Kickstarter: What are you backing?

[The Shoemaker]

It does look interesting, though I'm not sure if I'm ready to take the leap to playing games on my PC

The Adventures of Pip relaunched its Kickstarter today. Gameplay is a little more clear now and I like the sound of it. You get different abilities from having more pixels, but you'll want to switch between them to solve puzzles and whatnot. I supported it this time, here's the Kickstarter page: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ti ... endo-wii-u

Seems like it might reach its base goal, this time around. I'll consider backing it towards at least the game itself, but not totally sure how much though.

It sure looks like it, with 44 days left it's already 25% to its goal. I'm not sure if Kickstarter pledges usually take a nosedive after the first couple days though, if they stay steady I think they'll definitely make it.

[Kong Wen]

It sure looks like it, with 44 days left it's already 25% to its goal. I'm not sure if Kickstarter pledges usually take a nosedive after the first couple days though, if they stay steady I think they'll definitely make it.

They usually nose-dive and then pick back up again with a couple days left.

[kitroplious]

They usually nose-dive and then pick back up again with a couple days left.

Except probably the big Kickstarters, like Mighty No. 9 with the designer of Mega Man leading in this one.

[Kong Wen]

The first thing I ever Kickstarted (and 50% of the things I've ever Kickstarted) released yesterday: Pier Solar (link is to our discussion thread). I got my backer email last night with a cross-buy download code and acquired the game without any issues. I haven't had a chance to try it out yet.

Has anyone else been part of a successful Kickstarter and had them come through & deliver for you? We discuss a lot about the projects & campaigns when they're in the fundraising phase, but we seldom follow-up with discussion around delivery and completion.

[The Shoemaker]

I'm waiting for Shantae and Adventures of Pip to come out, so I've never actually seen a project all the way through to the end.

[Jordan]

I initially thought about making this in the PC gaming board, but after some thought I realized that this new trend doesn't only affect PC gaming. Some games or services are crowdfunded for other things as well. I generally care about the video games, though, and most of those end up on PC.

What thoughts do you guys have on crowdfunding? Have you ever donated to a project?

I've actually donated to a few different videogames on Kickstarter. I threw money at Mighty #9, Red Ash (cancelled), Shantae: 1/2 Genie Hero, Spark the Electric Jester and Vanity. Sometimes I feel like certain games get overfunded and there are diminishing returns with the value derived from additional cash. For example, I kind of think that too much money was donated for Mighty #9 (mismanaged) and that one Castlevania-looking game. While the additional cash won't make the games worse, I don't think it will necessarily make those games much better.

Not every game that comes out of crowdfunding has been a gem, but there have been a few good ones like Shovel Knight. I also think that A Hat in Time is looking pretty good right now as well.

[VictorViper]

I'm not opposed to crowdfunding per se, but I have yet to see a compelling reason to ever donate to one. I have purchased several games on release that were kickstarted, etc. but never during their investment windows. Commercial products like videogames in particular tend to be a no-go for me on principle, but it's not a hard rule. That said, if/when I ever do contribute to a project, the likelihood is that it will be an artistic project that I feel has important merit that would otherwise never find funding through traditional means and would likely stand no chance of (or make effort to) realize a profit.

[MerlinDrazziw]

I'd rather by a finished product that has been evaluated than pay up front for the uncertainty of a yet to be made product. That said, I don't mind if others do want to take the risk as some projects have resulted in some interesting products.

[Jordan]

I actually have reservations about crowdfunding myself. I would much rather buy finished products as well and show my support that way, but sometimes the startup is really important for a project. In those cases, even though I'm wary of money mismanagement, occasionally I feel like it's worth lending a few bucks. Generally speaking, I don't lend more than the minimum amount needed to get the game as I do feel like there are better ways to be philanthropic with money.

One thing I like about Kickstarter is that it has revived a lot of dead or dying genre games. For example, A Hat In Time looks to be a collectathon in the same vein as Super Mario 64/Banjo Kazooie/etc.* Similarly, Shovel Knight and Mighty No. 9 draw heavy inspiration from old platformer/action games from the 90s. Moreover, Freedom Planet and Spark the Electric Jester are like true revivals of Genesis Sonic games. I actually do think that these projects might not have ever come to light if not for crowdfunding. A lot of big publishers probably would not have shown interest.

*-I personally think that it looks like a non-linear Super Mario Galaxy thus far.

[Pluvius]

We already have a thread about Kickstarter somewhere I think, but the search engine for this forum is surprisingly useless, so I can't find it. I have enough money to where I don't feel a great amount of angst if an investment goes the wrong way, but I still have a rule where I only crowdfund projects by artists that have already proven themselves. Even then you can get burnt sometimes; out of the games I've funded, Broken Age was a victim of mismanagement having to be split into two parts, of which the second was lackluster by all accounts; Star Citizen is notoriously biding its time milking whales (though they are making decent progress anyway, considering how ambitious the goals of the project are and the feature creep that's adding to it); and Two Guys SpaceVenture is 2.5 years past schedule. But Wasteland 2 and Pillars of Eternity both went very well (and were both done by teams who are good friends with each other, incidentally).

As for Patreon, I donate monthly to Video Games Awesome. I don't get anything out of it personally, but people who are big fans of the show but haven't donated previously can get a few nice perks, and they've been good about delivering them so far.

Rob