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[Christian Knudsen]

There have been a couple of threads recently discussing Kickstarter, so I thought I'd start a thread for all those projects that have no chance in Hell of succeeding (and don't deserve to). Beyond providing a bit of amusement, I'm thinking it might be useful to see and discuss how not to do a Kickstarter game project.

I'll start with a couple:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/7547109/left-to-rot
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jasondelaney/cyber-shot

Both of these have terrible videos, inexperienced people behind them and only a vague idea of what type of game they want to make (the first one can't even decide if it's an RPG or RTS!).

[Udderdude]

This was posted on another forum I visit awhile ago.  When you see the game in action, you will shit bricks.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/richardgnw/thera

[ink.inc]

 

[Franklin's Ghost]

[Pandara_RA!]

I'm filled with sadnes looking at these.



if you you thought yours were good. This guy won the Lotto in real life $42 MILLION DOLLARS.... and now needs your help to fund his game!


http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/120873716/your-world

check the comment section.

Guy 1.
My #1 feature I'd like: Hookerbots.
Please add Hookerbots
Hookerbots

kickstarter maker
Ok no hookerbots. I will say this there is a profession called "Entertainer" There will be no hookers.

Guy 1.
This is an outrAge!!


kickstarter maker
Ok fine there will be hookerbots.

Hooker bots will be quest base systems. :-) Just let your minds wander. :-)

[Christian Knudsen]

This was posted on another forum I visit awhile ago.  When you see the game in action, you will shit bricks.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/richardgnw/thera

Yeah, this is just sad. Also, did the guy inhale helium before making his out-of-focus video?

[Kit]

Really? I understand the spirit of the post is to discuss how not to do a Kickstarter, but really. I only see bashing so far, no constructive stuff about how these particular projects could have done different things to be more successful.

The only thing wrong with the Thera game is that it needed a graphics overhaul and better music. Really, the programming doesn't look terrible. It looks akin other bullet hell shooters. Secondly, the guy probably can't help his voice, so it's not right to criticize it. He just seems a little eccentric maybe. He could have made a better video, perhaps having a friend stand in to who has a more charismatic voice. Also, he could have used a higher quality camera to record it. That combined with seeking a graphic artist would improve his game and kickstarter quite a bit. Also, more information about the direction the game will take, and just more information in general on the actual Kickstarter page would have helped. Didn't like having to click external links to get more info, since that is what Kickstarter is for. Perhaps better rewards for donating too.

The Left to Rot game seems decent in concept. The zombie apocalypse genre is getting used a lot, but oh well. Lots of people like the genre and if it's fun to play, then it won't matter. Again, another eccentric person talking in the video, but still shouldn't be a problem. You can tell he's pretty passionate about his game, which should be a good thing. The game could tone down the blood spray effect, and get some better zombie lunge animations, but other than that it looks like an FPS, though they mentioned RPG elements. Granted, the RTS elements sound like a bad mechanic idea because many games have implemented squad commands into FPS without doing it that way. But again, no feedback in here regarding that.

Cyber shot has a decent game premise, gameplay elements, etc. If they can fit all the elements together in a way that meshes well, then it sounds like a lot of fun. Parkour to the top of a building for example and then snipe your mark from the rooftops? Cool. The guy is passionate about his game. the video is a bit boring because there is no gameplay or anything to show off. Also, he is trying to involve college students as both a learning experience and to show their mettle. Should we not be challenging the future game creators and designers right out of the box?

Then finally Your World - Yea, the guy won the lottery. And? Kickstarter is a way to guage interest in your idea. Maybe he could throw all of his money at it and make a game. But that would be impulse spending, not smart investment. Will he raise a million dollars? No, very unlikely, but he's already raised 21+k, which is more than many indie game startups ever earn on kickstarter. Again, pretty passionate if not eccentric person who dreams to make a great MMO. I don't see an issue with that. Hookerbots? This is very likely a joke. Now, this guy could have hired someone else to make the kickstarter page more professional with better spelling and grammar, and he could've used his dough for a better quality video.


So, can we keep it constructive? A) Better community image. Do we want a reputation as trolls and assholes? B) Color me optimistic, but good, legit feedback might drive these guys to make really fun, maybe even incredible games.

[moi]

yeah at least these guys are working on something, it's not like they were asking you for money because they had lost all their videogames in an earthquake or something.
fuck you tigs haters

[cplhasse]

The only thing wrong with the Thera game is that it needed a graphics overhaul and better music.

If he came here and asked for feedback he wouldn't get laughed at, but that was his pitch video asking for 5000$. There's a difference.

[Udderdude]

Really, the programming doesn't look terrible. It looks akin other bullet hell shooters.

...

So, can we keep it constructive?

Ok, you want some actual feedback on his game?  It looks boring, sluggish and generally uninteresting.  Let me show you a bullet hell shooter made by a developer that knows what the hell they're doing :



Notice how the enemies and bosses have actual patterns to their attacks.  They also have different color/shaped bullets that move at different speeds.  Now look back at Thera, it's basically just a giant mess of blue balls slowly and randomly floating around the screen.  He managed to ass up one of the most important part of bullet hell, which is the bullets.

Of course this is on top of the obviously deficient art and music, which is not going to get anyone's attention on Kickstarter.

[Kit]

@Moi: Lol, I think you mean fire if you're being more direct with the sarcasm Point taken, however.

@cplhasse: Yea, he probably should have come here for feedback first before jamming out at Kickstarter. This is a good place for it.

@Udderdude: See, there's some feedback that could be useful to the dev. The importance of patterns and bullet colors/types, etc. Actually, thanks for pointing this out because I'm not really an avid player of the genre myself. I am aware that there are intricacies involved, just don't know what. The closest things to a bullet hell shooter I've played and enjoyed are Warning Forever and Jamestown (Jamestown reminds me of the game in the video you posted, though that game looks harder). I've just never been able to get into it.

[Pandara_RA!]

Kickstarter is the end game, it's selling a product. When we make fun of a kickstarter I hope we don't attack the person making the game, but rather the product itself, this isn't a "this guy looks funny/talks funny" bash thread, they are asking for money, they are selling a idea to people, and so it should be put under review, just like any other product.

For "your world" for example I have the issue of false promises. He's clearly new to making games (which is no problem! <3) but doesn't quite understand if he can make good on his promises, but is willing to promise everything and then ask for money to back that promise.

[Sanojian]

One of my first thoughts after cheering for some of the victories of my favorite game designers on Kickstarter was Red Dragon Software, later Glitchless.

A relic from a more innocent time or a cautionary tale for the present?

[Kit]

@Pandarara: Yea, I understand where you're coming from with the false promise thing. If I had won the lottery and got the chance to make my dream game, I think I would probably use money out of pocket to fund the creation of a prototype or at least get a pretty good head start before making promises. Plus you have to question if some of the stuff he's promising is technically feasible. It could very well be. It almost seems like he wants to mix a game like World of Warcraft with a social game like Second Life, what with property ownership and such. Not sure how that would work, though.

I'm not saying anyone should go ahead and fund these projects or anything, but at least feedback and discussion like this is good and could benefit these kickstarters, or future kickstarter groups/projects. Plus it gives everyone a better idea of what they need to do to get started over there.

@Sanojian: These are some good examples of why it's important to be cautious. Vaporware isn't any good to anybody. I think cautionary tale for the present fits more. There was a simlar story about an MMO a few years ago that came out and it just didn't make it. But I think the engine was used to make a singleplayer game, and then they're refocussing efforts on making an MMO again. Still, you can't run before you walk, and most people crawl before that.

Anyway, good points guys.

[Rob Lach]

http://kck.st/H6lggr

I like how the gameplay footage is just the tutorial game from melonjs.

[mirosurabu]

I found Code Hero's video to be pretty bad.

[Christian Knudsen]

http://kck.st/H6lggr

I like how the gameplay footage is just the tutorial game from melonjs.

It also uses stolen artwork:

http://www.somethingawful.com/d/news/ron-paul-kickstarter.php

[Superb Joe]

making fun of people is actually one of the best and most rewarding things you can do, if there are impressionable young minds reading this thread and internalising concepts like "bashing" and "constructive criticism" you are being unwillingly indoctrinated into a weakling's world view and you should go be mean to your mother right now and say something mean spirited about her cooking

[JWK5]

I've got a few bills I need to pay, which one of the tutorials that came with Game Maker should be my new $5,000 Kickstarter project?



Also:

I found Code Hero's video to be pretty bad.

[Theophilus]

The 'Code Hero' kickstarter is... what??? "Make a video game in 60 days and put it on kickstarter".

1) Why? If you made it in 60 days why do you need money to finish it?