Can we get a projected date on a kickstarter?

[80Maxwell08]

I don't want you guys to rush this but I say this because my birthday is coming up on April 2 and I would gladly give up my birthday present (I asked for a new TV) to donate that money to a kickstarter by Obsidian. I would ask my parents to not get anything just in case but so far we don't even have confirmation that you guys are even going to do one just that there were talks about it. Sorry if there's a ton of these scattered all around or I posted in the wrong forum.

[Lexx]

It isn't even known if there will be a kickstarter project at all.

[80Maxwell08]

It isn't even known if there will be a kickstarter project at all.

I mention that in the second sentence. I would find it hard to believe they would come out and say they aren't doing one after all the hype they caused by even mentioning it. Still I would prefer them to say they are going to do one later or not at all so I could decide what to do.

[WDeranged]

Considering the recent layoffs and cancellations Kickstart might be their saving grace, god knows though, I just hope they pull something together.

[80Maxwell08]

Considering the recent layoffs and cancellations Kickstart might be their saving grace, god knows though, I just hope they pull something together.

Agreed hence why I want them to at least say they are going to do one or say they aren't. I seriously wouldn't mind giving them a few hundred dollars if they started one up. Granted my parents are pissed as hell but it's still my birthday and they would understand that at least.

[Auxilius]

For lack of a better thread, I'll psot that here:

 

Schafer can be proud of himself. He sure started a new wave and wrote despite him a new page of the history of gaming.

Serious RPG projects are now flourishing on the kickstarter website. More important, Brian Mitsoda, of Vampires: Bloodlines, Mask of the Betrayer and Alpha Protocol fame, admitted he's going to launch a kickstarter project soon. Apparently, it's going to be about a Survival RPG set after a Zombie Apocalypse. Learn more here: http://www.irontower...pic,2482.0.html.

I didn't really know the man but considering his background, I sure will pledge several bucks for his game.

 

Then, while browsing the new projects page of the kickstarter website, I met this: http://www.kickstart...the-banner-saga. This is some kind of viking RPG that promotes good art and real choices and consequences, ala Alpha Protocol apparently. Considering it already earned half the money they want in half a day, I suppose they're from a serious company or at least, have a good community that follows this game. Maybe that's because they're ex-Bioware employees.

 

Mister Avellone should speed up if he doesn't want to be a mere dot in the sky. I shouldn't worry though. Obsidian really has A LOT of pull with nerds gamers.

Edited March 19, 2012 by Auxilius

[molarBear]

forget about the date on the kickstarter project at this stage, i just want yes/no from obsidian.

[80Maxwell08]

For lack of a better thread, I'll psot that here:

 

Schafer can be proud of himself. He sure started a new wave and wrote despite him a new page of the history of gaming.

Serious RPG projects are now flourishing on the kickstarter website. More important, Brian Mitsoda, of Vampires: Bloodlines, Mask of the Betrayer and Alpha Protocol fame, admitted he's going to launch a kickstarter project soon. Apparently, it's going to be about a Survival RPG set after a Zombie Apocalypse. Learn more here: http://www.irontower...pic,2482.0.html.

I didn't really know the man but considering his background, I sure will pledge several bucks for his game.

 

Then, while browsing the new projects page of the kickstarter website, I met this: http://www.kickstart...the-banner-saga. This is some kind of viking RPG that promotes good art and real choices and consequences, ala Alpha Protocol apparently. Considering it already earned half the money they want in half a day, I suppose they're from a serious company or at least, have a good community that follows this game. Maybe that's because they're ex-Bioware employees.

 

Mister Avellone should speed up if he doesn't want to be a mere dot in the sky. I shouldn't worry though. Obsidian really has A LOT of pull with nerds gamers.

Agreed but I don't want them to start it tommorow just say they will or will not and maybe say a date. Personally if they are going to it I would say they should do it in May since right now they have quite a bit of competition for money. March has Tales of Graces F, Mass Effect 3, the Wasteland 2 kickstarter and April has Xenoblade Chronicles and The Witcher 2. I can't think of anything in May so that seems like quite the opportune moment to do it since right after May comes Darksiders 2 and The Last Story.

 

forget about the date on the kickstarter project at this stage, i just want yes/no from obsidian.

 

Agreed there too though I should edit that into me first post now that I think about it. I thought I put that there. Huh it appears I can't edit it though for some reason.

Edited March 20, 2012 by 80Maxwell08

[Tigranes]

They're clearly not at a stage where they can announce something I think. You want to come out and say "we are going to propose X game", and build up momentum to a kickstarter date. Right now I expect they're still working out whether they want to do this, what they want to make, etc., so they aren't able to give a Yes/No.

[80Maxwell08]

Well now my May suggestion has been taken by someone else. Tex Murphy is going to be doing a Kickstarter on May 15.

Well I got nothing.

[anubite]

Obsidian isn't ready. It takes a lot of logistics to prepare a serious kickstarter project. There are legal issues, game design issues... you need to decide what reward tiers are, how they will promote the kickstarter, how much it's going to cost... even if Obsidian were keen on Kickstarting something in December (which I'm sure they weren't) they'd probably still need a month or two more to prepare. If they have decided to kickstart, we'll probably hear about it before July. If they aren't going to kickstart anything (sadface) we'll know for sure by then. After july... well they could kickstart something, but it seems like they'd be far behind the wave at that point.

 

Right now the iron is hot. Everyone who's an RPG fan is buzzing over kickstarter. Wasteland 2, Baldur's Gate 3, The Banner Saga, Zombie State... Obsidian should strike fast, but they can't rush stuff.

 

If Obsidian doesn't decide to kickstart, it will be for very good reasons. But I think Kickstarter presents a really strong opportunity. For one, your game is 100% risk-free funded (provided you manage your time/money well and estimate what kind of money you'll need correctly). You're getting this money from a relatively small amount of people (So far, less than 60k kickers for Wasteland 2 or Double Fine's adventure) so the potential of selling 60k more copies of the game after it's released -- at the VERY least is pretty good! So not only do you stand to bring much needed capital to Obsidian, but you now have a product which you can put on the online marketplace and reap the benefits of for years to come - ESPECIALLY if you make it a good game. Which will happen, if you cater to a dedicated niche audience. Baldur's Gate, VTMB, KOTOR2 all have very strong cult followings even today, with new people being convinced to try these games today. If you make a good niche game, you will make money from it using a quality, DDL DRM-free system. Just not the kind publishers want (instant gratification).

 

The marketing aspect is also unncessary. Hype it up for a month on kickstarter via viral stuff, produce the game, then put it on Steam or other DD enterprises. Having it on the front page for a few days or putting it on-sale is all the marketing you need to sell 100k+ copies of a good game.

Edited March 22, 2012 by anubite

[NoMan2000]

Kickstarter recently changed their rules which will affect how these projects are being done. Previously, they didn't require you to provide proof of tangibles, they just required some basic demonstration that you could do what you were talking about. E.g. I did a movie script:

 

http://afcbjj.net/wordpress_hire/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/lastVice.pdf

 

Ironically, the whole reason I wrote that script was because I wanted to get into the gaming industry and they asked if I could write. That's only a first draft version, but it was originally enough to get started with Kickstarter. They e-mailed me back and said that they want proof of tangibles, e.g. that there was actually a film being made before I asked for the money for a film to be made. The reason is that they are getting swamped with submissions now that Kickstarter has taken off, and they are more closely scrutinizing the projects that they are accepting.

 

Kickstarter is a great avenue for independent film-makers and game-makers that allows fan-focused films and games to be made. However, it's pretty small compared to what a major studio release offers. Where I'm at, they film god-awful movies that average ten million dollars per. They're revoltingly awful:

 

http://www.filmbatonrouge.com/

 

Those are the ones they're proud of, btw. But they still get millions. If you go kickstarter, you might get a few thousand, (e.g. CodeHero earned 150k, 1.5 mil for the sequel to Wasteland), but that's still nothing compared to what a major studio release is worth. Compare to Skyrim: About 100 million dollars to produce. So the kickstarter would be great, but the amount of revenue would be small and even though Obsidian has been hit by some terrible news recently, the amount of time it would take to go into a side project would pull them from their core games. They might get enough money to pull together a small group away from the main games and work on it, but the most passionate people at Obsidian would want in on this side project, and whatever developer is getting ready to steal produce a game with Obsidian isn't going to want the most creative talent working on a side project.

[80Maxwell08]

Ah well that all makes sense so thanks for that post. Especially the part about Kickstarter changing your rules. I do know that people won't be getting as much money from kickstarter as from being funded by an actual publisher. I do think Obsidian would be able to get a good amount of money at least around the level Double Fine has but that still wouldn't be much compared to an actual budget by a publisher. Still I hope they do one since Obsidian has the worst luck with publishers.