Forums » Smalltalk » Fund an adventure game!

Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2 are some of my favourite games in the world. The guys behind them - Tim Schafer and Ron Gilbert have a kickstarter running at the moment in the attempt to fund a brand new point-and-click adventure game.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/66710809/double-fine-adventure

It's only been up for about a day and already it's raised over $500 000, but I think you should still show your support.

And if you haven't played Monkey Island, go pick up that guy on Steam. It's a blast.";

They've raised over a million now. Pretty impressive for a single day!

Kotaku has an interesting article about why they think it happened and I have to agree with them. Makes me wonder if other legendary game developers from the good old days could do the same thing with different kinds of game.

I'd love to see a new space flight sim done really well.

Goodness gracious. If I could raise a million dollars in a day, the games and sites I would build! RPR would have a staff to help me program in a heartbeat, let me tell you.

Quick everyone! Let's raise a million dollars so we can see the things Kim would create if she had that kind of funding!

Struggling or not i would do that in a heartbeat, Kim and Darth. In a way this actually annoyed me and I know it is unfair. Struggling for as long as I have working on indie games and never managing to launch my heartfelt project I felt what I am aware is unfair and irrational anger. I know it's really quite impressive, you just probably won't see me chip in for someone who has already proven they can do it themselves and should have a formidable launchpad from past success. Rpr though? In a moment!

Well actually, if you watch the video you'll find out that the company can not produce a Point and Click Adventure game through traditional publishing because publishers aren't willing to put the money forward for such a risky genre.

Personally, I'd love to see this used as a platform to get Japanese language games with a huge fanbase the translations that they want. Often there's games released only in Japan and fans of the niche-RPG-genre make a big stir about how the game would be profitable if only they gave it a chance and released it in English. If publishers were willing to open a fundraiser and the fans were willing to put their money where their mouth is, it could all work out on that front.

Again i am aware it is irrational, but regardless of rationale of it those points are faulty. for years games have been managed to be put out in spite of overwhelming risk, and insurmountable odds. Even right now xenoblades can be ordered after it had been segregated to japan for years--fan demand made it so. This isn't the first game that has to find a way to prove potential customers wrong: just the first to take this method. In a way, it is ingenius and surprising it hasn't been done before, but frustrating as hell knowing none of the three (and a half in a way) dev teams i've been on couldn't do this because we aren't known--in contrast to someone who can make profitable promise contracts if need be, based on commission, if demand is so high. When free radical tanked due to haze's abysmal failure, they didn't get fans to rescue them--they opted to become crytek uk and work on side projects even if it meant Timesplitters 4 was on indefinite hiatus. The amazing thing, though, is it may have only amped up-

The state of the game, which is relatively strongly rumored to announce at e3 as an xbox720 launch title rather than late ps2 or early ps3 as expected. The tenacity, patience, and wait for fan demand rather than cash is going to make the game amazing on cryengine3. Because of these thoughts you won't see me give them a dime to see an established developer... deal with what everyone in the industry has had to who has a new idea since the dawn of gaming. Sorry.

Timesplitters has the benefit of being a FPS. Sure, I know that games occasionally happen if you sit and wait and be patient - but why sit and wait and be patient when producers aren't making games to your interest. If you pay $15 - it's no different to buying a $15 dollar game except you're dropping your money up front.

That's why this is so exciting. More Point and Clicks, more Space Flight Sims, more obscure RPGs. There are cases of games appearing after years and years of waiting, but how many more fall through the cracks and are never seen again?

oh, and darth... You would be surprised how many old developers actually live on through transitions like what i just said. Part of rare became free radical then crytek uk, then some of their projects like tomb raider and some associated hands went to squareenix. It's not all that uncommon, really. But imo monkey island just needs to keep pushing on nintendo. Nintendo is doing their damndest to be more flexible to 3rd part devs for the wii u and is already sticking their neck out over everything, one more wouldn't be huge; it's just a matter of finding the right person to pressure... which is business in a nutshell.

(i refuse to believe that the only money wringing will be before and not after. There will always be followup costs that manage to squeeze someone for cash more. I dont want to pay 15$ now then 5$ every month later to stay a member or 15$ then for the game, cuz not everyone who gets it will have donated.) mobile so sorry for slow replies.

timesplitters has also been said to have the problem of having very british humor when trying to sell to a global market--its no longer considered safe to do something perceived as regional. But aside from that, what it really boils down to is that games do slip through the cracks--but more than an established, demanded for series, it's brilliant, struggling indie games that will never receive this kind of attention. Who here heard of pirated sudoku? Didn't think so. It was hella fun and i don't even like sudoku. But unless it happened after i had to leave we never got it in final phases due to $$$$.

It's a point and click adventure game. There is no membership. You pay $15 on the fundraiser, you get the game for free when it comes out. I don't see where the opportunity for extra nickel and diming appears.

Steam accounts tend to point to future nickel and diming. Maybe i'm just jaded, but if they're that choked on getting a publisher, have the manpower and want to please fans there are sites like kongregate they can put an essential demo on to prove to prospective publishers that demand is really that high. But again, from witnessing the industry my views have been jaded. Not to sound pathetic but you have no idea how many nights i've spent sobbing into my pillow after my hard work turned out for nothing. I've had to be talked out of throwing away my art binders and development logs from a shattered heart. I understand i am biased but i would expect a company really doing it for the fans to be willing to put in the same kind of devotion a nobody like me has.

Oh they'll find a way. Just like free games on computers. Get all the stuff to play but ya gotta fork up cash to get the good stuff. Of course it would be an optional thing but people would go for it.

On the topic of Steam, this will be my last reply. This thread has gone way off topic.

I've been using Steam for a while, and while I think it's the best platform out there for PC gaming I know it's not God's gift to gaming. I once had my entire account locked down for a month due to a disputed Paypal transaction. But there's one thing Steam doesn't do - it's sneaky transactions. All DLC, or membership fees are due to the developer or publisher of the game. Steam is just a delivery method.

Obviously this is not a revolutionary thing that is going to grant money to every single game developer in the world. Indy developers have been crowd sourcing funds for years now. However, it's proof that
- Publishers are ignoring huge groups of fans who are willing to put their money where their mouth is.
- That genres that are considered dead are far from it.
- That fan-financing may be an option for larger companies whom are uncertain if a game will be profitable in the long run.

Just seeing this my grim outlook makes me fear the cycle: they make a few million and the fans peter off. expecting more to flow in they overextend their budget and need to try again, and again. It's conjecture, i just know how humans tend to handle money. Then i am left to wonder how many indie developers could be contracted that are willing to work on promised percentile rather than upfront costs and give new folks a foothold in the industry. Unless i'm missing it i see no news of that. I know monkey island was indie at one point, but if resources were managed right and demand is this high i just don't see it as necessary; the parts of the industry that need the attention will never receive it. And the ones who want it i am too jaded to ever put into. I understand there is irony that theoretically i could need the same thing some day but if i made an earth shatteringly popular game i wouldn't expect to have to shake fans out in advance with promise of a sequel.

No it wasn't. I dare say a company called "LucasArts" has never been considered Indie.

Mayhaps that was monkey ball, then. ...lucas arts wants funds? ...yyyeah that kills me even wanting to post on the thread. They're so rich they could probably buy my soul. There is no reason for lucas to not go to the very open wii u aside from feeling better than that considering nintendo's original stigma, unless they want to be pc exclusive in which case... Beggars can't be choosers. Unless famous, i guess.

Okay, I think this topic has been derailed enough. Claine already made it clear she didn't want to argue any more about things that are not the main focus of the thread so let's please leave that discussion for another time and thread, Minerva.