Last night, Double Fine announced that it would fund its next project -- an old school adventure game -- through donations from Kickstarter. Less than twenty-four hours after the plan was enacted, the studio has surpassed its goal.
The aim was to raise $400,000 within thirty-four days, but during the course of a single short evening, over $495,000 was accrued. This morning, I was able to witness the funds go from that figure to $500,663. One backer contributed the grand amount of $10,000, which will earn him or her a dinner with studio head Tim Schafer. Seven people pledged $5,000, while thirty-five tossed $1,000 into the hat.
Smaller amounts were contributed in their thousands, showing just how much love and trust the developer has earned from gamers. The excess funds are going to be put right back into the game and the accompanying documentary, so by earning more money, the game can boost its voiceovers, music, and other features.
There's your feel-good, positive, this-industry-can-be-amazing-sometimes story for the day. Soak it in, people.
Oh yeah ... and the donations show no sign of stopping yet.
Contest:
7:00 AM on 02.09.2012 | 
Reading this story, feels good sir. Feels good.
After all, how many times can that $10k guy afford to do that? If he was buying a chance to make back his investment(and why not? if a publisher was putting up the money they'd get their portion back) he'd have a chance at having MORE money to invest in other projects, as well as more incentive to donate.
It would be nice for that guy to get money back on the investment, as a point of capitalism. Sure. Who doesn't like making money?
But I think that opens the door for some of the worst bits of the developer publisher relationship. Would that investor now have a say in how the game gets developed? Would a coalition of stakeholders be able to pressure the developer into rushing a game to market, or making different business decisions from what's been planned? I think asking for a cut of profit as an investor adds the pressure from which Double Fine (with their rocky publisher results) is actively trying to divorce themselves.
The point is just a better game. If you can't part with your 10k just to see a good thing happen, to allow the birth of an anomaly in the natural order of game development history, then you need to stick to the stock market.
I always get linked to an amazon.com page... is this correct?
Please submit your made-for-peanuts-in-8-months point and click game in October and we'll compare the quality of the two. I'm honestly interested in the results. Its surprising that games cost alot to make (is $300,000 budgeted for the game, btw, $100,000 for the documentary), but I think you're getting a products of a wholly different cloth than you would from part timing non-professional (thinking of the cheapest labor/commitment you can get in game development, yeah?)
Hey, this game could be crap. But if you pay experienced professionals what they're worth to focus their attention and craft on a project, you're likely to get a better product sooner, than if its 8 guys with day jobs working on a game for years at no cost.
Need help still? Or did you solve it?
135% funded in one night? Check.
Fastest growth ever? Check.
And this is just 11,000 of the core audience. Imagine what'll happen when the Steam crowd gets their hands on it!
are touch screens popular enough to release a touch screen PC game?
i have a bad feeling about this game. just like most of double fines games. good idea/story, poor execution/gameplay.
but the idea of a non publisher funded game is pretty awesome.
and it looks like people will throw money at those fund raising sites, maybe i should start one to fund my drug habits.
this how it should be. developers can do what they want, and consumers get good games for cheap.
everyone wins!
Bear in mind, those $400k has to include the cost of the rewards given out, and various fees like the ones Kickstarter and the government have to take. So that's not indicative of the development costs alone.
Paying to have the game developed should make you a stakeholder, with a potential share in any profits the game could make.
Double Fine is risking nothing in this venture, they are getting paid the development cost if the game is good or bad, but they will be the only ones to financially benefit if this joint venture us successful.
Its a no lose situation for Double Fine. If the project bombs they still got paid, if it succeeds they made profit without sharing any of it with the investors that made the game possible.
Tim could sell ice to eskimos.