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Forums - Gaming - Double Fine's short of money (inevitable Kickstarter problems)

TruckOSaurus on 02 July 2013
Soleron said:

No. They promised March; shipments to backers were still happening in June.

The reviews have also been very lacklustre. It delivered the bare bones of what they promised, but the hardware power, OS and game selection leave a lot to be desired.

That's what I expect from Broken Age. It'll functionally be an RPG that fulfills the letter of the KS wording, but not the spirit.

Also Ouya had to go and get huge amounts of VC funding. As such the advantages of Kickstarter are nullified. They're largely responsible to a big VC firm, and they're still speculating on the future instead of the current product.

Still I'd say that compared to Double Fine's current situation, the OUYA backers got the better deal.



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Soleron on 02 July 2013
CDiablo said:
I backed Shadowrun returns last year they said it would be around summer of this year and is being released July 25th and looks to deliver on all the stuff it promised. Double Fine just cant manage money and probably have someone screwing them out of money.

Let me know if the game itself works out.

Is it true that the game's DLC is basically a project split like this? IIRC people were upset at the DRM situation as well.



nuckles87 on 02 July 2013
wfz said:
TruckOSaurus said:
Soleron said:
JOKA_ said:
How is this kickstarters fault or any indication that kickstarter doesn't work? I think this just shows that Double Fine doesn't know how to plan/budget well.

Kickstarter is fine. The idea that you can make a satisfying game even remotely on time and on budget using it is not. None of the headlining game projects have delivered yet - this was the first, and is running into problems already.

If Double Fine can't plan/budget well, how do you expect the teams that sprung up just to make their KS game, with nothing in the bank and no delivery record to do those things?

Wasn't OUYA a kickstarter project? Did it release on time?


There were some delays, and there are still issues of backers not getting their units, but that's a shipping issue (they've said). All in all I'd say that was a successful venture for backers.

 

This... isn't.


How about we wait until the final game to make that judgement? I'm a backer. I don't mind delays, so long as they are using that time to make a better product. And this product looks INCREDIBLE. I am not at all surprised they blew threw their budget to make a game like this.

Game development aint a science. Plenty of projects will go over budget or be delayed, ESPECIALLY when they are ambitious. Kickstarter isn't perfect, but if not for it this game would not even exist. How exactly is that a good alternative? There is no perfect to game development or funding. So I'll take the Kickstarter approach over the game just never existing.



badgenome on 02 July 2013

LOL. I already thought they were pretty cheeky for running a second Kickstarter before delivering on the first one, but goddamn. Maybe Kotick knew what he was doing when he dumped Brutal Legend.



think-man on 02 July 2013

Thats madness. Over promising and under delivering



 

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zarx on 02 July 2013
Soleron said:
JOKA_ said:
How is this kickstarters fault or any indication that kickstarter doesn't work? I think this just shows that Double Fine doesn't know how to plan/budget well.

Kickstarter is fine. The idea that you can make a satisfying game even remotely on time and on budget using it is not. None of the headlining game projects have delivered yet - this was the first, and is running into problems already. You see, all KS games have to promise the Earth. They have to say it'll be a worthy successor to insert nostalgic game here, that it will be near-AAA in scope and content, and that any risks are well under control. Any KS pitch that attempted to be realistic wouldn't be funded at all.

If Double Fine can't plan/budget well, how do you expect the teams that sprung up just to make their KS game, with nothing in the bank and no delivery record to do those things?

The funny thing is they pitched half a SCUMM game, and then designed a AAA (for an point and click adventure) game. This is more of a case of over delivering if anything, creating a project far greater in scope than anything that was ever promised. Tim Schafer has a history of feature creep, delays and budget overuns that is why very few publishers have worked with him more than once since the Lucasarts days. People payed for him to make a game without a publisher suit to say no to him, this is hardly a surprise to be honest.



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allenmaher on 02 July 2013

It is a shame, I bought the double fine HIB and liked their titles. Very creative and compelling games. I did not kickstarter the other game though.

When/if it is finished I will probably buy it though.

Good game developer does not always equal good business management. This is why publishers exist. Nintendo is looking for more titles for the WiiU...



CDiablo on 02 July 2013
Soleron said:
CDiablo said:
I backed Shadowrun returns last year they said it would be around summer of this year and is being released July 25th and looks to deliver on all the stuff it promised. Double Fine just cant manage money and probably have someone screwing them out of money.

Let me know if the game itself works out.

Is it true that the game's DLC is basically a project split like this? IIRC people were upset at the DRM situation as well.


Theres the game and the Berlin DLC for backers/deluxe preorder. All future DLC will be through Steam(DRM) because the IP owner of Shadowrun wants it and supposedly the devs didnt have this fully ironed out at the time of the kickstarter. The game has a full story creator so people can create adventures using all in game assets. People are upset that the game is going to have future DLC and therefore the game is not a complete game. The future DLC will include new stories, locations and textures for people to use. The rage is potentially justified depending on how big the main campaign is. People who standard preordered(not deluxe preorder and after the kickstarter) the game are also upset they dont get the Berlin campaign, but they didnt back the project nor bought the deluxe preorder. I cant imagine not getting my $15 worth between the game, Berlin campaign and user created content.

I am a bit upset at the DRM thing, but I believe them because otherwise they would not offer a DRM free version in the first place.



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osed125 on 02 July 2013

At this rate I never going to get Psychonauts 2



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HoloDust on 02 July 2013

Not surprising really, it's Schafer after all, so it was almost expected. Still, if they deliver a great game, I have a feeling all will be forgiven.

I'm more interested to see if Wasteland 2, Project: Eternity and Torment: Tides of Numenera will turn out as good as promised - while classic P&C adventure genre will keep on doing just fine no matter the success or failure of DF's game, those 3 mentioned titles sure could make all the difference in kicking old school cRPG into renaissance.