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[Jigorath]

I don't get this "We are gonna be unveiling more stuff as the campaing continues", why not just throw all the info at once and get people hooked right off the bat?

I don't think they actually have anything outside of 5 pieces of concept art.

 

[SirPenguin]

Is this Romero's Schafer moment?

Talk about a wasted withdrawal of emotional capital

 

[Flopfan]

That will be a hard sell for sure.

 

[Compsiox]

I feel like they didn't talk about the thing that is supposed to be the "game changer", The Boxel:

BLACKROOM is unique because it is shifting. Change your environment from within the game with the proprietary Boxel, a device only allocated to HOXAR engineers. Influence the environment, your weapons and your enemies.

Like that's not enough detail at all. People would probably be more excited if they detailed this device.

 

[StrategyFan]

backed. i want more old school shooters

ending audio is a nice throwback:

Spoiler

oremoR nhoJ yb ngiapmac retratskciK eht dnuf tsum uoy MOORKCALB teg oT

 

[mattp]

if theyre gonna try and get by on their names and nostalgia alone, why the fuck doesnt this game have demons and satanic stuff?

 

[RoyalFool]

Wow that video was embarrassing.

You're John Romeo, of course I'll throw a few bucks your way. But the video was super amateurish and the lack of any early 3D models of gameplay is a bit worrying and gives the impression they have zero investment outside of this campaign.

 

[Juke Joint Jezebel]

Concept art alone is not going to be enough to get me to pledge any money. Show me a basic build first at least, you know, treat me to dinner first!

 

[ghst]

if this isn't the premise to some 80s technoshock story where the machine has somehow opened up a portal to hell then i'm going to be very disappointed.

 

[More_Badass]

Yeah, I feel the same. There's a slight kinship there since I grew up playing these kinds of games but at the same time it feels totally uninspired, Romero comes off as a nice but somewhat unlikable egocentric, and the entire tone of the KS video and the project itself is embarassing. I hope it works out for them and there's certainly a place for fast-paced old school shooters but I won't be backing the project.

STRAFE, DESYNC, Devil Daggers, new Doom

Considering those are the arcadey shooters of 2016, at least some prototype footage would have helped. Art and a known name isn't enough anymore

I feel like they didn't talk about the thing that is supposed to be the "game changer", The Boxel:


Like that's not enough detail at all. People would probably be more excited if they detailed this device.

That's just embrassing. Like I've been asked to review quite a few Kickstarter pages before launch, and one piece of advice I often give is to show, don't tell. Don't tell us your game is going to have varied weapons, or abilities, or enemies. Show us some of those weapons, or what a few of the abilities can do, or what some of the enemies look like

The whole "vague details" thing is a mark of a poorly planned, poorly written campaign page. It tells potential backers nothing.

 

[d00d3n]

but is it going to make me it's bitch?

STRAFE is probably going to be what this game is pitching tbh

"Q: Are you going to make us your bitch again?
A: How about we just make you all a game."

Entered thread to see this question asked, noting the answer from Romero, and leaving satisfied. The game looks really generic btw.

 

[JackDT]

I took notes from the stream. I probably got a few things wrong, misheard, or didn't completely understand but it's still quite a bit of info.

Very helpful. They should have put this stuff on the Kickstarter page!

 

[Gattsu25]

Why do so many Kickstarters only support low level digital only tiers?

I would love to put in more than $50 for this thing but don't want to spring for a physical tier.

A new tier with a second digital copy would be swell.

 

[Interfectum]

STRAFE, DESYNC, Devil Daggers, new Doom

Considering those are the arcadey shooters of 2016, at least some prototype footage would have helped. Art and a known name isn't enough anymore


That's just embrassing. Like I've been asked to review quite a few Kickstarter pages before launch, and one piece of advice I often give is to show, don't tell. Don't tell us your game is going to have varied weapons, or abilities, or enemies. Show us some of those weapons, or what a few of the abilities can do, or what some of the enemies look like

The whole "vague details" thing is a mark of a poorly planned, poorly written campaign page. It tells potential backers nothing.

A group of hobbyists with full time jobs could have downloaded UE4, made some models, tossed in some early gameplay and done a better pitch than this. Pretty mind blowing that he thought this direction would work.

 

[FairFriend]

I don't think this Kickstarter should be rewarded. Talent and pedigree or not, it's 2016, we've had 4 years of major Kickstarters, we've seen a variety of different outcome from failure to success, it's time for backers to start using leverage to ensure there's a "there" there. It's not just that the KS was just concept art, it's that all we actually learned about the game design was also buzzword bingo.

as much as I love John, I wouldn't pledge even if I had the money for the reason above. I mean, he's one of my favorite developers but it really boggles my mind that he couldn't come up with a good pitch.

 

[Gattsu25]

That pitch video is so amateurish. You'd think developers would have learned after years of crowdfunding behind a thing

I think it's intentional. Asking for money while producing an overly slick video rubs some folks the wrong way. Making it look like you are just scraping by in the video seems to be a successful approach.

 

[dLMN8R]

Is this Romero's Schafer moment?

Talk about a wasted withdrawal of emotional capital

Tim Schafer has always been up-front on his campaigns though. For example:

1) Double Fine Adventure started with a $400,000 campaign, and he clearly stated he intended to make a game that used 75% of the budget (after rewards/payments/etc.), with 25% of the budget dedicated to a documentary

2) When he got a lot more money than he expected, he increased the scope of the game, and documented every single part of it along the way for backers to see

3) When the game's budget went over what they got, he again was transparent about it the entire way, describing how they got the extra funding (from the company, from splitting the game so non-backers could buy it, by putting their other games on sale, etc.)

4) After it was all done, the documentary was released for free for everyone so everyone could see all that transparency, and he actually did deliver on his promises even if not everyone liked the end result (I personally loved Broken Age but the qualitative aspect to the game is beside the point)


And then when he launched the Psychonauts 2 campaign, both the video and the text were abundantly clear that the game's budget will come from a number of sources (Fig backers, Fig investors, Double Fine's money, and an external partner) totalling to a budget of around $13 million.

 

[Ramenman]

Guys we don't know what the game will be yet but we can tell you IT WILL HAVE A CLOTH MAP.

 

[Spoo]

I will *probably* kickstart this, if only because I like Romero games (Yeah, even found something to like in Daikatana lol), and because the idea of a holographic world gone wrong seems ripe for awesome ideas.

Still, it's a terrible Kickstarter :\

 

[More_Badass]

A group of hobbyists with full time jobs could have downloaded UE4, made some models, tossed in some early gameplay and done a better pitch than this. Pretty mind blowing that he thought this direction would work.

Case in point:

Compare this pitch, to say the pitch video for Consortium: The Tower, and then be sad that this might just make it and Consortium failed its Kickstarter (thankfully it was funded on FIG)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEh_Dy9hJAc

 

[FairFriend]

Throwback shooters suck because of awful encounter and level design. They either lock you in a room full of respawning enemies or it's procedural shit.

I'm not expecting Quake 1 here but if Romero actually remembers that level design is a thing then this game will probably be better than Serious Sam/Painkiller/Strafe/etc by default.

this is also very true, when people think that arena shooters are classic fps they completely miss the point. It was the level design that made games like Duke Nukem, Blood and Doom unforgettable

 

[Pathfinder]

I'm mildly curious, but at the same time I have to sigh at the Kickstarter, and how the mighty have fallen.

 

[FStop7]

Pretty ballsy for Romero to rattle the cup after the saga of ION Storm and its monumental wasting of money on bullshit and toys.

 

[StrategyFan]

a lot of people use kickstarter as a litmus test for greenlighting their game.

i suspect that campaigns like this aren't designed to raise funds. they aren't designed to show off work. doing that would require actual effort

they're meant to see whether the game will have a market. if one exists, they go ahead with the project. if not, they walk away without having wasted much time or just do it as a really low-budget hobbyist thing

 

[dLMN8R]

a lot of people use kickstarter as a litmus test for greenlighting their game.

i suspect that campaigns like this aren't designed to raise funds. they aren't designed to show off work. doing that would require actual effort

they're meant to see whether the game will have a market. if one exists, they go ahead with the project. if not, they walk away without having wasted much time or just do it as a really low-budget hobbyist thing

And that's great.

It would be nice if they put that somewhere in the text.

 

[More_Badass]

a lot of people use kickstarter as a litmus test for greenlighting their game.

i suspect that campaigns like this aren't designed to raise funds. they aren't designed to show off work. doing that would require actual effort

they're meant to see whether the game will have a market. if one exists, they go ahead with the project. if not, they walk away without having wasted much time or just do it as a really low-budget hobbyist thing

Define "a lot of people". The vast majority of Kickstarters are small first-time indie devs or indie devs funding their second project. A smaller percent is devs of older franchises making a spiritual successor or long-awaited sequel, and an even smaller percent are campaigns to gain funds for the support and backing of a larger investor/publisher

And even so, this is like the ultimate failing of that kind of thing. There's a difference between putting enough effort to show you're serious, and just showing nice pictures and a known face

 

[StrategyFan]

And that's great.

It would be nice if they put that somewhere in the text.

isn't it in the video?

something about bringing on investors if it gets funded.

it has happened with other kickstarters. i'm used to it by now

Define "a lot of people". The vast majority of Kickstarters are small first-time indie devs or indie devs funding their second project. A smaller percent is devs of older franchises making a spiritual successor or long-awaited sequel, and an even smaller percent are campaigns to gain funds for the support and backing of a larger investor/publisher

And even so, this is like the ultimate failing of that kind of thing. There's a difference between putting enough effort to show you're serious, and just showing nice pictures and a known face

i don't know the exact goals of this individual campaign, but the "test the waters" campaigns almost always succeed in terms of answering a yes/no question (whether or not to proceed with the project)

if they fail to meet funding goals, they accomplished their job
if they meet the funding goals, they accomplished their job

it might not be what the kickstarter website was designed for, but some people use it as nothing more than a giant forum poll that comes with a "vote with your wallet" plugin

 

[maniac-kun]

Sounds like the game the new Doom game wishes to be. I wish i could support this but Kickstarter dosnt support paypal

 

[Celine]

Call it the BITCHROOM and I might back it.

 

[Baron_Calamity]

Pretty ballsy for Romero to rattle the cup after the saga of ION Storm and its monumental wasting of money on bullshit and toys.

That was 16 years ago. Time to move on.

 

[More_Badass]

Sounds like the game the new Doom game wishes to be. I wish i could support this but Kickstarter dosnt support paypal

I don't want to be rude, but how is this enough to convince you or others to drop money on this? No footage, not even an early prototype/pre-alpha screenshot, just concept art, a known name, and vague details that say a lot without actually describing anything specific or unique about the gameplay.

As the person who has been doing the crowdfunding thread on GAF for two years, I'm genuinely curious what drives people to back certain campaigns. An acclaimed name is enough, even if the campaign shows nothing else?

 

[Interfectum]

That was 16 years ago. Time to move on.

The person you are quoting or Romero?

 

[maniac-kun]

I don't want to be rude, but how is this enough to convince you or others to drop money on this? No footage, not even an early prototype/pre-alpha screenshot, just concept art, a known name, and vague details that say a lot without actually describing anything specific or unique about the gameplay.

As the person who has been doing the crowdfunding thread on GAF for two years, I'm genuinely curious what drives people to back certain campaigns. An acclaimed name is enough, even if the campaign shows nothing else?

They are 2 people that made the games that defined the genre and Quake 1 is my favorite FPS game of the 90s - played it for many years because of the awesome maps and mods the community created. And they want to bring that times back is enough for me to support them.

I just saw this snapmap Doom stream and all the time I thought:
a) release a real map editor
b) the gameplay in the old id games was way more hardcore and fun

 

[Krammy]

Add me to the pile of people who think this Kickstarter is just endless red flags.

The continued idea that they'll detail more about the concept and team as the Kickstarter goes on just reeks of, "We're figuring this out as we go".

I love John Romero, but after getting burned on Mighty No. 9 like so many others, I need to see some actual content when you try and sell me your idea. Give me some protytpe gameplay, models, something! Your pedigree isn't going to cut it.

 

[flaxknuckles]

The Mighty No.9 flashbacks are coming back. Hug me daddy.

I backed that for $80. Never again will I fall to Kickstarter hype!

 

[Frodo]

Every game is visceral nowadays.

 

[Comfort Jones]

I don't want to be rude, but how is this enough to convince you or others to drop money on this? No footage, not even an early prototype/pre-alpha screenshot, just concept art, a known name, and vague details that say a lot without actually describing anything specific or unique about the gameplay.

As the person who has been doing the crowdfunding thread on GAF for two years, I'm genuinely curious what drives people to back certain campaigns. An acclaimed name is enough, even if the campaign shows nothing else?

I feel the same way. I could never back this with the info given right now, we've had enough kickstarter screw ups as is.

 

[EVIL]

A dinosaur trying to be relevant again by making something from the stone age.

everything about this project screams "15 years ago"

 

[BoosterDuck]

looks like he's going to make us his bitch again

Spoiler

it'll be a dud like daikatana

 

[More_Badass]

Exclusive first gameplay!

Spoiler

Oh, wait, that's STRAFE

---

I mean, the closest thing to this is probably the creators of the 6DOF genre coming back with the Descent successor Overload and they had gameplay footage and an early prototype

 

[Poohblaster]

Without a prototype this campaign is a hard sell. Romero hasn't made a game that I've liked in 20 years (Quake I).

 

[crazygambit]

Add me to the pile of people who think this Kickstarter is just endless red flags.

The continued idea that they'll detail more about the concept and team as the Kickstarter goes on just reeks of, "We're figuring this out as we go".

I love John Romero, but after getting burned on Mighty No. 9 like so many others, I need to see some actual content when you try and sell me your idea. Give me some protytpe gameplay, models, something! Your pedigree isn't going to cut it.

What's the story with that? I know I got delayed a couple of times, but is there more to it than that?

 

[maniac-kun]

I took notes from the stream. I probably got a few things wrong, misheard, or didn't completely understand but it's still quite a bit of info.

That list just sounds like a classic fps without the modern bullshit. Looking forward to this.

 

[Rockk]

I don't want to be rude, but how is this enough to convince you or others to drop money on this? No footage, not even an early prototype/pre-alpha screenshot, just concept art, a known name, and vague details that say a lot without actually describing anything specific or unique about the gameplay.

As the person who has been doing the crowdfunding thread on GAF for two years, I'm genuinely curious what drives people to back certain campaigns. An acclaimed name is enough, even if the campaign shows nothing else?

Rocketjumping

 

[Alex_Mexico]

Sounds interesting, but a Kickstarter with nothing but concept art is always a red flag, regardless of who's behind it

Well Iga's Bloodstained got $5.5m on KS with nothing but concept art, two music samples and names of people attached to the project. Did they got lucky?

 

[JackelZXA]

People complaining about there not being a prototype...it'll probably play like doom and quake??

I do hope we get to see more of the game though.

 

[Purkake4]

Exclusive first gameplay!

Spoiler

Oh, wait, that's STRAFE

Was just about to say that I'll be happy with Strafe.

Romero + no gameplay? I'll wait and see, thank you very much.

 

[8 X 11 Printer Paper]

Well Iga's Bloodstained got $5.5m on KS with nothing but concept art, two music samples and names of people attached to the project. Did they got lucky?

Prior to Inafune pissing down the well of good will with both the BS Red Ash and the constant delays of MN9. Doesn't hurt that Iga's pitch video feed off the fuck Konami feelings everyone had been feeling for awhile.

 

[gabbo]

The person you are quoting or Romero?

Romero has clearly moved on (and released games since the Ion Storm debacle)

 

[More_Badass]

Well Iga's Bloodstained got $5.5m on KS with nothing but concept art, two music samples and names of people attached to the project. Did they got lucky?

No, it just means people are too easily swayed to throw money at something simply because of a name.

Not backing something if it only has art is just my personal rule for Kickstarters. And it's worked so far; of the ~15 games I've backed, only one was a waste. Everthing else has fully released, is nearing release, has a playable alpha/beta, or gets very regular development updates