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Tex Murphy on Kickstarter

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Kurufinwe - 16 June 2012 02:13 AM

And done!

I would never have believed that Tex Murphy would be able to get over $600,000 (including the Paypal pledges) on Kickstarter. There’s a passionate fanbase, obviously (the average pledge is a crazy $86!), but the campaign was also masterfully conducted by Chris Jones and Aaron Conners, who pretty much did everything right.

I still find it hard to realize that we’re getting a new Tex Murphy game after all these years. It makes me tremendously happy (I’m just laughing like an idiot in front of my computer right now). Smile

They really did come to the table very prepared, and the fans stepped up big time as well. Tex was such an underdog, but this was is last chance and they seized it. Compare that to the Two Guys from Andromeda campaign, which was, frankly, a mess. It succeeded, at the last minute, because ultimately people do really want to see it happen, but they didn’t really prepare like they should have.

     
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DustyShinigami - 16 June 2012 07:51 AM

SO glad I was WRONG about the campaign not making it! Laughing It’s awesome that they’ve not only reached their target, but all 3 stretch goals and beyond, too! Cool

Kickstarter really kind of runs on pessimism. Or at least a sense of urgency. People always tend to think projects are in danger almost right up until they hit their goal, but it’s good, because it inspires people to put down pledges rather than just waiting for the finished game.

And that pessimism is very unfounded most of the time. Here’s an interesting Kickstarter fact: No project with more than 500 backers and more than 50% funding has ever failed. Out of over 45,000 projects. If you can get enough traction to get a few thousand backers and you manage to cross the halfway mark, it’s very unlikely you will fail. Look at Republique, Two Guys from Andromeda, Kinetic Void etc… projects that were trending way behind their goals, but had HUGE spikes on the last day.

Pretty much, only 1 out of 100 people that look at a campaign give. Many of these people are interested, but just figure they’ll wait and see how the game comes out, like most savvy consumers would. But when it’s down to the wire, a lot of those spectators get off the fence and pledge. That’s why funding trends are so elastic.

     
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May of already been said but the PayPal will still be going for at least another week if not more for preorders / donations. You get rewards like On Kickstarter too with the PayPal. Any extra funds raised through PayPal will go towards more content/gameplay, more opportunities in casting etc.

At the moment it is up to $14,385 (earlier today it was at $12,784).

http://www.bigfinishgames.com/support-project-fedora-paypal

     

Tex Murphy - Project Fedora. A new Adventure Game with Adventure Game with Noir Detective and Sci-Fi themes upcoming.

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Well that’s the most I’ve ever spent on a computer game, but I’m pretty sure I won’t regret it when all is said and done next year.

What I still find quite interesting in all this though, is that more people want a remake of Larry (who IMHO would still get made without turning to Kickstarter for funding) than a brand new instalment of Tex Murphy adventures.
No ill will toward anyone who pledged for the Larry game, just thinking out-loud here.

But anyways, unless by some miraculous chance Toonstruck 2 appears on Kickstarter, I’m gonna retire for a few months. All these concurrent project have really hit my wallet hard.

     

We may have years, we may have hours, but sooner or later we all push up flowers.

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Count me in as another one who didn’t think the campaign would be this successful. After watching Jane Jensen’s campaign and seeing what she raised, I seriously thought that Tex might have a hard time even reaching the minimum goal. I’m really glad I was proven wrong.

I spent so much money on this campaign that I doubt I’ll ever pay this much for a game again, no matter what it is. I can’t wait to get my hands on some of the physical rewards in December, partly because my mother is 100% convinced this was a hoax and that Chris and Aaron are going to make a run for it with our money. It’s going to be fun to show her the T-shirt and so on.

     
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Wow, that was a real rollercoaster ride. Amazing campaign and tremendous support from some of the most passionate backers I’ve had the honour to pledge with. I think the reason that Fedora has exceeded many people’s expectations and the total of other, more well-known developers’ campaigns owes a lot to the fact that this was about a new Tex Murphy game, not just a new effort by Jones/Conners on a different IP. Add to that the fact that the series were cut off in a brutal cliff-hanger and the sense of urgency by everyone for this to succeed was really tangible in the air.

But despite this, Chris and Aaron ran a very calculated, fun and inventive campaign overall. It truly was a delight to follow and I think they did well to endorse the incredible fan-made stuff that was being produced simultaneously making them part of their official campaign (especially: the NSF News videos and providing promotional material to one of their most vocal and energetic fans who was attending E3).

And I am extremely pleased that they managed to exceed their goal by a significant amount, I think Fedora is the kind of project that can benefit greatly from all the extra money it can gather and their minimum target was pretty modest to begin with.

     

No good deed goes unpunished

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I’m really happy this project was successful. I didn’t have a chance to play the Tex Murphy games back in the day but they were on my radar. I’ve loved seeing the passion throughout the fanbase. It’s the same with the Two Guys, Jane Jensen, or other projects. All those adventure game fans have been so dedicated over the years, and it shows.

That said, I’m hoping we get a nice break from “high profile” Kickstarters. If the Coles do a QfG sequel or just a new game period, it will be awesome but I hope they wait a few months. I think the AG community really is a bit fatigued now.

I also hope that the projects with less exposure can find success. I feel bad that so much attention is focused on the resurgence of aforementioned developers while some other very deserving projects fall off the wayside a bit. I liked how Aaron and Chris mentioned a couple of these in their update today.

I can’t wait to play the other Tex games in anticipation of Project Fedora.

     
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VoodooFX - 16 June 2012 05:38 PM

What I still find quite interesting in all this though, is that more people want a remake of Larry (who IMHO would still get made without turning to Kickstarter for funding) than a brand new instalment of Tex Murphy adventures.

Well Larry was the much, much bigger series. They sold many more copies than Tex ever did back in the day, and they got a lot more press about their campaign.

That said, just because more people backed Larry doesn’t mean that game will be more successful when it’s released. That remains to be seen and I think will depend a lot on how the games actually come out.

inm8#2 - 17 June 2012 01:49 AM

I also hope that the projects with less exposure can find success. I feel bad that so much attention is focused on the resurgence of aforementioned developers while some other very deserving projects fall off the wayside a bit.

I don’t think that’s the case. Big Kickstarters bring new people to the platform, many of whom go on to back all kinds of other projects. All of this madness has actually brought a lot of attention and dollars to the smaller guys as well.

     
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Frogacuda - 17 June 2012 02:08 AM

Well Larry was the much, much bigger series. They sold many more copies than Tex ever did back in the day, and they got a lot more press about their campaign.

Well I can’t argue about Larry selling more copies, because the sales numbers were probably 10 fold in Larry’s favor, compared to Tex.
In terms of sequels however, Larry really wasn’t that much bigger of a series, since it spawned only 1 sequel more than Tex. Smile

Also, I know Al is a much more recognisable name in the gaming world then Chris and Aaron and this really wasn’t the point of my previous post.
Just finding it strange that people crave more for a facelift (second one at that) to a first Larry game than a brand new instalment.
I still believe they would have made this remake regardless of Kickstarter campaign, since they’ve already announced it last October.
IMO they should have made the remake as planned, then Kickstarted a brand new Larry game.

But again, nothing against the backers of Larry, this isn’t a popularity contest. We’re getting many new games thanks to this and everyone can find something they’ll enjoy in the end.

 

 

     

We may have years, we may have hours, but sooner or later we all push up flowers.

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VoodooFX - 17 June 2012 06:24 AM

Well I can’t argue about Larry selling more copies, because the sales numbers were probably 10 fold in Larry’s favor, compared to Tex.
In terms of sequels however, Larry really wasn’t that much bigger of a series, since it spawned only 1 sequel more than Tex. Smile

When I said bigger, I simply meant the number of people who played them (not necessarily just the number of people that bought them, either, since Larry reached far more people than even its impressive sales would suggest)

Just finding it strange that people crave more for a facelift (second one at that) to a first Larry game than a brand new instalment.

They don’t. The Larry thing would have done a LOT better if it was a new game. But they didn’t have the rights to make a new game, those probably cost a lot more money. So this was seen as an opportunity to get Al working on Larry again, and it was the only way that was going to happen.

I still believe they would have made this remake regardless of Kickstarter campaign, since they’ve already announced it last October.

Well apparently they had tried quite a bit to get it financed other ways, but people were a bit concerned about financing an “adult” game. I’m sure that someone out there would have been willing to finance it, but I’m not sure that Paul Trowe (who doesn’t come across as a particularly savvy business man) would have been able to find them.

The other way to look at this is that Tex managed to raise MORE than Jane Jensen and the Two Guys from Andromeda, which I wouldn’t have believed if you told me a few months ago. The Tex campaign was as much of a success as it really could have been. I think to reach more people, we’re going to have to wait for the game to actually come out. If it’s good and the critics agree, Tex’s audience will open up.

     
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Frogacuda - 17 June 2012 02:08 AM
inm8#2 - 17 June 2012 01:49 AM

I also hope that the projects with less exposure can find success. I feel bad that so much attention is focused on the resurgence of aforementioned developers while some other very deserving projects fall off the wayside a bit.

I don’t think that’s the case. Big Kickstarters bring new people to the platform, many of whom go on to back all kinds of other projects. All of this madness has actually brought a lot of attention and dollars to the smaller guys as well.

You misunderstand. Big projects may bring more people to the platform, but I doubt a majority of these people are also looking at other projects, too. Double Fine had 87000 backers. A significant majority of those people haven’t been interested in Tex, Two Guys, Jane, or Al. The comparative number of backers clearly demonstrates this. And if you trickle further down, fewer of those supporters back smaller projects. I don’t hold it against anyone or think that’s a “bad” thing. It’s simply the nature of people not really having interest in anything besides the main project that drew them to Kickstarter.

There are plenty of smaller game projects that do not get funded. Of course not every kickstarter will succeed, but most attention does go to the higher profile projects. Many people I’ve seen around the web have a hard time rationalizing a pledge to someone who isn’t a recognizable name.

     
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inm8#2 - 17 June 2012 08:46 AM

You misunderstand. Big projects may bring more people to the platform, but I doubt a majority of these people are also looking at other projects, too. Double Fine had 87000 backers. A significant majority of those people haven’t been interested in Tex, Two Guys, Jane, or Al. The comparative number of backers clearly demonstrates this. And if you trickle further down, fewer of those supporters back smaller projects. I don’t hold it against anyone or think that’s a “bad” thing. It’s simply the nature of people not really having interest in anything besides the main project that drew them to Kickstarter.

There are plenty of smaller game projects that do not get funded. Of course not every kickstarter will succeed, but most attention does go to the higher profile projects. Many people I’ve seen around the web have a hard time rationalizing a pledge to someone who isn’t a recognizable name.

Trust me, big Kickstarters mean MORE backers for the small kickstsarters. This has been proven again and again. Kickstarter has done blogs about it. There are games that failed last year that have relaunched post-Double Fine and now made it.

Of course many, indeed most people who sign up for the first time to back a high profile project do not pledge to other projects. But many of them do, and those people wouldn’t have if not for the big project. Smaller projects in every category, and especially games, have benefited tremendously from all this.

Do you think something like Quest for Infamy would have raised its money before Double Fine? Pixel Sand showed how they were about to fail and then had a huge spike in funding right when Double Fine launched. What’s good for the platform is good for everyone using it.

     
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Frogacuda - 17 June 2012 09:52 AM

Of course many, indeed most people who sign up for the first time to back a high profile project do not pledge to other projects. But many of them do, and those people wouldn’t have if not for the big project. Smaller projects in every category, and especially games, have benefited tremendously from all this.

Absolutely. There’s now a lot more support for small game projects than when I started pledging 20 months ago. I haven’t read the thousands of comments at for instance Tex and Jane, but I did notice that people were often posting links to small projects and encouraging each other to back The Curse of Shadow House (I don’t think that one would have made it otherwise) and Lilly Looking Through, among others.

     

Now playing: ——-
Recently finished: don’t remember
Up next:  Eh…
Looking forward to:
Ithaka of the Clouds; The Last Crown; all the kickstarter adventure games I supported

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