Help Gas Powered Games Not Become Another Statistic

Hi guys i have been following this for around 1 week now and soon came to realise they need our help, The guys behind such games as supreme commander 2, Dungeon Siege, Age Of Empires are in dire needs to get thier project funded if they do not get funded then Gas Powered Games Will be no more

Please help these guys.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gaspoweredgames/wildman-an-evolutionary-action-rpg

 

Its not up to us folks who work for a living to fund these other folks who also work for a living, who have published huge games, and somehow didn't fund them properly enough to be around as a business now. Reality check - if your business model is losing money, now matter how successful it seems, its doomed to failure.

I'd rather let these, and other studios fail, failure is good. Failure splits up creative groups, and creates new ones, better ideas emerge, better games maybe too. Its not appealing to keep hearing these big studios cry 'Were broke" I say to that, "I paid for my product, stop wasting money on lawyers and anti piracy software"

 

Got to agree with this. The fact that they laid off most of their staff in the middle of their funding drive shows that this company is circling the drain. Even if I were feeling charitable, I really doubt it'd do much anyway because in their state I'd have to wonder if a product would ever make it to market right now.

 

I don't want to see them fail, but they're doing a horrible job with that Kickstarter. Most of their focus so far has been on 'save this company!' and not the actual gameplay of the game. I only got interesting in the game after listening to an hour-long interview with him. Towards the end of it, he *finally* started talking about the actual gameplay, and I became interested enough to fund it.

And even then, I'm still not really convinced the game will be fun to play. It's really easy to screw up the execution of what they're doing, and their recent games don't fill me with confidence. I haven't enjoyed their games since the original Dungeon Siege.

 

There are a lot of things I want to say, some angry, but I won't because I haven't made a real big game yet, so I will withhold my opinions on the industry at this time. Just know that if I ever do end up being even slightly successful with a game, I will release a very long and heated rant about the game industry and its habits.

 

So is it entirely impossible for them to.. I don't know... start up a new company with different games and less people if this one goes down? Why does the end of that one company mean the end of everybody's game development life.

 

It doesn't. More likely they'd get jobs elsewhere because GPG doesn't have the capital to put into a new studio and no sane investor would give them money.

 

What can I say? They're gas powered games, and everyone knows the price of gas is really expensive right now.

 

I have to agree
As I shuffle through bills and have to cut here and there sometimes because my daughter needs new shoes why should I even think about some software company that doesn't effect me at all if it dies

 

Why do you even bother? The guy laid off all the employee anyway. There is NOTHING there to save. The owner just want to save HIS OWN MONEY that's all. Don't fall for this scam.

 

Had a good run, then they went and made the wrong choices.

How is it our duty to fix their mistakes?

 

Devil's Advocate: Perhaps good karma is a reason to help them?

They probably wont reach the million, I wonder what would have happened if they lowered scope and just went for 300k or so.

 

Big companies..... on kickstarter...

They ask for 100k+ salaries to make a game they don't really want to work on unless they get paid.... contrasted against teams asking for barely enough to pay rent and eat (forget luxuries like healthcare or family) so they can have MORE time to work on it (because they are already working on their projects for free in all their spare time).

 

That'd be great if, you know, karma was something properly quantifiable.

Yes, big surprise, but these developers ALSO need to pay rent, live within certain means, be offered competitive wages relative to others with their skill set to keep them from just taking other jobs, AND feed their families. These people should not expect massive pay cuts just because they're a "company."

 

I'm just completely over Kickstarter campaigns. As a solo developer funding everything I do out of my own pocket, I just can't help but feel jaded with everyone who's taking this "easy way out". This one in particular (Gas Powered Games) just feels like nothing but a money-grab to me.

 

And yet, all the indies are expected to work non-stop for barely enough to live ... and the general population thinks even THAT is usually too much.

 

Guess what! Indies aren't established developers! You don't march into a gas station for a job and ask for $100,000 a year.

 

My reply.
Good karma would be helping the little guy.
Good karma is giving a homeless guy the money you were about to spend on a game (of which multi Millionaire companies have funded)

And of course , the fact that game looks generic and doesn't interest me in the Slightest

 

This guy aimed too high and he probably fails. No big problem. He just needs to move on and make something smaller first!

There are people out there with real problems. Look how many african babies starving each day. People losing their family and friends in wars each day. That is something to actually care about.

 

Well to be fair, I think it was the media that pushed him to make the plea video after they got wind of the redundancies news, and he had to counter the negative vibe with a plea for calm.

Nobody wants to be seen to be begging for money, especially face-on on camera, after running with the same guys after 15 years. And from what I understand, everybody that was let go is behind him 100% - he's well loved, not just some greedy fella treating his staff as dispensable.

But at least you're commenting on the game project itself, unlike the minority who on one hand complain that Kickstarter's not for people with money, while use the other hand insist that Kickstarter's not for people who need money. It's pretty sad state of affairs when folk demand honesty and transparency, then shoot the first honest guy that comes along

He already spent his own money paying the guys, who he had to let go because he ran out of it. Whatever the reasons, it's not for you or me to judge him. This business is like an hour glass, fortunes turn quickly, and the sands fall faster with every turn these days.

 

This is an SOS kickstarter alright but with a twist. I have to admit though I have no knowledge about the financial details of how they ended up at this cliff.

These guys are pointing at their past record and appealing to all those people who might have liked the games they produced to give em the opportunity to continue doing so with your money of course.

Thats why its perceived differently by different people. Those people who aren't particularly impressed by any of the games these people made won't be particularly impressed by this kickstarter either. On the other hand, to some people who hold fond memories of some of their games might look this more favorably.

Think if the company that made your favorite game is going out of business but is giving you an opportunity to prevent that. Thats the play here, mostly

PS: Lots of kickstarters by their nature have a certain element of SOS in them. It only is a question of what kind.

 

I HATE what they have done to Age of Empires series with that stupid Age of FarmVille...
No single cent from me.

 

Didn't think i would cause this much of a stir .

As for the company being greedy for money this IS NOT true, if that was the case he would not of laid of his staff and then payed them their dues for working at the company, if he was greedy for money why would he pay them? He made sure they got their severance packages unlike other companies. The employees are happy to go back and work their. To me this guy is honest and is asking for help, they have been around for a long time. If you can't rely on fellow developers for help then what is the point?

The reason most of us got into this business was because of the things you could do, people you meet, and the support you get when in need. Why is everyone so against this man and the company? Again another big studio going down i get worried when things like this go on, If they cannot make it then what bloody chance do we have?

 

That may be the case but ask yourself, WHY are they going down.

Is it because they squandered all of their money?

Is it because their games don't really appeal anymore?

And I really think that the second point applies to me more.

 

I think the reason they went down to start with is the current finance climate. Same as the other big companies, they have been around for years, we hit this climate and boom, Lots of companies start going downhill. They weren't around for years for no reason and i certainly don't think they squandered their money.

 

That has less to do with this climate and more to do with the companies themselves. THQ, for instance, was plagued with mismanagement and a series of bad releases. GPG has a series of games to their roster, but they're mostly games with high budgets while being primarily for niche audiences, which is a pretty terrible idea.

 

God's advocate: Perhaps, sometimes not saving something that is meant to go down is actually better karma than trying to be the savior? ;-)

Seriously, though I don't know ... Kickstarter et. al. are open to everyone, so if big companies want to use crowdfunding, that's up to them. And then it's up to everyone else if they want to give their money to those big or at least "bigger" companies, or maybe instead to some smaller startups that have promising ideas and appear to be capable of turning those ideas into interesting products.

 

I don't care if big companies want to use Kickstarter or not, let the market decide if they are worthy.

However, I have never cared for their RPG games, which are barely more than click-fests with hardly a hint of story.

 

I agree here..

KickStarter, IMHO,..should be used for the 'little' guy. Help them out,...big companies have many more resources, should have anyway,..they got big for a reason,..shame on them if they forgot that.

As you said though, it is up to us. Vote with your wallet as it were.

I can't help but think of the whole 'BailOut' situation here with AIG, and Bank of America,..etc,.... Too big to fail! Since then ,..perhaps it has hurt us in the sense that people look at 'bailout' and 'golden parachutes' as a viable way,..and Entitled way,..to go about business.

I know it's a game company,..not some huge bank with real people's lives tied, unfortunately, into their fate,...but I can't help compare the two.

Sorry to see a game company go,...THQ too,..heck Rhythm hues,...Trion,..many entertainment media companies are popping up in the news with stories of woe. I think there is more to it, on a global scale, than simply local mismanagement. but I am no expert,..

my 2 lines,..
cheers
-Welby

 

As others have said, it's your money and if want to spend your trivial income on folks with access to venture capitalists and Wall Street go right ahead.


http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/998024426/happy-canes-spring-13-canes-for-grandma

I don't support much but I'll support true Indy projects when they present themselves even if not in the gaming arena. After all it's my money.

 

This guy got cocky . A smaller game, 3 month dev cycle, with a lower goal would of worked .

 

as much as I would love to fund them ... another MOBA is just a plain stupid idea and a 'money sink' and I don't feel like supporting that is going to help anyone aside of them.

League of Legends, DOTA2, Blizzard All Stars, Battle for Graxia, Sins of a Dark Age, the Ratchet and Clank MOBA on PS3, Heroes of Order and Chaos are just a handfull of all the DOTA spinnoffs that launched or are in beta and there another half a dozen around there.

They will not enter this market with their idea successfully. Even without them around though it wouldn't work, their concept includes factor that skew the 'skill competition', a thing not recept well that would kill any competitive gameplay building around it, which is after all the major if not only reason to play MOBA - DOTA games at all. good competitive gameplay is nothing they are exactly savy on if we would go by SupCom and SupCom2

 

I might give it a thought if the whole marketing campaign was : "We've made cool crap in the past, this will be too, if you give us all your money, if you do then you'll be proclaimed a hero in the RPG community. Oh also here's a 5 second pre rendered gameplay" -_- He laid off almost everyone and just wants us to save his dead "company."

 

Didnt Kickstarter begin its roots in helping out the "little guys", the starving artist, that garage band, and the nerd in the parents basement ... not successful professionals, and big corporations.

Its actually quite pathetic ... whats next, Microsoft funding Windows 9 on Kickstarter?

Kickstarter should go back to its roots and start booting out these big time companies. Otherwise they will simply become known as the gaming industry's "Wall Street" Bailout mechanism.

 

Its now the USA government for all the banks; When there losing money they come running to them begging for money and help -_-

 

Ah, Uncle Sam and bailouts.

 

I'd like to see more unusual projects get funded. Making another Diablo clone is fine but isn't going to add new life to the games industry.

 

Watching the video I thought the game was going to be something like a MOBA crossed with risk and that would be amazing, but i couldnt quite understand what type of game it was from the short clip.

 

I'm suprised you got anything from the video apart from.

"Pay us to save the company"
"Give us money"
"We need money to stay afloat"

 

The problem is the guy missed why people back KS projects , i'm looking for a game I want to play . I'm not worried about your company with its massive overhead .

Theirs no reason that game( at least the first beta/ first chapter) can't be done for 300k with a pre-built engine and a more junior team .
He wants us to pay to keep his company afloat . Nothing indicates that he's making a game enough people even want , or he would even get it done( profitably to make money to fund the next game anyway ) .

BTW , I'm a little pissed about KS right now, one project I backed ran out of money( another one I backed for a buck turned into some F2P game I have no interest in playing ).

I've been a bit critical of the Oyua , but hell at least their going to ship !

 

The game is cool, but just seems so vanilla, so safe, like the game a production company demands be made to ensure profits. Which if your doing a kickstarter, why not just throw out something crazy?

 

For me it's just generic and boring....

 

As nice as this sounds, it doesn't make any kind of pragmatic sense in the real world to me.

They're a business. It's their market they should be relying on, not a bunch of smaller developers facing their own challenges.

Having barely skimmed over the kickstarter I can't say which they're doing, but assuming it's the fans they're appealing to I'm all for that. I can think of plenty of scenarios where I'd happily pre-pay for something if it meant the production going on (a second season of Firefly, for instance).

 

Interesting... they've cancelled the Kickstarter and posted a super-cryptic update video. Humph.

 

Ohh, looks like the kickstarter ended up being a big marketing boost for them and probably got the attention of some publishers. They could go to the publishers and say "look, we raised half a million and showed just some basic basic build to the public...just imagine how much we could sell if we actually finished this with you".

Kickstarter is a big boon for opportunity (beyond just the funding).

 

Chris Taylor interview about giving up on the kickstarter.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zJdMRKBbLE

 

Yes, that was the "behind the curtain" idea.

 

You're all so hard done to eh. F*** the lot of you who wanted this kickstarter to fail you got your wish. Whats with all this oh noes Kickstarter is for helping out the little guy and not these "bigger" companies. Didn't here much moaning about Double Fine, Obsidian, Chris Roberts etc. Oh but wait those brought publicity to KS. Its not like its EA or Ubisoft or whatever.

For those wanting of you who wanted this to fail I hope that if you ever launch your own KS it fails aswell and yeah before some smart arse points it out that would retro actively include me aswell should i ever decide to do one.

 

Wow - like to overreact much?

 

Doublefine, Obsidian, inXile and all the others were coming to get funding for games that otherwise would not be able to be funded through traditional publisher investment avenues and come from a legacy of good (and profitable) game releases. Gas Powered Games, over the past decade, churned out a series of games that seem to have just allowed them to scrape by, getting them in to this situation in the first place. Simply put: their games weren't that great and didn't sell super well. So what do they do?

Well, they come to Kickstarter with a bog-standard ARPG, give us no real information on what separates it from the herd, and ask for a preposterous sum of $1.1 million with no real content or reputation to back it up! So yeah, it's not surprising that it failed and a lot of what happened really reeks or a series of bad ideas that made it kinda earn that fate.