Sites like Kickstarter can be a great way for up-and-coming developers to get the cash needed to make something playable. They can also be a great place for laughs.
Entrepreneur glazedmcguffin has started up an Indie GoGo site (basically Kickstarter in all but name) with the goal of creating “the next great game, a Modern Warfare & Battlefield 3 killer”.
“I’m developing a new game franchise that will change the way first person shooters are played”, they write. “It’s innovative, fun, and features unmatched online multiplayer gameplay. It is competitive with the Modern Warfare and Battlefield franchises.”
Exciting! Intros over, it’s then down to business. “I’m seeking funding. Non disclosures must be signed for details beyond a certain point for competitive reasons, such as the full design document”. You know. In case someone else in the industry stole his idea for a multiplayer shooter to compete with Modern Warfare.
What do I get in return? Well, while most actual Kickstarter projects give the charitable something like a t-shirt or their name in the credits, glazedmcguffin knows this industry too well, charging $US500 to get your face in the game (subject to ESRB approval!) and $US10,000, presumably to a media outlet that actually pays for coverage, for “Access to select interviews about the project”.
As of posting the “game” (which sounds more like either a school project or a scam) has received…$0.
It’s like the bottom end of the industry smashed into the top, and everything got horribly, and hilariously, mixed up.
Development of Innovative Video Games [Indie GoGo]
Adam
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 10:19 PMI just paid $10,000 for an interview, so I hope my blogspot page becomes famous.
mchaza
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 10:58 PMSpace Command Assault Mission, is what the game is called people.
fgsghs
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 11:04 PMContacted the guy, turns out it’s legit…he’d got references with independent game developer groups, etc…
I doubt his project will ever get off the ground but…whatever.
Chazz
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 12:00 AMAn unverified username without a gravatar…totally a legit response but…whatever.
fgsghs
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 9:13 AMPfft. Don’t believe me then. His more legit then the all the work 3D Realms was doing between 1998 and 2009 for realz.
Milton
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 11:07 PMicwutudidthar
Badger
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 11:44 PMEr… the big difference between Kickstarter and IndieGoGo is that, even if your IndieGoGo campaign fails, you still keep the money.
Hopefully people realise this before sending him money for the lulz.
Nic
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 12:19 AMWow, so this guy can theoretically raise 4.5 mil then say ‘yeah, not enough money, can’t do it guys’ and bail to the Bahamas..
mchaza
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 12:27 AMThe most likely thing thats going to happen with any amount of money this guy gets is what you just said. 5 Million cannot make a call of duty or battlefield killer, considering the budget for those games themselves sits around 20 million+ at experienced and established studios, the marketing budgets are around 150+ million.
The thing people need to understand no matter how good your idea is, it doesn’t mean the end result is a great game, the process from idea – to game is a very difficult task with alot of changes and problems. So even if this guy does have the solution to beat call of duty, he doesn’t have the experienced team and resources to build such a game to compete. Now you can say that there have been games on low budgets that have been breakout successes, but his talking about defeating call of duty, 20+ million sales, a billion dollars + in revenue. Yea tell him his dreaming.
Merus
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 2:29 AMGenerally if someone’s being so precious about their idea that they’re not willing to share it, they don’t understand that the hard part is not the coming up with the idea part but the making it real part. Your competitors have already considered your idea and discarded it. Why? Is it a dumb idea? Is it an idea that seems smart but rapidly proves impossible to implement? Is it an idea that seems smart and only appears to be impossible to implement at first? Is it something that was not technically feasible when people last thought of it? Is it something that isn’t compatible with other ideas they’ve committed to that you haven’t?
Usually ‘because they’re dumb and I’m not’ is also not an answer that inspires confidence.
Lazarus
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 12:54 AMDuuude, someone’s pledged $1US. The ball is rolling now.
AerintheADEQUATE
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 5:48 AM“I’m finally somebody! Things are going to start happening to me now!”
http://lookmatic.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/stevemartin1.jpg
Jordaan Mylonas
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 8:45 AMIf years ago you had read of a Kickstarter project from some Swedish guy saying he was going to make a digital Lego game that he expected to sell over a million copies, you might have laughed him out of the room the same as you are doing to this guy.
A lot of what this guy is doing is a bit silly, but at the end of the day, if he is legit, you’ve got somebody that has an idea they believe in and wants to make happen.
For $5million, he could establish a studio of 10-20 people for 2 years. With the right talent. that’s more than enough to pump out something amazing.
I personally think he’d be better served making small things first and building up to the dream, but if he wants to go whole hog now, that’s his business. I’m certainly not going to make snarky blog posts about it.
Yurrp
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 9:45 AMcompletely agree ^
sion
Saturday, January 14, 2012 at 1:00 PMno one gives a shit about his games design document, you ask everyone in the game industry, we’re not short of ideas. it’s just the polotics, publishers and development costs that stop them from happening….