Kickstarter – ɔimoɈɒ

Fabulous Kickstarters

I’ve backed a heap of Kickstarters and I thought I would present some of them here. I’ll put them in chronological order and leave out some of the ones that maybe didn’t do quite so well. Solar Circuit Racing – this was one of my first and it’s for a paper-and-card board game on racing. … Continue reading “Fabulous Kickstarters”

I’ve backed a heap of Kickstarters and I thought I would present some of them here. I’ll put them in chronological order and leave out some of the ones that maybe didn’t do quite so well.

Solar Circuit Racing – this was one of my first and it’s for a paper-and-card board game on racing. I backed it because I am trying to make a video game with a similar concept. Plus I like board games.
TWINE – was my first technology kickstarted and it turned out fabulously. It’s a little sensor toy that is really only limited by the fact that I can’t write code for toffee.
Pebble – probably my most frequently used kickstarter and it’s only getting better. It’s an actual smart watch that has stayed smart.
Predestination – I’m not actually a big fan of 4X games but as this is from the amazingly talented and lovely people at Brain and Nerd, I had to help out. They’re a local games company and they have an incredible work ethic.
Elite: Dangerous – I’m an old geek. How could I not back this?
ROAM – a top down survival shooter/builder. With zombies. Again, I had to buy it.
Harbinger Down – any geek who still loves watching The Thing should back this or should buy it when it’s released.
Satellite Reign – this game may save me a huge amount of money and heartache in the long run by making a game that I’ve always wanted to make and selling it to me for a few dollars.
Structure Sensor – if you can’t see why I backed this then you must be new here. This is essentially a 3D scanner that works with your tablet or phone. To create 3D objects or structures which can then be 3D printed or used as 3D assets in games or animations.
Neverending Nightmares – a game about depression and the monsters it can create.
The Long Dark – a first person post-disaster sim which looks fabulous. this could only be bettered by going third person in my opinion.
PatchBlocks – another local Kickstarter for a music box. It does some synth magic and makes sound come out. Other than that, I don’t know. It’s just magic.
HDMIPi – a 9″ portable screen for the Raspberry Pi. I use my Pi a lot for demos so this would really fit into my nomad lifestyle. And just the same day I found out about it, I had been moaning about the need for it. Sealed the deal.

So far I’ve backed 10 games projects, 4 technology projects, 2 film and video projects and 1 design project.

Those are the Kickstarters that I’ve backed to date. What great ones have I missed? What great ones are still out there? what has been your best decision on this?

Crowd funding Investment: I have a bad feeling about this.

From Gamasutra: Newsbrief: In the wake of Double Fine’s astonishingly successful Kickstarter campaign, industry trade body UKIE called for legislation changes that would allow UK video game companies to use crowd funding to finance their projects. UKIE explained that the UK’s current legal and regulatory framework puts too many restrictions on crowd funding, and the … Continue reading “Crowd funding Investment: I have a bad feeling about this.”

From Gamasutra:

Newsbrief: In the wake of Double Fine’s astonishingly successful Kickstarter campaign, industry trade body UKIE called for legislation changes that would allow UK video game companies to use crowd funding to finance their projects.

UKIE explained that the UK’s current legal and regulatory framework puts too many restrictions on crowd funding, and the group promised to release a report that outlines the ways in which the laws should change to better suit game developers and the entertainment industry at large.

I view this with some discomfort. There is nothing stopping UK video game developers using crowd funding to finance their projects. Nothing. Beginning their position with a straw man argument sets the scene for a document filled with repetition and obfuscatory prose.

The restrictions of the UK’s current legal and regulatory framework are in place to protect people from shysters. It’s not always possible and some people get burned but it’s the best thing for everyone.

There is nothing stopping Kickstarter from being in the UK as-is. But this paper from UKIE is attempting to effect serious change in the way securities are dealt by permitting crowd funding from “small holders” to purchase securities in bulk and I’m extremely wary of it for two reasons:

they’re using Kickstarter as an example. This is disingenuous in my opinion as its saying “look what donations/pre-ordering can accomplish, now let us sell shares this way” and nearly every discussion seems to revolve around selling investments. Kickstarter proves this isn’t required. And their opening argument is utterly defeated.
in my own investment dealings (helping to advise local companies), I’ve had to deal with venture capitalists who have been nothing short of shysters. Term sheets which could drive their own truck through them, legals which are not only different to the terms laid out in the term sheet but actual opposites which, when discovered are resulting to more more than an apology.

So, the mother of all unintended consequences would be to permit this and allow investment managers to punt junk companies on the Internet for pennies. In effect, doing a pre-IPO IPO. With the number of companies out there and the number of potential investors, this becomes an administrative nightmare. While the fund managers laugh all the way to the bank, you have thousands of shareholders wondering why they bothered considering the bulk of the money goes on fees and you’ve got such a micro-percentage of the company that you can’t control anything anyway. Ending up with a heap of shares in a worthless company isn’t the only potential outcome. Are they seriously going to have shareholder meetings with thousands of shareholders when a company is worth £100K?

I might be spending too much time worrying about the motivations of strangers. In my opinion, these people are not to be trusted.

Chicken, Egg – getting Kickstarted ain’t a panacea, a diacatholicon, an easy road, a snap, a sure thing

Tadhg Kelly writes about the recent funding of DoubleFine – getting over $400,000 (their target) in less than a day. What’s also interesting is the spread of backers. Around half have donated the basic $15 pledge, which gets you a copy of the game plus video documentaries. A further 35% have gone for the $30 … Continue reading “Chicken, Egg – getting Kickstarted ain’t a panacea, a diacatholicon, an easy road, a snap, a sure thing”

Tadhg Kelly writes about the recent funding of DoubleFine – getting over $400,000 (their target) in less than a day.

What’s also interesting is the spread of backers. Around half have donated the basic $15 pledge, which gets you a copy of the game plus video documentaries. A further 35% have gone for the $30 pledge, which gets you to the video in HD plus a soundtrack. 10% have pledged $100. 3% have pledged $250. 31 people have put up $1000 each, 5 people have put in $5000 a-piece and one intrepid soul has put $10,000 into the project.

Double Fine Productions previous had success with Psychonauts and Brutal Legend (among others) so this success is a little like the reported success of Radiohead and NIN in their independent efforts. It’s going to be a lot easier when everyone already knows you are awesome.

I’ve seen a lot of Kickstarter projects fail – both to get funding and also fail to deliver the end product. In many cases it’s because they are new to the market. I’ve considered using Kickstarter for my own games project but despite my background, I would be considered new to the market and I would need to collect a team of established professionals to my vision in order to be taken seriously.

So is success in Kickstarter going to require building a career first? Or tapping into a meme? Masterful use of social media and connections?

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts: