Yep, and the only reason she hasn't been fired is because it would destroy Inafune's relationship with the people handling the english release, english translation, and english side of the Kickstarter community. He's kind of got his hands tied on this one because Mighty No. 9 needs to be a hit if he wants to do more projects, but a shoddy release would basic cripple his company.
The Video Game Kickstarter Thread of the Future of Passing the Risk to the Consumer
- Thread starter Frank
- Start date
I kind of don't know what to make of it. The last Mega Man game I seriously played was Mega Man 2 on the NES, but I respect the franchise as a mainstay of console gaming. I'd like to see Mighty No. 9 be a success, but the project seems really kind of messed up - the incompetent and antagonistic community manager, multiple rounds of crowdsourcing... but then again, how is Double Fine doing with their super kickstarter project?
GasBandit
Staff member
The answer, for those of you watching at home, is not well.
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/11/24/double-fine-layoffs/
How does a publisher pulling out of a project that leaves their crowdfunded games unaffected have anything to do with those crowdfunded projects?
Again, the first two rounds of crowd sourcing made sense: the first was to fund, the second was because the Japanese community couldn't make heads or tails of Kickstarter but still wanted to help out, and final (which is literally just a paypal you can donate to for wallpapers, beta access, and something like $2-7 off the game) is for a DLC idea they had and this is to judge if the community is interested enough to make it part of the launch game instead.They made it clear they have plenty to do what they already promised and the game's development would not be delayed because of lack of funds (they have over 4.5 mill). At this point, any cash they get is solely to develop the DLC boss, his stage, and possibly to do Japanese voice acting (we could only afford one or the other, so the community voted and we're getting English).
They've put out plenty of gameplay to prove they have a working product, we get weekly updates from the devs, and community has already had some input on character design (we picked the final design for a second playable character and her weapon).
So really... the only failure is that the English community manager is kind of awful and that can't be fixed without tanking the game.
GasBandit
Staff member
The same thing Borderlands 2 had to do with Aliens - Colonial Marines, possibly. It's noteworthy that the cancellation led to layoffs instead of reassignments, which paints a rather threadbare budgetary picture.
That's not terribly surprising though, given the need for Broken Age to get a second round of funding and the space game being cancelled. Their kickstarter project is still going well though.
The first paragraph of the article said:
Exactly. One has nothing to do with the others. Note I mentioned that fact in my post ("that leaves their crowdedfunded games unaffected").
I know, I was agreeing with you, the snarky quote was more for everyone else.
GasBandit
Staff member
He says they were unaffected.
One day the head of a company's going to call a press conference and say "Welp, one of our 6 projects just got cancelled, and long story short, it set off a domino effect and holy shit is everything fucked 9 ways from sunday. But please keep giving us money, we might can polish this turd!"
One day the head of a company's going to call a press conference and say "Welp, one of our 6 projects just got cancelled, and long story short, it set off a domino effect and holy shit is everything fucked 9 ways from sunday. But please keep giving us money, we might can polish this turd!"
Ah, okay. That's promising then.
Here's a bit of gameplay that also shows off one of the cooler features: Just like how beating certain bosses in the X series could effect levels, saving Mighty No.'s can have them show up to help you in some stages. In this one, Cyrosphere (Mighty No. 2) helps out by freezing some explosive materials and enemies to make some sections easier.
Okay, I take back my objections. That looks great.
I'm glad there's an effect. My main gripe with Azure Striker Gunvolt was that while it felt like an X game in some ways, nothing changed for anything you did. Not levels; you didn't even get the boss weapons, nothing. It's fun for an hour, but doesn't grow from there.
I want Mighty No. 9 to be good. It doesn't have to be Shovel Knight calibre, but I want it to be fun the whole way through.
You get powers in MN9 (which physically change Beck... like he has Cryosphere's water pack and pump when using her powers), but you spend most of the time as normal Beck. To compensate, absorbing enemy Xel can sometimes give you buffs, like that piercing shot of Beck's in the video.
It feels completely different... MN9 is much more fast paced than X because of the Xel mechanic, but it's also less focused on upgrades.
I'll have to see when the full game comes out. Shovel Knight didn't do a boss-to-upgrade system, but the upgrades you got were a big deal. Same with Mega Man Zero. On the other hand, Shovel Knight is more level-focused, less combat-focused, like original Mega Man, and I think that's where Gunvolt and possibly Mighty No. 9 lose me--it doesn't feel that special to just be running straight along the screen blasting enemies if I'm not getting different things to do it with.
Even if Mighty No. 9 isn't my thing, I still have a bunch of Mega Man games I haven't played through yet.
GasBandit
Staff member
Evolve meets Left 4 Dead in a high school.
You play as the Killer, or one of 5 high-schoolers
Imagine playing as the killer in your favorite horror film! In this unique game, you can take on the role of the killer, going after 5 of your friends, hunting them at your will.
The High-schoolers
On the flip side of the coin, you play as one of 5 characters of your typical high school kids, each with their own special abilities that help the group.
Predator Mode
The Killer has an advantage too; Predator mode. He despawns, becoming invisible and is able to move very quickly, quickly choosing a new hiding space to jump out of and kill the kids.
You play as the Killer, or one of 5 high-schoolers
Imagine playing as the killer in your favorite horror film! In this unique game, you can take on the role of the killer, going after 5 of your friends, hunting them at your will.
The High-schoolers
On the flip side of the coin, you play as one of 5 characters of your typical high school kids, each with their own special abilities that help the group.
Predator Mode
The Killer has an advantage too; Predator mode. He despawns, becoming invisible and is able to move very quickly, quickly choosing a new hiding space to jump out of and kill the kids.
If executed well, this could be a fantastic game. I've been hoping and praying for a remake of the Friday the 13th NES game with exactly this sort of thing in mind.
I've been reading some comments on this Kickstarter, and some comments have raised some red flags for me:
1) There's only one person involved in this.
2) He's an audio guy. Admittedly, he's worked on a number of big-name titles, but still just an audio guy.
3) There are no stretch goals.
4) There's no actual gameplay yet. There's a short tech demo showing the killer swinging an axe.
5) This Kickstarter is more about getting the attention of a publisher who can fund a full game.
I'm starting to feel like @Jay when it comes to Kickstarters. Having a hard time being optimistic about this.
1) There's only one person involved in this.
2) He's an audio guy. Admittedly, he's worked on a number of big-name titles, but still just an audio guy.
3) There are no stretch goals.
4) There's no actual gameplay yet. There's a short tech demo showing the killer swinging an axe.
5) This Kickstarter is more about getting the attention of a publisher who can fund a full game.
I'm starting to feel like @Jay when it comes to Kickstarters. Having a hard time being optimistic about this.
Kickstarter really needs to make it clear that their service is for helping people complete projects, not to act as a stepping stone to the kinds of funding they want. With their experience, they have the means and contacts to get funding already. Kickstarter if for people without those contacts.
Mighty No. 9 is finished and they are now in the porting and promotion stage. I believe they have to port it to 360, One, PS3, PS4, and 3DS (it's native on PC) so that might take a bit but it's good to know the game itself is done.
That much porting sounds daunting. Even between PS3 and PS4, there's a lot of hardware difference.
I'll buy it release day. I'm keeping my expectations in check and hope I enjoy it, but even if not, I want to contribute to telling Capcom what fucking morons they are.
I'll buy it release day. I'm keeping my expectations in check and hope I enjoy it, but even if not, I want to contribute to telling Capcom what fucking morons they are.
Harebrained Schemes is doing another kickstarter for Shadowrun, this time a Hong Kong campaign. They've been hinting at this for a while and I was wondering "Didn't Shadowrun Returns and Dragonfall do well? Why do they need to do a kickstarter for another campaign?", and they've actually done a good job answering that. It's been in development for several months now, and is fully funded and on schedule as another 12+ hour campaign like their Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut expansion. This kickstarter is for further additions to the game, effectively what would be new stretch goals if they were doing the main game as a kickstarter now. Currently they've looking to add player interface updates, animated scene transitions, new characters/missions, and alternative endings. They've also said in an interview that a later stretch goal will be a major gameplay mechanic like stealth or astral projection, which is promising. There's enough stuff to win me over, especially since it's just $15 for the basic game + 3 soundtracks reward.
It's worth noting that the Shadowrun: Hong Kong reached its initial goal of $100,000 in roughly 2 hours. They have already hit the first 3 stretch goals.
As of now:
5,030 backers
$201,125 pledged of $100,000 goal
34 days remaining
No problem paying 15 for 12 hours and extras, considering their past successes. Backed.
This was a Kickstarter project that has gotten fully funded.
HOW DID I MISS THIS?!
https://www.kickstarter.com/dmca/last-year-5-vs-1-multiplayer-survival-horror-submitted-by-davis
Shit, I didn't even hear about this until now. Crystal Lake Entertainment filed a DMCA against The Last Year kickstarter:
Shit, I didn't even hear about this until now. Crystal Lake Entertainment filed a DMCA against The Last Year kickstarter:
That's a shame. Even though I was hesitant and didn't back it, I was still hoping we'd eventually see this game.
I told this same thing to a guy at work. He was trying to make the argument that a hockey masked supernatural serial killer was a generic trope, but until the courts say so, a la Xerox or Kleenex, it just ain't so.