Of course, I take full credit for this myself. Whilst I'd done my humble part to pimp the project out here and on twitter, and even managed to convince a friend to sign up, the real difference was simply one of disaster. See, I realized that the problem was that Shadowrun Online getting made would be a very good thing. And we all know how often good things happen.
Any minute now...
So I simply upped my pledge level to one that was FAR to high. Not the upper eschalons of godhood these sort of things always offer the ultra rich or anything you understand. Just to a point that is clearly way to much to be spending on a game that won't be out until next year. An lo and behold, once I'd done that things really took off.
You're welcome, internet.
But this got me thinking about the whole Kickstarter thing. It has been pretty big news in gaming recently after all. So I figured I may as well weigh in with my 2 cents.
Because after that, 2 cents is probably all I've got now.
The interesting thing I think, is what you see when you compare Shadowrun Online to Shadowrun Returns.
Shadowrun Returns is a single player RPG announced by some of the original developers of the pen and paper game. It was also funded up the wazoo more or less instantaneously.
The goal was met within a couple of days, and the project finally came in at 459% of it's desired goal. This is the classical Kickstarter success that's been making everyone sit up and take notice. It certainly got the notice of the guys making Shadowrun Online, as they then decided to try the Kickstarter approach to fund development.
You'll notice that graph is a very different shape. Quietly pootling along in a far less dramatic fashion, and only hitting it's target in the final hours thanks to the efforts of the community as it became clear that things probably weren't gonna work out.
So why the difference in response? I mean, we have 2 really cool looking games for fans of Shadowrun, RPGS, turn based tactical combat or whatever. Some might point to a level of consumer confusion due to the similarities of the titles. Even as confirmed misanthropic recluse I still consider that to be bullshit. Anyone that stupid probably isn't going to get past facebook, let alone be investigating forthcoming tactical RPG titles in need of funding. A more compelling argument might be that since the Shadowrun Returns Kickstarter was first all the hardcore fans invested more in that, and then didn't have the resources to commit to Shadowrun Online to the same degree. I think this might hold some water, but I think I have another factor.
See, when you look at all the really big success stories on Kickstarter you see one particular unifying theme: They're all single player games. The focus is on crafting a deep, satisfying game to be played on your own, offline. Top down, third person, turn based sort of games.
The sort of games that we simply haven't seen for a VERY long time.
Not that there haven't been any number of great indie games fulfilling that niche. But there hasn't been anything you could call BIG. Suddenly gamers are confronted with a unifying platform that everyone can get behind that's being promoted properly, and the response has been overwhelming. People are tired of everything being turned into a first person action/shooter/whatever with forced multiplayer bullshit. They don't want all this always online, constant micropayment bullcrap. They just want to play some decent games like you used to be able to. Demand has far outstripped supply, and thank grudd that thanks to Kickstarter people are starting to sit up and take notice.
And I think it's this that turned people off of Shadowrun Online. They didn't look at it and see a turn based tactical combat RPG that you could play with friends or alone. They saw a free to play MMO. And if there's one thing the world doesn't need it's another bloody Free To Play MMO.
Seriously, fuck that shit.
But the beauty of Shadowrun Online is that it isn't. For a start the development team seem to be very aware of what their doing and focussed on creating a particular game experience based on the pen and paper roleplaying game. Rather than another in a long line of bloody warcraft clones.
Welcome to the world of online gaming. Hope you like cooldowns.
Also, they actually listen to what the fans are saying. The whole Kickstarter campaign has been a great experience in interacting with the user base in a positive way. Perhaps the single greatest example of this has been the campaign model. The game was first announced as using a free to play, microtransaction payment model. Which I, and indeed many others, do not find particularly encouraging. So when the community asked the devs "look, couldn't we just buy the game from you and save all this tedious mucking around?" it was extremely heartening for them to actually say yes.
It's quite sad that the simple idea of just buying a game and owning it seems to be so unpopular with production companies these days. For all they whinge about piracy the simple fact remains that if you make something we really want we will quite happily pay you a reasonable amount of money for it. Just don't be dicks about it.
This is borne out by the numbers on the Shadowrun Online Kickstarter. The various pledge levels have a subscription and campaign version, and in pretty much every case the campaign version has the higher number of backers. Usually at least double or more. It was the introduction of this campaign model that got me to become a backer.
The main problem with the games industry (as well as pretty much every other entertainment industry) is it's tendency to jump on bandwagons leading to a depressing amount of homogenisation. Everything is a version of the last big thing until the next big thing. It's this attitude that has fuelled the Kickstarter boom. There are significant gaps in the market being left untended. However the point does need to be made the the key to a successful gaming scene is having a diverse one. There is absolutely room for twitchy online FPS games and beardy single player RPGs. And everything inbetween. The interesting thing will be seeing how the big publishers react to what's going on with Kickstarter and which way the bandwagon will jump.
I'm utterly ecstatic that Shadowrun Online is getting made and it's Kickstarter was a success. But for all that elation I think it's important to remember that it very nearly wasn't. And that we should look at that and see what we can learn from it.
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