2043

Thanks! I have a few wargamer friends who will jump on this one.

Wendelius

2044

I disappointed to read that Double Fine over designed their first Kickstarter game, Broken Age, and is now crowd sourcing funds again from Steam Early Access. They were funded 2-3X their initial goal of $400K. I hope this is not setting up a a trend for a video game KS as its pretty disappointing turn of a KS project. I’m glad I withdrew from Massive Chalice.

This bring to mind my earlier comment up thread where I questioned on how the funds are being used. I gave an example of what if the developer decided to use it to buy a Ferrari and many here said it’s more power to them. I disagreed as I think they should use the fund for the games and when it is completed and it sells well, they can use the profits from those sales as they seemed fit, even if the want to go to the moon. But yeah, not during development! Now we read about Broken Age!

2045

The key is that they should fulfill the promises of their Kickstarter before spending the money raised on personal extras. I have no problem if someone runs a 400K kickstarter, raises 800K and only spends 400K to make the game as long as it fulfills all of their promises.

2046

What I always wondered was how these developers were going to make these great games for $400,000 or whatever they asked for. We’ve been told it’s getting more and more expensive to make great games and then Kickstarter comes along and people are promising great games for sub-$1M budgets.

2047

I think in a lot of cases that’s not the budget, just the additional capital they need.

2048

Poor budget estimation is really, really common in the games industry. Normally, it’s only visible to publishers who have to decide whether to throw more money into a project or write it off. Now consumers are getting to experience the same joys since they’re providing the development funds.

2049

I’m not following what you’re worried about, habibi. I think the situation explained by Tim in the email makes the most sense and is the most direct explanation of what happened: they went up on Kickstarter with a funding request, took in way more than they expected, and then their plans for the game correspondingly ballooned until they got to the point where they just couldn’t make it happen on time and on budget. If you think the problem was Ferraris for everyone! then I’ve got a black helicopter to sell you.

2050

I don’t really know how people can know Tim Schafer well enough to back a Kickstarter of his but not know him well enough to know that every single game he’s ever worked on has been delayed fairly significantly.

I backed Tim Schafer, along with every bit of baggage that goes along with him. I have absolutely no doubt that an amazing game will come along with it.

2051

I think you mean funded 8x over their initial goal (they raised something like $3.3M).

2052

Just, you know, not on time :)

2053

For $15 I get a movie about a funny and charismatic guy going through interesting ups and downs trying to make a game. As a bonus, at the end I get a game that may (probably will) be worth playing.

2054

Looks like I’m the odd one out here. I think many of you are ok because you as a backers do not need to fork extra money. Now what happens if they didn’t get enough fund out of Steam Early Access and have to cut corners. Will you still be as forgiving?

I guess my beef is not with DF but more of how they are the yard stick that video game Kickstarter is measured on. If it can happen to DF, I shudder to think of all the other KS I have pledged. My confidence in this is shaking now. If the same case happened to Wasteland or Torment, I will not trust KS anymore.

2055

What? Since when?

2056

I think the interesting point is that when most kickstarters are presented the creative team is often the main attraction. The artistic side is the main selling point. The Project Manager side is not something that is usually pushed. Kickstarter supporters now need to just be a bit more picky and as a game grows very large we need to see the addition of an experienced project team.

It would be interesting to see a study on those projects where strong producer experience is a part of the equation and how that relates to success.

2057

Since it was the first highly publicized videogame Kickstarter that drew in over $1 million in pledges?

2058

I thought that the success of Double Fine’s kickstarter project influenced a lot of other projects when the large amount of money for an old school type of game was reached.

2059

Yeah, DF’s Kickstarter was the proof in the pudding that showed that large-scale funding was possible for video games. It’s success or failure will be magnified by its prominence.

Except this time it’s not only late, it also needs more money. After it raised millions more than anticipated. I think Schaefer is great, but this reflects very poorly on DF’s business practices, especially when they just finished another Kickstarter. The fact that this announcement came out after the Massive Chalice campaign ended is not a coincidence.

2060

I’ve unpacked one of my two sets of Reaper Bones miniatures. The very first miniature I cut out of its little baggy was leaning forward at an impossible angle, far enough that it would fall over if placed upright. This proved to be a pattern, almost anything that could be bent probably was. Mostly swords, but also any figure with relatively thin ankles.

Fortunately, there Reaper Miniatures forum had a fix. Dunk the miniature in boiling water for about 10-15 seconds, bend what needs bending, and then dunk it in ice water. It works like a charm. A fair number of bent things straighten out on their own in hot water, as they return to the original shape from casting. For those that didn’t, getting stuff straight was problematic. Mostly I had to settle for “close enough.”

The Clockwork Dragon was the biggest disappointment, since out of the box it simply would not stand up. Each of the 3 legs in contact with the ground was at a significantly different angle. I tried the boil-and-straighten solution, and had only partial success. Part of the problem is that the body, legs, wings, and tail are separate parts, and when I tried to shape the legs they’d pop out. I’ve cemented them to the body, and I’m hoping that when they set that I’ll be able to address this.

Anyway, this is what I’ve unpacked. Keep in mind I have a complete second set of everything you see here except the Clockwork Dragon in the back. I just haven’t unpacked it yet.

2061

Mine just came in as well. My friend bought the minis, so I haven’t really looked through them much yet, but I got the paint set. $64 for 48 colors is a great deal, even if I didn’t get to select the colors myself. Looking on their website, a set of 54 paints is $184.99, so yeah, just a bit of a savings.

2062

Is this kind of thing prevalent in minis? Or is it just Bones? (I’ve seen a few problems with the figures in various boardgames, but I’ve never had such a large amount of pre-formed plastic minis from a single source as you have in that image.)