Game News Guido Henkel's Deathfire Goes Episodic, Launches Direct Donation Drive

[Metro]

The problem with episodic games lies in their design limitations and not their release schedule. His campaigns fail because he's terrible at marketing -- not going to get $300k from Codex alone.

 

[Monty]

After all, the high-brow-hard-core RPGers judge projects on their planned features... Oh wait,... his name is not MCA and he doesn't own a publisher's bitch studio. Silly me.

Agree with some of what you say, but I don't just decide whether to contribute based on a wish list of features or 'names' like MCA. Other considerations include whether the game is likely to be made as promised and while I thought he had a shot with $390k I just don't believe he can make a game with the features he has described for only $50k, even with only 'chapter 1' content.

It's also worth considering that quite a few people here were interested in Thorvalla, which Guido mismanaged terribly and then blamed everyone except himself. Think some of the butthurt and schadenfreude stems from that - after all, do other games supported here, like Underrail, Grimoire and AOD have MCA on their teams?

 

[V_K]

after all, do other games supported here, like Underrail, Grimoire and AOD have MCA on their teams?

Yeah, Codex was really, extraordinarily suppportive of Cleve. No schadenfreude whatsoever.

 

[Monty]

after all, do other games supported here, like Underrail, Grimoire and AOD have MCA on their teams?

Yeah, Codex was really, extraordinarily suppportive of Cleve. No schadenfreude whatsoever.

Yes, the Codex was split between those who mocked him and his disciples, like most other games. But he still got more coverage and donations from here than anywhere else, people searching for info on Grimoire ended up here as everyone else had just about forgotten him. A glance at the Grimoire thread illustrates that.

Anyway, this is getting off topic, was just explaining why I backed his kickstarter but won't even consider making a paypal contribution as things stand. There's no way he can make a game with all those features for $50k so it's time to be upfront as to what he will really be able to produce.

 

[NotAGolfer]

But why not a new KS campaign?

The reason he gives in the latest update on Kickstarter sounds quite reasonable imo.
They just don't want to waste even more time polishing another KS pitch (guess copypasting the failed one is no option) and doing marketing and PR stuff (like answering retarded questions 24/7), time they can spend working on their game instead.
I respect that.

The 50K goal sounds very modest, so i guess he uses his own money too. So either his heart really is into this or he misses making games that much.

I still don't know what this game is supposed to be.
Their KS pitch certainly doesn't help, since it's full of cheap appealing to nostalgia (RoA! Wizardry!! M&M!!! Oldschool!!!! Not just a dungeon crawler!!!!! ok, the videos all make it look like one but it's not, believe us ... and you say RoA and M&M are extremely nonlinear and so was Wizardry beginning with the 7. installment so they have not much in common with what we're doing? Pah, details! It will be exactly like them, believe us).

 

[V_K]

Anyway, this is getting off topic, was just explaining why I backed his kickstarter but won't even consider making a paypal contribution as things stand. There's no way he can make a game with all those features for $50k so it's time to be upfront as to what he will really be able to produce.

I always thought it's content that's expensive, not features. And since content will be released in small chunks, each one shouldn't cost too much to make.
Also, at the speed this campaing currently goes, he's more likely to end up with something like 70-100k for the first episode rather than 50k.

Though I must confess I won't be backing this too, because fuck Paypal.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[muckguppy]

Ok, episodes was the wrong word. Chapters, CHAPTERS. marketing strategy, do you speak it?

 

[you know what time it is]

^ thats the point

 

[Marquess Cornwallis]

I'm $15 interested (more or less a thank you for all the fun I had with his old games), but I sincerely hope Guido knows what he's doing with the whole chapter format thing and (especially) hiring people to code the backer portal for him after he'd already started accepting pledges.

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

Alright, I have my concerns about the episodic approach but I am probably being unfair in my assumptions. We can help someone with a long history of delivering the goods deliver some more.

Make something wonderful Guido.

 

[Lady_Error]

I really wonder why all his campaigns fail. After all, the high-brow-hard-core RPGers judge projects on their planned features... Oh wait,... his name is not MCA and he doesn't own a publisher's bitch studio. Silly me.

The campaign wasn't even a failure as such. He just set the funding goal too high. Now that it is just $50.000... Anyways, they're at over $20.000 now in Paypal pledges, let's see if it goes over $50k as intended.

Also, the plan is obviously to get more money from selling episode after episode on Steam, since they are already greenlit.

 

[Humanity has risen!]

Let this guy have his game to work on, if you want more RPGs support him by pledging, stop nitpicking every little thing.

 

[theSavant]

Sigh... sighing* because of fatigue on the one hand, but finally seeing chances for this chapter format on the other hand.

If this works, maybe other developers join this strategy and someday we'll get a new Wizardry or Warriors the same way. Do you hear me Brenda Romero and D.W. Bradley?
Also the chapter format - once you get the first one - has another advantage: it encourages multiple walkthroughs. Not like an elephant you must chew all at once, but a smaller bite inviting to experiment with characters and skills. So you get to know different facettes of the game.

But I think the biggest hurdle is to develop the base system for the game (characters, skills, experience, balancing), and the 50K sound too less. 150K would be more reasonable...

 

[Excidium]

Getting tired of this trainwreck, hope it gets funded now so we stop hearing of it for a while

 

[Metro]

Let this guy have his game to work on, if you want more RPGs support him by pledging, stop nitpicking every little thing.

It's been nearly two years since the Kickstarter craze started and there has been a huge resurgence in crowdfunded RPGs of all types. So, yes, we are free to 'nitpick every little thing' because now there is no shortage of projects to throw money behind.

 

[Lady_Error]

Getting tired of this trainwreck, hope it gets funded now so we stop hearing of it for a while

Nobody is forcing you to klick on the threads about this game...

 

[majestik12]

Personally, I don't even care about any of the particulars of Guido's pitch. I just support the guy who made Star Trail. If anyone deserves a chance to get back into RPG development that's him.

PS. That's too bad they had to part ways with mr. Halford, though.

 

[Humanity has risen!]

I don't see why, Neal is a great designer and storyteller, but this was never going to be a story-heavy game to begin with.

They have a lot of donations now, it's obvious they'll reach the $50000 level very easily. Looks like his wager will actually pay off.

 

[Decado]

Not if he can't scrounge up the measly 50k on PayPal. People have tried this kind of thing before (going independent after Kickstarter failure) and it hasn't gone well.

I agree. He should take this as a sign. This is almost embarrassing.