Bit of a disclaimer. I'm talking specifically about Kickstarter because I'm rather unfamiliar with the others, such as Rocket Hub and Indiegogo. I also don't know if this happens with Desura's alpha funding service or Steam's early access service, as I'm just not as involved in those communities. Kickstarter has been where I've been the most involved, both in backing games and in involving myself with their communities.
Now, Kickstarter is great. It's a wonderful way to get attention for your project, and to get the funds needed to bring it to life. Where the problem comes in is that, typically, any project on Kickstarter is still in it's infancy. These aren't projects that have a lot of time already invested in them. Rarely a year, sometimes not even a month. Sometimes barely even weeks. Most projects have a very basic video that's really more a mock up than anything playable, and sometimes they don't even have that. Take, for example, Double Fine's adventure game kickstarter. The first video on their first campaign was literally just asking for money to make an adventure game. No name for it, no game play, no mock ups, just money to make a game.
Typically, when a new game is announced on Steam, or in a magazine, or on a website, this game is already pretty far along it's development. Major game studios do not announce games until they are almost completely certain that the game will come out. More games than people realize get worked on for years and still get canned. Studios and publishers won't announce games until they are almost done for this reason.
They don't want to spend money on marketing for a title they aren't sure will generate a return. They don't want to spend time speaking with the gaming press over a title they are not positive will actually see release. And they don't want to lose faith and piss off segments of their customer base by talking up a title only to cancel it later. So, with major game releases, you typically see a project that's almost done, and they show you as little as possible. Then, they slowly feed out more info as they squash all the bugs leading up to release. The result is that it seems like they started with a barely there game, and developed everything else really, really, really fast leading up to launch, and that's just not the case.
This isn't what happens on Kickstarter. What you typically see there is a game that really is barely there. Very often, it's just the developer talking, along side some mock ups, concept art, and some gameplay video that's held together by duct tape, and very carefully edited to avoid showing any major issues.
So, people get it in their minds that they'll be seeing swift development, and a finished, or at least very advanced beta in short order. Nine times out of ten, this doesn't happen, and the community just doesn't know how to react.
Now, most of the people in these communities understand that delays happen, and are wonderful supportive people. Maybe not pleased, maybe even asking for refunds, but they are typically still very reasonable. I'm not talking about them. I'm talking about an incredibly vocal minority.
Rather than supporting the game, or getting fed up and just leaving, or asking for a refund, they camp out Reddit, the game blog's comment section, any community forums. Every time the developers say anything, these individuals are there, pitch forks in hand. They aren't pleased with anything short of a completed game, and a developer blog that has every single detail of what every team member has done every day since the last blog entry. They don't seem to realize how ridiculous that is.
Seriously guys, they can't do that. Obviously, the game isn't done, otherwise you'd already know. And they can't give you a bullet list of every single thing that's been done. Fact is, developers will try about a dozen different things before happening upon something that works both mechanically and aesthetically. If they detailed everything they did, the blog entry would be two things. Stupidly long and a really bad looking. It would have "Failed, failed, failed, failed, failed, kinda worked, failed, failed, worked but looks crap, failed, worked properly".
And that's for experienced developers. The vast majority of developers on Kickstarter are not experienced devs. Many have never worked on a full scale publicly known project, and even more have never shipped a game. And, you're seeing the game from it's infancy, not well into development. They won't deliver the game next month. It just won't happen. And if they do, you probably don't want the game. Gridiron Thunder is a prime example of that. They won't give you every single detail of what they do, no developer will, ever. They won't respond to your every question, especially if you're always asking the same questions in an insulting way every week.
And, on that topic, insulting these fine gentlemen who are trying to bring their dream to life every chance you get won't make them work faster. It won't make them give you more info either. I've known of several developers who have completely cut off all community interaction because of how toxic a small portion of that community became.
If you've got questions, ask them. If you've got concerns, raise them. But do so politely. Do so respectfully. Don't hurl venom and hate at these guys, because then they won't listen to you.
If you cut someone off while driving, and they pull up beside you, roll down their window, and start yelling, and screaming, and cursing, are you going to care that you pissed them off? I know I wouldn't. They're dicks. But, if you cut someone off, and they pull up, roll down their window, and say that you cut them off, that they realize you probably didn't see them, and they ask you to please just pay a bit more attention going forward, chances are you would. Chances are you'd apologize, unless you're actually the dick.
If you're concerned and want to make the game progress better, and want the game to be more fun when it's done, realize that you can help. You can bring up your concerns, and be heard. But nobody will listen if you sound like you're full of hate and anger. If you sound like you can't be pleased, nobody will try to please you.
Now, all that being said, there are most certainly times when that ire and anger is deserved. Times where developers of Kickstarter projects should be held accountable, and deserve every bit of anger they get.
And we'll talk about a few of those in the next entry! See you then!
Seriously guys, they can't do that. Obviously, the game isn't done, otherwise you'd already know. And they can't give you a bullet list of every single thing that's been done. Fact is, developers will try about a dozen different things before happening upon something that works both mechanically and aesthetically. If they detailed everything they did, the blog entry would be two things. Stupidly long and a really bad looking. It would have "Failed, failed, failed, failed, failed, kinda worked, failed, failed, worked but looks crap, failed, worked properly".
And that's for experienced developers. The vast majority of developers on Kickstarter are not experienced devs. Many have never worked on a full scale publicly known project, and even more have never shipped a game. And, you're seeing the game from it's infancy, not well into development. They won't deliver the game next month. It just won't happen. And if they do, you probably don't want the game. Gridiron Thunder is a prime example of that. They won't give you every single detail of what they do, no developer will, ever. They won't respond to your every question, especially if you're always asking the same questions in an insulting way every week.
And, on that topic, insulting these fine gentlemen who are trying to bring their dream to life every chance you get won't make them work faster. It won't make them give you more info either. I've known of several developers who have completely cut off all community interaction because of how toxic a small portion of that community became.
If you've got questions, ask them. If you've got concerns, raise them. But do so politely. Do so respectfully. Don't hurl venom and hate at these guys, because then they won't listen to you.
If you cut someone off while driving, and they pull up beside you, roll down their window, and start yelling, and screaming, and cursing, are you going to care that you pissed them off? I know I wouldn't. They're dicks. But, if you cut someone off, and they pull up, roll down their window, and say that you cut them off, that they realize you probably didn't see them, and they ask you to please just pay a bit more attention going forward, chances are you would. Chances are you'd apologize, unless you're actually the dick.
If you're concerned and want to make the game progress better, and want the game to be more fun when it's done, realize that you can help. You can bring up your concerns, and be heard. But nobody will listen if you sound like you're full of hate and anger. If you sound like you can't be pleased, nobody will try to please you.
Now, all that being said, there are most certainly times when that ire and anger is deserved. Times where developers of Kickstarter projects should be held accountable, and deserve every bit of anger they get.
And we'll talk about a few of those in the next entry! See you then!
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