Broken Age Needs More Money

[Excludos]

I'm a backer of this project, am I going to get the full game?

Why when you saying that, I read it with a voice of a cute innocent small kitty?
HHHHHNNGGGGGGGGGGG *dead by heart*

OP:
I am a "backer" because I bought the Humble Bundle back then.
I didn't expected to see having difficulties having a big amount of money to their disposal.
Then why they created another Kickstarter for a new game if they are not sure for their first one?
Not mad or anything, but I don't want to be disappointed....

Well, you have a full team doing nothing. They can not help the current game in any way, except join the project and make it lose more money quicker. Thats why there is no connection between game nr 1 and 2, and if they wanted to they could probably kickstart an entire game nr 3 completely unaffected by the first two again. The teams are separate, and can not help each other.

 

[rbstewart7263]

Clarification from the man himself since everyone is throwing a sissy fit:

"Double Fine is NOT asking for more money. We are fine, financially. We are using our OWN money to deliver a bigger game than we Kickstarted."

https://twitter.com/DoubleFine

Everyone will get the game. They are just trying different ways to gain more money so that they will have to spend less themselves

It's the reporting. Escapist tends to be a bit more sensationalist these days with headlines and such, "Broken Age Needs More Money" gives the idea that somehow people will have to pay more for the game they already paid for. This very thread shows how many people were misled by this. Now compare the coverage on the Penny Arcade Report, how Ben frames the whole story, and see how the comments there are much more reasonable:

http://penny-arcade.com/report/article/double-fines-adventure-game-snapped-in-twain-fans-taste-the-fun-of-being-a

precisely what I was saying a page or two back! I dont know what there doing I read this story on destructoid first and it all seemed fine to me:http://www.destructoid.com/double-fine-taking-broken-age-to-steam-early-access-257418.phtml

double fine takes broken age to steam early access.

I LOVE EARLY ACCESS! Nothing wrong with that at all.

 

[Excludos]

Clarification from the man himself since everyone is throwing a sissy fit:

"Double Fine is NOT asking for more money. We are fine, financially. We are using our OWN money to deliver a bigger game than we Kickstarted."

https://twitter.com/DoubleFine

Everyone will get the game. They are just trying different ways to gain more money so that they will have to spend less themselves

It's the reporting. Escapist tends to be a bit more sensationalist these days with headlines and such, "Broken Age Needs More Money" gives the idea that somehow people will have to pay more for the game they already paid for. This very thread shows how many people were misled by this. Now compare the coverage on the Penny Arcade Report, how Ben frames the whole story, and see how the comments there are much more reasonable:

http://penny-arcade.com/report/article/double-fines-adventure-game-snapped-in-twain-fans-taste-the-fun-of-being-a

precisely what I was saying a page or two back! I dont know what there doing I read this story on destructoid first and it all seemed fine to me:http://www.destructoid.com/double-fine-taking-broken-age-to-steam-early-access-257418.phtml

double fine takes broken age to steam early access.

I LOVE EARLY ACCESS! Nothing wrong with that at all.

Yeah. Sensationalist titles from escapist have become too norm now. I might stop using this site if this continues. The constant "we need more clicks so sensationalist title!" thing only stains the reputation of the site as a whole, and leads to less viewers in the long run, not more.

 

[Revnak_v1legacy]

Instead they try and justify their money grubbing... "our development team is bigger than just the guys working on Broken Age, they need to work on a game too". So you want us to pay for it? Again? No thanks, I'd rather be sensible and see if anything good came of the first one before I throw more cash at promises and promo artwork.

Just like Sony Entertainment said to Naughty Dog when they pitched "The Last of Us." Except they fucking didn't and we are all better off for that. I honestly don't care about most of this either way due to my apathy towards adventure games, but your argument here makes absolutely no sense. If they come up with another game to pitch so that they don't have to cut members of their team, as long as that game is worth the effort, then that isn't bad financial planning, that is in fact very good financial planning, as that means they will maintain a talented staff and keep them all busy while increasing their production. It also means they aren't keeping all their eggs in one basket.

Your example is completely useless. Sony has owned Naughty Dog since 2001. They've worked closely with them on video-games for over a decade and they know that they can be trusted to do something brilliant. Not to mention the fact Sony has the power to request and access all sorts of data like budget estimations, artwork, storyboards etc. before they greenlight the game.

Developers are required to submit all kinds of information on their page, and if a backer does not consider that to be enough they can just not back it. Also, Double Fine has given backers access to all of that content, so you are completely wrong here.

Double Fine is begging for money, that is what Kickstarter is. The point of a Kickstarter campaign is to kickstart something (that sounds completely redundant but you guys are so oblivious to what is really going on that I have to say it... and that sickens me). It's not a purchasing tool and it's not a way for me to pay their devs a salary.

Begging for money is also what going to a publisher is. And it did just help "kickstart something." They still gathered money from other sources as well to help fund the game. And any money you pay to any developer helps pay their salary.

I have no qualms with the game taking longer or costing more money, I agree that it happens all the time. My problem with it is that there is no accountability anywhere in this process. Double Fine have got two projects on the go, neither one is out and they don't have the money to continue to support them despite the incredibly generous fan response because they couldn't budget properly. They failed. They fucked up. That's on them.

They are accountable. More so than most actually. If they don't deliver, they have to pay their backers back, if memory serves. That is true of no developer/publisher relationship. Add to that that they've shown the whole development process to their backers and you have to admit that they have in fact been quite accountable.

 

[Negatempest]

So, wait.. wait wait. No one is upset over this? Really? And it has now been considered acceptable that when a company gets money beyond what was initially asked and still does not deliver a full game? That fact that the game would be bigger is not the point. To work within the limits of what you have to polish the best game possible was the point wasn't it?

Also the developer is literally gambling in the 1st part of the game making enough profit to finance the second part. Ouch, can't believe people are actually okay with that. Remember, if the first part flops, there is no second part.

 

[Genocidicles]

Remember, if the first part flops, there is no second part.

Well if the first part is awful, why would anyone want a second part?

 

[wulf3n]

So, wait.. wait wait. No one is upset over this? Really? And it has now been considered acceptable that when a company gets money beyond what was initially asked and still does not deliver a full game? That fact that the game would be bigger is not the point. To work within the limits of what you have to polish the best game possible was the point wasn't it?

What's there to be upset about? There is always a risk involved with Kickstarter, you're an investor not a consumer. Besides when the developer has no real idea about the game they want to make when they start the fundraising campaign something like this was inevitable.

Also the developer is literally gambling in the 1st part of the game making enough profit to finance the second part. Ouch, can't believe people are actually okay with that. Remember, if the first part flops, there is no second part.

It's not really gambling as they[we] don't lose anything more than we would if no action was taken.

 

[Negatempest]

So, wait.. wait wait. No one is upset over this? Really? And it has now been considered acceptable that when a company gets money beyond what was initially asked and still does not deliver a full game? That fact that the game would be bigger is not the point. To work within the limits of what you have to polish the best game possible was the point wasn't it?

What's there to be upset about? There is always a risk involved with Kickstarter, you're an investor not a consumer. Besides when the developer has no real idea about the game they want to make when they start the fundraising campaign something like this was inevitable.

Also the developer is literally gambling in the 1st part of the game making enough profit to finance the second part. Ouch, can't believe people are actually okay with that. Remember, if the first part flops, there is no second part.

It's not really gambling as they[we] don't lose anything more than we would if no action was taken.

So a game that got 800% more funding than the original asking investment still does not produce a full game, that is not questionable but acceptable? That is kinda my point, they got a great amount of cash and it still was not enough to produce a full game.

Also an action was taken. They took millions and still did not make a single game. Literally if Steam was not there there would not even be a first half -_-.

I mean, there is no reaction to this news other than positivity. There is nothing but bad news that they gave, other than saying they are making half of the game and people are okay with that? I just,...why?

 

[Negatempest]

Remember, if the first part flops, there is no second part.

Well if the first part is awful, why would anyone want a second part?

Cause the promise of the kickstarter was to get a full game? What the news said in a nutshell, "With the millions we got, we can only make half a game. Even though our original asking price was 400k." I would not say they swindled the backers. I would say that they went far beyond over budget though, for sure.

 

[wulf3n]

So a game that got 800% more funding than the original asking investment still does not produce a full game, that is not questionable but acceptable?

A moot point [kind of]. They had no "game" in mind other than point and click adventure. The actual game was designed after the kickstarter campaign ended so they designed it with the full $3.4 million in mind.

People act as though they had a game planned out with the $400,000 budget, then even though they got %800 more they still couldn't make that $400,000 game. Which is naive at best, disingenuous at worst.

That is kinda my point, they got a great amount of cash and it still was not enough to produce a full game.

It's not that large a sum of money in game budget terms, referred to by publishers as "chump change". It still should have been enough, I agree.

Also an action was taken. They took millions and still did not make a single game. Literally if Steam was not there there would not even be a first half -_-.

I never heard about an auction, only the Humble Indie Bundle, So I can't weigh in. I'd be happy to respond if you could provide a link.

edit: Haha, I read that has auction not action. I need another coffee :|

To respond to your actual statement and not my caffeine deprived interpretation: It's not like they've done nothing at all. They've stated that if needed they could release the work completed so far, which is about 25% of the game they want to create. Now it's all a bit fuzzy at the moment, but for all we know, that 25% is more than the game that what would have been produced on budget at $400,000.

I mean, there is no reaction to this news other than positivity. There is nothing but bad news that they gave, other than saying they are making half of the game and people are okay with that? I just,...why?

It's the nature of Kickstarter. When I clicked the "back this project" button I understood full well that my money may just dissappear.

The moneys gone, getting upset won't change anything.

 

[MindFragged]

Well, I didn't back it in the first place, so I have the chance to help out by buying the first half

Silly mistake, shame to see them tarnish all the goodwill that went their way. Still, if they really pull the game out of the bag, I guess they'll save face.

 

[Evil Smurf]

I'm a backer of this project, am I going to get the full game?

Why when you saying that, I read it with a voice of a cute innocent small kitty?
HHHHHNNGGGGGGGGGGG *dead by heart*

OP:
I am a "backer" because I bought the Humble Bundle back then.
I didn't expected to see having difficulties having a big amount of money to their disposal.
Then why they created another Kickstarter for a new game if they are not sure for their first one?
Not mad or anything, but I don't want to be disappointed....

Because I am a cute innocent small kitty.

 

[RJ 17]

Look, for full disclosure I have little knowledge of the cost that goes into making a quality game...just saying that I'd imagine with a budget of $3.3 million you could make a pretty damn good game, especially when you originally billed the game you wanted to make at $400K.

 

[Sutter Cane]

Look, for full disclosure I have little knowledge of the cost that goes into making a quality game...just saying that I'd imagine with a budget of $3.3 million you could make a pretty damn good game, especially when you originally billed the game you wanted to make at $400K.

Well what happened is when they got the 3.3 million they upscaled the scope of the project so as to incorporate more of the funding they received to deliver a higher quality product instead of getting 3.3 million use only 1/8th of the funds consumers were willing to put toward the development of the game and just sitting on the rest. Thus the game entered actual development with the higher budget in mind and ended up going over budget from there

 

[RJ 17]

Look, for full disclosure I have little knowledge of the cost that goes into making a quality game...just saying that I'd imagine with a budget of $3.3 million you could make a pretty damn good game, especially when you originally billed the game you wanted to make at $400K.

Well what happened is when they got the 3.3 million they upscaled the scope of the project so as to incorporate more of the funding they received to deliver a higher quality product instead of getting 3.3 million use only 1/8th of the funds consumers were willing to put toward the development of the game and just sitting on the rest. Thus the game entered actual development with the higher budget in mind and ended up going over budget from there

That seems rather obvious, and doesn't really address my point. I'm just saying I hope Timmy's not trying to (or even unintentionally going to) pull a Star Craft II and split the game because there's too much fluff. The majority of people I've spoken with that have played SC II have agreed that while the single player campaigns are fun, there's a LOT of fluff in them that could have been cut out. Cut out the fluff, and the campaigns could have been consolidated into one game. Just hope that's not going to be happening here.

I'd rather have less content that is all quality than more content with most of it being fluff.

 

[lacktheknack]

Plus the justification for the Massive Chalice funding was ridiculous... "we have too many developers, we needed another game for the rest of the team to work on". If you cannot afford the talent you have then you have to downsize your team/company. Yes, it's unfortunate and regrettable but that's the way the world works. I can't (and wouldn't even if I could) go on Kickstarter and have people subsidise my wage if I get hit with redundancy, why should they?

To be fair, it seems to be working for inXile.

It is true... when the initial storyboarders, engine builders and mechanics designers are done and hand the framework off, there's not much for them to do. So inXile went and raised more money than any other game Kickstarter to keep them working. The difference is that inXile is run by the guy who headed freaking Interplay, so he has more experience in the "stop everything from exploding horribly" side of management.

 

[mailh20]

it seems that the extra money they got is the worst thing to happen to them if the just had the 400k the budget would of been more aggressive and they wouldn't have set unreasonable goals and designs. the predictions were true except with an ironic twist those who started the wave are the ones who let crash down .