Indie Studio "Devastated" After Fake Pledge Derails Kickstarter Campaign

[StewShearerOld]

Indie Studio "Devastated" After Fake Pledge Derails Kickstarter Campaign

[tweet t=https://twitter.com/2AwesomeStudio/status/598632695846019073]
Indie developer 2Awesome Studios was "devastated" after learning that a campaign-rescuing Kickstarter contribution was, in fact, fraudulent.

Sometimes you have dreams bigger than your wallet. When that happens, many simply let their dreams fade until nothing's left but the regrets of unfulfilled potential. In recent years however, some have started turning to the internet, hoping to use sites like Kickstarter to sell others on their ideas and gain the financial support they need to make them a reality. For those brave individuals, there's nothing better than that moment when they cross the finish line and reach their funding goal. There's nothing worse, in turn, than someone taking that moment and turning it into fodder for a cruel joke.

Sadly, that's exactly what happened yesterday to the folks at 2Awesome Studio. Entering the closing hours of <a href=https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2awesomestudio/dimension-drive>the Kickstarter for its scrolling shooter Dimension Drive, the studio found itself several thousand Euros away from its goal. Then, out nowhere of, <a href=https://twitter.com/2AwesomeStudio/status/598588603179126787>a backer named Jonathan dropped what appeared to be a generosity bomb; a &euro;7,000 contribution that put them within spitting distance of success.

It wound up being too good to be true, however. Shortly after reaching their funding goal, <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/kickstarter>Kickstarter contacted the developers <a href=https://twitter.com/2AwesomeStudio/status/598628339113398272>to inform them that that large contribution had, in fact, been fraudulent. The &euro;7,000 were removed from their total, leaving Dimension Drive again without funding. The team was, understandably, upset. "Don't know what to do now," they wrote in a Tweet. "Mentally devastated."

As hard as this has to have been however, the news might not be all bad. Following the revelation of the trick played on them, 2Awesome Studios has received an outpouring of support from gamers who are similarly shocked that someone would do something so nasty. Many of the studio's sympathizers, in turn, have promised <a href=https://twitter.com/curtico/status/598643221481271297>to contribute funds should 2Awesome decide to try and <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/tabletop/features/11916-How-One-Project-Shaped-Gaming-s-Use-of-Crowdfunding>crowdfund Dimension Drive again. Granted, that doesn't change what happened, but hopefully it could be the foundation of a silver lining for these developers.

Source: <a href=https://twitter.com/2AwesomeStudio/status/598632695846019073>Twitter


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[Defective_Detective]

Wow. What a sad sad person that gives up even a few minutes of their time to just tank some indie folks hopes and dreams.

I hope they manage to achieve their goal next time.

 

[Kinitawowi]

Reason #23296 why Kickstarter is a big steaming pile of jank.

 

[Excludos]

Reason #23296 why Kickstarter is a big steaming pile of jank.

Luckily there are 84,797 reasons why it's not.

 

[Kristoffer]

Reason #23296 why Kickstarter is a big steaming pile of jank.

Luckily there are 84,797 reasons why it's not.

Name me 500

 

[martyrdrebel27]

Reason #23296 why Kickstarter is a big steaming pile of jank.

Luckily there are 84,797 reasons why it's not.

Name me 500

just save me time, and assume i posted a list of 500 projects that were successfully funded that wouldn't have been able to be created otherwise.

 

[Sofox]

Reason #23296 why Kickstarter is a big steaming pile of jank.

Luckily there are 84,797 reasons why it's not.

Name me 500

just save me time, and assume i posted a list of 500 projects that were successfully funded that wouldn't have been able to be created otherwise.

Now I'm going to point out how several projects on that list never fully fulfilled their promises.

 

[ObsidianJones_v1legacy]

Reason #23296 why Kickstarter is a big steaming pile of jank.

Luckily there are 84,797 reasons why it's not.

Name me 500

just save me time, and assume i posted a list of 500 projects that were successfully funded that wouldn't have been able to be created otherwise.

Now I'm going to point out how several projects on that list never fully fulfilled their promises.

If we do that, should we point to the myriad of triple A companies and one Peter Molyneux, One Aliens Colonial Marines, some Killzone footage we were promised were in Game... Halo 2... Kotor 2 being shipped without being finished...

You know what, my list is getting a bit long as well. Let's just say there are tons of games on the gaming market, both crowdfunded and done with the regular investor model that never fully fulfilled their promises.

 

[Excludos]

Reason #23296 why Kickstarter is a big steaming pile of jank.

Luckily there are 84,797 reasons why it's not.

Name me 500

just save me time, and assume i posted a list of 500 projects that were successfully funded that wouldn't have been able to be created otherwise.

Now I'm going to point out how several projects on that list never fully fulfilled their promises.

Its basically this number: https://www.kickstarter.com/help/stats

Minus this list: https://m.reddit.com/r/kickstarter/comments/1j6ubm/complete_list_of_funded_kickstarter_projects_that/

So among the now 85,800 projects funded through kickstarter, 21 have been bad apples. I'd call that whatever the opposite of "big steaming pile of jank" is.

 

[SilverHunter]

Reason #23296 why Kickstarter is a big steaming pile of jank.

Luckily there are 84,797 reasons why it's not.

Name me 500

just save me time, and assume i posted a list of 500 projects that were successfully funded that wouldn't have been able to be created otherwise.

That is a lazy and weak defense and you know that.

I won't say there's millions of reasons that Kickstarter sucks, I've donated to several projects myself. However, the lack of protection it offers to both sides is pathetic, and they are about as hands off with it all as Steam is with Greenlight, Early Access, Paid Mods (while it was a thing), and the dev-handled bans they now offer. I've seen several projects have this done to them, and nobody ever reports it. And I've seen several projects that "developers" have started then run off with the money because Kickstarter won't enforce anything with them. They exist to get their 20-30% cut or whatever it is, and that's really about it. They don't care, and they don't try.

 

[Fappy]

At least there's a good chance they'll bounce back. Sadly I am not at all surprised this happened. Kickstarter is risky business.

 

[WindKnight]

Do you remember when trolling was playing silly tricks, screamer videos, and generally the online equivalent of prank phone-calls?

Why the hell has it gone into nastiness like screwing with someones livelihood, harassment, and sundry worse stuff?

 

[Excludos]

Do you remember when trolling was playing silly tricks, screamer videos, and generally the online equivalent of prank phone-calls?

Why the hell has it gone into nastiness like screwing with someones livelihood, harassment, and sundry worse stuff?

Remembering something doesnt mean its true. Trolling has always had nasty sides. There will always be some shitheads who find a way ti be shitty against someone, especially if they can be famous and anonymous at the same time.

 

[Bat Vader]

Sounds like Jonathan needs to get punched in the face a couple of time for doing such a shitty thing. There's harmless pranks and there's being a piece of scum and Jonathan crossed the scum line by a mile.

 

[Ambitiousmould]

I wouldn't describe it as "shocking". Or even remotely surprising. It's still a bloody cuntish thing to do, and this "Jonathan" (more like Cuntathon, eh?) is an unutterable beast, and my sympathies to the developer, but it's still not surprising. It wouldn't be surprising if the **** actually paid seven thousand to play this trick. The internet is full of resourceful arseholes.

 

[Elfgore]

I saw this yesterday in a user group, I'm still disgusted by it. This isn't trolling, this is taking someones dreams, making them think they've accomplished it, only to take it away at the last minute and crush your dream into the dust. Not cool, dude.

 

[Erttheking]

Hopefully kickstarter lets them go again with all the publicity this gets the game.

Hell, I'd throw fifteen bucks their way if they did.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Ok whoever did that was just plain cruel!

The game itself does look interesting due to its 2 worlds mechanic thing which look like it will be a heavy focus game like Ikaruga.

 

[major_chaos]

I don't get people sometimes. The game didn't get funded because it looks like D-list Greenlight discharge, as far as I'm concerned this "Jonathan" guy found a shitty doomed project and transformed it into something ever so slightly worthwhile with a brilliant bit of genuine trolling. The melodramatic Myspace grade twitter posts were certainly good for a laugh.

As for the devs, they should be happy. The sympathy card will more than likely get them more money than they could ever hope for. Having the rug yanked out from under their naive asses is a good life lesson, and it may yet see their shitty game funded, I see nothing to be sympathetic about.

 

[Excludos]

I don't get people sometimes. The game didn't get funded because it looks like D-list Greenlight discharge, as far as I'm concerned this "Jonathan" guy found a shitty doomed project and transformed it into something ever so slightly worthwhile with a brilliant bit of genuine trolling. The melodramatic Myspace grade twitter posts were certainly good for a laugh.

As for the devs, they should be happy. The sympathy card will more than likely get them more money than they could ever hope for. Having the rug yanked out from under their naive asses is a good life lesson, and it may yet see their shitty game funded, I see nothing to be sympathetic about.

Uhuh. Fucking hilarious... Look at everyone laughing...!