Broken Age - Double Fine's Kickstarter Adventure Game

[zeitgeist]

Considering the general state of things, even paying for a fully finished game before you get a chance to try it is silly, but paying for a game even before anyone started working on it is simply insane. If this business model becomes viable (for small and mid-size studios), it can only lead to developers getting more money for less work and worse games.

 

[Metro]

I don't see it translating into a viable long-term strategy. This example is an outlier because you have a very famous... well... two very famous adventure game developers in Schafer and Gilbert with an experienced studio behind them. Not saying it's a one-of thing for Double Fine but I can't see them funding multiple concurrent projects this way. And say what you will about publishers (and most of the bad stuff is true) but at the very least they keep developers to schedules and force them to put the product out at certain dates. Yeah, you can argue about buggy releases and what not but I prefer that to developers that just coast for months and months... and years because they have no huge incentive to release the game. It's especially annoying if you've already paid for the game well in advance.

Take Torchlight 2 as an example (self-published by Runic in most regions at least as far as digital downloads go). It was supposed to be released last Spring. Then Winter. Now it probably won't be out until Q2 of this year at the earliest. It's nice to think that Double Fine will stick to a reasonable schedule because they're 'doing it for the fans' but the reality is they have zero pressure to release in a timely fashion because they're already sitting on a pile of cash that's collecting interest. Moreover, you also have absolutely no recourse if Double Fine goes out of business or they don't finish the project or whatever. You're just out of money. So, yeah, I think this might happen once in a blue moon but I doubt people would be willing to fund games like this on a consistent basis.

 

[Jaesun]

Is there any accountability with this Kickstarter for the developer? Like say milestones a developer must do for a Publisher?

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Don't think so. He probably could just take the money and laugh all the way to the bank.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Like a certain GODDAMN SWEDE FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK

 

[Black]

Considering the general state of things, even paying for a fully finished game before you get a chance to try it is silly, but paying for a game even before anyone started working on it is simply insane. If this business model becomes viable (for small and mid-size studios), it can only lead to developers getting more money for less work and worse games.

Insane or....
GENIUS?!

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Just noticed this:

UPDATE: We did it! 100% funded in just over eight hours. You people are amazing! But it's not over yet. The number keeps going up and now the question is just how much news do we want to make with this? We're getting a lot of attention already and it seems like this little project could have an impact beyond itself.
All money raised will go to make the game and documentary better. Additional money means it can appear on more platforms, be translated into more languages, have more music and voice, and an original soundtrack for the documentary, and more!

Maaaaaaaaan if I put money toward this I'd be pissed some shitty documentary was getting some of the cash.

 

[Metro]

Is there any accountability with this Kickstarter for the developer? Like say milestones a developer must do for a Publisher?

None. Also Kickstarter itself has no accountability to the people that donate. Brilliant idea (although similar sites have been floating around for nearly a decade). Wish I had conceived it with all the social media floating around today. They basically just act as middle-man/promoter, use Amazon payment, and make 5% of all donations received. So they made $50k alone off of this Double Fine thing.

But yeah, as far as Double Fine's accountability? Zilch. This is basically just a charity drive for a company that already makes a decent enough profit. Whereas they'd have to pay a publisher a cut of the revenue and return the initial investment... here they just keep it all with nothing more owed than a 'thanks, guys.'

Maaaaaaaaan if I put money toward this I'd be pissed some shitty documentary was getting some of the cash.

Yeah, that's another problem. There's nothing really forcing them to spend the excess on specific things. There's still another month to go. At $1 million they can already comfortably make a very polished multi-platform ten-ish hour adventure game. What if they hit $2 million? $3 million? At a certain point spending X additional dollars solely on this project becomes a bit of a waste.

 

[J_C]

Just noticed this:

UPDATE: We did it! 100% funded in just over eight hours. You people are amazing! But it's not over yet. The number keeps going up and now the question is just how much news do we want to make with this? We're getting a lot of attention already and it seems like this little project could have an impact beyond itself.
All money raised will go to make the game and documentary better. Additional money means it can appear on more platforms, be translated into more languages, have more music and voice, and an original soundtrack for the documentary, and more!

Maaaaaaaaan if I put money toward this I'd be pissed some shitty documentary was getting some of the cash.

I'm not. I'm interested to see some videos about the creating process at Double Fine. I always liked behind the scenes stuff. And it's not like that a huge part of the money will go there.

What if they hit $2 million? $3 million? At a certain point spending X additional dollars solely on this project becomes a bit of a waste.

I don't think they will get to 3 million. Maybe they'll reach 2. The increase of money already slowed down considerably, and it will continue to do so. After a while there will be no more people who are interesed in an oldschool adventure game.

 

[Bluebottle]

It will be interesting to see whether the system effectively translates into an advance of cash taken from the eventual sales, or whether people genuinely see it as a donation to fund. My guess is that most of the backers put forward the $15 required for the free copy, so do these figures represent the majority of the earnings for the game, or will it actually find a market beyond that upon release (whether from new people, or from backers buying it twice)?

 

[thesoup]

VD should have thought of this a while ago.
Alternatively, MCA should start a kickstarter for a 2D TB oldschool RPG with no voice acting. Since this genre has a huge unserved demographic, it actually might work.

edit
ffs I should have known someone (i.e. everyone) would beat me to this.

 

[J_C]

VD should have thought of this a while ago.
.

Pretty much yes. With the extra funding we might already have the game. Now we have to wait until Thursday. They could have add full voice acting, better graphichs with bloom, a better game engine with real time, visceral combat and such.

 

[MaroonSkein]

VD should have thought of this a while ago.

Nobody would donate anything. Not until he has at least one finished game under his belt.

 

[J_C]

I think he could have raised a few thousand dollars at least.

 

[Azalin]

I have never even heard of kickstarter before this and I was browsing around a bit and I saw that the Order of the Stick guy neede 57k to keep publishing one of the OOTS collections,he got 600k until now and has 11 days to go

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/599092525/the-order-of-the-stick-reprint-drive?ref=spotlight

Also a guy raised 17k for an Osama Bin Laden zombie film and he has 52 days to go


http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/arrowstorm/osombie-feature-film?ref=category

Eagerly awaiting VD to raise 1 million dollars so that AoD can be released on Wednesday

 

[MaroonSkein]

I think he could have raised a few thousand dollars at least.

As far as I know, VD and his bros already spend most of their free time on AoD. For a significant productivity boost to happen, they need enough money to quit their day jobs and start working on the game full time. A few thousand dollars is not enough.

 

[Turisas]

Adventure games are boring, I'll put my money down on an MCA/Obsidian project.

 

[ghostdog]

$1,259,846 and 30 days to go.

Crazy stuff.

 

[felipepepe]

It's nice to think that Double Fine will stick to a reasonable schedule because they're 'doing it for the fans' but the reality is they have zero pressure to release in a timely fashion because they're already sitting on a pile of cash that's collecting interest.

34,175 people donated $1,259,921, more than 3 times the necessary ammount, in 24hs...

Point is, how much does an average Double Fine game sells? Cthulhu Saves the World sold 100,000 copies on Steam alone. If this game, being Double Fine and counting on the insane fan/industry hype that it's generating, manage to sell 250,000 at $15, you are looking at $3,750,000 still to be earned, with no publisher between...that's a hell of a incentive to finish a game!

 

[Oriebam]

hai guise i heard this is being produced by steriotypical(sic) white males with no regard for cultural sensitivity, is this true????

 

[J_C]

 

[felipepepe]

So much butthurt...

Also, at leat get you facts straight. Golden age of adventure was in the early 90s, those people are now 25-35, not late 30s!(don't call me old!) And they work and have money to pay for what they want instead of crying on the internet....
At least on this case, on RPGs we have money AND cry.

 

[Berekän]

HEY GUISE Y THEY DON'T LIKE OUR GAME!?!?!?

Though the Codex should fund it, being a game about trannies

 

[Ermm]

Yeah, that's another problem. There's nothing really forcing them to spend the excess on specific tings. There's still another month to go. At $1 million they can already comfortably make a very polished multi-platform ten-ish hour adventure game. What if they hit $2 million? $3 million? At a certain point spending X additional dollars solely on this project becomes a bit of a waste.

It's easy. When they complete the game, they can start to develop next one right away.

 

[Ermm]

hai guise i heard this is being produced by steriotypical(sic) white males with no regard for cultural sensitivity, is this true????

Is that a real butthurt reaction from someone?