A message for Tom and co

General Discussion
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This is just a shout out to Tom & Co. I wasn’t sure of the best place for it, apologies if this is the wrong place.

I’ve backed a lot of projects on Kickstarter, and almost all of them have disappointed me. I backed OOTS, and 3 years later I’m still waiting for my strips. I backed the QFG remake and it hasn;t appeared. I backled the Rollercoaster Tycoon remake, and they’ve gone quiet. I backed the Master of Magic remake, and they seemed to be making pretty good progress, but they also appear to have gone quiet now (although I still have some hopes for that one).

I backed Godus, and we all know what a clusterf#*k that’s turned into thanks to Peter Molyneux being a pathological liar. He’ll never get another cent of my money.

I don’t even remember some of the other projects I have backed. But I have thrown a LOT of money into KS with high hopes and middling expectations, and I have been disappointed almost every time (and angered more than once - I want my money back, Molyneux).

But Tom, you guys are actually following through, and I really appreciate it. Yes, you’re well past the original time estimates for this project (beta was going to be ~13 months ago and full release about 4 months ago) but you know what? I don’t care! I get to see regular, tangible, concrete advancement in the game every single week. I’ve followed the development with a lot of joy, seeing you guys getting further and further all the time, growing from a bare bones alpha a year ago to something that’s quite playable and fun now (albeit there are a lot of bugs to be quashed, and a lot of content still to go in). You’re making sure you engage with the community and your backers, you have regular and reliable updates and bi-weekly streams. There’s clearly a long road ahead and it’s going to be a long wait to get the finished product, but I’m not bothered because I’m enjoying the ride and I’m loving every little part you add to the game to bring it closer to the magical “1.0” build.

I guess what I’m kind of saying is “Thanks for not being jerks, like almost everyone else on Kickstarter seems to have turned out to be”. You guys actually believe in your own product and are clearly working hard to bring it to fruition, and I (we?) really appreciate it,

Keep up the good work. I’ll be here with you all the way, and I’m pretty sure I’m not alone in that.

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well said! I’m sure everyone here would agree with your sentiments…

onward! :smile: :+1:

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Have to agree with you @BrianNZ, except for one category where KS actually works really well. I’m a massive boardgame geek and backing new innovative ones on KS has been 100% successful for me. But I think it’s because only certain products/services fit the KS model. Unfortunately, though gaming does fit, past experience is leaving people feeling more and more untrusting :frowning:

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The essential problem with KS is actually something that Peter Molyneux said (which doesn’t take away from the fact that he’s a lying jerk).

You have to ask for X amount, and if it doesn’t get there, you get no money at all. If it DOES get there, you’re not really bound by Kickstarter to actually deliver anything (as long as you give the appearance that you tried).

Add those factors together, and what do you get? Firstly, you don’t dare ask for the actual amount you need, because you might never get there and then you get nothing. Instead, you ask for a much lower figure that wont be enough, but will get you going and hopefully you’ll think of something else along the way to make up the difference. Then to reach THAT figure, you get actual encouragement to exaggerate and outright lie in your KS spiel, and to actively promise stuff that you know you’ll never fulfill simply because if you don’t reach that magic figure you’ll get nothing and if you do you wont be bound (by KS) to any of the promises you made.

It’s happening time and time again in Kickstarter and it’s getting more and more brazen. Peter Molyneux outright admitted that they made stuff up for the Godus KS because the end of the campaign was getting close and it didn’t look like they would make it, so they started to lie. He has admitted this, and yet Kickstarter still are doing nothing about it. Which in turn is going to further embolden other developers to just lie because they can see there wont be repercussions and they can get free money.

Radiant - you’re not like that and you didn’t do that and I (again) thank you for it. You guys are awesome. I don’t live in the US, but if I’m ever there and I’m anywhere near you, I want to take you guys all out for a beer.

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I agree. Peter Molyneux is a ***** that’s so full of himself. And team Radiant is a great change, I’d be more than glad (when I’m able to get the money) to buy 4 copies or even more of your game, you deserve as much money as you get for this. Anyone remember Castlevania? God…

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I would imagine Kickstarter’s reason for doing nothing about it is from an economic standpoint. If they declare the Godus campaign a fraud, they are forced to refund the backers. This way, they get to keep a certain percentage of Molyneux’s profits.

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ok, let’s keep this thread as a tribute to Radiant, as opposed to a rant about other developers shortcomings… :+1:

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Fair comment, that was my original intention :smile:

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I agree with everything you are saying about Radiant :smiley:

As for KS not doing anything about Godus (which unfortunately I fronted Money with also :frowning: ), I don’t hold KS responsible in any way. They (KS), are only providing a Centralized Forum for Developers to sell their ideas/concepts to a Audience for a fee. In exchange the Developers get some Name recognition and most importantly the Audience willing to buy into the idea.

Yeah Peter didn’t really need it but every now and then KS does (they have to get their name out also) to draw in more ppl for the Developers (good or bad). More ppl = more profit for both KS and the Developers, KS got burned in the end by it (somewhat). IF I was KS I would have probably done the same thing, Who would have thought Peter Molyneux (with his Fame in the industry, which was pretty good) would have been such a let down.

The Fault lays at the feet of Peter and his Team, KS did what they promised to do and that’s provide a Audience of Buyers/Consumers. Now if the Audience is willing to buy into a concept or not, is not their (KS) issue, it’s up to us the Consumer to weed out (Picking lotto #'s) the bad apples and refusing to buy into those bad apples concepts anymore.

If KS was liable for every promise a (shifty type)Developer made, they would be out of business along time ago. Question is: Do we really want that? Do we really want to Handcuff every ‘New’ Entrepreneur to Panhandle to large corporate entities that will dictate every step of the way (in many cases killing the Concept)? (* Not that every Corporation will do this but there is enough of them)

Personally, I’ll take the good and the bad. Yeah it sucks when you get burned but it just makes it all the more sweeter when you pick right :slight_smile: Like the Radiant Team!.. and a few others.
(srry for the somewhat long post)

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