Dreamfall Chapters – $1.32 mil. 1+ day left.
At the Gates – $106k. Finished.
Worlds of Wonder – $107k ($400k goal). Failed.
Death Inc. – £122k (£300k goal). Failed.
Delver’s Drop – $104k. 4 days left.
Throw Trucks With Your Mind – $32k ($40k goal). 5 days left.
Mage’s Initiation – $77k. 14 days left.
There Came an Echo – $67k ($90k goal). 13 days left.
Death Boulder Bones – $2k ($28k goal). 14 days left.
Skullgirls – $334k. 20 days left.
Another Castle – $7k ($12k goal). 21 days left.
Race the Sun – $21k. Finished.

It’s a famous computer RPG extravaganza this week!

First, we have a spiritual sequel to Planescape: Torment with Torment: Tides of Numenera. It’s not an actual sequel to Planescape: Torment since they couldn’t get the rights, but it has many of the same staff members and takes place in a similar but original setting (intersection between various planes). The kickstarter set a new record for fastest kickstarter to reach $1 million in around 8 hours. It’s currently at $2.1 million so it has a good shot at breaking the all-time record for most money raised in a game software kickstarter (currently held by Project Eternity with just under $4 million).

Next, we have a new spiritual success to Ultima Online called Shroud of the Avatar. There’s a great interview over on Polygon with Richard Garriott himself that explains just what he’s trying to do. Among other things, the game will have a more intimate feel than most MMORPGs, will be completely playable solo & offline if you want, and will have a cool PvP system that’s tied to quests (for example, choosing to do one quest might make you a target for another player). It’s at $135k already (just started this morning) but it’s climbing fast so I have no doubt that it’ll manage to reach its goal of $1 million in the next 29 days.

Crayon Chronicles looks like a fun little roguelike with a playful crayon-based aesthetic. Doesn’t look to break any new ground but it’s cute and that counts for a lot. It’s at $4k of its $5k goal with 23 days to go.

The new spiritual successor to famous old computer RPGs sound great but I might actually be more excited about this one little project that came out of nowhere. Net Gain: Corporate Espionage is a strategy game where you try to sabotage your corporate competitors by any means necessary. All those bars, graphs, and stats… it just fills me with glee. It’s at $15k of its $16k goal with 22 days left to go.

There have been a lot of people saying that kickstarter is a bubble that’s ready to break at any time as soon as we start seeing more kickstarter projects that reach their goal but ultimately fail to produce a good game. Honestly, I don’t see it. Sure, failed kickstarters will scare some people off, but successful kickstarters will bring new people in. Individual projects will succeed & fail but I think crowdfunding game project is here to stay.

3 Responses

  1. I’m sure that some projects will fail to deliver at some point, in fact I’m sure some already have, however I doubt it’ll be one of the million dollar ones since the people who are capable of attracting that kind of money have a proven track record and their professional reputation is at stake, both personally and as a company.

  2. I agree, kickstarter isn’t going anywhere. I think with it’s success, it can only go up. I know some games won’t happen, and some people will get away with cash, but thankfully it seems those games that have a lot of money invested in them have high chances of success. I know I currently have 6 kickstarters backed at the moment, and the first one that should be coming to fruition is Doug TenNaples art book, the Earthworm Jim artist. He has kept his backers very well informed, even explaining what the extra cash he got is being used for, as far as paper type and bindings go. The same goes with Shadowrun and Wasteland 2.

    I will admit one thing though, I have only invested in one risky venture, so to say. Every one I backed has well known people behind them save one, and the one is proving to be a bit of a hassle. The game maker lost those who were helping him make the game, and now he is making another game to try to learn the skills to make the first game………or so he says. It is very hard to trust somebody like that who took the money, and then didn’t deliver what was promised. Thankfully the fella only sought $3,000 and only got $3,500, so my $15 is a bit stinging, but oh well. I know it has hampered my urge to invest in other unknowns, and that is where the problem for all these people going to kickstarter begins.

  3. I completely agree. I think consumers are more savvy than they are given collective credit for. Failed kickstarters will occur and those that seek to exploit will be the architects of their own demise through negative press.

    I see a few types of successful Game Kickstarter trends:

    – The company that has a proven track record of developing and/or publishing games IE InXile, Portalarium etc and I think as long as these companies deliver they will continue to be capable of drawing 1-8 million per project

    – The smaller Indie company with a great gaming idea that has a proven track record I believe will only benefit from the experience of the above group. However, I think part of the presentation needs to include a sell on what they have released to date. I think it is vital that is included in any new Kickstarter, along with a good game idea of course! Following these guidelines I think 100k to 500k are perfectly reasonable expectations.

    – The completely green indie game company that has a solid idea within a “reasonable” budget. They don’t have to have a proven track record but the idea has to be solid…doable and their ability to budget and communicate accordingly will make or break the project but a few successes can bring them up to the middle group. I see 5k to 100k as reasonable targets for this group.

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