Godus Kickstarter Hits the Halfway Mark

[Andy Chalk]

Godus Kickstarter Hits the Halfway Mark

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The Kickstarter for Peter Molyneux's new god game has just 11 days left on the clock.

Godus, the planned rebirth of the "god game" genre that Peter Molyneux created back in 1989, went live [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/120754-Peter-Molyneux-Brings-Back-Populous] on Kickstarter on November 21, yet in spite of the promise of a new Populous from the man himself - with cross-platform multiplayer, no less - it hasn't exactly set the world on fire. The Kickstarter comes to a close on December 21 and with just 11 days left, it's made just a little more than half of its £450,000 ($723,000) goal.

To mark the moment, 22 Cans has released a new video in which various members of the team clown around and answer a few questions about the game and Molyneux's vision, such as which "Molyneux promise" scares them the most. It's all quite upbeat and positive, perhaps a bit more than you'd expect given that it will take a big final-week push to put Godus over the top.

And now we speculate on whether the relatively slow start (and possible failure) of the Godus Kickstarter is due to crowdfunding fatigue, Molyneux fatigue or a simple lack of actual interest in the game: we'd rather be nostalgic about Populous, in other words, than play it. Some combination of all three I suppose is the most likely explanation, but whatever the case, the failure to fund a revival of Peter Molyneux's most famous games, headed by Molyneux himself - if it does in fact fail - will be a most interesting failure indeed.

Source: Kickstarter [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/22cans/project-godus]


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[Callate]

I really liked Populous when I played it way back in 1990. But let's be brutally frank. I'm already invested in three Kickstarter campaigns that, while making promising progress, have yet to produce any games. 22 Cans' only product to date seems like an attempt to see how far the most ridiculous obsessive-compulsive tendencies of "casual-social" gamers can be pushed. And Molyneux, God love him, is exactly the kind of person you don't want to pitch your money at before you see a final product.

Contributing to the Kickstarter right now seems like putting your hopes on something that only has a 25% chance of success- a rate than only rises to 50% once the funding is actually secured.

 

[Genocidicles]

I just cant find myself disliking Peter Molyneux. Yeah he never delivers, but he seems so damn passionate about making games, which I feel is rare nowadays with all the suits running everything.

I hope Godus does well, and he'll finally be able to deliver everthing he promises without Microsoft breathing down his back to get the latest game out in time for Christmas.

I hope that, but I doubt it'll actually happen.

 

[Alandoril]

Starting to lose faith in kickstarter, more and more it just seems like a way for already established figures to bank roll their latest schemes.

 

[Albino Boo]

If Molyneux thinks its god why doesn't he spend his own money on it. He spent 6 million of own cash on black and white.

 

[BrotherRool]

This will make budget, it always has a huge rush in the last three days. Still Peter Molyneux is exactly the type of person who is perfectly wrong for Kickstarter. He is a man whose games you should only look at when finished and lets be honest, some of the Fables weren't brilliant. Especially since he wants to bring back gestures from Black and White which never worked properly there

If Molyneux thinks its god why doesn't he spend his own money on it. He spent 6 million of own cash on black and white.

He says that he's run through a lot of it recruiting for his new studio. People with lots of money tend to spend it I guess

 

[GLo Jones]

From what most of the people I've heard from about this is, they're simply 'not gonna be fooled again'. It definitely seems like Molyneux has his work cut out for him to actually prove that THIS idea is worth people's attention.

Snippy

Snip

Funnily enough, it's mentioned here [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/interviews/10086-Peter-Molyneux-Is-Terrified] that the man simply doesn't have all the wealth people think he does. Apparently most of his finances are all tied to his company and team.

I certainly hope this works out for him, but he's really not an easy man to trust.

 

[IndomitableSam]

I decided this weekend that if it's close to the goal just before it runs out, I may kick in some money in hopes it'll actually get it over the edge. Otherwise... I'll just wait and see. I'm cautiously optomistic about the game... but not about it getting funded, which is a shame.

(Captcha: one hit wonder ... ... Depends on what you term 'hit'?)

 

[Albino Boo]

If Molyneux thinks its god why doesn't he spend his own money on it. He spent 6 million of own cash on black and white.

He says that he's run through a lot of it recruiting for his new studio. People with lots of money tend to spend it I guess

Guess what Loinheads first game was Black and White. Whats the difference?

Snip

Funnily enough, it's mentioned here [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/interviews/10086-Peter-Molyneux-Is-Terrified] that the man simply doesn't have all the wealth people think he does. Apparently most of his finances are all tied to his company and team.

He was rich enough to found Lionhead and spend 6 million of his own money in 1997 from the profits of selling of bullfrog to EA and being a director of EA for 3 years. I don't believe that he has got poorer from his similar relationship with Microsoft.

 

[BrotherRool]

If Molyneux thinks its god why doesn't he spend his own money on it. He spent 6 million of own cash on black and white.

He says that he's run through a lot of it recruiting for his new studio. People with lots of money tend to spend it I guess

Guess what Loinheads first game was Black and White. Whats the difference?

This is what I mean. He already founded a studio which he poured his money into and it hasn't made the money back yet to afford him to do it again.

Besides in his Lionhead days he was a young developer looking for the next job which he would have to create himself. It makes sense he was saving up money because he knew he was going to need it. And now in his Microsoft days everything looked set, why would he bother saving up the money? He was creative director, he didn't need his own money to fund games any more. So he buys a car, a house and enjoys his life, whatever. And then suddenly he gets the urge to quit and he doesn't have the same fund of money.

He said he didn't have money, if you're calling him a liar that's a fairly serious thing

 

[Lenny Magic]

I really liked the idea that he was leaving Microsoft Games, until I heard his reason for it and what he planned to do with his new creative freedom. Now he is doing something I really wanted him to do ever since the release of Fable 2 (return to the genre he created) and I just can't get myself interested.

I don't know what it is but the whole thing seem really forced to me.

 

[Albino Boo]

This is what I mean. He already founded a studio which he poured his money into and it hasn't made the money back yet to afford him to do it again.

Besides in his Lionhead days he was a young developer looking for the next job which he would have to create himself. It makes sense he was saving up money because he knew he was going to need it. And now in his Microsoft days everything looked set, why would he bother saving up the money? He was creative director, he didn't need his own money to fund games any more. So he buys a car, a house and enjoys his life, whatever. And then suddenly he gets the urge to quit and he doesn't have the same fund of money.

He said he didn't have money, if you're calling him a liar that's a fairly serious thing

Molyneux started his career in games in 1982 by 1997 he had already been in gaming for 15 years. He founded, at age 38, a new company called Lionhead in 1997 to make Black and White to which he spent 6 million of his own money. He then sold Lionhead to Microsoft in 2006 and was working for them until 2012. He was willing to inject money his own money in 1997 in addition to the costs of starting a company. Why is he unwilling to do now. Molyneux certainly has not become poorer in the last 15 years, could it be that he can get everyone else to pay for it and get even richer in the process?

 

[Maze1125]

Molyneux certainly has not become poorer in the last 15 years,

Do you have any proof of that?

 

[nickpy]

Just a little thing perhaps, but if they didn't waste so much money on Macs, maybe they wouldn't need quite such a lofty kickstarter goal?
I am not being a mac-hater here, I'm just saying that one can normally pick up an equivalently spec'd laptop for half the price of a Mac. Let's say they've gone for mid-range Macbook Pros, ~£1300 each. Now let's say they've got 20 employees and each one has a mac. That's £13,000 they could have saved just by not buying macs.

 

[DustyDrB]

From what most of the people I've heard from about this is, they're simply 'not gonna be fooled again'. It definitely seems like Molyneux has his work cut out for him to actually prove that THIS idea is worth people's attention.

Snippy

Snip

Funnily enough, it's mentioned here [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/interviews/10086-Peter-Molyneux-Is-Terrified] that the man simply doesn't have all the wealth people think he does. Apparently most of his finances are all tied to his company and team.

I certainly hope this works out for him, but he's really not an easy man to trust.

This explains why I haven't backed it. Molyneux is a man infamous for aiming higher than he can reach and not living up to his promises. A Kickstarter campaign's success depends much on whether or not the potential backers believe the goals of the project can or will be met. I think Peter Molyneux is an affable gentleman, but I've long given up on him as a game creator.

 

[BrotherRool]

This explains why I haven't backed it. Molyneux is a man infamous for aiming higher than he can reach and not living up to his promises. A Kickstarter campaign's success depends much on whether or not the potential backers believe the goals of the project can or will be met. I think Peter Molyneux is an affable gentleman, but I've long given up on him as a game creator.

I haven't even given up on him as a game creator, but I still wouldn't back him. He can create good games, but he just can't create the games he says he will, or be reliable.

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

My wife is totally into what he's saying Godus is going to be. Her favorite games are Zeus & Poseidon, Sim...everything, and a somewhat related Fable 1. I like Peter, I love the enthusiasm he has for gaming as a medium, but I just can't trust him on this. Most of the things he promised ended up being unrealistic given the tech and time he was working with. 22cans is small, and Curiosity tells me fuck all about their ability to make a good God game. The fact that there's talk of demos and release dates before the thing is even funded concerns me. He simply is not someone who's history is conducive to the spirit of kickstarter. People pledge because they trust on some level that the person in question is capable of delivering on their promises, and it's almost comedy that he of all people is asking for that trust in this way.