What do you think of the new game from the makers of Maniac Mansion in the same graphical style? Shams, I know you abhorr Kickstarter, but play with me here and comment on the GAME IDEA.
I risked 20 dollar, it's two coffee in a random city cafe.
Great question - also kudos on the use of the word "abhor" not used enough.
I'm a big fan of kickstarter - I however do abhor dishonest crowdfunding campaigns that prey on peoples sense of nostalgia and promise things they can't deliver. As you've seen there have been a number of Kickstarter projects that have failed miserably or simply been terribly late. I'm quite frugal with my money so if anyone doesn't deliver on my promise when I've given them money I'm going to be upset. In this industry the easiest thing is to promise features - the hardest thing is finishing a game. Ben Cousins tweeted the other day:
"We used Kickstarter because it would have been impossible to raise money through normal channels' - maybe there's a reason for that?
It summarized the whole thing for me.
That said - about Thimbleweed park. I played a ton of click and point adventure games - 15 years ago - today I don't enjoy the genre - that includes the telltale games. The project looks cute & fun, but not something I'd buy/back. Ask yourself - are you happy with Gilberts delivery on his latest kickstarter project?
"Building games is always risky. What we bring to this project is a lot of real experience, not only designing games, but planning, budgeting and running projects and talented teams.
Any creative and artistic endeavor is about making tough choices and managing scope. A project’s biggest risk is controlling that scope and staying focused. Our experience brings realistic game design and production goals to the project.
Does that mean we won't be late? No, we probably will be late, but not by a lot and the game will be better for it. That's just the reality of making a game and we're going to be honest about that. We'll keep everyone up-to-date and hopefully there will be no surprises"
This is nice talk for - "It'll be finished when it's finished, if at all, we'll do our best to inform you as we go along. Don't ask so many questions".
If you walked into a business meeting and asked for $375,000 and that was your entire risk analysis the meeting would be over in a heartbeat. It's a joke to be honest. The only reason it works is because...well you know gamers.
I'm not saying people who back KS are stupid - I'm saying you have a different concept of value of money (disposable income) than I do. $20 is not much - but I'd rather spend it on something tangible - now, instead of maybe, later.
/shams
