In February 2012, game developer Double Fine embarked upon a risky project: It turned to Kickstarter to raise a huge amount of money so it could create a game without needing a publisher.
Kickstarter had worked for smaller projects with tiny budgets, but the idea of an established game developer, whose last games had been funded by industry powerhouses like Electronic Arts and THQ, using crowdfunding to raise $400,000 was a little crazy.
But Double Fine started a revolution. Since its adventure game was funded to the tune of $3.3 million, Double Fine has inspired more and more developers to turn to Kickstarter to finance big projects. The Kickstarter gold rush has seen many success stories, but the final measure of success isn't when the developers get their money -- it's when players get the final product.
At the end of 2012, WIRED named
"all of the Kickstarters" among the things we most looked forward to seeing in 2013, given the number of projects expected to ship this year. With the year almost over, we check in with the 10 biggest Kickstarter games of 2012 to see where they are today.
Above:
Broken Age
- Backers: 87,142
- Goal: $400,000
- Raised: $3.3 million
- Funded On: March 13, 2012
- Original Estimated Release: October 2012
- Current Estimated Release: January 2014
Tim Schafer and Double Fine provided precious little information about their project in the initial Kickstarter pitch. The adventure game, now known as Broken Age, became something of a victim of its own success.
"When we launched, all we said we wanted to do was make an adventure game with Tim writing, and to let the backers watch that unfold," said Greg Rice, producer of Broken Age.
With the original goal of $400,000, the studio planned to make a small game with a small team on a quick timeline. But after the immense response from the fans, Double Fine decided to use the extra money to scale things up and deliver something far more ambitious. "The game is definitely much better than it would have been," Rice told WIRED, "but it means that pretty quickly the plan of shipping a game six months after the Kickstarter ended went out the window."
Broken Age follows two characters — a young boy on an AI-controlled spaceship whose every need is catered to but who is growing bored, and a girl who decides being chosen as a human sacrifice to a monster isn't the honor her town considers it. It's a coming of age story about breaking out of societal norms. Naturally, there is ample room for Schafer's sense of humor to run wild. Visually, it uses modern techniques to blend the hand-drawn 2-D look of classic adventure games with 3-D elements in the background.
But as Rice said, the game's expanding scope means a much later delivery date. Double Fine
ran out of money to finish Broken Age, even though it made more than 800 percent of the original goal. Double Fine's solution is to sell the first half of the game in January, use the proceeds to finish it, and deliver the final product later next year.
Update: Since the original publication of this story, Rice contacted WIRED to let us know that it has been able to secure development funds to finish Broken Age through sales of its other products. While the Early Access sales will "supplement the extra budget," he said, "we already have the extra money and won't be relying on those early sales."
Image: Double Fine Productions
