Jane Austen MMO Reaches Kickstarter Goal

[lacktheknack]

My point being this is so much more niche that I can't comprehend why this would be supported more than a game with customizable superheroes with customizable superpowers, which Saints Row 4 is currently the only one. Not only that, but project awakened didn't even ask for a million dollars, while most kickstarters ask for around that much. It's baffling and infuriating at the same time.

The Jane Austen MMO only asked for $100,00 though, and it didn't exceed that by much. There's also the fact that there are no other games like this, whereas those who are interested in superheroes still have Saints Row 4.

That's not a fair comparison, though, since at the time Saints Row 4 was just a thing that we knew was coming but we knew nothing about. It was still in its nebulous "Enter the Dominatrix" stage. Most kickstarters I see succeed are asking for a million or so and then get over 6 million in funding.

Hyperbole doesn't help you, dude. Literally no game has gotten even close to $6 million on Kickstarter. A simple check on the "Video Games/Most Funded" page shows that only one even broke $4M. Heck, the only game I know of that has broken that at all is Star Citizen. Furthermore, a <link=http://www.kickstarter.com/discover/categories/games/most-funded?ref=more#p1>brief check shows that a mere ten actual video games (not counting board games, figurines or consoles) even broke the $2M mark.

And even if you did see these mythical $1M -> $6M Kickstarters on a regular basis, that's ALSO not a fair comparison, because Ever, Jane asked for $100k and got $109k. Project Awakened raised over three times that much, but failed because they asked for five times as much.

So... your complaints are still silly and false.

 

[Azaraxzealot]

My point being this is so much more niche that I can't comprehend why this would be supported more than a game with customizable superheroes with customizable superpowers, which Saints Row 4 is currently the only one. Not only that, but project awakened didn't even ask for a million dollars, while most kickstarters ask for around that much. It's baffling and infuriating at the same time.

The Jane Austen MMO only asked for $100,00 though, and it didn't exceed that by much. There's also the fact that there are no other games like this, whereas those who are interested in superheroes still have Saints Row 4.

That's not a fair comparison, though, since at the time Saints Row 4 was just a thing that we knew was coming but we knew nothing about. It was still in its nebulous "Enter the Dominatrix" stage. Most kickstarters I see succeed are asking for a million or so and then get over 6 million in funding.

Hyperbole doesn't help you, dude. Literally no game has gotten even close to $6 million on Kickstarter. A simple check on the "Video Games/Most Funded" page shows that only one even broke $4M. Heck, the only game I know of that has broken that at all is Star Citizen. Furthermore, a <link=http://www.kickstarter.com/discover/categories/games/most-funded?ref=more#p1>brief check shows that a mere ten actual video games (not counting board games, figurines or consoles) even broke the $2M mark.

And even if you did see these mythical $1M -> $6M Kickstarters on a regular basis, that's ALSO not a fair comparison, because Ever, Jane asked for $100k and got $109k. Project Awakened raised over three times that much, but failed because they asked for five times as much.

So... your complaints are still silly and false.

Hyperbole aside (which it was, obviously), the fact remains that publicized kickstarters tend to get more than their funding. Unless they are mid-tier. See what pisses me off is the hypocrisy of it all. People say they want mid-tier games with modest budgets and that are more risky than the AAA yet not as limited as indies, but they STILL won't put their money where their mouth is. A super-niche Jane-Austen MMO with a small budget? Gets its funding. A myriad of reboots/retreads/sequels of older games by veteran studios/developers with large budgets (which the AAA industry does all the time)? Got their funding. A mid-tier game like Project Awakened? "Oh shit, man! Looks toooooo risky!" Anyone who didn't support it can't deride the AAA for "playing it safe" when even the majority of gamers do. Yet no one will just up and admit that they are being totally hypocritical. The failure of that kickstarter made me lose faith in crowdfunding as a way to see not-totally-niche-yet-not-totally-vetted games that publishers turn away get made.

 

[lacktheknack]

Hyperbole aside (which it was, obviously), the fact remains that publicized kickstarters tend to get more than their funding. Unless they are mid-tier. See what pisses me off is the hypocrisy of it all. People say they want mid-tier games with modest budgets and that are more risky than the AAA yet not as limited as indies, but they STILL won't put their money where their mouth is. A super-niche Jane-Austen MMO with a small budget? Gets its funding. A myriad of reboots/retreads/sequels of older games by veteran studios/developers with large budgets (which the AAA industry does all the time)? Got their funding. A mid-tier game like Project Awakened? "Oh shit, man! Looks toooooo risky!" Anyone who didn't support it can't deride the AAA for "playing it safe" when even the majority of gamers do. Yet no one will just up and admit that they are being totally hypocritical. The failure of that kickstarter made me lose faith in crowdfunding as a way to see not-totally-niche-yet-not-totally-vetted games that publishers turn away get made.

I have no idea where you're getting this "risk" stuff. There's not a lot of risk for he people looking around Kickstarter, beyond "will the developer deliver?". And people weren't particularly worried about that until after Ouya came out and was disappointing, which was well after Project Awakened.

It has literally everything to do with the fact that no one heard about it.

I'm looking at the Kicktraq page right now, and there was a long stretch where it was pulling in less than $3k a day. The only reason this would happen is because people didn't know about the Kickstarter's existence. I would have considered chipping in, but I didn't even know it was a thing until you brought it up and I Googled it.

And yeah, it's not particularly fair, but it's got nothing to do with "risk". Another mid-sized project, Obduction, recently got through, and the only real differences between the it and Project Awakened is that the development team for Obduction is well established (which is a plus for it) and the genre of game is considered long dead (which is a minus for it), and the backers went around freaking out about it and keeping its presence up (which made all the difference).

 

[Azaraxzealot]

Hyperbole aside (which it was, obviously), the fact remains that publicized kickstarters tend to get more than their funding. Unless they are mid-tier. See what pisses me off is the hypocrisy of it all. People say they want mid-tier games with modest budgets and that are more risky than the AAA yet not as limited as indies, but they STILL won't put their money where their mouth is. A super-niche Jane-Austen MMO with a small budget? Gets its funding. A myriad of reboots/retreads/sequels of older games by veteran studios/developers with large budgets (which the AAA industry does all the time)? Got their funding. A mid-tier game like Project Awakened? "Oh shit, man! Looks toooooo risky!" Anyone who didn't support it can't deride the AAA for "playing it safe" when even the majority of gamers do. Yet no one will just up and admit that they are being totally hypocritical. The failure of that kickstarter made me lose faith in crowdfunding as a way to see not-totally-niche-yet-not-totally-vetted games that publishers turn away get made.

I have no idea where you're getting this "risk" stuff. There's not a lot of risk for he people looking around Kickstarter, beyond "will the developer deliver?". And people weren't particularly worried about that until after Ouya came out and was disappointing, which was well after Project Awakened.

It has literally everything to do with the fact that no one heard about it.

I'm looking at the Kicktraq page right now, and there was a long stretch where it was pulling in less than $3k a day. The only reason this would happen is because people didn't know about the Kickstarter's existence. I would have considered chipping in, but I didn't even know it was a thing until you brought it up and I Googled it.

And yeah, it's not particularly fair, but it's got nothing to do with "risk". Another mid-sized project, Obduction, recently got through, and the only real differences between the it and Project Awakened is that the development team for Obduction is well established (which is a plus for it) and the genre of game is considered long dead (which is a minus for it), and the backers went around freaking out about it and keeping its presence up (which made all the difference).

Plenty of websites did coverage on it. Penny Arcade endorsed it. I posted about it here and there and everywhere I could. I had people post about it. If there was any fault, the fault lies with everyone who kept saying "Looks too risky..." (which was the common argument against it at the time), because I pledged and shared and did my part.