Bursting the kickstarter bubble

I totally agree with this. English was not invented. It was stewed and brewed...then left to rot.

 

If you think it's overboard, just assume it was sarcasm. You will be happier, and likely to be right.

--Eric

 

Not all Kickstarter projects are failures, or started by kids. I think those projects are just the nature of the Unity forums actually.

The last Kickstarter campaign I was a part of raised over $30,000. The next one I'm a part of, is about to raise quite a bit more.

 

Another whine thread.

Great, when do the admins shut this down just like collaboration? Seems like we need a subforum called "Whiners Area".

 

Have to wonder, if as somewhat pointed out, it comes down to when it is mentioned. I've recommended that folks look into crowdfunding for things. Not to start with, though. To take it to the next level.

That's where I think it works well with Unity for some individuals or small groups. You work out the prototype - you take it to a point - then it's a "Hey guys, this is what we've been able to do with various free tools - we're looking to take it to the next level!"

That's far different than having a "great idea" during your morning constitutional and heading over to Kickstarter...hopefully after you washed your hands.

 

+1

 

I think Kickstarter is a wonderful site since I can donate a few bucks to projects that I would like to see finished. Do I expect them to get finished? I sure how they try, but no, I don't wait to hear about how they finished and I should be getting my rewards. I just want to help other developers who see something that is lacking in the industry and is making something of quality. (As I hope that people will feel the same when I finally post my project.)

For instances, instead of knocking Kickstarter, maybe you guys should put your product up there. I would have gave a donation to the "Other Brothers" if I seen it up there. Any game that has unrealistic goals (or too low goals) usually have little to show and don't make the cut. But currently I think there are 2-3 games on there right now worth giving a few bucks to.

-Dane

 

Here's a question; hopefully not straying from the topic.

How would you change Kickstarter to make it better?

I know, its been said that Kickstarter isn't the problem; it's the people who use/abuse it. BUT! If you owned Kickstarter, and you saw this growing trend of people just ignoring Kickstarter projects, what would you do to change it? Revitalize Kickstarter's reputation and credibility?

 

@Hippo
I didn't say you got in a bad mood via the forum but sometimes i have the feeling that you just vent for some reason and this time kickstarter was in the target area.

Which options do we have? Often much less control with publisher, slight regulations like on iTunes or more freedom like on kickstarer? You can make up the pros and cons rather quickly on your own and really shouldn't be surprised about that not only top projects are offered this way but that on the other side it's also the freedom and lack of publishers/regulations which makes it a success.

Btw. if you have the time to, it can be interesting browsing kickstarter projects apart from video games. If you want to inform yourself about 'good' projects only then don't look at kickstarter directly but at video gaming sites like rps and others. Like in the rest of life it's the job of journalists to filter and inform.

 

I don't know about to many Unity Kickstarter projects that have released but I backed Guns of Icarus http://gunsoficarus.com/ and have been playing in the beta weekends. Still plenty of work to be done but it's coming along great and i'm expecting a good release.

 

That's signature material right there.

 

kickstarter is cool when you actually need a lump sum of upfront money to produce something

like begin the manufacturing of an actual physical object, or starting a restaurant

but for games, its completely unnecessary and silly

 

I dont think there is a problem when I look at the actual completed games on kickstarter they all seem to look good (dindt look at all of them). I think any game that stinks wont be funded, its like saying kongerate is killed because all of the bad games, but thats not the case, the good projects get highlighted on the front/section page and the rest get buried never getting any attention.

 

Good Kickstarters will continue to succeed, terrible ones will continue to fail. I myself, and from the looks of it, most gaming blogs/journos, are sick and tired of the spammy amount of unproven developers jingling there coffee cans for their crappy indie games too. But every time someone like Brian Fargo starts a kickstarter and says hes going to make Wasteland 2, or Crate Entertainment (formerly Iron Lore) starts a kickstarter and says they're making the spiritual sequel to Titan Quest, or Double Fine comes out and says they're going to make an adventure game, you can bet those campaigns will still get a ton of media coverage and succeed with flying colors. The trust in Kickstarter has nothing to do with the platform, and everything to do with the people behind individual campaigns.

 

Like I said, I don't mind it when it's not abused. We discussed it ourselves. The point of the thread was to bring to light how often kickstarter is abused, and discuss if this would lead to people finding themselves burned and not supporting valid projects on kickstarter. The entire concept is very cool.

What is not cool is the sheer amount of submissions which will never get finished, that threaten to drag the concept under. This is what I have real concerns about, because I'm pretty sure if we wanted to, we could make kickstarter generate close to 50-100k for The Other Brothers. The IP holders chose not to do this, although I recommended we try.

I think that there's a real danger here, of only top-tier projects getting funded, and those are projects that already have the means to go all the way without kickstarter aid. They're polished, they're already being developed and most likey will get finished regardless.

But what about the little team trying to make something innovative, completely drowned out by spam? The intention of kickstarter to begin with, was never for software.

For software it's just not a very good fit, due to how easily it can be abused as opposed to say, two women trying to make a series of children's books.

Oh that's just me. I'm a very forceful personality, and I have to try hard to keep myself in check, tend to bulldoze a lot when I really shouldn't - it's a flaw, sorry.

 

Somewhat off topic but I remember back in the early 90's when the internet was amazing. All you got was pure awesome content, no advertising, no trash, everything you clicked was exactly what you saw.

Sure everything gets partially ruined these days, every idiot in the world has net access now. I do think the worries about Kickstarter are very real, the crap certainly may be suffocating opportunities that are legit, and that's a real shame.

 

I'm trying to decide if my sarcasm detector is broken...

 

I really don't see how anyone could have ever expected anything else from Kickstarter et al. Any time there's a jackpot success on a new or relatively new platform a whole bunch of other people jump on the bandwagon, some of whom know what they're doing but most of whom don't.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that Kickstarter et al aren't suited to software/game development. However, if your game is something that you're doing in your free time alongside a day job, I don't think you should be asking for startup capital. I'm a professional software developer and an indie game developer in my free time myself, and if a potential project genuinely requires $10k of startup capitol before I can even get it going then it's not something I gen truly do justice to in my free time. And if I can get it going without other people's money, then that's exactly what I should do - I sure as hell won't ask other people to back something before putting in everything I can of my own first.

And I think that would show through if I were to take something to Kickstarter, and conversely I think it shows through as plain as day when people are doing otherwise. Perhaps it's because I have some insider experience, but I've looked at a few game Kickstarters now, and it's pretty evident to me which ones have a chance and which ones don't.

But anyway... I don't think that Kickstarter is any more spoiled by this than eBay is by dodgy sellers. Sure, they happen, and people become wary, but I expect that will lead to diligence of individual projects rather than distrust of the platform as a while.

 

LoL, is my memory lying to me? I swear no sarcasm, I remember an interwebs where if somebody had a link to uhmm, exotic material, that's what you would get without somebody trying to sell you something, just sharing their "media". Maybe I'm thinking of late 80's, very early 90's? I do remember gaudy web pages that looked like Vegas on mushrooms, but other than that it was nice.

Edit: Oh hey I remember some other nice things. I remember back when being a troll had a %100 success rate, oh the things I did in chat rooms... wow I'm going to hell.