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Double Fine Adventure Kickstarter finishes at $3,335,250

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Re: Double Fine Adventure Kickstarter finishes at $3,335,250

#21

Post by jerf »

A periodic topic that has come up on HN in the past few weeks is how people can make money in a non-copyright world. A common example brought up is the commission model, where payment is made in advance, but I think people subconsciously discard it as a real possibility because they can't imagine how it could actually happen.

Here it is.

Yes, Double Fine (and Brian Fargo with the Wasteland 2) come in with a pre-existing reputation worth millions, but while you're there, poke around on Kickstarter's other projects. I never had before, and I am astonished what is on there and has been successfully funded with no apparent name-brand power that I'm aware of. Just look at this stuff: http://www.kickstarter.com/discover/categories/games/most-fu...

There are things that targeted $10,000 and handily blew past them.

Relevant to HN's interests as I browse through: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/meetpoint/startup-fever-...

Anyway, back to my point. I think it's time to stop theorizing about how maybe the commission model might work someday in the future maybe sorta, because it's happening now. (The fact that I never even considered browsing around on Kickstarter is itself a testament to my own subconscious bias against the idea.)

Re: Double Fine Adventure Kickstarter finishes at $3,335,250

#22

Post by forrestthewoods »

robryan wrote: post #5

Seems to be the start of something big, Wasteland 2 launched today on kickstarted and is about to hit $400,000. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/wasteland-2

Wasteland 2 being successful is far more impressive to me than Double Fine Adventure.

DFA was a perfect storm. Amazing and funny front man in Tim Shafer. A proven studio that has released multiple games of similar small scope in recent years. Plus a pair of guys (Tim + Ron Gilbert) who practically invented the genre in the early 90s. Amazing, awesome, and wonderful that they were so successful but not necessarily a sign of things to come.

Wasteland 2 on the other is a different story. A front man with strong pedigree, but most people have never heard of. A game that came out in 1988 and only ever sold 100k units (plus lord knows how many pirated copies). A studio that few have heard of.

With DFA it's easy to say that this Kickstarter fad is just a fad. With Wasteland 2 it shows to have a little more leg. I can't wait to see what large scale project is successful next.

Re: Double Fine Adventure Kickstarter finishes at $3,335,250

#23

Post by jerf »

jstevens85 wrote: post #17
3lit3H4ck3r wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Awesome stuff! Truly a great day for the project, Kickstarter and the internet overall. Not only traditional publishers trembling, but their establishment middlemen financiers...only place to go from here is up with any single inventor or team with a concept that can catch the eye of the funding crowd!

Traditional publishers trembling? That would seem unlikely to me given that one of the legends of the game development community only managed to raise a budget equivalent to an average XBLA game.

First, patience.

Second... if you don't try to pace the AAA games on graphics quality or the other de rigeur time and money sinks that add disproportionately little to the final experience, you can do a lot with that amount of money.

Re: Double Fine Adventure Kickstarter finishes at $3,335,250

#24

Post by emeltzer »

jerf wrote: post #21

A periodic topic that has come up on HN in the past few weeks is how people can make money in a non-copyright world. A common example brought up is the commission model, where payment is made in advance, but I think people subconsciously discard it as a real possibility because they can't imagine how it could actually happen. Here it is. Yes, Double Fine (and Brian Fargo with the Wasteland 2) come in with a pre-exist…

Yep, we targeted 10k for this project (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tocguide/toc-guide-to-sf...) and with 24 hours to go we have 15k. We certainly don't have any name-brand power!

Re: Double Fine Adventure Kickstarter finishes at $3,335,250

#25

Post by sp332 »

vibrunazo wrote: post #20

After watching the success of Double Fine Adventure and the Lois CK video. Do you guys think it's reasonable to assume that in the future, big hollywood blockbusters would be funded this way? A common argument from copyright supporters is that it wouldn't be possible to fund such movies without heavy copyright enforcement. But after watching the recent success of Kickstarter and Lois CK. I feel it's getting easier to…

Hollywood blockbusters are more of an investment banking scheme than a way to fund the making of movies. I don't mean to be cynical, really. But the Hollywood (in particular) works is incompatible with this funding model.

Re: Double Fine Adventure Kickstarter finishes at $3,335,250

#26

Post by psykotic »

forrestthewoods wrote: post #22
robryan wrote: post #5

Seems to be the start of something big, Wasteland 2 launched today on kickstarted and is about to hit $400,000. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/wasteland-2

Wasteland 2 being successful is far more impressive to me than Double Fine Adventure. DFA was a perfect storm. Amazing and funny front man in Tim Shafer. A proven studio that has released multiple games of similar small scope in recent years. Plus a pair of guys (Tim + Ron Gilbert) who practically invented the genre in the early 90s. Amazing, awesome, and wonderful that they were so successful but not necessarily a s…

> A game that came out in 1988 and only ever sold 100k units (plus lord knows how many pirated copies).

In those days 100,000 units sold meant a big hit. The original sales numbers for Secret of Monkey Island were in that neighborhood.

Re: Double Fine Adventure Kickstarter finishes at $3,335,250

#28

Post by vibrunazo »

sp332 wrote: post #25
vibrunazo wrote: post #20

After watching the success of Double Fine Adventure and the Lois CK video. Do you guys think it's reasonable to assume that in the future, big hollywood blockbusters would be funded this way? A common argument from copyright supporters is that it wouldn't be possible to fund such movies without heavy copyright enforcement. But after watching the recent success of Kickstarter and Lois CK. I feel it's getting easier to…

Hollywood blockbusters are more of an investment banking scheme than a way to fund the making of movies. I don't mean to be cynical, really. But the Hollywood (in particular) works is incompatible with this funding model.

Could you expand on that, or point to where I can read more on it?

Re: Double Fine Adventure Kickstarter finishes at $3,335,250

#29

Post by 6ren »

jerf wrote: post #21

A periodic topic that has come up on HN in the past few weeks is how people can make money in a non-copyright world. A common example brought up is the commission model, where payment is made in advance, but I think people subconsciously discard it as a real possibility because they can't imagine how it could actually happen. Here it is. Yes, Double Fine (and Brian Fargo with the Wasteland 2) come in with a pre-exist…

It's a good point and a step on the way; though these projects are not copyright free (the doublefine one is DRM-free, but not free).

Will people pledge money, knowing that the game will be equally available to everyone (i.e. they aren't getting exclusive access in return)? Maybe special bonuses (like doublefine's) will compensate? But what if they also are copyright free...?

Perhaps people paying more than the purchase price indicates that they don't mind others getting it for less? Here are the distributions (the last three aren't representative, because the number of units was limited):

  $    15      47,946
  $    30      24,636
  $    60       1,090
  $   100      11,530
  $   250         900
  $   500         148
  $ 1,000         100  SOLD OUT
  $ 5,000          10  SOLD OUT
  $10,000           4  SOLD OUT
A game on kickstarter that's free for everyone else would test this. EDIT this free comic + paid hardcopy seems close http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3701721 (raised $1,254,120)

Re: Double Fine Adventure Kickstarter finishes at $3,335,250

#30

Post by marquis »

vibrunazo wrote: post #20

After watching the success of Double Fine Adventure and the Lois CK video. Do you guys think it's reasonable to assume that in the future, big hollywood blockbusters would be funded this way? A common argument from copyright supporters is that it wouldn't be possible to fund such movies without heavy copyright enforcement. But after watching the recent success of Kickstarter and Lois CK. I feel it's getting easier to…

Independent films can work this way: cast/crew will not get paid, in return for a percentage should it be successful. However it's not possible to do this indefinitely as said crew gets tired of working for free after a while (much like any Kickstarter project wouldn't get a second go if they didn't deliver).
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