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Kickstarter: The Year of the Game

irishScott

irishScott

Lifer
http://www.kickstarter.com/blog/the-year-of-the-game

In 2012, more dollars have been pledged to Games projects than to any other category. Here are the year's leading categories by dollars pledged through August 31st:

1. Games — $50 million
2. Film — $42 million
3. Design — $40 million
4. Music — $25 million
5. Technology — $16 million

In 2012, Games has gone from the eighth most-funded category in Kickstarter history to the second most-funded. Here's how much money has been pledged to games each year:

2009 — $48,190
2010 — $519,885
2011 — $3,615,841
2012 — $50,330,275
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AWESOME! 😀
 
It really is a great way for both devs and gamers to get what they want. Plus it actually feels like you have a say in things compared to the stereotypical "AAA" stuff that gets put out every year.
 
Of course. 95% of that money might as well have been burned for all the return on the investment its going to have. 4% of that money is going to artsy platformers and 1% might, just might be a worthwhile game to play for more than 10 minutes.
 
Red Storm said:
I disagree.
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Let's take something like the Ouya, which in the span of 3 weeks or so, garnered MASSIVE attention and I assume a pretty good amount of money.

Weren't they supposed to release within the year?

We've only seen at best prototype hardware, meant to play smartphone games. There is no announced distribution model, nothing at all. They simply have not shown they have any way of making something like this a reality. Just a idea that many people thought was cool.

And yet people threw money at this without having any information on how this company was going to make this console actually viable and not just a single run of 10 oversized smartphones that can only play said smartphone games, which are not exactly a shining beacon of gaming quality.
 
NikolaeVarius said:
Weren't they supposed to release within the year?
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No. The first Kickstarter project I ever backed, Takedown, was funded all the way back last March. Their release date isn't scheduled until summer 2013 or something like that.

The Kickstarter page for a project always has a "Date for Expected Release", which are usually set by the project creators. Obviously they need to give themselves enough time to make the product. I can't see something like Ouya being finished and mass-produced within a period of only six months.

Edit: I guess I'm wrong, there's just an "Expected Delivery" date under all the different rewards for backing. Most rewards on Kickstarter include an actual copy of the game though, so I'd assume that's when the game should be expected to release.
 
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NikolaeVarius said:
Of course. 95% of that money might as well have been burned for all the return on the investment its going to have. 4% of that money is going to artsy platformers and 1% might, just might be a worthwhile game to play for more than 10 minutes.
Click to expand...

I suspect your ratios are reversed.

Wasteland 2
Double Fine adventure
Shadowrun single-player
Grim Dawn
...

Ouya is the rare example of a dumb idea, and even that will probably deliver a perfectly usable Angry Birds player to the contributors.
 
I appreciate what is being done with Kickstarter (for games). And there are several projects that I have my eye on and have contributed to. But none of them have shown any real results. Not that any of them promised to release before now. Just saying that i haven't seen any actual product yet to judge if my money was well spent.

Still, I hope that it is an eye opener to the bigger name developing houses that, if they don't start adopting to the environment, they may end up being out sold by indie game developers who (seem to) have more of a finger on the pulse of the gamers than they do.
 
DaveSimmons said:
Ouya is the rare example of a dumb idea, and even that will probably deliver a perfectly usable Angry Birds player to the contributors.
Click to expand...

Personally, I would look forward to the XBMC port as the XBMC team has already stated that they will be releasing a port for the Ouya.

I'm still a little skeptical on it, and I was going to wait until around the release to see more.
 
I've backed 12 projects:

Planetary Annihilation - $50
Reaper Bone Miniatures (miniatures, not a game) - $100
Castle Store - $25
SolForge - $25
Defense Grid 2 - $15
Ogre 6th Edition (board game) - $100
Shadowrun Returns - $15
Grim Dawn - $35
Takedown - $15
The Banner Saga - $10
Faster Than Light - $10
Wasteland 2 - $55
 
thespyder said:
I appreciate what is being done with Kickstarter (for games). And there are several projects that I have my eye on and have contributed to. But none of them have shown any real results. Not that any of them promised to release before now. Just saying that i haven't seen any actual product yet to judge if my money was well spent.

Still, I hope that it is an eye opener to the bigger name developing houses that, if they don't start adopting to the environment, they may end up being out sold by indie game developers who (seem to) have more of a finger on the pulse of the gamers than they do.
Click to expand...

I have been playing FTL (Faster Than Light) on STEAM for over 130 hours. Not sure if you can say that non promised to release by now. It's one heck of a fun game that has bunch more content that it would have ever had without Kickstarter.

Big houses will have a harder time simply because what has garnered support are games that are "love" projects. With a dedicated fan base, by people that want something made that would otherwise never have a chance.

Realistically I expect a couple projects even I backed to fail, but it is worth it to me to trow $20 down and see if it makes it. If it doesn't I look at it as investment that will blossom some other time somewhere. Kickstarter is a GOOD thing for PC development, even if a big project will fail. Going to be interesting to see the storm over a fail tough!
 
NikolaeVarius said:
Let's take something like the Ouya, which in the span of 3 weeks or so, garnered MASSIVE attention and I assume a pretty good amount of money.

Weren't they supposed to release within the year?

We've only seen at best prototype hardware, meant to play smartphone games. There is no announced distribution model, nothing at all. They simply have not shown they have any way of making something like this a reality. Just a idea that many people thought was cool.

And yet people threw money at this without having any information on how this company was going to make this console actually viable and not just a single run of 10 oversized smartphones that can only play said smartphone games, which are not exactly a shining beacon of gaming quality.
Click to expand...


It ended the Kickstarter around $8,500,000.00 in money. Alone almost 20% of the "games" kickstarter amount.
 
datalink7 said:
I've backed 12 projects:

Planetary Annihilation - $50
Reaper Bone Miniatures (miniatures, not a game) - $100
Castle Store - $25
SolForge - $25
Defense Grid 2 - $15
Ogre 6th Edition (board game) - $100
Shadowrun Returns - $15
Grim Dawn - $35
Takedown - $15
The Banner Saga - $10
Faster Than Light - $10
Wasteland 2 - $55
Click to expand...

We will have to play some solforge and grim dawn!
 
datalink7 said:
I've backed 12 projects:

Planetary Annihilation - $50
Reaper Bone Miniatures (miniatures, not a game) - $100
Castle Store - $25
SolForge - $25
Defense Grid 2 - $15
Ogre 6th Edition (board game) - $100
Shadowrun Returns - $15
Grim Dawn - $35
Takedown - $15
The Banner Saga - $10
Faster Than Light - $10
Wasteland 2 - $55
Click to expand...

Blows my list out of the water.
The Banner Saga - $10
Wasteland 2 - $30
Shadowrun Returns - $15
Planetary Annihilation - $20 (tempted to up to $50)
Pinball Arcade: Star Trek The Next Generation - $10

A note about the Pinball Arcade, it's a digitization of the 3rd best pinball game ever made. It's already exceeded its goal, but is still going on if you want to get a copy for cheap. The company has said any extra funds will go towards licensing other pinball games.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1067367405/pinball-arcade-star-trek-the-next-generation
 
Anyone backing any games board/card/video games now? Solforge just funded and have not seen much yet, but have not looked through everything.
 
So far i've backed these games, all very exciting to me. I think they will all succeed as well, and i even expect them to be late, but that doesn't matter too much to me. The risk in supporting them is worth it to me even just for the cause.

Double Fine
Two Guys From Andromeda
Pinkerton Road Studios (creator of Gabriel Knight)
Planetary Annihilation (hope they can somehow manage to get 2 million this week)
 
What I would really like to see is someone take a real solid stab at making a 4X space conquest game based in the Dr Who Universe. I figure that between the Cybermen, Daleks, Sontarans, Rutans, Draconians, Ogrons and maybe one or two others, there could be a really awesome game. Throw in some random galaxy changing events such as The Master plotting to destroy the cosmos or maybe Fenric showing up and of course, if you are too evil, maybe a strange blue box would come in and 'Right size' your army. it could be pretty cool.

I figure base it loosely on the GalCiv engine or something. Could be friggin awesome.
 
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