Last month, I talked about how Double Fine’s success on Kickstarter has captured the attention of other game developers. Many of those developers expressed an interest in using Kickstarter to fund games that would otherwise not get funded through more traditional means. We are now seeing the fruits of several of those developers.
First up we have the guys behind the classic RPGs Wasteland and Fallout getting funding for a Wasteland sequel. In less than a week they reached and exceeded their goal of $900k. At the time of this writing they are at $1.4 million and growing. They have even stated that if they get to $1.5 million they will make a Linux port for it. (So got out there and donate so I can play it.)
Next we have some developers from Bioware breaking free and working on their very own Strategy RPG. This game, Banner Story, has some really awesome looking animation and art to it. The gameplay is reminiscent of games like Heroes of Might and Magic. This one has a goal of $100k and is now funded. This is all in the first day of funding. They look like they could double or triple their goal by the end of the 30 days.
However, not all is rosy for Kickstarter campaigns. There is a campaign for a Hardcore Tactical Shooter that seems to be struggling to get the funding it is requesting. This game is being developed by a group of people who know what they are doing. They have developed a number of shooters. However, I think that is what is going wrong with their campaign. They are doing something that most people cannot tell apart from the current crop of shooters already on the market. Sure it may not be a true FPS, but it is close enough to make people stop and think, “Isn’t this something I can already get elsewhere?” On top of that, the $200k they are asking for is not the end of their budget, they still plan to go to publishers to ask for the rest of the money they need to get it made. This is another turn off for potential funders.
There is a lot to be excited about coming from Kickstarter as well as a lot to learn. As we keep an eye out on how these successes and failures change the landscape of crowd funding, we will see more and more developers realizing just how little they actually need publishers in order to be successful.
