KickStarter Kickstarter Watch.

[Jools]

Is it realistic? As in, can you buy the judge?

And catch two birds with one stone?

 

[almondblight]

Finally got around to playing that exploding cats game. It's actually not bad.

 

[CryptRat]

Another video from Project Rain World (not too many new things, I'd say fortunately since exploring the world will probably be great) :


From Legend of Iya :

Happy New Year from Last Dimension!
Hello guys and gals,

Happy New Year to you all, and may 2016 be amazing for you and your families. Let us leave all the problems and worries of the passing year behind, and start anew. 2015 was not the greatest year for our world in general and for me personally. In late May, I released Mystik Belle, a game that fell entirely on deaf ears, despite looking nice and being lots of fun. The next few months were spent futilely trying to get someone, anyone in the press to play it, and by the time I finally gave up, I felt drained and defeated.

But then something happened, and I was filled with Determination: ) As cheesy as it sounds, it gave me a burst of renewed energy and hope, and the strength to keep going, damn-the-torpedoes, until the victorious end!

The project will be completed in this coming year. All my wonderful backers, all of you with saint-like patience, will receive your tier rewards (and more, hopefully), and this long journey will finally come to an end.

Thank you so much for your support, and understanding. Love you all.

Happy New Year!

С Новым Годом!

Andrew.

PS: Also, if you feel charitable this New Year's Eve (or whenever you are reading this), please vote for this project on Steam Greenlight. I am in no way associated with it, and in fact the author kind of hates my guts for making unkind remarks regarding his work. However, it pains me to see a game I remember so fondly from my childhood languish in Greenlight purgatory: )

Not really reassuring. Too bad Mystik Belle was a commercial failure, in my opinion it was much, much better than many games made in normal condition ; if the guy can make Mystik Belle in short time, I am sure Legend Of Iya could be excellent.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

 

[CryptRat]

Nobody told him that games with no fun is a saturated market.

 

[HotSnack]

Those reward tiers are great.

 

[Burning Bridges]

the sounds are so annoying, deserved to be funded.

 

[eklektyk]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nectargamestudios/project-resurgence?ref=discovery

 

[Irenaeus II]

Didn't like the aesthetics/graphix, but damn the kickstarter page is well done.

 

[vonAchdorf]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nectargamestudios/project-resurgence?ref=discovery

Looks good, but "episodic" diminished my interest a lot.

 

[eklektyk]

as with shadowruns - the most effort and time goes into first one and each next is better - so im kinda hopefull they can deliver - u can never have too much good or promising crpgs i think
if systems are solid and rest is executed well it might be quite "ok" for a few playthroughs

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

From their pitch: "We also want our characters to resonate with all players. We made sure to include a diverse and dynamic cast: a female, an LGBTQ and multi-ethnic characters".

 

[Trash]

Now, if they'd said that they were going for a wide range of interesting characters with distinct personalities and backgrounds this would've raised interest. Now it just raises my irritation.

 

[Abu Antar]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nectargamestudios/project-resurgence?ref=discovery

Yeah, I was interested until I read "episodic". I could still get the full game if it turns out good.

 

[SausageInYourFace]

That pitch is pretty detailed and solid though, only thing its lacking is a little cheaper Early Bird tier to get the thing going. I might still throw a few bucks at them.

Lumen is a land of diversity, with many backgrounds and beliefs intermingling throughout it and people of all types calling it home. Reflecting the design of Lumen itself, we want to give players the freedom to create a character wholly like them, unlike them, or anywhere in between.
Players choose their character’s tribe, sex, gender identification, and skin tone. We also hope to achieve a respectful representation of characters through appropriate functional clothing and armor design. We’re planning for a variety of romance options and relationship choices to represent all walks of life.

I predict that this KS won't become particularly popular on the Codex though. A news post should be in order, just for shits and giggles.

 

[Ivan]

this is running on Unreal 4?

 

[Vault Dweller]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1793481042/star-wars-open-world-rpg/description

This whole project was created solely by me, Devin Tripp. I do not have permission from Disney to create this game as of now. Disney has no part of this as of now. I have received a reply from Disney telling me to ask Lucas Films.

Like many of us when we were kids, we wanted to be like Luke Skywalker or obi jim Kenobi, but like all of us, we do not live in a galaxy far far away. There might be another way, though. With all the open world RPGs out there how is there not a good one for Star Wars? I have decided to take matters into my own hands and write a story in the star wars universe that will fit inside an RPG video game that I have not created. I am currently looking into talking with Disney if I am able to do this. If not then there might have to be a compromise on the name or some other parts. I need your help. I am not a very good programmer, and I'm an even worst artist. I want to put this project into the hands of professionals, but in order to do that, I need money to hire them. This was my dream as a kid I hope you can share my same compassion, thank you.

There are many people out there that have the wrong image when they think about this game so I will go into deep detail as much as I can to get people more excited about this. As I know there are other "very good" games over Star Wars, but within the bounds of good taste, I believe that these RPG's over Star Wars have not reached their full potential. I do not feel immersed in these games. I am not talking about a 1995/2005 game that could be created in a month or two(exaggeration, I am saying that they made a terrible game IN MY OPINION). I am talking about a Star Wars RPG that will completely blow people away; like "Fallout 4", or "The Witcher 3" did. These RPG's set the benchmark of how the future of RPG's should look, and they are a good blueprint to go on. I want to make something that is like this in some respects but goes even further. It will have the graphics of "Battlefront" or better with the feel of "The Witcher 3".

The game and story will also have a lot of choices. You will be able to choose which side you would like to be on. You can be evil and choose the dark side and rule the galaxy as you wish, or you could also bring peace about the galaxy. Both in their own respects have their perks. Speaking of perks: Like "Fallout 4" there might or might not be perks in the game. At least not the same as they are in "Fallout". I do not want to give away much about the story, but I will give away that you do not start out as a Jedi, but later become one. As you progress your skills get better as your ability to use the force. It is very exciting that I have already gotten backers. I will be providing updates every couple of days, and answering any questions that you might have. I am still answering others so please be patient.

Helpful tip of the day: "Spelt" is a type of wheat, although some use this noun to describe what they spelled.

- Thank you, Devin Tripp

Risks and challenges
Copy rights, pleasing all star wars fans, hiring professionals.

 

[Excidium II]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1793481042/star-wars-open-world-rpg/description

I am not a very good programmer, and I'm an even worst artist. I want to put this project into the hands of professionals, but in order to do that, I need money to hire them.

 

[Irenaeus II]

Helpful tip of the day: "Spelt" is a type of wheat

Suspicious.

 

[Excidium II]

"Hi I am Devin Tripp I am 20 years old and I have owned businesses ranging from clothing to stocks."

Sounds like he has the experience needed to manage multimillionaire crowdfunded project.

 

[Irenaeus II]

"Hi I am Devin Tripp I am 20 years old and have never so much as held a girl's hand.

How f**ked am I?"

Fixed.

 

[Vault Dweller]

This is the kind of negativity that gives the Codex a bad name. Like you wouldn't want to play as Obi "Jimbo" Kenobi.

 

[Excidium II]

Didn't notice that.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/fulfillment

The Kickstarter Fulfillment Report
An independent analysis by the University of Pennsylvania

Kickstarter is a new model for bringing creative projects to life. Compared with other funding models — film studios, grant-makers, publishers, venture capitalists — there are fewer barriers to entry, and a greater opportunity to take risks on new ideas. Creators from diverse backgrounds, at every level of experience from across the creative universe, can find backing for their ideas.

It’s a powerful model — billions of dollars pledged, tens of thousands of successfully produced projects, Oscar and Grammy wins, trips to outer space, and beyond. But how many projects fall short of delivering what was promised? It’s a question many have speculated on, but we want to know for sure.

In March 2015, we invited a scholar from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania to help answer this question. Professor Ethan Mollick is an expert in entrepreneurship and innovation who developed an independent study surveying nearly 500,000 backers about project outcomes and backer sentiment.

This is the largest study to ever examine the Kickstarter community. We had no influence over its findings. Before research began, Wharton and Kickstarter agreed that we would co-publish the results, whatever was found.

Here’s what was found.

Finding #1
9% of Kickstarter projects
fail to deliver rewards
The core question behind the professor’s research was whether a creator delivered rewards as promised — not whether the creative work was actually made. For example, if a creator successfully finished a film funded through Kickstarter but backers didn’t get a copy of their DVD, the project was counted as “failed.”

Professor Mollick found that:

• 9% of Kickstarter projects failed to deliver rewards
  
  
• 8% of dollars pledged went to failed projects
  
  
• 7% of backers failed to receive their chosen reward
  
  
• 65% of backers agreed or strongly agreed with the statement that “the reward was delivered on time”

Here’s what Professor Mollick wrote in his analysis:

“Project backers should expect a failure rate of around 1-in-10 projects, and to receive a refund 13% of the time. Since failure can happen to anyone, creators need to consider, and plan for, the ways in which they will work with backers in the event a project fails, keeping lines of communication open and explaining how the money was spent. Ultimately, there does not seem to be a systematic problem associated with failure (or fraud) on Kickstarter, and the vast majority of projects do seem to deliver.”

As Professor Mollick notes, the results of this study apply to Kickstarter — not crowdfunding more generally: “t is important to realize that these results apply only to Kickstarter, and other crowdfunding methods (such as equity crowdfunding) and platforms that have different policies or approaches may have higher failure rates.”

Finding #2
Failure rates are consistent
across categories
Failure rates for projects across all 15 creative categories hover within a narrow range around 9%. Projects from some categories tend to fail less often than others, but there are no major outliers.

Professor Mollick classified project failure into three definitions: Broad, Middle, and Narrow.

Broad means at least one backer considered the project a failure. Middle means at least half of backers agreed the project was a failure. Narrow means all backers agreed.

This graph shows the failure rates by category for all three definitions.

Finding #3
Projects that raise less than
$1,000 fail the most often
When looking at projects by funding amount, the Wharton analysis found that smaller projects have the highest failure rate. Here are failure rates by the amount raised:

Finding #4
There are good failures
and bad failures
Approximately 73% of backers who backed a failed project agreed or strongly agreed that they would back another Kickstarter project. However, just 19% of backers of failed projects would back another project by the same creator whose project failed.

Professor Mollick examined whether backers received refunds or detailed explanations from creators about why their projects failed. He found that in 15-20% of cases, backers reported that failure was handled well by creators. About 13% of backers of failed projects reported receiving a refund or other compensation from the creator. And 17% agreed or strongly agreed that they understood why the project failed.

Overall, backers of failed projects were obviously less satisfied than backers of projects that delivered rewards, but some projects failed and still satisfied their backers.

What is a creator supposed to do if their project can’t be completed?
If a creator realizes they’re unable to bring their project to life as promised, they have to be open about it with their backers. Here’s what they need to do:

• Explain to backers what work’s been done, how funds were used, and what stopped them from finishing;
  
  
• Demonstrate that they’ve used funds appropriately, and have made every reasonable effort to complete the project as promised;
  
  
• If there’s money left over, offer to return any remaining funds to backers who have not received their reward, or explain how those funds will be used to complete the project in some alternate form.

There’s much more on this topic on our Trust & Safety page and in our Terms of Use.

Our view
Kickstarter’s mission is to help bring creative projects to life. It’s a platform for ideas. Creative ideas. Big ideas. Weird ideas. But all just ideas that are looking to come to life.

Is a 9% failure rate reasonable for a community of people trying to bring creative projects to life? We think so, but we also understand that the risk of failure may deter some people from participating. We respect that. We want everyone to understand exactly how Kickstarter works — that it’s not a store, and that amid creativity and innovation there is risk and failure.

Thank you to the University of Pennsylvania, and the tens of thousands of creators and backers who took the time to answer these questions. And thanks to all the backers and creators who make Kickstarter what it is. We promise to always be a place where creative people of all stripes can aim high — and, yes, sometimes fail.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]