Crowdfunding Games

[Wolf Kanno]

With a lot of the vitriol talking going around about Mighty No. 9 and in the past, games like Broken Age; do you feel crowdfunding a game is a good thing or do you feel too many designers are taking advantage of it?

[Pike]

I've helped crowdfund a ton of stuff including games. So far I have no complaints.

[Skyblade]

7piOjxp13-U
oEavGMERDS4

I'm sorry, what were we talking about? How awesome the upcoming Kickstarted titles were looking? Yeah, I agree.

[Fox]

Ask me again once they finish Star Citizen xD

Crowdfunding, like anything, is a mixed bag. It's great that it exists and is big enough to allow a wide variety of games and other things to be created. Let's see, here's what I've Crowdfunded so far:

- Broken Age (Pretty good, but short and mismanaged).
- Strike Suit Zero (A decent-ish space shooter game that I barely played, but apparently got a much improved Director's Cut)
- Starlight Inception (Yet to play it. Apparently it ended up a very bland space sim).
- Star Citizen (...We'll see. I've maintained my optimism for this for a long time but it's 2016 now, I'd really like to see something a bit more substantial)
- Distance (Really good arcade racing game reminiscent of Rush 2049. Still technically in early access but fun as it is and definitely a good investment).
- Divinity: Original Sin (One of the very best kickstarter success stories - widely accepted as one of the finest CRPGs ever created and commercially successful enough to fund a sequel).
- Massive Chalice (Haven't got around to playing it! But it was well received)

I did back some more but they're either so small I forgot about them or they fell through or they're taking their sweet time. I also do a few select early access games. And then you have things like Elite: Dangerous and Invisible Inc - things I didn't back but only got made thanks to crowdfunding which I then bought after release.

So all in all... you have to get through a lot of mediocrity to reach the good stuff. But I think it's worth it.

[Skyblade]

So all in all... you have to get through a lot of mediocrity to reach the good stuff. But I think it's worth it.

Isn't that true of the regular gaming industry too, though?

Kickstarter is a form of gambling. It's throwing away money in the hopes of getting something fantastic.

So far, though, I've had far better odds than I have with casino games or the lottery. It's a good system that allows a lot of games to be made that otherwise would not be. Sometimes, those games are great. Other times, they're not.

But I've gotten a ton of entertainment from Might No. 9 so far even without backing it (just from watching the reactions that have popped up). And a lot of other people enjoyed the early speculation phase of it, before it went off the deep end. There are worse ways to spend a few bucks.

[Fox]

So all in all... you have to get through a lot of mediocrity to reach the good stuff. But I think it's worth it.

Isn't that true of the regular gaming industry too, though?



Oh yes, absolutely. Although I would say crowdfunding is riskier for two reasons.

1) You aren't entitled to a refund of any kind.
2) You can't judge what's good or not from reviews etc before putting money down.

Although you probably get a similar ration of rubbish games in the regular industry, you probably spend your money almost exclusively on the good stuff. So you're not really rolling the dice like you are with Kickstarter. So crowdfunding is definitely great, but it's not for everyone.

[Spuuky]

Games I've kickstarted:

Grim Dawn (released, good)
Divinity: OS (released, GREAT)
Divinity: OS2 (on-schedule, looks great)
Cosmic Star Heroine (very slightly behind schedule, looks great)
Children of Zodiarcs (on-schedule I think?, hard to say)

So personally I've had a really good success rate so far and I'm certain 2 of the other 3 will get there at least.

[Slothy]

Kickstarter is a form of gambling. It's throwing away money in the hopes of getting something fantastic.

It's as much like gambling as any investment, which is to say it's exactly like gambling except that when you gamble you usually have a better idea of the odds. So people really should think of it like investing when they pay in. Might get a great game, might end up with nothing while the guy raising the money runs away with all of it never to be heard from again.

But you're right, it's a great way to get games made that may never see the light of day otherwise and let's people put their money where their interests lie and take a chance publishers frequently won't.

And honestly, given how useless reviews tend to be your really not any worse off if the game ultimately sucks than if you spend $80 on something from a AAA publisher that turns out to stick sweaty donkey testicles and that gamestop will happily let you trade in for $5 credit towards something else. Personally, I'd rather take my chances with the little guy on kickstarter.