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No new postsKickstarter reflection of succesful games in production
When Jack Houston posted 7 months later that they would be starting soon, I realized it was never coming out, or if it does, it’ll be a mess. Maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised, but I’ve more or less written that one in the “L” column on my Kickstarter history.
Well, he did release a lot of updates recently that you might have missed.
I think the seven month gap can be partly explained by the necessity to setup an environment first that permits a good work flow to construct the sets and figures for the game in. That had to happen before actual production of the game could begin. Jack Houston is basically like The Neverhood on a smaller scale after all. And we’re talking about an indie here who simply didn’t have a stopmotion studio before. Anyway, he has uploaded 22(!) public videos on YouTube so far that detail his work process.
That is true. The project starter has to keep a very tight track on what is promised as rewards and what the tier actually brings in. I’ve seen a couple of Kickstarters in which the rewards themselves were so costly, that there wasn’t enough money left for actual production. But those usually are first time “entrepenurs”, who have more enthustiasim than business wit.
Even if you do keep track of it and plan correctly, it’s variable. It’s not necessarily bad planning on their part, it’s seriously unpredictable.
If you get 1,000 $20 pledges, or 200 $100 pledges, you end up with very different amounts of money for the game even if the total amount pledged is identical. If Kickstarter had a way to set what amount from each pledge should count toward the fundraising total (for instance a $20 pledge for just the game would add $20 to the total, but a $75 pledge with physical goods only adds $60 to the total), then you could solve that problem, but there is no such tool.
Well, he did release a lot of updates recently that you might have missed.
I think the seven month gap can be partly explained by the necessity to setup an environment first that permits a good work flow to construct the sets and figures for the game in. That had to happen before actual production of the game could begin. Jack Houston is basically like The Neverhood on a smaller scale after all. And we’re talking about an indie here who simply didn’t have a stopmotion studio before. Anyway, he has uploaded 22(!) public videos on YouTube so far that detail his work process.
I’ve seen the updates, and remain cynical. They represented themselves as a “special effects studio” not as a bunch of hobbyists with day jobs to worry about, and I understand the reality that most games developed by people in their spare time never get finished, and those that do take a very long time.
Hm, isn’t that the same guy who also works on the (still unreleased) Star Wars fan adventure game? At least that’s what I thought, so he always was a hobbyist in my mind.
Edit: Stacy Davidson is his name and yes, that’s the guy. I didn’t pay attention to his professional background. Anyway, I feel the project is coming along nicely, so I’m not too worried. Also, the planned release date, December 2013, which hasn’t changed since the start of the Kickstarter campaign, is still a long way off, so it’s not like we didn’t know beforehand that the production of the game would take a bit longer.
Like I said, I backed it and I’m rooting for them, I’m just pessimistic.
But I’m not mad or anything, nor do I feel cheated. I’m not the sort to lose my shit about one or two of the 15 projects I backed potentially going off the rails, either. I try to look at the overall picture and keep my expectations in check, and so far I’m very happy with how the Kickstarter thing is going as a whole. I feel like the overall investment was money well spent.
Fair enough. 
I didn’t back for Jack Houston, but I am rooting for them, as the project looks interesting. Here’s hoping that the can pull it off.
Anyway, he has uploaded 22(!) public videos on YouTube so far that detail his work process.
I remember one of his updates said he was going to make a video of his progress EVERY DAY. He should get his priorites straight.
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
Anyway, he has uploaded 22(!) public videos on YouTube so far that detail his work process.
I remember one of his updates said he was going to make a video of his progress EVERY DAY. He should get his priorites straight.
That does sound a bit of an overkill. Updating once or twice a month should be enough to cover the progress. And even then you might be hard pressed to find actually note worthy things to say.
I think that one of the interesting things about Kickstarter projects is how much behind the scenes info we get, and I don’t necessarily think it’s a good thing.
Obviously we’re all interested and want to know what’s going on, but the reality is that in some of these cases we are getting to hear about specific details of the game, or even about the game itself, long before we might have done if it was privately funded. I don’t doubt that whilst people can be working very hard on various aspects of a game, there won’t always be a lot to show for it at any given time and this probably gives a false impression that some developers are just prating around with the money not doing much.
Also some things have been promised that haven’t happened (mystery game X announcement anyone?) Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t blame Jane or Pinkerton Road for that but it’s not a confidence inspiring situation when she has to spend time apologising that she can’t give people what she said she would when she said she would. Personally i’m happy to wait but I know many others aren’t. This has lead to a situation where quite a few people are absolutely convinced that it is a new GK game (rightly or wrongly) and that means that, if (when?) it isn’t, people are going to be disappointed with whatever the game is, even if it is really good.
For my money, it would have been better if we had not known about this at all until it was ready to be announced to save on speculation and dashed (even if unfounded) expectations. Although I do accept that when people (including me) have chipped in to a studio’s funding they want to know what is happening regularly. A difficult balance to strike.
3.5 time winner of the “Really Annoying Caption Contest Saboteur” Award!
The problem with Jensens Kickstarter was, that she originally promised three games, but the funding really did fall short and is barely enough to create Moebius, so the “Mystery Game X” was promised as a part of the deal to compensate those who paid more than the minumum to get one game of their choice. And because MGX is funded by some other company Jensen really is between rock and a hard place, as she can’t outright tell what the game is.
Personally I believe it will be an entirely new IP, but as we know nothing about it, I care very little of it at the moment.
The problem with Jensens Kickstarter was, that she originally promised three games
Pretty certain that’s not right. From the start it was a vote between 3 concepts - the one which got the most votes (Mobius as it turned out) would be made. If a stretch goal was reached, then those who pledged enough would get the 2nd game made. 3 games were never promised
No, the original pitch was that she would create three games during one “cycle” and on certain level you’d get them all. The vote was done because the whole system felt too confusing from most, me included. And that’s why on certain level you get also the MGX.
Confusing is the word.
As far as I can make out, a certain level of subscriber would get
...Packaged DVD versions of all our studio releases for this CSG cycle…
but this would not be all of the games suggested. I think I remember it being probably 2 games although I don’t ever remember hearing a definite number. GM2 & AA or whatever else could easily be in the next “cycle”.
3.5 time winner of the “Really Annoying Caption Contest Saboteur” Award!
That does sound a bit of an overkill. Updating once or twice a month should be enough to cover the progress. And even then you might be hard pressed to find actually note worthy things to say.
I believe it’s a general problem for (small) developers to properly assess, calculate, and handle the amount of marketing that a campaign requires. Many Kickstarters look like the developers were actually running merchandising stores rather than game development studios.
Also, many campaigns promise an—in my perception—completey unrealistic and unhealthy degree of production transparency, update frequency, fan-involvement, and even design influence on the projects, thereby creating some accordingly unrealistic expectations in the backer communities.
I feel it would be beneficial for the whole Kickstarter game funding model if in future all of those promises and expectations were scaled back a little. Small game developers can’t provide publisher-level PR. They can’t run gift shops. They can’t spend the whole Kickstarter budget on overhead costs, or burn the development time updating webpages and fulfilling orders all day. (Nor should they, as far as I am concerned. It’s hard enough to actually make the games—and it’s the games that I’m looking forward to. )
Small game developers can’t provide publisher-level PR. They can’t run gift shops. They can’t spend the whole Kickstarter budget on overhead costs, or burn the development time updating webpages and fulfilling orders all day.
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