Sui Generis

[7upMan]

Sui Generis is nearing the end of its Kickstarter campaign, and it's still missing 15,000 £. If you are interested in this genre, please pledge the minimum amount of 10 £, as it would be a waste to let this little gem die. Please note that unlike the American Kickstarter, you can't use Amazon Payments but have to use your credit card to pledge.

[Psychomorph]

The project lead gave an interview on Forbes.

 

 

A little summary I posted on the ttlg forum:

 

According to the developers their game is all about the world and gameplay. The presented technology is just one, but important tile on the road to their goal to build an immersive fantasy RPG, that is not based on artificial leveling and stats, but on natural and realistic elements, which also goes for magic, which is supposed to play a big role in the game and the lore of the world.

 

They admitted that their Kickstarter video gave people a false impression, as if like it was just a tech demo and no game around it, while in fact they spent years not just building the engine, but also developing the lore and the concept of the world. They say they have a strong vision of the game and they did not disclose any information about it because they want to let people experience every single bit of it. There is not much of a story, but a chain of events in an open world. You being set in the world is the first event, because your interaction with the world triggers consequences, which infuence further events and unfold a unique chain of events with varying outcomes.

This sounds very ambitious and I do not expect too much, but I am willing to give them a chance to let them prove it.

 

They explained that they have very competent writers (recruited one recently also) so there will be a ton of readables, books and notes to explore and gain knowledge about the lore and the history of the world. Writings are an important part of the game and there will be tons of information hidden in all sorts of literature. LGS style if you ask me.

 

The project lead gave an interview on Forbes explaining many of these things.

 

Also to note is, that they are heaviliy influenced by the erly Ultima games, which in turn inspired Looking Glass Studios with their Ultima Underworld game and that way also a bit with Thief. There is a fine subtle connection that I see there connecting Thief, Ultima and Sui Generis. I say in spirit they are related.

Edited November 29, 2012 by Psychomorph

[7upMan]

The project is funded; the campaign was successful at literally the last minute. It's still 5 hours to go, but there shouldn't be any surprises.

[Diego]

Wow That was a nail biter :-o

Good to hear!

[Sotha]

Good to hear. This all makes me wonder... This kickstarter -thing is very fashionable at the moment. It is new and from my view people are surprisingly interested in funding games through it. Is it because of the novelty? This would mean that the interest will soon dissipate and less and less productions make their KS targets.

 

Or will this be a new revolution in games industry, where people don't play the games the industry makes according to marketing strategies devised by marketing people, but instead the gamers fund directly the production of the games they want to play?

 

Also, who are those who can afford to pledge 100-1000 euros to the production of a game they only have the sketchy KS info about?

[7upMan]

I would regard it as a revolution. You may or may not be aware of the two Dungeon Keeper games, the first having been made by Peter Molyneux himself during his time at Bullfrog, the second when he had left already. Still, after DK2 there was the hope that a third part would emerge someday, but all hopes were in vain, until a small group of very dedicated coders started creating their very own Dungeon Keeper game called War for the Overworld. They had their ups and downs, but they finally had their game ready to show a tech demo.

 

Please note that you need the Unity browser plug-in: https://wftogame.com/demo

 

Watch the Kickstarter video here: http://kck.st/YaLXcH

 

What I am saying is: There was hardly a chance to get the development of this and other niche titles going without the help of crowdfunding, and this is what Kickstarter is for. Even if there will be a fatigue one day, this will only mean that developers will have to work twice as hard to attract potential backers. There are plenty examples for very successful Kickstarter campaigns, but also quite a few epic fails. Often, these fails resulted in the ineptitude of the developer to have a compelling video at start, to do good community work and to post updates regularly. The horrid failure that was the Nexus 2 campaign was one of them.

[Springheel]

I don't understand much about Kickstarter, but how does the money flow work? Now that SG has met its target, do the developers get the money up front? If not, how do they finance the project? If so, then what happens if years go by and they don't release a finished product?

[Psychomorph]

After a project is successfully funded, the money is transfered from my account one or two days after (I get the notice in my e-mail and the bill with all my credit card transactions some time later in the mail). That's how amazon payments did it when it is a US based KS, with the British KS I guess the KS company will do it themselves. That means the devs get the money instantly and can use it. No further bureaucracy.

 

KS is a risk and gamble. It's based on trust. There is no guarantee that there will be a game, or when it will arrive. The developer is, of course, obligated to deliver the product, but what legal regulations there are I don't know. The devs give us an estimated release date, but they can always push it back (or forth) as they see fit (if necessary). Of course they kind of must stay in contact with the backers through forums or the KS site and if they keep delaying the release over and over again the devs will need to explain themselves before the backers, I guess.

 

I am actually curious how things will work out, but I trust they will.

[Diego]

Whoever backs these projects should be aware that this is exavtly like funding the creation of a company, it might not work and you might have wasted money.

[Springheel]

The developer is, of course, obligated to deliver the product

 

Or else...?

[rich_is_bored]

Or else you feel stupid for giving your money away. There is risk involved.

[demagogue]

It looks to me like it works when it's not single-shot but multiple-shot. If they ditch the first project, they won't be able to fund another project because someone will dug up the fact they ran off with the money the first time. Still, that allows them to get away with a lot the first time around if nothing is enforcing it.

 

Then again, it'd be hard to enforce it anyway, since the projects are coming from such different types of teams and workflows, you'd need such different standards to judge them. Just tossing out any requirement is part of what makes it so flexible for such different kinds of projects too.

[Sotha]

Hm.. I was thinking if a new KS based scam-industry would emerge to ruin the pretty concept that is KS, but surely KS must have the bank account information of the KS-starters. That would mean that their identities are checked and verified on a reliable level.

 

So what the KS-starters are wagering is their personal reputation: see how those KS-videos always show the main guy who introduces him/herself and then tells about the project. It probably is very difficult to estimate how much you need money to realize what plan. If you request too much, you will not reach the goal. If you request too little, you will fall short from your promises. Sooner or later, some project is bound to fail to deliver what it promised. If there are many scenarios like this, that may diminish people's overall interest in funding KS projects.

 

Of course you could have a team of people who start KS:es, make a nice video, then produce some shit worth 10% of the requested cost and run away with 90% of the money. Then another person (with a clear name) makes another pretty concept video and repeat. If you have enough people, the first name was forgotten when the cycle begins again? But what you do on the internet is logged and it stays forever, someone should spot this.

[7upMan]

I think there is a lengthier explanation necessary. First things first: You should NEVER pledge more than you can afford to lose. In fact, only pledge so much that your wallet isn't hurt when the backed project goes down the drain. For me, this automatically excludes any tiers above 100 €/$/£.

 

Second: There has already been at least one fraud attempt (http://www.kickstart...of-gods-and-men), but it got found out quite early in the campaign. Just read the comments section. I'm afraid that there will always be scammers who want their share when insane money is being thrown around (Project Eternity, anyone?). However, sometimes funded projects still fail, simply because even developers with the best intentions didn't think things through, or miscalculated, or ran into unanticipated trouble, or whatever reason there is. Creating something is rarely an exact science, and you never know when you suddenly hit a wall.

 

In the end, things will sort themselves out. As Sotha mentioned, someone will surely make the connection if something shady is going on and expose the whole scam. But even if they don't, as long as you followed rule no. 1 (NEVER pledge more than you can afford to lose), you shouldn't be really hurt. Also, the sorting-out process will also mean that only fleshed-out projects will get enough attention and backers.

 

In the next few days, I will post a thread for War for the Overworld, a game that might be considered as the third Dungeon Keeper game that was never released. This project as been around for ages and has quite a history, so they have a huge reference.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYJsSAV3lGA&hd=1

 

Another project that looks promising is Limit Theory. Here the developer doesn't really have a name, but he has a lot to show and an extensive blog that shows his progress, both as a developer and that of his game. Did I mention that he writes his own music too? Come have a look:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7suG__lR40&hd=1

[Diego]

There's also the cheetamen 2 polemic. Strangely enough, that didn't ring any alarms for me but a lot of people got suspicious.

[7upMan]

OMG, watching Cheetahmen's 8 bit graphics as well as their KS video was... a unique experience. Can't believe this project got funded.

[Diego]

I was surprised too.. haha

[Sotha]

Never underestimate the weirdness factor!