Kickstarter Gaming - for $10.000,00 you get a "don't steal my money" emoji

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Kickstarter Gaming - for $10.000,00 you get a "don't steal my money" emoji

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BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

Tarquinn posted:

The defense Grid pitch pitch was quite nice. Wonder how the got all the guys to feature in their video. (Edit: By asking nicely probably.)

If its one thing gamers have never been accused of it's being mature.

# ¿ Jul 11, 2012 14:15

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 19:14

BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

Either way: Mercenary Kings is coming to Steam:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/322438897/mercenary-kings

quote:

We've obtained our Steam Application ID yesterday, which means that we'll be able to release Mercenary Kings on Steam! We can also confirm that we'll be distributing Steam keys to backers who pledged $15 or more. This Steam key will give access to the PC version of the game and eventually the Mac version as well.

Now, I don kind of wonder: Will this help push more people towards funding the game right now as a Kickstarter, or will people wait till it (probably) comes out on Steam and wait for a sale.

# ¿ Aug 21, 2012 17:35

BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

Oh Mercenary Kings, (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/322438897/mercenary-kings) why do you care about OUYA support? Is it to get more people to sign up for the stretch goals after reaching the main goal for a system you know is never going to come out?

# ¿ Sep 5, 2012 23:28

BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

I'm curious, but has any one seen any good vertical or horizontal shumps on Kickstarter?

# ¿ Oct 17, 2012 15:36

BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

psy_wombats posted:

Hi, I'm actually the programmer for Rainfall. I've been working on and off for about three months now on a couple tools and engine things to get the game off the ground. It's a good team and the kickstarter moving along is pretty inspirational. So yeah, I think I can say it's "in motion," haha. Glad to see the reception is pretty positive, though. We were a little worried at first about the goal, but it looks like we'll be able to make a great game if things continue the way they're going, so thanks for the continued support.

This is a little back, but Rainfall: The Sojourn does look pretty good but please, please put up a short video of combat/walking around/etc. It looks like you are going to reach your goal any way but I bet you would get a ton more backers if people could see how the game is animated/feels.

# ¿ Nov 8, 2012 18:48

BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

I just noticed that I got a email from the Mercenary Kings Kickstarter that all backers should now have a beta/early access copy available on Steam. Has any one else tried it yet? It was one of the first kickstarters I pledge too that didn't have a demo and supported mostly on artstyle/2d gameplay so I'm curious to hear how it turned out.

# ¿ Jul 22, 2013 22:51

BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

Orzo posted:

Ghost Song: Looks great, but $15,000 sure is a low goal.

I think the creator is banking on a couple of things:

1. If he started the game in flash and then realized the constraints where just too much work has already been done with design/levels/animations/etc he can re-use/leverage.
2. He friend/co-developer Roger Hicks has experience creating 2d games (http://www.celestialmechanica.com/) so hopefully he has a engine in place to re-use for this game.
3. If #2 is true he can pay Roger Hicks to complete the game engine and just spend the rest of the time by himself finishing the art/levels/etc.

Or the creator just lowballed himself way to much to try to get some money instead of having none.

# ¿ Aug 6, 2013 15:57

BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

papasyhotcakes posted:

Ghost song has released a gameplay video
http://vimeo.com/72660711

It actually looks pretty awesome, the dash mechanic looks interesting and it also shows off one of the additional weapons.

Everything this kid releases give's me hope that this will end up being be an excellent 2d Metroid game. Everything looks great even in Flash so I hope it will be even better with the move to Unity and the art work and design he's already completed really sets the isolated atmosphere Super Metroid presented.

# ¿ Aug 20, 2013 19:05

BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

Oh my god reading the design process just released for Mighty No 9 for one of the bosses is amazing.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mightyno9/mighty-no-9/posts/589192?ref=activity

PHASE 2: INAFUNE�S FEEDBACK: posted:

�The Inti designs are too elaborate, and need to be simplified. Meanwhile, the Comcept designs feel a bit too restrained by the standards of the past. Designs reminiscent of the human anatomy are not a must here; instead of featuring a gatling held by a humanoid robot, let�s go with a gatling that looks like it�s actually sprouted limbs.�

I actually like some of the other concepts better than the finished product. (The Gat Skeleton)

quote:

(above) That dude at the bottom left looks pretty creepy, doesn�t he? And it probably didn�t take too long for the devs to realize that the design of the guy next to him wasn�t gonna fly...

# ¿ Sep 4, 2013 23:25

BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

With the way Mighty No 9 is releasing design updates, podcast, and behind the scenes looks they will probably made it to at least 2.5 million, if not 3 just as interest and hope about the project spreads.

# ¿ Sep 9, 2013 17:41

BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

Comrade Flynn posted:

So, I just got an invite to meet Inafune at the Tokyo Game Show. What should I have him sign?!

If you've haven't bought it yet the 25 Year Mega Man Official Complete Works.

http://www.amazon.com/MM25-Mega-Official-Complete-Works/dp/1926778863

# ¿ Sep 10, 2013 20:02

BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

Comrade Flynn posted:

poo poo. That's awesome. I kind of want something framable though...and I hate the US box art.

This might take some searching but the orginal Nintendo Power Megaman 3 Poster.

# ¿ Sep 10, 2013 20:10

BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

Wendell posted:

Nothing about Rainfall seemed legit. I mean, they were posting mockups without indicating that they were, hoping/knowing people would think it was a rad in-game screenshot. So I've always been surprised that anyone fell for that thing, but at the same time I'm not convinced it's a failed project. Anything can happen!

Edit: Because they appear to have had nothing at all done from the start it's no surprise things are taking forever.

Rainfall fell into that weird category of being near the beginning of games really getting funding through kickstarter, devs having a ton of care and heart for the project (or at least sounding like they do), and low asking price. Now its almost a requirement that either A: Projects has a working demo/show-able engine with movement or B: Experienced developers with name recognition. Usually both.

# ¿ Sep 13, 2013 17:59

BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

gently caress This Puzzle posted:

Glad Hyper Light Drifter is doing so well it's only the second kickstarter good enough to earn my hard earned neo-shekels.

But at some point kickstarters just have to go "the extra money goes into polish now" and not dream up further stretch goals.

I kind of hope he does what Ghost Song did when it reached a certain kickstarter goal: Hire additional people to off-load work too. Now I know that is not possible for all kickstarters (especially with large teams already in place) but for small/single person kickstarters it would be the perfect way to expand the project without stretching the original crew too much.

# ¿ Sep 18, 2013 15:14

BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

diadem posted:

Sadly, people don't seem to be too concerned about that bit. I mean hell, Ouya's big thing was that they can't say who is working on it because they don't want to lose their day jobs and they got millions.

There seems to be a huge disconnect with people understanding what the differences between a top developer and a junior or bad deveoper actually are. According to studies, there's a 10x productivity/stability gain between each level, and that type of scaling grows very quickly. On top of that, any dev worth their salt can easily get a 90k-130+k/year job without blinking assuming they don't live in the middle of nowhere, should they choose to. Remember that even with the economy there is a serious drought on development talent - quickly reaching a gap of about 40,000 additional unfilled jobs a year due to lack of talent to fill them. So now you've got a cost issue to take into consideration if your team doesn't have experience devs working on passion. Not only for building stuff, but to understanding how the world works in reality with practice/theory. Sure you have some talented kids out there and there are things like unity to help people along, but the idea is that you can grab someone off the street and make them a dev on par with someone like Carmack is aggravating.

Do you have a name/link to the studies?

# ¿ Sep 20, 2013 17:30

BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

cisneros posted:

WayForward is giving away Shantae: Risky�s Revenge for free on iOS as part of their Kickstarter campaign, with a new costume included.

They also started a dance party with pretty much every other 2d platformer kickstarter out there.

BexGu fucked around with this message at 04:24 on Sep 21, 2013

# ¿ Sep 21, 2013 03:30

BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

mpashanin posted:

Great question.
We basically hand-pick the talent after a ton of scouting on the internet. Every one is a contract-based employee except legal help and accounting, but we would LOVE to hire those guys full-time.
Unfortunately so far this is not possible. But one can dream!!11

Does this mean its going to be easier to farm out certain areas of development if you guys start to meet stretch goal? I would had to see that getting more money would mean it would take longer for the game to come out.

# ¿ Oct 29, 2013 15:54

BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

DaveWoo posted:

Yeah, that's the one. Looks like they made double their goal. That's about what I expected.

Edit: Hahaha, that "Thank You" image on their page. These guys know their audience so well

quote:

$40,000 - Bedroom Minigame: I'd love to include a special minigame that's triggered after successful dates where you can interact with your date in a whole new way.

This dirty mother-fuckers know everything on how to bust open as much money as possible from a nitch market.

# ¿ Oct 31, 2013 17:59

BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

miguelito posted:

Now this might be a question of galloping retardedness, but uh, is Huniepop actually going to be a soft porn/porn game?
There's uncountable amounts of nudging/winking and about a billion straightforward hentai things like love pillows - which might be half ironic or completely serious.

I realize they're not going to state things outright because KS is, well, peculiar in what they allow and won't allow, but at this point I'm just genuinely curious.

EDIT: OH GOD WHY

EDIT EDIT: There's even an uncropped version of that showing 'toe.

Look into your heart. This is a stretch goal that was recently reached:

$40,000 - Bedroom Minigame: I'd love to include a special minigame that's triggered after successful dates where you can interact with your date in a whole new way.

Special Minigame. Its another hentai porn game that Fire can try to defend again.

# ¿ Oct 31, 2013 19:26

BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

So Confederate Express just released a Tech Demo: http://confederate-express.appspot.com/

I really like how everything is coming together with this game, from the lighting, environment damage, and how the zombies fall apart from taking damage from different angles of gunfire.

# ¿ Nov 9, 2013 16:08

BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

Has any one seen any updates on when Shovel Knight is suppose to come out? All I kept seeing was Winter 2013. Has the date slipped?

# ¿ Nov 27, 2013 14:37

BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

So it looks like Shovel Knight will launch early next year (I really hope this means some time in Jan): http://www.destructoid.com/shovel-knight-confirmed-for-release-in-early-2014-266630.phtml

quote:

Shovel Knight will launch early next year, Sean Velasco of Yacht Club Games confirmed to Destructoid.

The development team is presently working around the clock as the project approaches its alpha phase. Velasco says the game's various facets are starting to coalesce into a singular product. Even ornaments like stereoscopic effects on Nintendo 3DS sound like they're coming along nicely.

Once the title launches later this winter, the stretch goal content will be delivered as free updates a few months after release. Those features include a challenge mode, local multiplayer, boss campaigns, and gender swap mode.

I really don't have a problem releasing the game and releasing the stretch goals as updates after the release. Some times stretch goals feel wayyyyy to much like programming bloat and I would rather just get the core game first.

# ¿ Nov 30, 2013 16:20

BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

So yeah, Rainfall: The Sojourn is well and truly dead. (Sorry for the long post I believe this was sent to the backers only).

quote:

To the Kickstarter Backers,

I'd like to first off formally apologize for the lack of updates as of late. It seems this project had it's ups and downs, but mostly downs. I'm not really expecting people to accept a formal apology at this point in time as my lack of communication has done more harm then good. But I cannot in good conscious leave people in the dark.

I'd like to first talk about how the project started. I think these details are important as it highlights what went wrong.

I'd like to talk about the project and how it ultimately came to this state. I've been planned out the direction of this project since 2012. However, prior to that I've worked on test projects and one large epic RPG game in (which I knew would never come to fruition because of the size of the project). These games were traditional JRPG like games with an emphasis on story and good scenario writing. I mostly used whatever engine fit best be it RPG Maker or Game Maker. Psy_Wombats was interested in working on a game with me but didn't want to use any pre-existing engine. This worked out well for me because I found the engines available were kind of limiting (I tested several).

This is turn expanded the scope of what was once a small game. With Rainfall, I took on the challenge of making an action battle system that I felt had sound game design concepts. I was never into 2d action rpgs in general because of how seemingly random the battles were and how the input felt like button smashing.

It meant a lot to me and it was really an attempt to put myself out there and my ideas. I felt like a lot of my ideas and game concepts had potential to be something special. Admittedly, I was out of my comfort zone with regards to creating an Action RPG. However, this was my prime motivator for me at the time and it was what interested me most about the project.

I started making the project on my own, all of the assets! Unfortunately, I'm more of the jack of all trades. Writing is my favorite thing to do. Game design and writing seems to take a background role when it comes to game development for some reason. It fits my personality so I didn't mind, in fact for Rainfall that's exactly what I wanted.

When I contacted the lead pixel artist he took my art and produced art that not only complemented the game, it stayed true to most of what I imagined the game would visually look like. I worked along side him and still helped produce art. What made me most excited was how professional he was and how fast he finished products. The fact that had such amazing skills with regards to art direction was a huge bonus. He just "got" it.

He also had his own motivation to explore the art form and referenced many mediums. I didn't want just an artist for hire, I wanted someone who not only believed in the concept but also had their own artistic endeavors, ideas, a team member who I could bounce ideas off of. I gave him a lot of creative freedom to explore his ideas at the same time. This was the best feeling as he is an individual who has produced assets for professional studios. He told me his art for Rainfall was some of the best art he has ever produced. That liberating feeling of doing what you want is the best thing ever.

I approached Alex our composer after we had a general look and he was humbled and honored to join the team. He came from a project that died after years of development and explained to me how much he wanted his music to be part of a good game. I linked him music he produced had recently made at the time using SNES sound fonts created by a friend of his. I wanted music like that and I realized he was very talented and his music showed a lot of heart.

However, when he signed on to Rainfall team he wanted to make music that differed from what I had outlined would fit the project more. At times I felt his music sounded too high quality with the reverb and so on and that we should stick to creating music that fit the game project setting more (rather then good standalone music). We originally agreed on more of a playstation one type of soundtrack in terms of sound quality.

He submitted his first track and it was all over the place. It sounded like an orchestral for a movie soundtrack. Though it had some amazing ideas. Nonetheless, He seem to have taken this personally and didn't want to be told how to make music.

I backed off, and he continued to produce for the project. Alex is the type of person who needs guidance and direction, starkly different than the lead artist Matt. He's a timid individual and I guess even with LOTS OF REASSURANCE from me he didn't feel valued. Though he never told me this. He kept taking LONG breaks between producing songs. He was hardly around (chat, skype, etc) and was having personal life issues. I mostly spoke to him through email which I found to be too formal. I wanted to work with everyone closely. He never let me in.

I tried my best, I gave both critical feedback and provided details to what the next "sound" should be like, or the direction I felt matched the game. The best entries to me were Sol E Chuva and Seasonal Dew which we talked about the most. I felt that "Into the Fray" had a similar vibe to "The Opened Way" (Shadows of Colossus) and he admitted that influenced it a lot. We laughed, it seemed things were good.

In all honesty, I would be lying if I said I didn't want to compose the album myself originally. I was doing it on my own at first anyways. Composing is something I want to become better at and I dream about producing my own full soundtrack in the future. I found a direction, the type of sound I wanted to hear for Rainfall. It's what actually influenced my writing a lot. Music and writing became some sort of spiritual high for me, a journey...

I put all that on the back-burner to produce a cool indie game I could be proud of. Rainfall is a pretty niche. There isn't many games out there like Secret of Mana series anymore. I was willing to get a team and share the experience.

Kickstarter was one of the prime motivators for me because it was a great way to not only get exposure, get financial help, but to also to convince the team members I recruit that the project was worth working on. If it failed, so be it I would have walked away and work on another project and released it myself.

I produce music very slowly so I wanted someone dedicated to the job. Alex was technically more experienced too, there's no argument there. I could see the difference in our level of skill. He was the better composer and thus I was comfortable with him taking over the role. I wasn't comfortable producing music publicly anyways. I do not call myself a composer, that's a heavy title!

If you ever composed music yourself, you may relate to the pressure of not feeling like you're not good enough. Besides, it felt weird to share the job anyways. I felt it would be best if we divided up the tasks. He was the man for the job. That's how all the greats like Hironobu Sakaguchi made those classical retro games we will probably never ever forget.

I knew developing a game with a team could be fickle. I knew it was one of those things that if you really wanted to make things work as a team, you had to find the right people, let people do their assigned work, and give them some room to breathe as well. Alex wanted control of the soundtrack so I gave up that role entirely. It was also agreed that he'd also do the sound effects as well.

Jdarnel was the original graphical artist for Rainfall who adapted my Talyssa's and Aile's designs. She never seemed that interested in project, was just making ends meet. She took ages to produce anything and eventually left due to her health. As much as I liked her art (some backers did too), it was best to find a replacement. Though in this case I had no other options.

Yuko Rabbit is someone who was recommended to me. Indie game scene is a small community and it was the lead designer of Americana Dawn who recommended her to me as we have been friends for a long time. I helped her find her current graphical artist for her game project, it worked out perfectly for both of us!

Yuko I can say has honestly been the best addition. She's so professional and humble and just an all around great person to work with. She normally does professional work for bigger fish but she actually liked my ideas and we complemented each other well. Overall, great rapport!

She was also kind of enough to forward any messages backers sent her my way. Really, please don't give her a hard time she's a really kind of soul .

Things were looking great with our full team. Psy worked on the engine and has always been quick to implement features once things were working. Yuko gave good timelines and honored her word.

The Lead Pixel Artist and Composer who ultimately left the project.

Despite the good rapport I had with both our lead composer and lead pixel artist. They did not honor timelines. In fact, they seemingly worked at their own pace which spells disaster for game development as you may know. Once the tasks were divided up and I posted their work - My hands were tied. I couldn't just take over their jobs! I couldn't just replace them!

A lot of the backers admitted that they loved the soundtrack. I didn't want to replace the any art or music with someone else's work. You backers backed this game to hear that music and play the game I presented in the Kickstarter Advertisement. I mentioned how I wanted to scale back the project (as it was originally designed) but stuck with the current iteration regardless.

I really hate changing things around. In hindsight, it was probably the best course of action but I felt like I could make it work.

My job is to take assets and implement them. This includes level design, implementing the characters and ultimately implementing ALL of the gameplay. Psy_wombats was the one that made sure they worked. Besides this, I am in charge of the direction of the story and the asset creation. I felt my role was big but it felt small because of how slow things were going. These type of things is like cancer for game development.

I gave out tasks to create assets which were NEEDED to progress the game development. Assets were made but at a SLOW pace.

Alex apologized to me several times for taking long with things, remember he was ultimately also responsible for sound effects as well. But honestly, to me I felt like when it came to game development... A soundtrack isn't something that has to be finished as soon as possible.

Though, over time I realized that he literally stop producing work all together. I could have found a solution if he was upfront instead of the runaround.

Matt (as professional and TALENTED as he was) was working on too many other projects. He gave me hints that he was overwhelmed but he has never openly said that he was. If he was, I would have replaced him because it was necessary. You can't make a game without assets. I asked him if he was ready before I posted the Kickstarter ad, he said that he was.

Contractual work was obviously needed here but I didn't feel like I wanted to hold my teammates hostage. I actually trusted them. They were more than teammates, they were people helping me achieve a childhood dream. This was clearly my mistake, one of several I made.

I never wanted to replace anyone, I felt like the project would be made with these people who I considered friends or it would die. Deep down my gut feeling back in February / March, when the lead Pixel artist seemingly disappeared for quite some time, was that I should have replaced him.

I was charmed by his work and I did not believe he would quit the project. He's a really nice guy and we worked so well together especially bouncing ideas off each other and splitting jobs. He seem too good to do something like that considered he agreed to stay. We worked so well together as well and produced good products when he was working. He also promised he'd produce things several times and kept delaying things. Stuff came, but really late. That's what just kept taking this project down, slow progression and empty promises.

Still, what was I to do? Blame a team member in public? I would not do that ever, even if I took the blame. I thought he would recognize what I was doing. As lead, this is just the burden of responsibility you assume. You can't blame a team member publicly then expect them to stick around and work. Close friends I knew told me to just immediately replace people who didn't produce, it was a tough call regardless.

I couldn't do it. I couldn't cycle through a bunch of artists, I just couldn't bear that. I knew someone in that scenario and I didn't really help much doing that either.

Nonetheless, I honestly felt like I had no power over the project anymore, this was also when Kickstarter backers were asking for more updates. I would have loved to update more! I'm not really that anti-social.

From about mid February and beyond things went downhill. I wasn't getting enough assets, or at least fast enough. He said he needed help so I told him lets change how we go about things until we got help. Animations was something that took him too long so I told him not to animate just create static assets.

This in theory should have sped up things but the problem wasn't that it was too hard. Although I am not as talented as him with regards to pixel art, I knew that the ONLY thing that he should have produced more assets in a timely fashion. He produced quite a bit but the project needed more. He wanted to raise his prices yet still produced things in a slow fashion. He was working on THREE other projects! I never knew how busy he was he just told me he had less time and kept, no matter what I said, doing work slower and slower.

Seriously, why sign up to a project and kill all the motivation of the project? I had wished he walked away then and there. I took the blame for this for lack of updates but all I cared about was progressing past the hard times. No project is without problems, perseverance is necessary. I hated it but I felt it was a necessary evil and would help convince him how I much I believed in him. I was naive of course.

I looked for people that complemented his art style but none of the artist could convincingly produce similar products. The ones that did charged absurd rates knowing full well what was in the budget.

Firas (a friend of mine) and the Leader of Octopus City Blues was the one who help me find a new animator. I asked him to ask around and his lead artist MarinaNT knew someone in her circle that was looking for a project to work on. I outlined some of the requirements and that was that.

She recommended Sabrina. Sabrina was PERFECT for the project. It took her some tries but she finally fit in. Our lead pixel artist was particularly fond of her work. She handled animations like it was nothing.

It was officially time to kick things into high gear. We wasted a lot of time, it was August 2013, less than 2 months to our Kickstarter release date. I asked our lead how things were going and he provided a long list of tasks he would complete and gave a timeline. He was so very detailed, it was reassuring.

After confirming team member statuses, I promised bi-weekly updates. Things were looking great. Then two people just bailed the project...

Alex previously wanted out in mid June, closer to July. I asked him to think about it, it was a little too late to just bail in my opinion. He said he felt bad for leading me along. He said he would stay on one condition, that he was not responsible for sound effects.

In September he emailed me said he's basically very close to being ready to work on the project again. This is what I thought was best. Why replace a member who has produced good music that all of us enjoyed?

In October, BOTH Alex and Matt told me that they no longer work on the project. Matt wanted to work on his own projects and free himself from any burdens. Alex said he was too busy and was trying to get a real job, employed elsewhere. No way I convince them to stay. They were gone.

I can't say I'm was not angry. I felt betrayed but really it makes sense, they aren't obligated to stick around. What's stopping them from bailing?

I was severely depressed, I stop looking at the Kickstarter all together. I hadn't realized I promised to post "Tomorrow" in the comment section which set off a lot of people. Again, I'm sorry for igniting you guys, you deserve much better.

I kept looking for replacements over and over since those two members left. I couldn't find a single soul that could replace the lead pixel artist. He was too good at his conceptual work. It was one of the reason what convinced me to proceed with the Kickstarter campaign in the first place.

I could have replaced Alex's music with some random internet composer. I hand selected him and he just gave me the run around and quit, it's really effected me. It really bothered me that team members who knew how deep we were in development could just quit like that. Why not just quit earlier?

I couldn't find a replacement for Matt back in February, I tried now but it was equally as hard. I don't know if you guys know but most freelance pixel artist charge A LOT OF MONEY for basic things. I'm not an idiot when it comes to assets, I know when I'm being overcharged. Some of them weren't even remotely worth it considering what they offering. But you either comply or walk away. I chose to walk away.

Rainfall requires quite a bit of assets. If I couldn't duplicate the work the Lead did I was screwed.All I wanted was Matt to stay on to provide base designs.

Sabrina could have picked up the slack from there and I could have helped as well. Matt was too important to leave, but he did.

I am man who prides himself on providing solutions.

After a lot of effort I came up with no solution for this scenario. Checkmate, I lost. The game that I so eagerly wanted to complete was sucked dried. I may sound overly dramatic but I was totally drained. I had a feeling it was coming but didn't act quickly enough to address key issues.

That was definitely my fault.

I've made several and thinking back I can easily identify them. The weight of burden has 100% left me in a state of depression. I couldn't even look at this Kickstarter page.

It was 6e6e6e the creator of Radio the Universe and Firas (Octopus City Blues) who implored me to speak with the backers. We argue a lot and diss each other for gags but I could tell they were honestly concerned for me and the backers. They didn't want to see things end like this. That helped a ton, I couldn't thank them enough.

I didn't want to blame people for I know I am at fault as well. I really didn't know how to communicate that some team members were holding the entire project back.

I was okay with being vilified. It was easier for me to cope with this failure as I was more afraid to say that I had no solution for this project than taking the blame.

This project has ultimately is died.

I'm usually a confident and crafty person but this failure has totally crushed me. I've since just been writing nonstop, a new game concept, book two of three of a sci fi trilogy I put on hold, and more.

Will I ever make another game? I don't know, but I have been writing feverishly. I still have an Engine to make more games.

If I ever do complete a project everyone of the backers will get the game for free.

Writing is my favorite thing to do besides playing games. Writing music or literature, it doesn't matter. It's one of those liberating tasks I can do just about anywhere and it has got me through harder times in life.

I'm currently looking forward to publishing a book I had wrote in the past.

I'm looking for a second job. I have student debt, familial costs, living costs, and more and do not have the means to pay back all the backers right now but I'd like to at least try.

I'm sorry for riling up you Kickstarter backers.

Final Note:

Please don't let me be the reason why you do not back other projects. There are several other Kickstarter projects such as the ones I've linked above and more that benefited from your generosity and your love for games.

These indie game designers are paving the future for our gaming industry. If there's one thing I do not regret is how much hope I have for the gaming industry with people like you backers supporting the underdogs.

~ Karim

# ¿ Dec 20, 2013 18:12

BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

Carecat posted:

Why was he using people who were working on three other projects? If he's paying for time then he should have them exclusively but it sounds like he wasn't, so how would he run out of money just because they were completing assets slowly?

Because he was a idea's guy that had no idea how to run a software project.

# ¿ Dec 20, 2013 20:47

BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

Zereth posted:

Inexperience with kickstarter in general. At least on my part.

Yeah, it was right at the beginning of games getting funding on Kickstarter and most people had not learned "DEMO AND/OR EXPERIENCE TEAM" lesson yet. Sucks for the people that gave him over $10 through.

# ¿ Dec 21, 2013 01:54

BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

Gwyrgyn Blood posted:

Uhm yeah, those have been in the game since the 360 release (if not earlier). I was wondering what people were talking about, or if I was missing a joke or something.

You can choose which one you want to show up as the Damsel, or set it to give you them randomly.

Maybe they will do a update to the original PC version and add the dude/pug. Really that is pretty much the only thing that make sense.

# ¿ Jan 2, 2014 21:44

BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

Yodzilla posted:

Oh hey Kickstarted space fowl shmup Humans Must Anwer just got added to Steam! http://store.steampowered.com/app/261740/ I got my key already so that's pretty nice.

I got my key too, but what I like is that they spent the time to add Steam Achievements but I'm impressed the developers listened to their fans to make the game accessible to more people.

Humans Must Answer Kickstarer posted:

Added Features

As we have had some time to work on Humans Must Answer since it was first released in July last year, we've added and changed a couple of elements of the game based on feedback we've received.

First off, the game now has checkpoints! Yep, people kept complaining that the game was too hard and tiresome, so we've added checkpoints that should make it more enjoyable.

Secondly, the easier difficulties of the game have been made a little easier. It turns out that our passion for retro shmups meant that we were being a little too harsh on players, so we've made it a little more friendly. It also takes a few less golden eggs to unlock levels on the easier difficulties. If you still want a challenge, though, the harder difficulties are still there, as brutal as ever.

Lastly, the game now has Steam achievements and Steam cloud saving! We had a little bit of fun coming up with some achievements for you all to aim for while playing the game. Hopefully you have just as much fun trying to earn them. The saving just means you can transfer saves across Steam supported machines.

# ¿ Jan 17, 2014 02:41

BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

God drat it Yacht Club just release Shovel Knight already.

# ¿ Apr 27, 2014 00:52

BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

So Ghost Song has a update talking about switching to a new Engine (back to Stencyl after trying to use Unity) along with a project update.

quote:

I'll lead off by apologizing for neglecting the updates a bit. Honestly, I've been through a few transitions in terms of how I'm doing the game, and, for a time, I wasn't sure what to update with that would be concrete.

I'm gonna try to get you caught up on what's been going on. If you don't care, just scroll down and look for the youtube link.

Over the past months I've done things like evaluate and re-evaluate the combat mechanics and pace of the game -- Eventually coming back to the idea that the combat should be pretty fast, with twitchy dash moves, as portrayed in the original Kickstarter videos. It was always a challenge figuring out how to properly balance this, but with a little more experience comes new ideas and new approaches to things. The balance is in a pretty good spot now -- You can dash about pretty easily with "L1" and "R1" (or equivalent) buttons, avoiding damage, but doing so costs "armor" -- There's a resource in the game tentatively called "armor" -- But in effect it's more like armor and stamina together. It regenerates on its own, it's used to defend against damage and also consumed by your abilities. You can be fast and aggressive, but, as you'll see, so can enemies. The game is challenging.

Also not discussed in updates was the engine switch. I know I talked a lot about Unity during the Kickstarter period, and, indeed, an early Unity build of the game exists. The problem was it was just far too hard to be hands on. As someone trying to design a game down to exacting details, with a very specific vision, I longed for the freedom I enjoyed back in the early days with Stencyl. To those of you who aren't acquainted with me, I'm primarily an artist and designer. I just lack the knowledge, experience, or even the disposition to program a game on my own without the assistance of a scripting tool.

Some months ago Stencyl made an internal library change, from NME, to Open FL. As a subscriber, I have access to beta and nightly builds, so at some point I decided to try some experiments in the new Stencyl engine to see what was possible. I also reached out to Jon, creator of Stencyl, who has been very helpful.

Suffice it to say, after much testing and discussion internally, I decided to move the game back to Stencyl as a Windows/Mac/Linux release. The game looks and plays well, and my increased control and freedom compared to designing second-hand has improved productivity greatly. This wasn't a decision made quickly or rashly, it was made in the best interest of the game and my own sanity.

For historical purposes or for more details, you can check the original announcement I made about this matter on the Stencyl forums.

Onto the video. When it came time to decide how to go about the video and what to include, there were many ways to go about it. I ultimately decided against a tightly edited approach, because I wanted to show you all what it's like to play the game. For that, I really needed one long unedited gameplay take.

I'm one of those people who has been bandying about the "Dark Souls inspired" tag since the beginning. Super Metroid and Dark Souls. I think the Metroid influences have always been self evident, but with this video I hope to show you that I really meant it on both counts.

This is a love letter to my favorite games of all time.

Normally this would be a cause for concern (especially from some one that admits they are not a developer) but the include 10 min video (Link) looks really good for a work in progress. (Through more Metroid then the over used Dark Souls description.)

# ¿ Apr 29, 2014 16:17

BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

Viewtiful Jew posted:

Oh wow:

"The Untold History of Japanese Games: No one will walk away from this wasteland unaffected."

We need a kickstarter to write a book about the mess this kickstarter project has become.

Oh, other successful game kickstarters:
Mercenary Kings: A mission based Metal Slug where players craft their own guns with various attributes.
Humans Must Answer: A quirky side scrolling shooter that was update a while back to be wayyyyy more accessible.

# ¿ May 14, 2014 16:52

BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

SquadronROE posted:

The original Wing Commander Privateer really doesn't hold up. I tried playing it recently and everything just felt super simplistic, plus the resolution was stuck at 640x480.

I still love the second one (even if it was a bit more simple and arcadey than the first). It even has Clive Owen in it!

# ¿ Jul 15, 2014 16:46

BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

Suspicious Dish posted:

Wait, really? I thought they just poached a bunch of Dreamworks guys as employees. I didn't realize they were all founders.

Also, are programmers really in high demand? I feel like every fifth person I meet is a programmer these days.

Good programmers? God yes. The work the word programmer applies to is also so broad that it could apply to a web developer all the way to someone that writes Assembly code for hardware.

# ¿ Jul 20, 2014 00:45

BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

I would actually consider it too low. There is no way I would touch being the solo developer/designer with a bunch of idea guys for anything less than mid 100s.

# ¿ Jul 20, 2014 00:56

BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

Zereth posted:

Hahaha wow, I hadn't watched the Knuckle Club video either, that looks horrible. poo poo, at least I was only in ConEx for .

At this rate there might be $10 worth of entertainment as the dude behind ConEx tries to do some damage control:

Maksym Pashanin posted:

Greetings everyone!

In this update I wanted to discuss Confederate Express as a project moving forward.

First of all, I wanted to clear some confusion up regarding an investment group that stepped in to fund ConEx stretch goals.

I have founded Kilobite in 2013, and during that period I have been working by myself whilst outsourcing most of the work via contractors. I have been scouting talent on the internet and offer them small jobs on a contract basis for my video game (Confederate Express). That was my business model - keep margins low and talent pool deep. Finally, when ConEx concept surfaced on Kickstarter, I have been contacted by a small investor group that was very excited about my new pixel art engine tech, and with their own project (Knuckle Club) nearing completion, they saw an opportunity to become the first game with per-texel pixel art post-processing technology (what a tongue-twister, haha).

That was when the investors presented me with an offer to purchase Kilobite and hire me as a their full-time employee; but the biggest concern for them was Knuckle Club becoming the first game with pixel art post-processing tech. That's where an offer for extra funding of my personal project (Confederate Express) and the non-compete clause restrictions came from.

But I have never seen the situation this way in my head. The only thing I wanted was to make Confederate Express the best game it can possible be, and being high on amazing feedback from the vast Kickstarter community, I have foolishly started chasing an impossible dream. Budgets got bigger and bigger, work kept piling up, and deadlines kept getting delayed.

A lot happened since; Kilobite is now employing a lot people from my collected portfolio on a full-time basis. They have also split my engine tech into a different brand (False2D API), and are currently planning to release it as an SDK toolset for Unity.

With recent update it was my lack of business expertise and poor decision-making that has led to a major outrage of ConEx backers, which have also affected my employer's reputation as a brand; I made an oversight by delaying my personal Kickstarter project in favor of getting extra stretch goals funding for it. I wanted to sincerely apologize from the bottom of my heart for an apparent lack of communication and poor planning on my part. I take full responsibility for recent events.

Moving forward, I am now focusing my efforts full-time on making sure Confederate Express gets delivered promptly. I am also keeping a record of every expenditure made, and notify backers accordingly in order to make my decisions as clear and transparent as possible. I am now aiming for a December 2014 release date, with a closed beta starting in November 2014.

In the end, it was my poor decision-making and lack of communication skills that led to this unfortunate situation, and I will do everything in my power to prevent such incidents from happening in the future. I apologize profoundly and hope to regain your trust by delivering the product I promised.

On a final note, I wanted to thank all of our backers for support and interest in mine and Kilobite's games! You are the sole reason of my motivation.

Sincerely,

Maksym Pashanin

P.S.: the next update on Confederate Express is coming up next week, please stay tuned!

# ¿ Jul 21, 2014 00:02

BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

AnonSpore posted:

Between Confederate Express and the Untold Story of Japanese Game Developers or whatever it was, there has been some real hilarity in games kickstarters recently.

Now I want a kickstarter to create a book ABOUT Untold Story of Japanese Game Developers, Confederate Express, Super Retro Squad, and Rainfall: The Sojourn. Something in the style of Game Over and The Untold History of Video games.

Stretch goals can be to make Star Citizen its own Trilogy.

So I need a pick me up, was any one able to play Hyper Plains Drifter at E3?

BexGu fucked around with this message at 16:15 on Jul 23, 2014

# ¿ Jul 23, 2014 16:09

BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

Yodzilla posted:

Haha the Confederate Express guy made CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/23/travel/airbnb-squatters/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

I expect this story to continue to blow up tremendously. I wonder when the gaming press is going to catch on.

I'm actually shocked that they haven't. It the perfect click bait and a low effort story.

I really hope Forbes Gaming ties it all together in a great article breaking everything down on both the money, scam, and dangers of kickstarter with this whole saga.

# ¿ Jul 24, 2014 15:49

BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

So Chroma Squad just released the beta to Beta tier backers, and one have a chance to play it yet? Also it looks like the issue with SABAN will be resolved soon!

Chrome Squad posted:

Hello everyone, how are you doing today? We hope every single one of you is doing great.

Finally (*clap & excitement sounds from the backstage*), the beta version of Chroma Squad is now released! For backers that have beta access to the game, simply update your game through Steam and you�ll be able to play an updated version of the previous one installed in your pc. Expect at least 2 hours of gameplay and many more features in the game. Wait, did I say many? Yes, many many more. You have a complete Season to play with, and we plan on update with new seasons frequently! _o\ \o\ \o/ /o/ /o_

We are aware of a list of bugs that are already in this version but we cannot delay it any longer and we have our hopes high that you will have as much fun as we did have making it. It�s a job of love, art and inspiration. Sorry for such delay.

Here�s a list of issues that you may face while playing:

Some infos and known bugs/issues for the Beta Release, v. 0.21:

- Some menus and screens will be redone to increase their usability;
- We have some Dragging issues with the mouse, use you might want to use your keyboard arrows if you�re facing any trouble;
- Some sprites might appear in front of others, losing its depth completely;
- Some sprite animations aren�t final;
- There are many feedback that we would like to improve, mostly into battles, which will make players more comfortable to know what�s currently happening and what's the range of effect of skills;
- Sometimes the teleport effect doesn�t show;
- Passives are activating during the storyline;
- "Robert Plant" monster might bug during the encounter;
- Sometimes the �Chromatize� button might appear again;
- Sometimes it�ll looks like your characters have two helmets during the episode recording;
- Director�s Instructions from �A Wulcan Story� episode aren�t working but maybe you could pretend they are working so you still have nice objectives in that episode. :3 haha;
- Once in a while at the starting of an enemy� turn, its turn is skipped. You may then skip your whole turn using teamwork with all your characters to make sure the monster isn�t in a disadvantage. Fairplayer!
- Sounds are yet to come, our sound designers might be annoyed with it;
- We lack of explosions, so the game ain�t a perfect japanese hero game yet;
- On Settings screen the current resolution is not working properly, but you can still change it if you want it.
- On the Main Menu the music is not respecting the options in Settings Menu.
- The game is balanced to be hard. Very hard.

And as an extra, this is our team celebrating a huge amount of working hours in the last week before the beta release (also one of our artists, Bruno, was graduating that day, woorray!). Three cheers for the tasty hamburgers we ate that day (we don�t have many curry rices around)!

Oh! I�d like to encourage you all that are playing the beta to join our forum:chromasquad.com/board, there�s too much to discuss and talk about and too much has been discussed already in there. Thank you all. <3

Special Note

We're talking to SABAN producers, and soon we'll announce our final decision regarding this matter. Thank you all for being so supportive! \o/

# ¿ Jul 29, 2014 15:32

BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

Polo-Rican posted:

This thing hasn't been able to reach 10,000 yet?? Wow, it seemed to have gotten a bit of press (it feels like I read about this game everywhere) and the concept is great. It really goes to show that, concept can sell, but Dreamy & Distinctive Art Style is the real moneymaker.

Actually I think the pricing tier is kind of killing it. It would be a great $10 option but 10 Pounds comes out to around $18 and that seems pretty high for the lowest "get the game" tier.

# ¿ Jul 29, 2014 20:48

BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

Zaphod42 posted:

Yeah I already did. Gonna nip that right in the bud.

You should forward her to that Agent Ahmad Khan dude or Ashley M in the Knuckle Club kickstarter comments. They've been compiling a list of information and history about the brothers.

# ¿ Jul 29, 2014 23:01

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 19:14

BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

Mirificus posted:

I'm kind of surprised no one's reported on the 2009 case that I found earlier as of yet. Some stories have started mentioning the Maksym Pashanin v. David Tamboury but not the earlier case.

Oh man Zaphod42 just forward the court case Mirificus found to the reporter so she can try to interview the person the brothers tried to screw over in 2009. Much better than a random dude from the comments section of a kickstarter.

# ¿ Jul 29, 2014 23:35

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Kickstarter Gaming - for $10.000,00 you get a "don't steal my money" emoji

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