catbarf on 21/7/2009 at 17:14
Four issues spring to mind:
1. Games change. The last thing I'd want is to invest on a promising game only for it to turn to crap.
2. How many indie games do you really hear about when they're in their early stages? They'd have a hard time scraping up cash.
3. Logistics. Hands up who thinks that no company would screw up and fail to send you your game?
4. The game could never be released, or could be a scam. How are you going to get your money back? And does it really seem safe to invest in indies if they might run off with your cash?
Yakoob on 21/7/2009 at 17:27
Quote Posted by clearing
What about (
http://www.1944game.com) this game? I think this game is made by donations but I may be wrong.
It's also been in development for something like 7 years and hasn't shown much progress...
WingedKagouti on 21/7/2009 at 17:32
Quote Posted by catbarf
Four issues spring to mind:
1. Games change. The last thing I'd want is to invest on a promising game only for it to turn to crap.
Or sequels turning out to be too different from the previous game.
Quote:
2. How many indie games do you really hear about when they're in their early stages? They'd have a hard time scraping up cash.
Indie games won't be able to use something like this until a community has been established.
Quote:
3. Logistics. Hands up who thinks that no company would screw up and fail to send you your game?
This could be remedied by having each donation tied to an account that is also used to download the finished game.
Quote:
4. The game could never be released, or could be a scam. How are you going to get your money back? And does it really seem safe to invest in indies if they might run off with your cash?
That's probably going to be the biggest hurdle for indies. Which ones do you dare to trust.
Iroquois on 21/7/2009 at 17:33
Quote:
Instead have it be something where funding is coming out of community for games and game concepts they really like.
Yes! Like Left4Dead 2... oh... wait. Awkward.
june gloom on 21/7/2009 at 18:20
Quote Posted by N'Al
As long as the fans' funding doesn't automatically result in the fans having a say in the games' design.
Devil May Cry 3 is proof of this.
That said, I agree that it's not at all feasible for a system like this to fund a big mainstream title- but for smaller titles or even ambitious mods (so the modders could pay for the equipment they needed) it could very well work.
The problem: corruption. catbarf nailed it. It's like real estate investment- how many times do you hear stories about somebody who gets money to develop a property only to take the money and run off with 5 tranny hookers and a truckload of blow?
mothra on 21/7/2009 at 21:28
another example:
(
www.interstellarmarines.com)
I find it just funny that when some big company exec says stuff like this, it's suddenly original and never been heard of before. I'm sceptical about the idea, I don't think "customers" are ready to pay beforehand without anything to show off. I don't know how much money ZPS got through their website but they sure do struggle alot to get the fundings together.
Chade on 21/7/2009 at 21:44
Two obvious questions: what happens if the dev team fails to deliver the promised work, and how much of the development costs can you really expect to cover this way.
I have a hard time imagining that fan funding would ever cover the majority of development costs. On the other hand, it might still be a significant help, and would probably convince investors that there is significant interest in your product.
So how exactly did M&B work? Does anyone know what percentage of development costs were met by early purchases? Was the rest of the development unfunded, or did they get any external source of funding?
I presume M&B was self-funded initially, and the devs only released an early build after the core mechanics were well understood. Also, I presume the low initial prices meant that fans were paying for the product "as is", and there was no legal expectation regarding future work on the title. This is a bit different from what Gabe is suggesting.
nicked on 22/7/2009 at 08:00
On the one hand, this sounds like an idea with a hell of a lot of holes in it. On the other hand, Gabe Newell might have been thinking about this for a long time and has answers to solve all the problems. Everyone thought digital distribution was a ridiculous idea when Steam first came out after all (and yes, I'm sure there's at least one person getting ready to post about how they still think it's a ridiculous idea and how they boycott all games for one reason or another) but now it's a major commercial success.
Certainly one to keep an ear out for...
Koki on 22/7/2009 at 08:54
Never trust fat people.
june gloom on 22/7/2009 at 09:07
Considering my mental image of you that's good advice.
