Kickstarter RPG Project Cancelled After Raising $250,000

[MikeWehner]

Kickstarter RPG Project Cancelled After Raising $250,000

Not all Kickstarter projects end with champagne record-breaking support.

Kickstarter can be a boon for game developers that have great ideas but need cash upfront to get their ideas off the ground. Unfortunately, it's also a harsh proving ground that can kill projects before they even get started, as is the case with Shaker: An Old-School RPG. Loot Drop - the development team headed by industry veterans Brenda Brathwaite and Tom Hall [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/119940-Wizardry-and-Anachronox-Vets-Jump-the-Kickstarter-Train] - is calling it quits after raising over $247,000, and with two weeks of its Kickstarter campaign left to go.

In a new update to Shaker's Kickstarter page [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lootdrop/an-old-school-rpg-by-brenda-brathwaite-and-tom-hal], the team calls the decision a "mercy killing," and apologizes to fans who had been looking forward to the game.

"Ultimately, our pitch just wasn't strong enough to get the traction we felt it needed to thrive," the update reads, "Sure, it may have made it. We could have fought our way to a possibly successful end. In reading your feedback and talking it over internally, however, we decided that it made more sense to kill it and come back with something stronger."

The project's goal was a hefty $1 million, and after raising roughly a quarter of that amount with just 14 days to go, it's uncertain whether the title would have reached that amount in time. Still, although it sounds like Shaker will never see the light of day, there may be something new on the way in the near future.

Source: Kickstarter [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lootdrop/an-old-school-rpg-by-brenda-brathwaite-and-tom-hal/posts]

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[DustyDrB]

They should have let it continue. The spike at the end of the funding period is huge. It's not as big as the start, but...well Project Eternity raised about a million in its final day. Not saying they'd have met their mark, but it might have had a better shot than they realized.

 

[Varil]

If they quit that early on, I'm not sure their drive to succeed is really big enough to be so ambitious with their project goals. If they can't even see their Kickstarter through to the end, how are we supposed to trust them with taking our money to produce a game?

It sounds like they might have killed it on account of feedback(seems unlikely), but still. I feel like this might hurt their chances of getting funding in the long run.

 

[Yopaz]

They should have let it continue. The spike at the end of the funding period is huge. It's not as big as the start, but...well Project Eternity raised about a million in its final day. Not saying they'd have met their mark, but it might have had a better shot than they realized.

Yeah, I agree that they should have waited until it was done. Though I think it's doubtful they would have made it. The games that manage to set record breaking funding usually have some pretty big names behind them that makes sure they get lots of free advertisement from gaming sites and talk in forums and such.

 

[Zeren]

I wonder where that money goes now. Did they already spend it, or are they giving refunds?

EDIT: Stop quoting me and telling me the same thing. Four responses telling me the exact same thing is more than enough.

 

[Twyce]

I'm curious as to what make some Kickstart games thrive (Wasteland 2 and Project Eternity), while others like this flounder.

I heard about Shaker when it was first announced but never saw much of it after that. Maybe it was poor hyping on Loot Drops part?

Regardless, I agree with @Varil ... They should have at least seen it to the end, who knows, they might have met their goal.

 

[Twyce]

I wonder where that money goes now. Did they already spend it, or are they giving refunds?

I may be mistaken, but backers aren't charged until the project is successfully funded on it's end date.

 

[Scars Unseen]

I wonder where that money goes now. Did they already spend it, or are they giving refunds?

As Twyce indicated, the money went nowhere. It never left the pledgers' accounts because the project didn't get funded.

 

[Jamous]

Ouch. This is going to hurt quite a few people, I think. Hopefully it doesn't mark the start of many similar occurrences. That would be awful.

 

[JaceArveduin]

Yeah, that's kind of sad, and it looks like Saga Kingdoms is going to meet the same fate, just without the premature cancelling.

 

[DustyDrB]

I'm curious as to what make some Kickstart games thrive (Wasteland 2 and Project Eternity), while others like this flounder.

For the most successful projects? Name or brand recognition (Brian Fargo, Wasteland, Shadowrun, the bevy of names behind Project Eternity, Tim Schafer, etc).

For the rest: A good pitch, follow-up communication with backers/potential backers, and a realistic goal. The Banner Saga, FTL, Guns of Icarus, and others did this.

 

[Fr]anc[is]

From what I read nobody wanted to throw money at the woman who killed the Wizardry series and married John 'gonna make you his *****' Romero.

 

[Fappy]

I have a feeling something else was going on behind the scenes that led to this. They still had plenty of time to reach their goal.

 

[RubyT]

I guess they actually wanted to make much more than 1 million, they were probably hoping for 3+ like Project Eternity and Double Fine Adventure. They were just slow-playing it, like you do with an eBay-Auction, where you will never sell it for just 1$, even if you start it at that price. And when they saw they were never gonna make it, they pulled the plug.

It probably hurt their stand with investors/publishers as well. I guess there's a dangerous precedent being set by PE and DFA, with potential publishers expecting 3+ million in pledges to consider a project hit-worthy.

 

[Twyce]

anc[is]From what I read nobody wanted to throw money at the woman who killed the Wizardry series and married John 'gonna make you his *****' Romero.

Not going to lie. Seeing Romero on there quelled my interest pretty damn fast.

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

I'm sure they were thinking that Wizardry and John Romero had the kind of name recognition that Tim Cain/Tim Schafer has after seeing that 4 million. It doesn't. We know what you did to Wizardry and there are some of us who will NEVER forget Daikatana (I felt dirty typing that...)

It probably hurt their stand with investors/publishers as well. I guess there's a dangerous precedent being set by PE and DFA, with potential publishers expecting 3+ million in pledges to consider a project hit-worthy.

I rather hope no publisher at all is interested regardless of the amount capable. That would ruin the spirit of the whole "creative freedom, no publisher breathing down our necks" thing.

 

[NLS]

The irony is that, this could ahve been the prefect PR spike and boost in donations. Except they cancelled it of course so it's not gonna get finished anyway.
It's like the best move you can do as a successful artist is to die while you're still hot, and then see your sales rocket after your death. Except you're dead of course.

 

[Smooth Operator]

I can't say I'm surprised, they got no big name going for them, the video had zero concepts to offer, they wanted a huge amount of money, and offered a really odd proposition of spilling it over to another game which leaves all sorts of questions open.

So yes make some concepts and show us what we are in for exactly, then we can talk again.

 

[ritchards]

Technically, they are still trying to kill it. It still lives right this minute... Kickstarter says they are having "problems"...