Robert Bowling, the former popular community manager for Infinity Ward (Call of Duty series,) had left Infinity Ward after Modern Warfare 3 was released and decided to form his own development studio with many news sites wishing him the best for his next endeavor with the communities doing the same.
http://www.destructoid.com/robert-bowling-leaves-infinity-ward-224583.phtml
http://www.gamefront.com/robert-bowling-leaving-infinity-ward/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2012/03/27/what-does-robert-bowlings-departure-mean-for-call-of-duty/
Over time he kept quiet and stayed in the dark with an occasional quote about next gen and the Ouya. Though that all changed when he decided to come out and show one of their first games to the public called “The Adventures of Dash.”
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fourzerotwo/the-adventures-of-dash-a-2d-platform-and-puzzle-ad?ref=live
When you watch the video you see a unique game, Robert Bowling, a cute Asian, and developers proposing and promoting their hope and dream for one of their first games as a studio. With almost the same amount of promotion from the same media outlets, you would think that this game would be easily funded within days and make a push for even greater stretch goals……. Though 30 days later you can see that did not happen. It didn’t even come close. The game had only obtained $33,000 of the $400,000 that had hoped that they could reach. With name and promotion this great it can even be realized that a flop of this size had occurred. Though now the big question has to be asked and I think I know the answer. “How the hell did this fail?”
Every other day it seems like a new game sprouts up on Kickstarter. Most of them that get even the smallest amount of promotion seem to meet their goal and become funded. Though this attempt failed and now I try to know why.
Was it because Robert Bowling is not popular enough on the internet? No
He was the mouth of Infinity Ward for the entire Modern Warfare series and as of now he still has over 340,000 twitter followers so he can still definitely get his word out. He is definitely more popular now than other game designers like Al Lowe, Richard Garriott, Charles Cecil, and many other notable game designers from the past who have all reached success on Kickstarter.
Was it because they were a new studio with no name status and because it was a new ip? Hell no,
This is what Kickstarter was made for. Hell, here is a project that came from a brand new studio promoting a brand new IP that is also a 2D side-scroller.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/yachtclubgames/shovel-knight?ref=live
Did the game not show enough promise or enough development? No
The Ouya greatly passed its goals with just mere prototype designs. Double Fine merely gave a pitch of a game and documentary and easily reached and passed its goals. The game looked like it was passed its design phases in the video and looked like the funding was made for the creation of the unique levels that the game wanted to add.
Now we come to why I chose the title and the reason of the failure. Change
Robotoki is going to release a game called “Breach and Clear.” It plays like a more militarized and more polished version of Frozen Synapse or a more a more generic version of Xcom minus the aliens. It will be released for android and ios, will be free to play ad will make its money back by microtransactions. Not very enticing but that is the way many indie developers are going this way and it makes them back the capital they put into it very fast if the game catches on. It looks like a game that could be fun and knowing that Robert Bowling is working on it makes it seem that his experience from the CoD series will help him improve the game. It seems like an expected game from someone like Bowling and people will trust him on this game.
Now we see tAoD and it looks amazing, fun, and enticing. The game has an old-school feel with a new school style. The game had everything going for it except for one thing: Robert Bowling. When you cater to the hardcore, promote yourself as the hardcore, lead a strong community who listen to you for your hardcore words, and then ask them to support something that is almost the complete opposite, you come to a realization that asking your fans to support, to be more broad, and accept change to something that is something so far from what they associated with is unachievable. It doesn’t happen. Rob Lowe is making Leisure Suit Larry, Richard Garriott is making an Ultima successor, Jordan Weisman is making a Shadowrun game, Tim Schaffer is making an adventure game. Their names let them develop games that they wanted and have already made. Now we see Bowling make a change from his fame, though his fans just can’t support him to do it.
I feel sorry for almost all parties in this campaign. I hope Robotoki can get enough success to release this game without the help of kickstarter. I would love to play this game, though it seems that his fans think the opposite. I can only hope that Robert Bowling can eventually change and make whatever game he wants, but for now his fans have decided he should stick to what he knows and for better or for worse that is just what I should probably expect from Bowling and his game studio for now. May he have success in all his future endeavors.
TL; DR : Kiari was right “Don’t ever change”
Here is the link to his Kickstarter:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fourzerotwo/the-adventures-of-dash-a-2d-platform-and-puzzle-ad?ref=live
P.S. I hope this wasn't to long of a read, but I felt I had bring it up. I still think crowdfunding is good for developers.
P.P.S. I really wish I could have made a video about this but whatever.
don't waste time
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