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The power of the adventure game community and kickstarter
People I have become rather frustrated over the month. Not the most positive note to start on, but it is this frustration that has driven me to make this post. On a more positive note, I would like to point out the admirable aspects of the adventure game community which it has been my honour to be apart of. I am proud to associate myself with the adventure game community because no other community can match your passion, creativity, imagination and enthusiasm. You see all these aspects in every thread and post found here on the forum. However my frustration comes from this passion not fully being reflected within kickstarter.
I have been a backer of a variety of point and click adventure games. I have seen some fly to success in mere moments. I have seen others struggle to make their goal and lastly some that fail outright. What I do not see is a consistent and pationate support across all point and click projects. I realise that these projects vary in quality, however there are some great projects that have a level of quality that are not reflected in the number of backers and most importantly, the level of support from backers. Apart from the end of the OKAM kickstarter, I have not seen much enthusiasm in the comment sections. In fact, apart from the usual faces, backers seem to just back and go. Where are the great discussions and excitement I see here in this community.
I am currently supporting HM Spiffing. Again I see a minority of enthusiastic backers. I want to enthesise how powerful a community is. We all have a huge effect on these projects, from spreading the word, to just being active in the comment sections. So please, show these adventure projects the best of the adventure game community. If you can not afford to back just drop in at the lowest tier which is usual 1 £,$,€. If you can not spare much spread the word and if you do not have much social influence even leaving comments makes a big difference. I want to see adventure games thrive and this is one way we can do it.
People back the projects they seem fit to be backed. Sometimes it doesn’t even make sense why people back what they back, but as far I can say for me, I don’t back a project just because it is some specific genre. And even if I back it doesn’t mean I will be active in promoting it, or even communicating in the forums about it, as that would require the game to be something I’d consider to be something “special” at least on a personal level.
Like in the case of OKAM (Dog Mendonca), I backed it but I wasn’t that keen to be active in the forums. I mostly backed it because I liked the demo, the game looks great and the subject matter sounds interesting. But in the end it would have been all the same for me had the project failed or succeeded (which it did). And furthermore I’m more than spent on promoting KS projects. I don’t want to come out as “that guy” who does nothing else than tries to sell something.
I have to say Dean & Kate I’ve yet to come across anyone just as enthusiastic on Kickstarter as yourselves, it’s been humbling the efforts you’ve been going to to spread the word about our campaign for Her Majesty’s SPIFFING.
I can understand that it is unrealistic to expect the community as a whole to rally around every project, even though we’re all developing “adventure games” the genre has a lot of variety and some people may not be into one game as much as another.
It is very disappointing watching projects that have merit, that seem to be competently managed struggle or fail to get funded. However I understand that, as we well know, project creators have a hard sell.
Backers, on the face of it, don’t get the best of deals compared to folks that just buy the game when it’s finished. You’ll probably end up spending significantly more than you would picking the game up on GOG or Steam, plus (best case scenario) you’ll have to wait 5, 6 maybe more months before the game is finished and there is no guarantee that you’ll get the game you thought you were getting.
However, as a backer of many projects myself, what you do get is the satisfaction of knowing that you were in part responsible for a game that, in years gone by, would never happen. And if you pledge enough you generally get some cool swag 
Personally, from the perspective of running a campaign (have I mentioned HM SPIFFING enough yet? 10 days to go!) I certainly don’t get angry or frustrated because folks choose not to back us, or some industry superstar endorses somebody else’s project and not our own. Being a backer isn’t for everyone, but hopefully our backers understand how much we appreciate their support and know how grateful we are to have them, regardless of how many or how few!
I don’t want to come out as “that guy” who does nothing else than tries to sell something.
Sorry Tomimt, in 10 days I’ll stop all the self promotion spamming!
I understand and appreciate both your point of views. I know it is not realistic for an entire community to jump onto every adventure game, however I feel there is some middle ground where those that do back a project put passion and enthusiasm into the projects they support. Let me give an example with HM Spiffing. There are currently 505 backers. Out of these 505 backers there are around 6 people actively commenting each day. That means there are 499 backers that are not actively commenting, I appreciate that there are people spreading the word and not commenting. Now I know that people are busy and you can not expect everyone to be contributing in every way possible. However successful game funding is on a decline on kickstarter. It is more important then ever for backers to step in and ensure success by being more active with the projects they support. It is unrealistic to expect 505 backers putting in all their spare time and effort for projects, however I feel that 6 can be improved upon. I think that kickstarter is loosing its shine and people are burnt out shouting from the roof tops every time a project comes along, but I think that good projects are loosing out because of the decline of enthusiasm. I think people need to reflect that yes kickstarter is not the greatest next thing anymore but this project does deserve some of my time. For we all want to see our favourite forms of entertainment prosper.
We all have a huge effect on these projects
Do we though? I stopped believing that when the Capri kickstarter failed and the game was released 6 months later anyway. And then you have Broken Age which gets millions and still isn’t finished years later, with the first part being just above average. Maybe we don’t have as much effect as we think.
We all have a huge effect on these projects
Do we though? I stopped believing that when the Capri kickstarter failed and the game was released 6 months later anyway. And then you have Broken Age which gets millions and still isn’t finished years later, with the first part being just above average. Maybe we don’t have as much effect as we think.
I can only speak for ourselves Oscar but if HM SPIFFING isn’t funded this time out it will never be made 
We all have a huge effect on these projects
Do we though? I stopped believing that when the Capri kickstarter failed and the game was released 6 months later anyway. Maybe we don’t have as much effect as we think.
I understand your lack of confidence giving the example you made. However we also should not let individual projects reflect all other projects and allow this to form a stereotype that this is a typical occourance. Some projects find other avenues, Lady Luck does stop by from time to time. I think each project needs to be judge by their own merits and it is up to the project leaders to give us a honest and justifiable view of their projects. I understand there is a level of trust and hope that we distill with our investment. We also worry about becoming attached to a project and then eventually feel upset and disappointed when we see them fail. However we must empathise with the project creators, they invest their time and money also in us, in the hope that we will meet in the middle and help form their futures. These projects are life changing for the developers. As such they stand to loose more then we do. We also need to reflect on the stress and anxiety that can build with running a project. As will has said. There is nothing greater then the feeling you get when your efforts lead into a projects success. Not only does a game form into existence but you have provided a living for these developers and their family’s and you also ensure the joy others get from playing the game. I think for a small price and a little bit of your time, that is great value.
Sometimes its hard to be excited about “preordering” something that you know probably wont come out for years and will face an up-hill battle despite whatever they say during the kickstarter. Its also a bit annoying sometimes getting daily and hourly updates during the campaign from a project you backed knowing that once the fundraising ends mysteriously the frequency of updates will go down 99% 
Theres many many factors for why kickstarters do or dont succeed. What may look like the perfect quality concept to you, may not look feasible to someone else.
Its also a bit annoying sometimes getting daily and hourly updates during the campaign from a project you backed knowing that once the fundraising ends mysteriously the frequency of updates will go down 99%
Totally understand what you said Zane about people finding it hard to get excited about “preordering” as I mentioned above. But to pick up one what you said about updates suddenly coming to an end, for us (a small 5 person team) after our campaign finishes the frequency of updates will drop quite a bit but this is purely down to the fact that we will have to concentrate on developing the game. I’m running our campaign and social media stuff single handedly, I’m the most experienced animator in our team, I’m also the lead writer and designer and will have to return to my development roles once the campaign is over.
We just don’t have the money to employ someone to keep the community as up to date as we have done through our campaign. Personally in the last 4 weeks I’ve done very little development work. Small teams just can’t PR and develop simultaneously so I would forgive devs for this particular issue, although I understand for backers this can be frustrating as you feel that you’ve been left in the dark.
We hope to put an update out once a month if we’re successful to keep backers informed about how we’re progressing, but it just wouldn’t be possible to do them as frequently as we are doing during our campaign (in the last 3 weeks we’ve made 9 sizeable updates).
Some projects really NEED the funding; some others just WANT extra funding, I suppose.
Have I mentioned HM Spiffing? It won’t get made if this round on Kickstarter fails.
Bt
I can only speak for ourselves Oscar but if HM SPIFFING isn’t funded this time out it will never be made
To be honest, I simply don’t believe you. Seeing how much was put into the project, the relatively low goal and the positive reaction, it’s hard to imagine this won’t be made sooner or later. The problem is almost all Kickstarter adventures seem to be made whether they’re funded or not and funding doesn’t guarantee a timely release, either. Like mentioned in similar threads, the hype is gone, the market is saturated and many games are still in the making or couldn’t live up to the hype. I have to admit I was one of the people who only really started to pay attention to Kickstarter with Tim Schafer’s campaign and that seemed to promise something that many people wanted and wouldn’t get otherwise. Some people were sinking hundreds of dollars into those projects, because they seemed new, exclusive and exciting.
So maybe things have simply gotten to the way they were before or are still a bit better?
I can’t tell, it’s just a guess.
I do think HMS will be funded, though, and it looks ..spiffy!
I think that kickstarter is loosing its shine and people are burnt out shouting from the roof tops every time a project comes along, but I think that good projects are loosing out because of the decline of enthusiasm.
People are also burnt out from hearing about dozens of projects. The adventure game community is relatively small when you just count the people who are active in forums, even smaller when we are talking just about this forum. They won’t be able to fund a game alone and many will inform friends who are not active in the community only if they think it’s really a huge thing, out of fear to annoy them.
This isnt the first kickstarter for that game right? So yeah, id say its understandable to assume they might have more options and opportunities in case this doesnt work. Shrug. Some kickstarters really dont need the campaign to make the game, theyr just doing it more for promotion and to help them fund some bells and whistles. Like BoUT2, which clearly wouldv come out no matter what. And thats definitely a more preferable exerience for a backer.. BoUT2 has been releasing its episodes like clockwork and theyr really high quality. Really in some ways id rather back a project that didnt really need it
I understand and appreciate both your point of views. I know it is not realistic for an entire community to jump onto every adventure game, however I feel there is some middle ground where those that do back a project put passion and enthusiasm into the projects they support.
I reserve a certain amount of money every month to support kick starter projects that I think are interesting (this is why I backed OKAM, HM spiffing, Ice bound, and other projects this month, just for october/november, I’m at $160 which is actually over my budget). I do this because I want to support the creation of those games and I have enough money to do so. I also do this knowing full well that more often than not I spend significantly more on a kickstarter than I would have spent had I waited for the game to come out (alas if everybody made this choice, kickstarter wouldn’t be viable so I back).
So, I’m making an effort when I back a game on kickstarter. However, I honestly don’t have time to go around and do promotion for those projects. I don’t even care about the updates of 90% of the projects I back (the exception being projects I’m super excited about like Dreamfall Chapters). It’s not my job to do promotion for those games and it’s not my job to be active in the kickstarter comment. I’m already making a financial effort, I don’t appreciate being derided for not “putting passion and enthusiasm”.
I don’t even care about the updates of 90% of the projects I back (the exception being projects I’m super excited about like Dreamfall Chapters). It’s not my job to do promotion for those games and it’s not my job to be active in the kickstarter comment.
That’s very true, I hardly read any of the updates I get. And since my reputation is tarnished already: I find some of the chitter chatter going on in some of the comment sections on Kickstarter rather noisy and off-putting. I understand it’s apparently to get a higher rating on kicktraq or similar sites, but it feels like some people are having their very own private party and any meaningful conversations is drowned out. I’ve stopped completely to even read the comment sections because of that.
I don’t even care about the updates of 90% of the projects I back (the exception being projects I’m super excited about like Dreamfall Chapters). It’s not my job to do promotion for those games and it’s not my job to be active in the kickstarter comment. I’m already making a financial effort, I don’t appreciate being derided for not “putting passion and enthusiasm”.
Yep. Which is why when i look in my inbox and see a large clump of messages from kickstarter informing me of project updates, my reaction is “ohh, it must be one of the projects i backed that are still raising money”, and its just kind of annoying… i dont usually read them.
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