Ogre...Kickstarter...you in?

I joined at the $1,000,000 level.

On the day of the game's release, I will be handed a Presidential pardon and a fully functional Ogre. I can then, without fear of legal reprisal, drive my Ogre across the eastern seaboard and kill as many people a I want. Sweet!

If my tracking system gets jittery, I may inadvertently stray from my path and take out some folks in the Southern states. Not my fault, and completely understandable.

I think there would be one key reason for a company like MMP to choose to NOT use Kickstarter - the above mentioned point of them being obligated to print as soon as the funding goal is reached. Depending on what else they have in the production que, they may not be ready to do this. People may hate them for it, but one advantage of printing when they want as opposed to when a game hits a number is that, along as they continue to charge only upon shipping, they minimize the PR nightmares that companies like L2 bring upon themselves. And as more games get funded via Kickstarter and then take a long time to deliver ( like Glory to Rome ) I think this will dampen some people's enthusiasm to fund future projects.

If this is going to be available in regular distribution, then SJ can kiss my ass on Kickstarter. I'm not going to loan him $100 to get the game printed on a fluid, unknown timeline that could extend into 2013.

I was ready to jump, but then I remembered my distate for Kickstarter...professionally run, operated, and managed businesses DO NOT "crowd source" their funding. They put money on the line and if they deliver a quality, saleable product then they make a profit. By putting your money up front, there's no real incentive for them to give you value for your money. Not like SJ has done that in years anyway.

I'm still waiting on the Glory to Rome black box, the one project I've "backed". No sign of that game ever coming out. They were very up front about the delays at first, now there's hardly anything out of those guys. Because they've likely gotten in over their heads either financially or logistically and are treading water, trying to figure out how to appease all the people that loaned them money to do this.

I'm still waiting on the Glory to Rome black box, the one project I've "backed". No sign of that game ever coming out. They were very up front about the delays at first, now there's hardly anything out of those guys. Because they've likely gotten in over their heads either financially or logistically and are treading water, trying to figure out how to appease all the people that loaned them money to do this

That's a shame sorry to hear that. I thought about starting a Kickstarter project to Barnes and Weeks to BGG Con to do a seminar on Ameritrash and discuss the implications of the Great War of 2006.

If we can get $50k, we could add a stretch goal- a workshop entitled "How to Make Board Gamers Cry Over the Internet".

Steve Weeks wrote:

I'm still waiting on the Glory to Rome black box, the one project I've "backed". No sign of that game ever coming out. They were very up front about the delays at first, now there's hardly anything out of those guys. Because they've likely gotten in over their heads either financially or logistically and are treading water, trying to figure out how to appease all the people that loaned them money to do this

That's a shame sorry to hear that. I thought about starting a Kickstarter project to Barnes and Weeks to BGG Con to do a seminar on Ameritrash and discuss the implications of the Great War of 2006.

Make it happen for 2013. I am planning on maybe attending.

Does anyone else think it's madness to even be talking about a $100 version of Ogre? I mean, that's like creating a $100 version of a Summoner Wars base-set.

ubarose wrote: I recently was talking to a friend who works for a group that does IOS game development. They are talking about using Kickstarter for advertisement and market research. The money raised is just a bonus. The can put games up, see what flies and what doesn't. See what gets picked up by game news outlets and creates buzz and what doesn't.

I expect, that for established board game companies it can serve the same purpose, plus they get a better idea of first run numbers.

That's brilliant. It's a hell of a way to measure demand, that's for sure.

I've been thinking lately of having a game design I made be an Ipad game. The format is perfect. I've got the artist lined up and playtesting has been done. Now I just need to get a coder or go back to school and learn it myself.

Things have changed, apparently, since I was coding COBOL, QuickBASIC, and Pascal....

$100 is an awful lot for what you get. SJG is not some boutique publisher struggling for funds. In terms of value for money it is probably one of the poorest deals you can get. It looks like a shameless attempt to rip off nostalgic nerds. I see no other reason to release it as an overblown 100$ massive box for what is essentially a very simplistic game. Mounted maps and counters can be done much cheaper as proved by numerous smaller publishers. The lame "3D" miniatures look like toy planes I could buy when I was a kid for a couple of bucks and they were much bigger and actually able to fly. So why the hell is it so expensive? As much as I would like to play it I can't justify spending so much money when there are better (and better looking) games around.

Msample wrote: I think there would be one key reason for a company like MMP to choose to NOT use Kickstarter - the above mentioned point of them being obligated to print as soon as the funding goal is reached. Depending on what else they have in the production que, they may not be ready to do this. People may hate them for it, but one advantage of printing when they want as opposed to when a game hits a number is that, along as they continue to charge only upon shipping, they minimize the PR nightmares that companies like L2 bring upon themselves. And as more games get funded via Kickstarter and then take a long time to deliver ( like Glory to Rome ) I think this will dampen some people's enthusiasm to fund future projects.

It would be hard to resist kickstarting "Up Front"