Originally posted by azzamasin
Nothing here.  I do not trust indie comapnies to deliver.  I'd rather put 100% faith in a triple-A title.

Because those are never a let down, right?

This attitude right here is why we have had stagnation.

I had to look at the overall project and take it in, even in a worst case scenario, how would I feel if I lost my money?

In that case, I looked over all of the materials they had available, and took into account what the maximum I would be willing to "risk" - like an investment.

Seeing as how they decided to go with Unity,  and I use Unity - and both buy and sell on the Asset store, I figured, in the worst case scenario, they could always sell on the store, so I wouldn't feel like their development would be totally wasted if they failed.

Best case scenario, they create a game... and whether its something I enjoy or not,  I'm glad that my small contribution helped get them there.

Originally posted by jimdandy26
I feel Pathfinder Online is going to fail because of how experienced the devs are. You can already feel the pnp map style in that tech demo, which is rather unlikely to work in an mmo environment. Not just that but for every "success" we have like Pathfinder, we have a Greedmonger.

 

Part of the reason this appealed to me was the freshness of the team.

The MMORPG industry is, as it stands, extremely incestous, with the same people and the same approaches being recycled ad nauseum to the same effect from project to project.

This genre *needs* new blood, it needs new ways of thinking. Saying that though, there is definitely technical MMORPG experience in that team as well. I am hoping the two mesh into something special. Either way, it's worth the punt to find out IMO.

I am a firm believer in putting my money where my mouth is. I will not simply mouth off on forums while refusing to support or show a market for the games I want to see made, as so many here do.

Originally posted by maskedweasel

I had to look at the overall project and take it in, even in a worst case scenario, how would I feel if I lost my money?

 

In that case, I looked over all of the materials they had available, and took into account what the maximum I would be willing to "risk" - like an investment.

 

Seeing as how they decided to go with Unity,  and I use Unity - and both buy and sell on the Asset store, I figured, in the worst case scenario, they could always sell on the store, so I wouldn't feel like their development would be totally wasted if they failed.

 

Best case scenario, they create a game... and whether its something I enjoy or not,  I'm glad that my small contribution helped get them there.

I'm wondering how it will pan out: Missing out on BigWorlds (they have great server architecture and security etc) seems a bit of a blow, but atst, I think Unity has bright future and cross-platform is going to become more necessary. Mark Kalmes says he's done server stuff before, so fingers-x, he can do a great job on that. The other thing is, I'm actually interested in the TT game Pathfinder (never heard of it before the mmorpg) so there may be something else in it as well as seeing the mmorpg launch.

What made me pledge to pathfinder online... 

1) I like the IP

2) I like the ideas behind the game

3) The company behind the game seems dedicated and capable

4) I liked the idea of them going with kickstarter rather than bowing to someone like EA for the funds. 

I've pledged to a few kickstarters that fit mostly with the above. My general criteria is simple... 

1) I like the product or Idea

2) I believe it is feasible

3) I think the person or company behind it is dedicated and capable

4) I like the idea of kickstarter. Its helping the DIY and Indie community out a great deal and many are getting to bypass normal channels that turn out to be an intended hinderence to their progress. 

I haven't spent much money on games in the recent years. There have been quite some letdowns by professional studios (e.g. so called Non-MMO-"TripleA " game not playable and needing to wait for a patch by the devs, but the dev studio went bust after release...DOH). My shelf contains quite some goodies which had an interesting idea behind it, but due to lack of development time and lack of QA were not as good as they could be. Now they just gather dust.

Recently though my interest was aroused again. First with project eternity and then pathfinder online. With the latter I had the feeling that they needed two Kickstarters to really make sure there is some interest (especially since there are currently so many MMOs out there and a lot turning f2p recently). Maybe the 2nd kickstarter was as well a marketing ploy to secure beta testers. Let's see how things turn out. It's not so much the feature list. Everyone in software development will know that not every advertised feature will stand the test of time. You can announce as many feature as you like. MMOs are a different kind of beast since a lot also depends on the community within the game. So to say it with Forest Gump's own words: "You never know how it is until you taste it".

Even if the projects shouldn't see the light of day or not be to my liking that would not be a tragedy. The "professional studios" manage the same and often have in the past. ,)

And I like D&D and related Spin-Off IPs/Game Systems.

Originally posted by azzamasin
Nothing here.  I do not trust indie comapnies to deliver.  I'd rather put 100% faith in a triple-A title.

This is not indie. Indie is about having complete control and freedom. Goblin Works was nothing really before using Kickstarter. Now it's a small company, but not an independent company. They have a publisher, investors, and a bunch of addicts looking over their shoulder. You don't have to be a small company to be an independent company. Valve is huge and more indie-minded.

Anyway, I refuse to donate to a project created by someone that didn't invest their own time and money. Kickstarter should be your last resort. They didn't even start working on the game before asking for money... not once, but twice. What a bunch of panhandlers.

Originally posted by maskedweasel

I had to look at the overall project and take it in, even in a worst case scenario, how would I feel if I lost my money?

In that case, I looked over all of the materials they had available, and took into account what the maximum I would be willing to "risk" - like an investment.

Seeing as how they decided to go with Unity,  and I use Unity - and both buy and sell on the Asset store, I figured, in the worst case scenario, they could always sell on the store, so I wouldn't feel like their development would be totally wasted if they failed.

Best case scenario, they create a game... and whether its something I enjoy or not,  I'm glad that my small contribution helped get them there.

I hope the project succeeds and adds to Unity.  I'm backing a Unity project (City of Steam) and the more development getting pumped into Unity the better.  Unity has come a long way, but still needs a few core features like the escape key mapping and full screen.

I've been waiting many years for an MMORPG to be done right. 

I think PFO has the talent behind it to do it right, enough so that I backed the project the best I could.

I didn't backed the game cos none of the devs stand out at the age of thirty years and above.

Anyone know which of them have done a sucessfull MMO?

The sad fact is that there are so many good people out there who can make MMO's that are out of a job. Thats why these kickstarter projects have people with a lot of gaming background.

When it comes to staffing, the gaming industry has downsized and bigger companies like EA have bought out smaller ones and then made many of the old staff redundant.

Hope this works out for them.

Originally posted by sevae

Originally posted by azzamasin
Nothing here.  I do not trust indie comapnies to deliver.  I'd rather put 100% faith in a triple-A title.

 

Anyway, I refuse to donate to a project created by someone that didn't invest their own time and money. Kickstarter should be your last resort. They didn't even start working on the game before asking for money... not once, but twice. What a bunch of panhandlers.

So you know that they never invested any of their cash or put any time into the game before they started the kickstarter thing off?

I think your very wrong.. but believe what you want..

Originally posted by xmenty

I didn't backed the game cos none of the devs stand out at the age of thirty years and above.

Anyone know which of them have done a sucessfull MMO?

 

That was lsited on the first page or so..

PFO is the first and only project I backed on Kickstarter so far.  I opted for the $35 level on the last day of the KS campaign.

Why didn't I back it sooner?  I simply hadn't heard of the KS for it until that day.  I had heard of PFO before but the news about their second KS got lost in the glut of gaming news.  Sadly, I would have loved to get some of the daily perks.

Why didn't I back it for more?  It caught me at a very inconvenient time financially.  After the usual xmas overspending I got hit with some medical bills and car bills so I opted for $35 which afaik was the lowest tier that included the digital download.  Had I been in a better place financially I would have backed it for $175 to get a whole bunch of perks for two accounts (one for me, one for my wife).

Why did I hesitate?  Aside from the financial issues mentioned above, because their reward system was really freakin' confusing.  They probably would have done a lot better if they presented what each reward tier gave you in a more strightforward manner.

Why DID I back it?  The MMO genre desperately needs a modern, high-profile fantasy sandbox.  I loved UO but none of my friends play it on account of its age and style.  And I love EVE despite it's PvP and sci-fi setting.  I've often said that if I win the lottery I would fund a fantasy PvE sandbox MMO.  Since I haven't yet, I'm helping fund other people's MMOs for a more reasonable amount.  It's a worthwhile risk for me and $35 isn't much at all to loose (<2h of employment, about a lunch out for two or 3 movie tickets).  In fact I've lost a lot more by buying $50-80 release games that turned out to be utter crap.

I've backed many kickstarter projects this year and though I wanted to see this one succeed I could not bring myself to pay $100 to demo an MMO I knew so little of.

I found they offered too little in rewards and so little info as to the aims of the projects that I had to leave this up to the guys that believe in this more than I do.

Also I figured I'd catch them on the 3rd kickstarter *wink* *wink*

This was the first Kickstarter project I've ever backed.  It'll probably be the last -- the idea of donating money to a for-profit venture doesn't sit well with me.   That said, I don't regret giving money to PFO.

I didn't do it for the giveaways.  I'm not even sure what I qualified for, to be honest.  I did it for several reasons:

First, PFO is the game I've wanted to play for years, and that no one else seems willing or able to make. I gave because I want to play it that much.

Even if PFO never happens, I'm getting more enjoyment from thinking about it than I have from actually playing any of the current crop of games.  I occasionally buy lottery tickets for the same reason; not because I expect to win, but because I enjoy spending a week dreaming of what I'd do if I did.

I researched the people behind Goblinworks, and I'm satisfied that they know what they're getting into.  The fact that they've secured private financing helped me decide to donate as well.  I really do believe that there's a good chance this game will see the light of day.

And, if nothing else, it sends a message.  AAA publishers have gotten lazy and cowardly, and the MMO genre they created has become an elephant's graveyard of bad games.  Whether or not PFO becomes a real thing, the fact that people were willing to spend over a million dollars on esentially nothing shows that there's an unmet demand out there.

Originally posted by Caldrin

Originally posted by sevae

Originally posted by azzamasin
Nothing here.  I do not trust indie comapnies to deliver.  I'd rather put 100% faith in a triple-A title.

 

Anyway, I refuse to donate to a project created by someone that didn't invest their own time and money. Kickstarter should be your last resort. They didn't even start working on the game before asking for money... not once, but twice. What a bunch of panhandlers.

So you know that they never invested any of their cash or put any time into the game before they started the kickstarter thing off?

 

I think your very wrong.. but believe what you want..

They never put *any* time into the game before this? You know this how?  As for money, the main reason for business is to make a profit. If they can leverage their skills and experience into that profit, and we get an interesting game in the process then all sides win. 

Someone has to break the endless cycle of suits worshipping at the altar of the risk adverse, and thus trying to come up with another take on WoW, if we are to ever find a way out of this swamp.