Mighty No. 9: a Kickstarter by Keiji Inafune

[cidbahamut]

Re: Mighty No. 9: a Kickstarter by Keiji Inafune

Stretch goals are still bullshit.

[Icemage]

Re: Mighty No. 9: a Kickstarter by Keiji Inafune

WE DID IT! In the last hour we hit every single stretch goal totaling $4 million.

Rot in hell Capcom.

Agreed. Can't wait to see the heads roll at Capcom once this comes out and lights up the sales above and beyond (should already be plenty profitable even now with over $4M of funding for a downloadable title...).


Icemage

[Malacite]

Re: Mighty No. 9: a Kickstarter by Keiji Inafune

I can't wait to stream it on my PS4! :D

[Icemage]

Re: Mighty No. 9: a Kickstarter by Keiji Inafune

I can't wait to stream it on my PS4! :D

It will be interesting to see the little dance that Sony and Nintendo will do with this title.

Sony has a recent trend of trying to get smaller games to be cross-play/cross-buy between PS3 and PS Vita, and will no doubt try to apply some pressure to bear regarding PS4 compatibility as well. Nintendo has very good reason to want the same for 3DS and Wii U (like Smash Bros U).

Microsoft for their part could do the same for 360 and Xbox One (but not for PC since that's going to be controlled by Valve through Steam most likely).

Inafune/Comcept haven't really talked about how the various platforms will interact with one another or whether purchasers/backers will be entitled to versions on "similar" platforms.


Icemage

[Malacite]

Re: Mighty No. 9: a Kickstarter by Keiji Inafune

The only thing they've said is to tell them what version of the game you want before it's out.


What pisses me off, is because I paid through Paypal I got a code from Humble Bundle. Furthermore, I'm not officially recognized on kickstarter as having backed the game which annoys me for personal reasons. Mostly though, I just want to be certain that I'll be getting the right copy of the game in the end. I don't understand why kickstarter doesn't just have a default paypal option. I don't want to be forced to go through Amazon every time I want to back a project I like.

[Icemage]

Re: Mighty No. 9: a Kickstarter by Keiji Inafune

^ Considering the hassle that Paypal is in general, I'm not surprised that Kickstarter avoids them like the plague.

Look what happened to Yatagarasu Attacks on IndieGoGo
Paypal Won't Give Indie Devs Their Money | Kotaku Australia

Granted, Paypal did eventually relent and release the funds, but who wants to put up with Paypal's BS if they have a less headache-inducing option in Amazon?


Icemage

[Malacite]

Re: Mighty No. 9: a Kickstarter by Keiji Inafune

Is Amazon that much better?

I've always gone with PP because they're simple and secure, though I'm aware that others (including my own brother) have had numerous issues with them. Never had 1 problem personally.


I don't like Amazon, don't want more nonsense e-mail promos and crap and just didn't feel like signing up with them.

[Icemage]

Re: Mighty No. 9: a Kickstarter by Keiji Inafune

Is Amazon that much better?

I've always gone with PP because they're simple and secure, though I'm aware that others (including my own brother) have had numerous issues with them. Never had 1 problem personally.

I don't like Amazon, don't want more nonsense e-mail promos and crap and just didn't feel like signing up with them.

Amazon doesn't jerk recipients around with payments the way PayPal does, so yes, Amazon is much better than PayPal.

As for Amazon, you can turn off all notifications in your account settings. I should know, that's what I do. Even when I submit a third-party charge like a Kickstarter donation (like for M#9), Amazon didn't even send me a notification, because I specifically told them not to. No spam at all from Amazon on my email account, period.


Icemage

[Malacite]

Re: Mighty No. 9: a Kickstarter by Keiji Inafune

K, I'll check 'em out after.

Generally what happens with paypal is I just sign in, confirm the thing, and within seconds it shows up on my VISA so I've never really had any issues so far.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Mighty No. 9: a Kickstarter by Keiji Inafune

Shantae Kickstarter over, doubles its goal - Destructoid

They didn't meet every stretch goal, but they're leaving Paypal donations open to meet the $90,000 they may need to get there. It'll be heading to everything next year save for 3DS, but I'm okay with that since 3DS is getting Shantae and the Pirate's Curse for 3DS this year.

It was nice of Inafune to speak up for this project, at any rate.

Games like these and Shovel Knight meeting and exceeding their goals makes me happy.

[Firewind]

Re: Mighty No. 9: a Kickstarter by Keiji Inafune

Nice to see both games get funded. It's also nice to see actual developers on there too. A lot of Indies are on there without any real idea as to what to do. many projects end up exceeding the talent and resources that a group actually has. mayn Indies also have little idea as to where their profit is coming from. You're selling pledged to get the investment to make the game, but what happens when it is out? You've given away sales to get the funding so how are you going to profit on that? How are you going to fund future projects? Way too many Kickstarters have folded for reasons like that. Kickstarter really is a horrible way of funding game development projects if you have no other source of income or funding. That is the mistake a lot of Indies relying on Kickstarter have made.

Still devs like Way Forward, like comcept USA do know what they are doing with this. They will have other investors, other revenue sources and have things properly planned out, and a good idea of the costs of various things and how to make that happen. I really hope that things for well for those guys.

That said, I'm loving the art direction for Shantae, the games have always had a fantastic art direction anyway but I'm loving the concept stuff put out so far. Mighty No.9 looks like it's going to look great too.

[Malacite]

Re: Mighty No. 9: a Kickstarter by Keiji Inafune

Here's the thing though; Inafune is clearly looking to build a brand new franchise that *he* will own, not Capcom. He's taking advantage of the vacancy left by those idiots and as such I'm sure will make a killing once the game goes live. M#9 will no doubt be a smash hit, and word of mouth should get anyone who didn't back it interested enough to buy it.

As per your point, that's the benefit of being an experienced (and highly revered) dev.

[Firewind]

Re: Mighty No. 9: a Kickstarter by Keiji Inafune

Yeah it just makes me cringe when I see Indie Devs hop on it, expecting it to be a gold mine...And then realising that Kickstarter alone is a terrible way to secure investment for your project if you are a video game developer.

If you look as music, movies and even art and sculpture, they all have multiple sources of revenues when the final product is out. Movies have DVD sales, Rentals and TV syndication money to look forwards to. bands make the majority of their cash selling merchandise at shows. Copies of art can be made and sold, or the artist can make money from exhibitions.

Games? Once the sale is made that is it. And Kickstarter is taking away even the sale. DLC and the much maligned Online Passes were ways of getting a bit of extra revenue which gamers constantly complain about. Okay I'm not defending shitting DLC and Online Pass practises here, I'm just saying why they are around. One a game is sold that is it, the Devs are getting no more money without any other source of revenue. It doesn't matter if it is a Triple A Juggernaut or a tiny Indie Dev, the sale of the game is the only time they are seeing the money. It is also one of the main (and justified) arguments against Used games, it's only GAME, EB or Gamestop that are seeing that used game sale cash. Again I'm not defending shitty Used Games policies here like from Microsoft, personally I don't give a shit about used games, I'm a PC gamer. My objection to it was Microsoft taking away the concept of Ownership. What I am doing here is pointing out the lack of ways for Developers to secure more revenue for future projects after a copy of the game is sold.

Now let's go back to Kickstarter. The above reasons are why I cringe when inexperienced Indie Devs rely on it. You are basically throwing away sales to get the initial investment for the video game. How do you secure funding for future projects once it's out? The Core Gamers who backed you won't be buying the game because you're giving one away to them in exchange for investment. They aren't going to buy a copy of the game after release because they will already have the game. Casuals? Maybe if you can market it to them, but you spent all of your investment on the game; how are you going to market it without more revenue or a publisher to do that? What happens if you don't have enough funding because your concept outstripped your talent pool and funding? What if you got to much funding? What are you going to do with your investor's money that is both legal, and won't piss them off? Many Indies really don't think things through them leaping on the Kickstarter Bandwagon.

Thankfully we have a very good chance of seeing Shantae and Mighty #9 actually being released. Both have experiences dev teams that know what they are doing, it's why I actually backed them. But Kickstarter, used by itself is not going to be a paradigm shift on games development. comcept USA and WayForward are examples of doing it right, they will already have enough capital to start development anyway so a lot of the Kickstarter funds would he aiding that development. But they would know that they need to set aside some of the funds for marketing, and investing it in future projects. They will also know that they need to factor in the costs of producing and distributing the game.

Basically that is the difference between Indies jumping on the bandwagon, and developers using it to make the games they want to make. The experienced devs will know how they can use it to cut out the middle man. I cringe when I see a lot of promising startups just fail at the first hurdle because they thought that Kickstarter would be a way to fund the entire game development, marketing, production and distribution while paying all the staff and somehow leaving enough over to fund future projects, which, as I have covered in this post, a stupid and horrible idea.

[Icemage]

Re: Mighty No. 9: a Kickstarter by Keiji Inafune

Kickstarter doesn't take away the sale, per se. It's basically a modified pre-order system for products, but there are really two broad classes of projects: ones that would have some broader appeal but can't get their message out properly, and ones that really are just that niche and would never sell without enthusiasts footing the development cost. In other words, projects that bring otherwise good ideas to an existing market, versus projects that try to create their own market.

Inafune's example of Mighty No. 9 falls under the former category. While there are many passionate fans of the Mega Man series that and platformers in general helped to fund it, there are many more who will buy it after it releases, particularly as it is coming out on so many different platforms. M#9 should show a healthy profit after it releases, because the base of consumers who like this sort of game is much, much broader than just the Kickstarter backers who supported it. The only caveat here is if the developers mismanage their resources or underestimated their cost (see: Double Fine Adventure / Broken Age Kickstarter overshooting their projected budget despite collecting 800% of their target amount).

More obscure stuff like the ill-fated CLANG project, which ran out of money even after reaching their Kickstarter goal (ye gods how could people have been so stupid as to think this project would be a success,,,) is where criticism really should be focused. Ouya also falls into this category, making a product that needs mass-market to succeed but never actually delivered on its promise despite making its Kickstarter goal. These are cases of the people behind the project making the critical mistake of trying to create their own market and failing. This isn't what crowd-sourcing is good at.


Icemage

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Mighty No. 9: a Kickstarter by Keiji Inafune

My only problem with Kickstarter is it enables gamers to behave like investors. Some seem to think the deadlines devs set for themselves should be set in stone and that just isn't how any production works. Its done when it done.

i.e. Just watch Mal get snippy when there is a delay.