Information Thorvalla Kickstarter goes online

Bullshit. Their sin was making one of weakest pitches we've seen on Kickstarter so far.

Which succesful RPG Kickstarter consisted one guy talking about a game-idea from start to finish again? No, show it to me, seriously.

Fargo had a statement, Obsidian had a whole team and a studio, Double Bear had a professionally laid out documentary crew and a studio, Legends of Eisenwald had a whole show and a game to actually show us, Dead State had screenshots and tons of design-stuff.

And except the huge studio Obsidian which is a famous name, every one of these asked for less that Henkel.

Get some perspective.

 

Kickstarter in a nutshell.

 

"All of the late 80s early 90s devs?"

The only one I can think of is Brian Fargo, and he sold his project on the name of the Fallout franchise.

Nobody knows or cares about the Realms of Arkania series.

Plus Fargo had a much better pitch, and even he didn't have the nerve to ask for a million.

 

Who / what is JVC?

 

Jon Van Caneghem

 

Ah, thanks, I googled and first came up Jesuit Volunteer Corps and Victor Company of Japan (JVC).

 

Everybody cares about budget Dragon Age, though.
People should be banned for this kind of idiocy.

Obviously people should get money for a funny video.

Yeah, man, 900k is so much more humble.

 

Yeah, how dare people demand some evidence of a game from no-name nobodies when they're giving them free money.

Everyone also knows that small teams can never deliver any gameplay videos in advance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aL13cET6Xi0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8EoWRQ1-W4

 

So you're saying these developers intentionally shouldn't put thought and wit into their Kickstarter campaigns because fuck reason?

Should and will are two different concepts, and as long as it doesn't hurt the game, what the fuck is wrong with doing a proper campaign?

 

Schaefer, Avellone, Lowe, Coles, Weisman, and that early 80s dungeon crawler guy's name is slipping my mind...

Having a studio at the ready may have an impact but Obsidian's pitch was based on a preference for a return to the IE engine type games (but they had a much more popular franchise to work with), as opposed to continuing work with publishers on "modern" games. Dead State and Eisenwald (self funded projects by new teams) are irrelevant in this discussion despite Mitsoda's experience with Black Isle, which I don't think weighed much in getting people to pledge anyway.

How much they ask for doesn't discourage people to pledge. It just requires more backers. Would there be more pledges if they asked for $100K? Or would people (rightfully) wonder what kind of game they could produce with such a budget?

 

ok

why

Wow, are you serious? People's judgment on how realistic the target of the Kickstarter is DEFINITELY influences their willingness to pledge.

Yes. Even more if they did a proper pitch though. Are you seriously surprised that a pitch that looks like it was produced with a web-cam and a free afternoon is considered out-of-sync with asking for a mil by the average KS-pledger?

 

What a douche.

 

Yeah, I like the Coles, but that's definitely in bad taste.

 

Grunker Did you see Weisman's video? How is a tour of "Harebrained Schemes" and a few wisecracks so much better? PE's video was a bit better but basically came down to a few video closeups of people talking, bells and chimes. Better but not THAT much better. Also Shaker did much better than Thorvalla with the same kind of substance.

We're talking about comebacks. Eisenwald is a young team from eastern Europe and Mitsoda's team is young too, save his experience at Black Isle he didn't insist much on (that I remember).

And yes, I think people factor in that a small budget for an ambitious project doesn't make sense. I did cringe at 1M though, and thought 400K with stretch goals was the proven route to go by. But would they have done much better with that?

 

I'm not saying they shouldn't. I'm saying that pledging based on "wit" is wrong. And actually demanding that everybody is comfortable in front of a camera or charismatic is ridiculous. See those derpy comments the Coles got, pretty much like this one: HURR DURR SOME CREEPY LOOKING HAS BEENS. But yeah, Kickstarter is totally awesome and not a popularity contest and will definitely not be ruined by the lowest common denominator just like everything else.

 

So, you're fine with criticizing it the same way, but she's not allowed? And then you go cry when developers don't speak their mind for fear of repercussions? How does that work?

 

Why? She's right.

 

Lori Cole: "Fuck that loser."

 

The Coles... masters of KS!


maybe, instead of Hero-U, they should have named their game Troll-U

 

I presume that has something to do with that while we ARE prestigious, we are actually a very small community and practically nobody important, while these fellow developers have influence on general public, if they managed to get 400 000$, they are somewhat known, and maybe it's not alright that they possibly ruin the chances for Thorvalla by "badmouthing" it "publicly". This probably won't be the chance here though, because it's doomed to fail anyway.

Also dissing the project like their "pitch" was something special...

 

I'm on the fence about this project. On the one hand, I enjoyed RoT series (never ever have reached second city in Star Trail though, but enjoyed nonetheless). On the other hand - of all my 9 backed projects, only PE asked for more money. And - come on, this is Obsidian


As for other projects - Brian Fargo, for example, promoted his pitch very successfully, even shrewdly, considering that many backers have pledged hoping to see Fallout 3 (well, I mean ideal Fallout 3, not Bethesda's abomination). And Fargo quite skillfully let them think that this is exactly the game he's going to make, while maintaining that the project is indeed direct sequel to Wasteland (which was remarkably different from Fallout in many ways). But he worked his ass off, he told backers exactly what they've wanted to hear, he energetically promoted his project, and he concretely outlined his vision for Wasteland 2.
Shadowrun guys also had more concrete vision of their project, and established (and beloved) setting also worked in their favor.
Anyone who played a Malkavian character in VtM:Bloodlines at least can be pretty sure that Dead State's writing, if nothing else, would be at least good, or even great. Also DS had screenshots - and again, concrete vision.

Of all (meager number, I know) 9 projects which I've backed, only Shaker was that vague, and look how it turned out.

Guido seems like a nice guy, but hell, his Kickstarter is a textbook example of "Don'ts".
Do not attempt to make a Kickstarter if:
* You don't have a design document for your project, in which you have at least a broad outline of it.
* You don't have an engaging placeholder art, if not screenshots or videos.
* You spent 10-15 years in complete obscurity, but somehow think that the fans will remember you forever (sad but true).
* You don't know how to promote your game aggressively on social media, or unwilling to do that.
* You don't understand that Kickstarter's first couple of days are crucial to its success.

 

Looks like the KS comments section.

Joining the mob in kicking a man when he's down is ungracious, to say the least. Also the quality of their production didn't exactly get them unanimous praise.