Information Thorvalla Kickstarter goes online

[Apexeon]

Well these ex big shot developers are not the only ones trying to make games they like (Turn based).
Kickstarter (Crowd Funding) is probably our last hope for games that are not just a FPS cash in wanabe Halo clone (yes all new RPG's are just a RTS or FPS ffs). As a indie you have to work a lot but kickstarter gives you a rally point for your last stand against this **** D3 sells 10 million.

I was ready to make games at 24 (2005) and you should see the look on peoples face when you
pitch them a turn based game idea (it gets ugly real fast). No one in publisher hell is going to touch you and
they paint you as a "idiot from the past" (the 1990's is sooo old man, learn how to make games in Unreal 3/FPS mods). The top end of town is after money $$$ and THEY ARE STILL getting it --> D3 sells 10 million

Brain Fargo gave me hope with this Unity.
So with some hope I can charge again!

Also this one gets me pumped up Brave heart.
I didn't come here to "make games for money hungry publisher pigs in a slave pit".
They will never take my freedom.

http://silkjade.com/blog1/

 

[Zed]

He needs to raise 33k per day. Day0-1 is usually one of the stronger periods of time and Thorvalla has only managed to raise something like 15k.
Needless to say there's no chance in hell for this KS.
I wonder for how long he'll soldier on.
Maybe there's an "OMFG" update in the pipeline.

 

[almondblight]

Their real problem, first and foremost, is the press. I didn't look everywhere but nothing on RPS, Kotaku, PCGamer... Shaker was all over the place on day 1. Hopefully that'll change and then we'll be able to estimate the chances of success. As of now pledges seem to come from Henkel and Hallford's Facebook communities, Codex and Watch. And Gamebanshee.

Yeah. RPS just had an article about the Shutup and Jam Gaiden sequel Kickstarter - which hasn't even started yet - but not this. Though come to think about it, why hasn't the Codex posted about Chapter 2 of the Hoopz Barkley Saga yet?

Fargo and Obsidian both did a good job laying the groundwork for their Kickstarter. Fargo was everywhere, whipping up anticipation and trying to connect Wasteland 2 to Fallout as much as he could. Obsidian was talking about it for a while, and the countdown timer worked well.

 

[visions]

Maybe he is as big as Chris Roberts in Germany but I'm not even sure you Kraut bastards can use Kickstarter?

You don't have to be a Kwa in order to PLEDGE.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Though come to think about it, why hasn't the Codex posted about Chapter 2 of the Hoopz Barkley Saga yet?

We will. But we need to make sure it's canon first.

I suggest you tune in on Wednesday.

 

[Executer]

Hopefully they'll keep it going for a bit, if only to get more feedback and gauge reactions to updates.

 

[Moribund]

I know Guido, I like his projects of the past. I won't pledge. Why? C'mon, this is not how a proper RPG studio looks like. They have no credibility and no recent relevant project. There is just Guido, sitting and saying things. That's not enough. I wouldn't plegde Chris Avellone either if he had his own studio with ugly website which made two shitty mobile games since his last good 15yrs old project (let's assume it was Fallout 2).

That's pretty much true as far as I'm concerned, of MCA.

Guido is the guy on the torment box art, btw. He was a part of that, too. Maybe a big part considering how lackluster everything from obsidian has been.

 

[~RAGING BONER~]

^ MCA already got his 4 mil though so no sense in riding his ass ragged...

Guido should take a page from the Obsi-book on how to raise funds.

 

[zeitgeist]

I'd say it's pretty much on par, give or take. Not that I am criticizing W2, but I find it regretful that a similar approach no longer seems to work and many people seem eager to go back to the days when publishers put people like Henkel, Fargo and Hallford on the sidelines.

I find it regretful that it ever worked. Come on, you can just ask a random Codexian to describe his dream game, and you'll get more concrete info about the mechanics and features and whatnot than was shown in the last five big-name Kickstarters all put together.

 

[Jaesun]

I'd say it's pretty much on par, give or take. Not that I am criticizing W2, but I find it regretful that a similar approach no longer seems to work and many people seem eager to go back to the days when publishers put people like Henkel, Fargo and Hallford on the sidelines.

I find it regretful that it ever worked. Come on, you can just ask a random Codexian to describe his dream game, and you'll get more concrete info about the mechanics and features and whatnot than was shown in the last five big-name Kickstarters all put together.

We can't even agree on what a cRPG is.

 

[zeitgeist]

We can't even agree on what a cRPG is.

Note that I said "a random Codexian" instead of "a bunch of random Codexians" - there must be a hard one-Codexian-per-Kickstarter-project limit for safety reasons.

 

[Kosmonaut]

I've pledged $15 but I don't expect they will actually get to the money.

 

[J1M]

Pitch substance:
-Drawing of map
-Unfinished concept art x2
-Guy who used to make games sharing zero ideas about the game he wants to make

Result:
$0

When your kickstarter looks like it took less than a weekend to throw together it isn't going to fly.

If you really believe in your project you would already have some blood, sweat, and tears invested in it.

 

[Brother None]

Heh, I think you guys covered it well. I don't think the crowdfunding well is running dry but a lot of guys pitching things seem to be under the misapprehension that it is some kind of magic money button, where you can half-ass a pitch and it just comes pouring in. DoubleFine will probably be the only Kickstarter ever that can get away with "give us money and we'll do cool stuff!", because it was the first and because of the brand value of DoubleFine and Schafer. Fargo already showed a lot more and put in a lot of effort to push his Kickstarter on by tying in big names and dropping fairly substantive pieces of info (though often still vague). P:E had to one-up that, having big names from the start and focusing mostly on showing off real, substantive information, piling it on at a high pace, and appealing to arguably a larger crowd than WL2 (the Infinity Engine crowd).

I pledged because of the name Henkel but he is fooling himself if he thinks his name carries the clout of a Schafer or Avellone. Hell, even Fargo had to kind of "remind people" who he was and cleverly took the time to do so, using his industry contacts well. This all takes a lot of work, as well as the right moments, names and contacts, all of which Henkel seems to lack. Because of all that this seems to have dropped dead before it even started. Maybe if it had come out with actual screenshots, or better art, or even a mocked up video, then maybe, but even then it's hard to get one million, many Kickstarters that showed their game was real, like that action game with that Dutch heroic figure (forgot the name), still struggled to.

It's an interesting discussion for sure. Kickstarter fatigue is a real thing but the question is what it means to future projects. It certainly doesn't mean, in my mind, that a one-million dollar cRPG like this can't work. It means it has to be smart and high-effort about its approach, which this Thorvalla pitch sadly lacks. We'll see more exciting, better-constructed cRPGs pitches in the future though, if perhaps not any time too soon.

Braben is the first one to be reaching these numbers, but he is UK, so not really Europe.

The UK is not in Europe? o_O

 

[JoKa]

The UK is not in Europe? o_O

Europe is everywhere you can drive with a German panzer ...

 

[Grunker]

It never ceases to amaze me that someone with serious, creative ambition who asks his fans for 1,000,000 fucking dollars and obviously put a lot of work into the Kickstarter can STILL release a half-assed, boring as fuck video and completely fail to build up any hype around it before he launches. Then proceed to ask for as much as Wasteland 2 and Project Eternity.

Fuck this. This Kickstarter failing is a huge letdown, and Guido has only himself to blame.

 

[Apexeon]

Pitch substance:
-Drawing of map
-Unfinished concept art x2
-Guy who used to make games sharing zero ideas about the game he wants to make

Result:
$0

When your kickstarter looks like it took less than a weekend to throw together it isn't going to fly.

If you really believe in your project you would already have some blood, sweat, and tears invested in it.

Like this concept art below ?

I am rolling out my kickstarter (6 months away) with "all the games 60+ maps done to this level below".
It may look like BG but I swing with the turn based crew all the way.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Yeah you probably need a bit more exposure than Codex, Watch, Gamebanshee.

 

[Bulba]

but he is UK, so not really Europe.

in your world UK is located somewhere on the continent of greenland, right?

 

[A user named cat]

Card-based combat? Am I getting this right? Hopefully it won't be like Baten Kaitos, only game that comes to mind. Couldn't stand that gimmick even in a lame JRPG.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Does Apexeon try to hijack this thread?

 

[skuphundaku]

Yeah you probably need a bit more exposure than Codex, Watch, Gamebanshee.

That depends on the funding goal. If it's low and the pitch is good, it may work based mainly around these communities. If it's high, then it definitely needs much more exposure, no matter how good the pitch is in and of itself.

 

[skuphundaku]

Does Apexeon try to hijack this thread?

Yeah, it seems like it:D... Good for him if he pulls it off

 

[Charles-cgr]

Does Apexeon try to hijack this thread?

Brofisted out of sheer admiration for such opportunistic prowess.

 

[skuphundaku]

Does Apexeon try to hijack this thread?

Brofisted out of sheer admiration for such opportunistic prowess.

Well, if something good comes out of this shitty pitch, then let the derailing begin.