Adventure Gamers - Forums

I don’t really see how anything Jane Jensen’s kickstarter did has been any different than any other adventure game kickstarter that purports to let its backers in on behind the scenes info (which has been most of them, so far.)  She’s not actually letting backers make real design decisions, is she?  If that’s the case, I guess I’m mistaken.

I’m also not sure how one can say that Jensen wasn’t just relying on name recognition.  It seemed a lot more like “hey, give me enough money to start this business.  Oh and there might be a game or two involved at some point in the future.” 

Blackthorne - 23 April 2013 04:35 PM

Who JUST paid for MGX?  If you pledged Kickstarter, you really pledged for Moebius - and MGX is a bonus for you.

Bt

i take issue with this sentiment.
If a store does a “buy one get one free”, for all legal purposes 2 items were purchased. They made MGX a part of the kickstarter by using it to promote it, and $30 or lower backers have the option of receiving only mgx.
I think this may have been poor planning on pinkertons part. But it is what it is.

KatieHal - 23 April 2013 09:24 PM

Lambonius - 23 April 2013 07:05 PM

I’m also not sure how one can say that Jensen wasn’t just relying on name recognition.  It seemed a lot more like “hey, give me enough money to start this business.  Oh and there might be a game or two involved at some point in the future.” 

Is that any different than what a number of other similar Kickstarters in the last year have done? (or, is that what you’re saying?)

In essence, no—not really.  In practice?  I believe, yes.  At the very least, her pitch should have been framed better.  The “fund my studio and we might make a game” thing is, of course, an exaggeration, but that kickstarter was notoriously ambiguous, until it started making money and people started questioning the ambiguity.  Luckily, there were enough people willing to throw blind money at the Jensen name that it was bound to be a runaway success, regardless.

As for the other ex-Sierra devs relying on name recognition first and foremost, yeah, they all did that.  A few of them, Larry Reloaded and SpaceVenture, had solid, fleshed out game concepts to go on, though—but Jensen kept everything a bit too ambiguous for my liking.  I think you owe a more direct explanation (if not demonstration) of the project to the people you’re asking to pay you money, and I didn’t see Jensen doing that the way some of the other devs did.  At least, not until later on.

Hero-U was far worse though, but for different reasons. 

I just mean people WILL be getting MGX at some point - it’s not like they’ve said it canceled, you’re not getting it and you’re SOL.  I just mean that Kickstarter isn’t a pre-order system or a store - you’re supporting a project.  That project was Moebius, and in supporting that, you were supporting Pinkerton Road, her company.  MGX will be coming - she’s been transparent that there’s been problems beyond her control - I just think a modicum of patience is in order.  I mean, I too have pledged for it, and I know eventually everything will be fine.

Bt

Blackthorne - 23 April 2013 09:38 PM

I just mean people WILL be getting MGX at some point - it’s not like they’ve said it canceled, you’re not getting it and you’re SOL.  I just mean that Kickstarter isn’t a pre-order system or a store - you’re supporting a project.  That project was Moebius, and in supporting that, you were supporting Pinkerton Road, her company.  MGX will be coming - she’s been transparent that there’s been problems beyond her control - I just think a modicum of patience is in order.  I mean, I too have pledged for it, and I know eventually everything will be fine.

Bt

Except that her Kickstarter was pitched more as “Support my new studio, Pinkerton Road!—and if we get enough support, we’ll make one of three mystery games.  GIVE ME MONEY!!”

It was unclear enough at the time that many accused her of violating Kickstarter’s terms of use, which specifically say the funds aren’t supposed to be used to start businesses.  I’ll grant you, it’s a bit of a fuzzy line though.

Fair enough.  I can’t bring myself to have any beef with you, Katie, when I know that your mere presence here NOT COMMENTING ON MGX is probably driving Quest1 up a wall. 

Lambonius - 23 April 2013 09:40 PM

It was unclear enough at the time that many accused her of violating Kickstarter’s terms of use, which specifically say the funds aren’t supposed to be used to start businesses.  I’ll grant you, it’s a bit of a fuzzy line though.

Wow, I didn’t know that. It did feel like she was using the Kickstarter to launch a studio rather than a specific game.

I do feel badly for her now, though, but I think people will end up being happy with what MGX turns out to be, when it is FINALLY released. She has admitted making mistakes during the Kickstarter (though she didn’t specify).

(assumptions ahead) For whatever reason, it seems Activision decided to delay the announcement/release of their “mystery” game. Perhaps Jane jumped the gun in promising MGX info/release when she really had no way of knowing for absolute certain what Activision (the assumed MGX publisher) would do and when they would do it.

So, for now, placating the thousands of Pinkerton backers with updates has fallen on the shoulders of the POS team. Hopefully their Moebius updates will keep the backers happy and preoccupied and not wondering too much about what happened with MGX. 

Lambonius - 23 April 2013 10:22 PM

Fair enough.  I can’t bring myself to have any beef with you, Katie, when I know that your mere presence here NOT COMMENTING ON MGX is probably driving Quest1 up a wall. 

Not at all. I sympathize with all involved here. The more I read and learn about the situation, the more I can understand why some people could be prohibited from commenting.

KatieHal - 23 April 2013 10:43 PM

Anyways, I’ve actually been working with Jane through Pinkerton Road (I feel I should put emphasis on that part here) on both Moebius and MGX for a while now, so I really can’t comment on it. Sorry guys, NDAs! Jane’s said what she can publicly on the subject at this point, though. Until she can and does say more on the subject, there’s nothing more I can say either.

Hmmmm.  So you are basically saying that some of your work with Pinkerton is unrelated to POS, and that perceived limitations on your ability to comment publicly about this matter shouldn’t necessarily be seen as being related to your association with POS?

Quest1 - 23 April 2013 10:50 PM

KatieHal - 23 April 2013 10:43 PM

Anyways, I’ve actually been working with Jane through Pinkerton Road (I feel I should put emphasis on that part here) on both Moebius and MGX for a while now, so I really can’t comment on it. Sorry guys, NDAs! Jane’s said what she can publicly on the subject at this point, though. Until she can and does say more on the subject, there’s nothing more I can say either.

Hmmmm.  So you are basically saying that some of your work with Pinkerton is unrelated to POS, and that perceived limitations on your ability to comment publicly about this matter shouldn’t necessarily be seen as being related to your association with POS?

I’m not sure I understood you on that last line. 

I think she basically just said that there’s some crossover with individual people from Pheonix working on specific things.  In Katie’s case, I’d have to assume this means editing dialogue (as that’s her profession, or at least, used to be, right?)  But—and again, this is an educated inference—I’d say she just said (in so many words) that there aren’t any specific teams from POS working on MGX.  I think it’s fair to say that Jensen has been impressed enough with POS that they’ve become her go-to studio, at least for the time being.  What that means for MGX—again, we don’t really know.