What the hell these game developers did with your kickstarter money • Hacker News Board

Re: What the hell these game developers did with your kickstarter money

#81

Post by rmc » Mon, May 14, 2012, 4:09 PM UTC

danilocampos wrote: post #69

elithrar wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Ahh, gamers, they're so cute. Poorly-informed over-entitled misanthropes, but cute. As a gamer, I completely agree with you here. The entitlement has grown rapidly over the past 2-3 years, and in my opinion is only hurting those in the industry looking to be adventurous. Something like Minecraft might be the exception, but look at the shenanigans surrounding the Mass Effect 3 ending (which was not as bad as some wo…

The Mass Effect 3 ending was shit. Not artistic, not creative. Shit. A piece of storytelling so completely divorced from the previous narrative tapestry as to make even professors of English literature wince with disappointment. Its only explanations are rushed development or a lapse in creative oversight. On top of being shit, it was not at all what was described by the project leads in interviews or in advertising.…

return policies don't let them vote with their dollars once a deception is unmasked

Games are not exempt from consumer law that requires retailers to give a refund if a product is not as described. Retailers may claim that "their policy" doesn't include that, but the law is superiour to that.

However "not as described" almost certainly does not cover an unappeal ending to an artistic product. It's not the same thing.

Re: What the hell these game developers did with your kickstarter money

#82

Post by danilocampos » Mon, May 14, 2012, 5:11 PM UTC

rmc wrote: post #81

danilocampos wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Mass Effect 3 ending was shit. Not artistic, not creative. Shit. A piece of storytelling so completely divorced from the previous narrative tapestry as to make even professors of English literature wince with disappointment. Its only explanations are rushed development or a lapse in creative oversight. On top of being shit, it was not at all what was described by the project leads in interviews or in advertising.…

return policies don't let them vote with their dollars once a deception is unmasked Games are not exempt from consumer law that requires retailers to give a refund if a product is not as described. Retailers may claim that "their policy" doesn't include that, but the law is superiour to that. However "not as described" almost certainly does not cover an unappeal ending to an artistic product. It's not the same thing.

> However "not as described" almost certainly does not cover an unappeal ending to an artistic product. It's not the same thing.

Oh, I can assure you, in this case it does.

Casey Hudson, the creator and director of the series, said explicitly, emphatically, multiple times to the press: "The ending will not be as simple as A, B, or C."

The ending is literally as simple as picking A, B, or C. If that isn't a misrepresentation of a product, nothing is.

Re: What the hell these game developers did with your kickstarter money

#83

Post by MrFoof » Tue, May 15, 2012, 1:48 AM UTC

theandym wrote: post #52

MrFoof wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm genuinely curious as to how much music $6000 bought. That can afford quite a decent-length soundtrack. For not-very-well known composers, I've been quoted in the range of $150-250/minute for music. I assume that if I went a bit higher up the chain (small-time, but established) that the price would rise.

As someone who's worked in independent film and has been involved in projects that have spent $10k's and $100k's in music, I dont see this as lavish or irresponsible at all. Musicians are hard workers, and deserve to be paid for their efforts. Just because the developers couldn't hack their way to a great soundtrack and paid for decent/professional work doesn't mean they misappropriated funds. I'd counter that they r…

I don't see it as lavish or irresponsible either -- I was just providing a data point. If I could guarantee the sales would be a non-issue, I'd certainly love to step up the production values of titles I make with more varied soundtracks.

Re: What the hell these game developers did with your kickstarter money

#84

Post by mparlane » Tue, May 15, 2012, 1:49 AM UTC

mparlane wrote: post #33

mattmanser wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huh, seems like a perfect representation that very little money actually went to development to me! Sounds like they didn't do their sums. Also how did they spend so much money on incorporation, costs about £25 ($40) over here.

One pluralised word: Lawyers.

I didn't expect this comment to get so much downvoting. My guess is merely that any mention of them is bad. I was just trying to say that they didn't spend 40$ on opening their business, they spent $4000 by getting a lawyer to make sure they opened it correctly.

Re: What the hell these game developers did with your kickstarter money

#85

Post by ricardobeat » Tue, May 15, 2012, 5:25 AM UTC

gavanwoolery wrote: post #72

ricardobeat wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, you're the atomontage guy! I'd give you a couple million if I could :) Totally agree. There are many examples of developers who seriously underestimated the costs for a full game. With the influx of projects, I believe some kind of vetoing will have to be implemented for projects >50k.

Thanks, I'm not the Atomontage guy though; his name is Branislav Síleš (although I am a supporter of his project :) ). I built an engine called Genesis in 2004-2006, and since then many unpublished projects (latest at gavanw.com). $50k is actually a good amount for an independent project...if the team could demonstrate that they can make sufficient progress with that type of funding, it could open the doors to more.…

Aw. I saw the posts and followed the links on your blog thinking that was you. Are you developing a similar engine?