Precinct Kickstarter Shuts Down

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
45,698
1
0
Precinct Kickstarter Shuts Down

The Kickstarter for Precinct, the "spiritual successor" to the famous Sierra adventure Police Quest, has been replaced by a home-grown, open-ended crowdfunding campaign.

Revealed to the world in July [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/126035-Precinct-the-Spiritual-Successor-to-Police-Quest-Hits-Kickstarter], Precinct is a new game (although at this stage it's really more of an idea) headed by original Police Quest creator Jim Walls and Sierra veteran Robert Lindsley. The idea is to create a procedurally-correct cop game akin to the first few PQ titles (before Daryl Gates got involved), setting the player against runaway crime on the mean streets of Fraser Canyon.

But Police Quest, with all due respect, is no King's Quest, and the Kickstarter never really caught fire, raising just $85,756 of a $500,000 goal over three weeks. With just one week remaining, the founders decided to pull the plug - but not to give up on the game.

"It's clear you love Police Quest and Jim Walls, but there are questions about the project. One of the things we've heard is that you want to see more. You want to understand what the game is going to be like. How is it going to play? How is the first-person perspective going to work? What will the balance of action and adventure be?" Lindsley wrote in the last Kickstarter update. "These are all great questions and we want to answer them! So as of today we are shutting down our Kickstarter and launching a new and unique crowdfunding campaign at www.precinctgame.com."

Rather than having preset tiers, the in-house crowdfunding campaign will allow supporters to donate whatever amount they wish. Everyone who donates will get a digital copy of Precinct, but to ensure that all money goes into the game, no backer rewards are being offered; instead, people will be able to purchase game-related merchandise, including a collector's edition boxed set, through an online store that will be opened in the next few weeks.

The pledging process is different as well, as the campaign has been divided into four tiers, at $25,000, $90,000, $250,000 and $400,000. Backers won't actually be charged until the next tier in line is hit, but once a pledge is made, it can't be canceled. There's also no time limit; I'd assume that if it tanks, someone will sooner or later decide to shut it down, but it could also be chugging away slowly but steadily six months from now.

More information about the new Precinct crowdfunding campaign, including some fine print you'd probably be well-advised to check out if you plan to pledge (not necessarily because it's dodgy, to be clear, but just because it's different from Kickstarter) is up now at fund.precinctgame.com [http://fund.precinctgame.com/].

Source: Kickstarter [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/precinctgame/precinct/posts]


Permalink
 

Quiotu

New member
Mar 7, 2008
426
0
0
The new way they're crowdfunding this has merit. I liked Jim Walls' games, but he hasn't made a game in a VERY long time, and there was very little in content he could show. I don't question his intent or his interest, but I do somewhat question his abilities after so long. The gaming industry has changed quite a bit since he worked on the Police Quest series.

Only having to raise $25k before he basically shows off something at least marginally playable to show where he's coming from, that I wouldn't have issue putting money in for, albeit not much. The entire problem with his Kickstarter was a lack of content, and he needs to spend more of his free time throwing up more ideas, concept art, and who he plans to work with if he's wants to turn heads.
 

Clovus

New member
Mar 3, 2011
275
0
0
As Kickstarter moves forward you can see that the system it's starting to be able to weed out the less than stellar ideas. People complained that all these "nostalgic" games were getting Kickstarted without showing much. It's good to see that you need more than nostalgia. I remember enjoying the early Police Quests came in 4-color glory, but I'm not really so sure that the designers of those games are guarenteed to produce an interesting modern game.

On the other hand, I do think Double Fine, inXile, and some other successful Kickstarter games will produce something interesting. They just had more information and a better presentation. I read an interview with the designers of Precinct on RockPaperShotgun, and it just didn't sound like they even had a basic idea of what the game would be, how it would look, or if they actually had the ability to get it done.
 

Quiotu

New member
Mar 7, 2008
426
0
0
rhizhim said:
police quest: S.W.A.T. was one of the first games i played and i liked it, even when the first mission made me hate old people for a long time.
http://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l/230385-daryl-f-gates-police-quest-swat-windows-3-x-screenshot-drop.png
she has a gun! riddle her with bullets! NOW! MORE BULLETS!

so i will keep my eyes on this kickstarter
Sadly you're probably not following the right person. Jim Walls was responsible for Police Quest 1-3, and is who's trying to crowdfund this game. The SWAT games were created partially by Daryl F. Gates at first, but Jim Walls had nothing to do with them after PQ3.
 

IanDavis

Blue Blaze Irregular 1st Class
Aug 18, 2012
1,152
0
0
The real question going through everyone's mind was: "If I don't check the tires, will the car explode?" That's the kind of realism I demand in a police procedural.