as I've already gotten used to how disappointing people can be. I also noticed this "nothing is enough" air with this project. Something isn't perfect but Jane instantly comes forward and explains it, fixes it and yet people just find something else to bitch about. Overall she's handling things very well and I agree that changing the vote earlier was a good idea. Hopefully we get more pledges when the game title is confirmed.

But like said before, a "crusade" (I am not really saying nm8#2 is on one, just lacking a better word now) doesn't turn their heads - but he has every right to vent his frustration about this.

Personally I welcome anything from Jane, I never thought this project would be Gabriel Knight 4 and honestly I don't even want it to be now. I want these three projects as I trust Jane wants to do them and will do them brilliantly. And then if she gets the rights to GK I will be extremely happy to get GK4 too.

QFT. Couldn't have expressed it better myself.

Just wanted to add that all three concepts intrigue me. GM2 seems to be a continuation of the first, something that was not a feature of the GK series as each installment provided a totally different mystery, so the cases were pretty isolated from each other. But they were all awesome and involved Gabe and Grace, of course. It would be interesting to see how Jane develops the story of the first GM, this time hopefully without production holes.

Can't say much about the other two, but like many have said Moebius screams GK (which is needless to add a great thing), and I love the concept picture.

Anglophile Adventure (a temporary title I assume) just seems different, and for some reason gives off the vibe of something in the vein of KQ6/Freddy Pharkas/Conquests of the Longbow all put together - in short, a synthesis of classic Sierra.

[TimovieMan]

OK, I wrote this a few hours ago, before the last 20 posts or so were made, so it may be a bit outdated already, but still:


I fully agree with inm8#2.
The Jane Jensen Kickstarter is a LOT more interesting than the Double Fine Kickstarter, because this time around we have no less than three game ideas to look forward to, all three of which are already clearly defined. Double Fine had nothing. No story, no concept art, just "point-and-click adventure".
I love Tim Schafer and Ron Gilbert (heck, I own ALL LucasArts adventure games), and I haven't played ANY of the Gabriel Knight games yet. And I'd still pick the Jane Jensen Kickstarter over DFA.

Yes, Jane's campaign didn't start perfectly. She didn't use her own name (or better: the Gabriel Knight name) enough, the CSG concept wasn't entirely clear, etc.
Yet all those issues were resolved within the first day. She's been answering all the questions regarding her Kickstarter since the start of the campaign, and she's regularly updating the page.

It puzzles me as to why the campaign still isn't picking up. I know the DFA campaign was an anomaly, but if you even compare it to the LSL campaign (which is about a remake of a remake of a dated game), this one is seriously underperforming.
While I'm convinced we'll make 300K, the goal should be 600K - less than a fifth of what Double Fine made - and I fear we won't get to that amount. And that saddens me...

Of course it could be a lot worse. I mean, in comparison, the Delaware St. John Kickstarter is getting brutally ignored...

Originally Posted by subbi

- gray matters performance and history does not help

How well a game performed has nothing to do with it. Just because something doesn't sell a lot of copies, doesn't mean it's bad. How many copies were sold of The Last Express? How high was it in the AG Top 100?
Also, Jane Jensen started her own production company and launched this Kickstarter specifically to NOT repeat Gray Matter's "development hell" history.

[inm8#2]

^ Never too late for truth, logic, and fairness.

[lobotomy42]

Originally Posted by TimovieMan

It puzzles me as to why the campaign still isn't picking up. I know the DFA campaign was an anomaly, but if you even compare it to the LSL campaign (which is about a remake of a remake of a dated game), this one is seriously underperforming.

I'm not sure analysis is really helpful at this stage, but here goes.

I think there are a couple of unfortunate factors that coincided to make this kickstarter struggle out of the gate:

1) Leisure Suit Larry had already been announced earlier that week. Running LSL and Pinkerton kickstarters at the same time means that they are, to some extent, competing with each other for both dollars and media "mindshare." (They both primarily appeal to fans of old Sierra adventures, a group of people that is not enormous, to put it mildly.)

2) On top of that, the Shadowrun kickstarter launched on the same day (or shortly after?) as well. Between LSL and Shadowrun, a lot of the kickstarter oxygen got sucked out of the room before people even saw Pinkerton.

The more people that you start with, the more potential friends and friends-of-friends you can reach over the next few weeks, etc. Since hers started small, it will probably never hit the momentum of many of the others. Still, we seem to have maintained a good pace this week. If we keep averaging $5k a day, we should be fine. Keep spreading the word!

[zane]

Originally Posted by TimovieMan

Also, Jane Jensen started her own production company and launched this Kickstarter specifically to NOT repeat Gray Matter's "development hell" history.

why why why are they outsourcing development
in the interviews jane said they were outsourcing development to someone theyd worked with before... so probably wizarbox... so.... not sure how they plan on getting these games out in a year when theyr already setting themselves up for complications and another gray matter experience.

[TalC2]

A query to whoever is responsible for the hype-o-meter corner on the main site:

why not put Jane's game? True, the game is yet to have been chosen, but you could just put it in "Jane Jensen Project" etc...

[JBS]

Is Jensen's new project depend on kickstarter fund or will be
released anyway?

[TalC2]

Originally Posted by JBS

Is Jensen's new project depend on kickstarter fund or will be
released anyway?

As far as I know, there's no reason why Jane's new project does not depend on the fund-raising. So yes, if you would like to see another Jane Jensen game, and have no problem donating - then I would strongly recommend doing so

[lobotomy42]

Originally Posted by JBS

Is Jensen's new project depend on kickstarter fund or will be
released anyway?

She has mentioned in interviews that if the kickstarter fails, she will try to get independent funding and just do it anyway, but there's no guarantee. Not getting any kickstarter cash would mean a delay, at the very least.

[TimovieMan]

Originally Posted by zane

why why why are they outsourcing development
in the interviews jane said they were outsourcing development to someone theyd worked with before... so probably wizarbox... so.... not sure how they plan on getting these games out in a year when theyr already setting themselves up for complications and another gray matter experience.

It's not just the outsourcing that caused all the Gray Matter development problems. As long as Jane herself is in control of her own project, outsourcing certain parts (and still following them up), should not pose any problems.

[Kurufinwe]

Originally Posted by zane

why why why are they outsourcing development
in the interviews jane said they were outsourcing development to someone theyd worked with before... so probably wizarbox... so.... not sure how they plan on getting these games out in a year when theyr already setting themselves up for complications and another gray matter experience.

It's said in the Gamespot interview that the companies she'd be working with are Phoenix Online Studios (who she's providing advice to on Cognition) and Signus Labs (they do casual games, and seem to have been involved in the bulldog ebook thingie). It was mentioned that the concept art picture for Moebius was done by someone at POS, so I guess they'd be in charge of that game, while the info on the art style for Anglophile Adventure (hi-res 2D) sound like something Signus Labs would be doing. I'm not sure about Gray Matter 2, but she doesn't seem eager to get back to working with a studio located halfway across the world, so it probably wouldn't be Wizarbox this time.

[LauraKat]

Originally Posted by Exore

If we look at the pitch video it is impossible not to compare it to DFA since that project was so insanely successful, however I agree with you totally that it should be judge on it own merits.

I don't think it's at all fair to suggest that the difference in success between DFA and Jane's kickstart has anything to do with the pitch video.

In my opinion the difference in success comes down to the following factors:

1.
Tim had around 50,000 twitter follows when he released his kickstarter!
Jane had only just set up her twitter and facebook accounts and did not have many followers

2.
Tim has made successful games in other more mainstream genres and as such has a wider name and fanbase.

3.
Tim has generally promoted himself as a 'name' in the gaming world and has built up stronger communication channels.

Just to provide a contrast, I think I'm right up there with one of Jane's biggest fans. I would buy anything she releases. I frequently google her name to see if she's up to anything new. I patiently and optimistically waited for 7 years for Gray Matter and ordered the collector's edition from Germany despite living in New Zealand so I wouldn't have to wait for the English release.

I am a big adventure game fan but I would say before this kickstarter I would only visit one of the adventure game sites maybe once a month to see if there was any big news I'd missed. The only reason I found out about the kickstart countdown was because my husband happened to be reading a SCUMMVM forum where there was a post.

The thing is, if Jane had kept any communication channel open I would have been right there listening for news as would many other fans, but those channels just weren't there until very recently. I would regularly check Jane's Gray Matter blog just in case some kind of update had been posted but it was so rarely updated.

I desperately wanted to have a means to follow what she was up to but it just wasn't there.

I'm not saying this to critisise Jane, she has every right to her privacy and to not keep up a public persona. I'm just saying that by not keeping up that public persona like Tim has, it meant she didn't have that readily available communication channel to publicise the news of her kickstarter. Tim hit 50,000 dedicated fans with 1 tweet. Jane surely has that many but didn't have a way to send a message to each one of them.

You can say that everyone should know about it now anyway because it's on all the news sites but I know that's not true. For example, my mum is also a big fan but she doesn't read the gaming news sites, or go to adventure game forums. I'm sure she wouldn't have heard about this if I hadn't passed on the news. I feel very confident there's plenty of other people out there who would love to be part of this but still don't know it's happening.

4.
People weren't just pledging to support a Tim Schafer game. They were pleding money to support a bigger message. That message might have been "Adventure games aren't dead!" or "Fans should be deciding what games are made, not publishers!" or many other messages that meant something to the person pledging. They may have just wanted to be part of the hype and the moment.

I think people feel like they've already made their point and got that message across now and they don't need to do it again for every other kickstarter that comes along. Tim's game benefitted from being the first (sorry Cognition, the first that hit the general public consciousness) and carrying everyone that wanted to be part of the moment in time along with it. It's just not realistic to expect the kickstarter projects that come after it to capture that same feeling in people of, "we're taking a stand, we're being part of something big and historical here".

I think Jane did make some marketing mistakes but she rectified them very early on. She's been listening to suggestions the implementing changes since this started. I personally am happy with the progress it's making right now and I couldn't be happier with Jane's continuous updates, changes to rewards, answering questions in the comments and all the little touches she's doing to keep the momentum going.

[Gonzosports]

Originally Posted by LauraKat

I don't think it's at all fair to suggest that the difference in success between DFA and Jane's kickstart has anything to do with the pitch video.

In my opinion the difference in success comes down to the following factors:

1.
Tim had around 50,000 twitter follows when he released his kickstarter!
Jane had only just set up her twitter and facebook accounts and did not have many followers

2.
Tim has made successful games in other more mainstream genres and as such has a wider name and fanbase.

3.
Tim has generally promoted himself as a 'name' in the gaming world and has built up stronger communication channels.


The thing is, if Jane had kept any communication channel open I would have been right there listening for news as would many other fans, but those channels just weren't there until very recently. I would regularly check Jane's Gray Matter blog just in case some kind of update had been posted but it was so rarely updated.

I desperately wanted to have a means to follow what she was up to but it just wasn't there.

I'm not saying this to critisise Jane, she has every right to her privacy and to not keep up a public persona.


4.
People weren't just pledging to support a Tim Schafer game. They were pleding money to support a bigger message. That message might have been "Adventure games aren't dead!" or "Fans should be deciding what games are made, not publishers!" or many other messages that meant something to the person pledging.
I think people feel like they've already made their point and got that message across now and they don't need to do it again for every other kickstarter that comes along.

Exactly. Tim's video and message went viral. He's a bit more plugged in than Jane is. Also, he's made a lot more games that have reached wider audiences: His Sierra work, Brutal Legend, Psychonauts, Stacking, etc etc.

And like Laura, said, that's not criticism, it's just that when someone who uses social media tools for communication regularly (Tim has a gazillion followers) plugs into a fundraising mechanism that is fueled by that mechanism, it's going to be a hit.

Jane's a bit old school - nothing wrong with that, but when she uses a new school method, there's going to be some growing pains.

...now, I feel a little red-faced because I thought her campaign would go gang busters in the same way, because I felt there was a groundswell of "silent majority" type people. I still do - but i think laura's right. They're not plugged in, and they quite frankly, might not be Kickstarter users.

HOWEVER,
can we hold off on the teeth gnashing until the campaign is over? Please! It's not a success or failure until the whistle blows, and it's likely a lot of people are waiting to pledge or haven't heard of it yet. Kudos to Jane for going for 41 days. Obviously, us old school adventurers take longer to reach. Probably because we live near old boarded up white houses.

Some might people (like me) might be waiting to pledge or raise their pledge (like me) based on what KS make it, and are waiting for 5 days to go.

And finally, Jane's video is not dark, mysterious, brooding! It's hilarious - done in the same vein as Tim's, just with her dark humor. I love it, and think it's perfect, with one caveat (I just can't let it go), it's a bit too long to go viral.

also, I hadn't thought of it, but I think Tim did tap into the idea that his supporters were part of a movement, a collective FU to the publishing establishment. This one is more of a campaign for those of us in the know.

I've supported and plan to do more. Because to me - ALL OF THESE kickstarters - are FUs to the publishing industry, and it could use it.

The best thing in all of this is that Jane will learn, the community will learn, and the genre will grow and learn by the lessons we're finding out by such an extremely intimate connection through Kickstarter.

I mean - this whole thread has gone in an emotional direction because of how close KS has got us to our games and passion. So in closing, Go Team!

[Branes]

Gabriel Knight, Sins of the Fathers is #2 on my all time favorite adventure game list, barely behind The Longest Journey. Both had engrossing storylines and excellent characters. I loved the humor in the first GK game which was missing in the other two. The way the narrator always put down Gabe was very funny in a droll manner. I've always liked Tim Curry and Mark Hamill was outstanding as Mosely.

One aspect of the GK games which I disliked was that all final scenes were were time based action sequences. I don't like being rushed in an adventure game, but I guess when dealing with Voodoo worshippers, criminals and werewolves, there has to be some kind of danger involved. Other than that, they were excellent.

I don't normally care for remakes, but I would love to see one of GK1, with modern graphics, especially since it is so difficult to get the original to run on today's high speed machines without using Doxbox.

[zane]

Hm. We just shot up 10k. But still just 1 10k backer.... Somebody made some sort of mistake... Either they meant to donate 10k but selected one of the other levels, or they didnt mean to do 10k

[Gonzosports]

Originally Posted by zane

Hm. We just shot up 10k. But still just 1 10k backer.... Somebody made some sort of mistake... Either they meant to donate 10k but selected one of the other levels, or they didnt mean to do 10k

I think sometimes the tier limits take time to adjust.

[zane]

^not this long.... somebody mustv entered a different amount from the reward they chose. Maybe we'l see them fix it (change their reward to 10k, or their total amount to lower)

[Lhurgoyf]

Wow I just woke up and wanted to say that cumulative 15k donations in the last 24 hours isn't bad (especially when the fundraiser is running its 8th day), but as you say, it's really 5k in 24 hours, with one occasional 10k pledge. I think in this stage of donations, we need more big-time pledgers to put this over the top.

But here is a theoretical situation: what if it's the last day and there's still 50k missing. Do you think that it's a good idea to bring an outside investor (for % share of the revenues, or % stake in the company) to donate the rest of the money? Or maybe Jane herself can fund 50k from her personal savings, to get the rest of 250k from pledgers - that the fundrasing don't go to waste?