Geek Syndicate Issue 6 | Page 4

Geek Syndicate
THE BLUFFER’S GUIDE TO ... Kickstarter
Ever wondered what all those geeks in the corner were talking about? Sick of missing out of the sly references and obscure injokes? Never Fear! The Bluffers Guide is here to help!
Image © Kickstarter, 2013

nies or individuals to generate start-up funds for any sort of project. The sort of thing that usually struggles to get conventional funding from Banks or Private Investors and the like. Most ideas require some sort of cash up front even if its just to pay people to have the time to do it. The big difference being that with normal investors, they take a share in the project and any fiscal returns, Kickstarter projects offer a flat return no matter how successful that thing you just backed goes on to be. So you don’t have to share the money, right? Right. A lot of Kickstarters aren’t about money anyway; they’re about making something happen that wouldn’t otherwise. There are a lot of art projects and altruistic projects, which aren’t going to make any sort of return. There are also a lot of projects like the “Pebble” watch and the “Ouya” games console, where backers are essentially pre-ordering a product and get to be first in line to get one. But they can still sell me a Pebble, right? Even though I was a backer? Of course. Backing a Project only gets you the rewards you agreed to have at the start, and the Intellectual Property and all the rest of it that comes out of a Project remains the Project Teams. Its one of the criticisms of the Kickstarter

model - backers don’t share in the success of what they have backed. Most of the time I see Kickstarter its some-one famous, these days. Yep. There has been a bit of a gold-rush recently in the gaming community for “nostalgia” projects. Its seen longdormant genres rising from the grave to make millions of dollars. Nostalgia was better when I was a kid... Yes, very clever. Project Eternity, from Obsidian Entertainment, raised nearly four million Dollars in October 2012, promising a isometric, turn-based RPG in the style of the legendary Baldurs Gate Series. They got 73,986 backers. It seemed to unleash a torrent of gaming Kickstarters that hasn’t finished yet, all from genres that the mainstream publishers have long discarded. Such as? Well, Double Fine are making an point-and-click adventure game, as are the Broken Sword team. Star Citizen and Elite: Dangerous are space flight simulators. There are also Populous-style God Games and old-school RPGs. The phrase “spiritual sequel” is getting a lot of use, which seems to act as catnip for gamers of a certain age. Got any old Games you want to remake? Its not really my thing. Making

I have a New Plan! I’m going to be rich! ...OK It’s simple, I just need to find something everyone used to love, but kinda forgot about, and then launch a Kickstarter to bring it back. It’s easy money! You know what Kickstarter is supposed to be for, right? Of course! You have an idea, make a quick video of you saying how great an idea it is, and then ask for cash to make it, in return for t-shirts or something. Then people give you money, you make the thing, and then sell it on to everyone! It’s awesome! Not quite. Really? cos thats how it seems to work? We’ll take this from the beginning, I guess. Kickstarter is a way for small independent compa-

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