Double Fine Adventure Kickstarter project by Double Fine [ended, $3.3 Million funded]

No, that was Psychonauts 2. Unless I'm misinterpreting this.

That's the crazy thing! Double Fine had to have been planning this Kickstarter thing for awhile, then Notch comes in just before the announcement and does his "I'll fund Psychonauts 2" thing and... and... this is all just too crazy. I need to go lie down.
 
Well, there will obviously be bumps when this appears in popular places like GAF, RPS, whatever else in the coming days, I think it's still too early to tell if they'll manage the 400k. Though they'll probably go ahead with it even if it's just a bit less than that.

I don't think they're even allowed to take the money if they don't hit 400k. Isn't that one of Kickstarter's rules?
 
What kind of legal obligation does the person running the kickstarter have to fulfill what they promise?

What happens if they get their $400k but the studio goes under before they finish the game? The money is gone, spent. What happens then?

What about when it isn't a real game studio, and just some dude raising money for some invention he came up with?

Why are you so worried? It's Double Fine. Why would they suddenly fold for no reason? Their recent downloadable games have been successful, right? This isn't some shady... well not JUST some shady dude asking for money. They make good games on a regular basis.
 
I don't think they're even allowed to take the money if they don't hit 400k. Isn't that one of Kickstarter's rules?

Yeah. No one is billed until the budget is hit.
 
I don't think they're even allowed to take the money if they don't hit 400k. Isn't that one of Kickstarter's rules?

If they got close enough they could just could just add donations themselves to get to $400,000


Double Fine's been more awesome than usual lately. Hopefully they can keep it up.

They are clearly thriving with smaller, less risky projects. It's wonderful to see such a small studio continue to do well in the face of so many studio closings this generation.
 
The video introduction is very well done, he's got a great sense of comedy.. perfect timing.

Kind of weird that the 2player productions team will eat a fourth of the entire budget, but oh well. Good for them.
 
Did Notch promise to finance the entire game? Did he ever drop a number?

I bet he'll make a nice donation when he wakes up in the morning. Brilliant move by Schafer, he probably counts on Notch's peer pressure making him donate big.

Notch specifically said he wanted Psychonauts 2.

I mean, I GUESS Psychonauts 2 could be made into an old-fashioned adventure game...but that seems highly unlikely.
 
The video introduction is very well done, he's got a great sense of comedy.. perfect timing.

Kind of weird that the 2player productions team will eat a fourth of the entire budget, but oh well. Good for them.

I doubt the $300,000 is the ENTIRE game budget.
 
Pitched in $30, a good cause as far as I'm concerned, I know it would get to max without me, but as adventure games are my favorite genre, it's cool.
 
I'd honestly like to see some of the profits spit back to the investors, too, with this sort of thing. It might not be much, but a lot of college kids could use the cash, and it'd be a good way to spur on some sales of other games as a result.
 
I don't think they're even allowed to take the money if they don't hit 400k. Isn't that one of Kickstarter's rules?
Well they could add the rest on the last day if it seems like it will miss the mark within a range they can afford to self fund.
 
This is an exciting time we live in.

I imagine all sorts of projects could see the light of day, that would otherwise not be considered by the evil publisher overlords.
 
Somebody pledge some bucks for me! I wish I could, and Double Fine deserves it, but I have no way of doing it!
 
This is a pretty interesting development. If the AVGN hadn't raised like 325,000 I would have thought this would be a rather limited source of money to supplement traditional sources. They might actually be able to fully fund the game this way.

That said, I'm a little concerned what this means for Double Fine's financial state. I get their whole reasoning that outside money comes with strings attached and this is a novel way to develop a game without compromises. That said, having to get your newest project funded by donations does not inspire confidence about a company's well-being.

Hopefully this is just a one-off experiment they want to do, because all the things they railed against about game development (rightfully so or not) is part and parcel of the way game development works. Like it or not that's the reality. I would hate to see this be Double Fine's last gasp if this means they're having difficulty getting outside funding for projects, but I'm probably just cynically reading too much into it.
 
Haven't enjoyed an adventure game for years, but I love Double Fine and I love the concept of contributing. Threw in $15. feelsgoodman.
 
I've backed the project with a $100 donation, and I can't even play the game because I am on a mac!

Who care's though. I have friends at DF, and I want to support the creators of games like Full Throttle, Grim Fandango, and Day of the Tentacle.
 
I'd honestly like to see some of the profits spit back to the investors, too, with this sort of thing. It might not be much, but a lot of college kids could use the cash, and it'd be a good way to spur on some sales of other games as a result.

Me, I'd like to see the profits go towards keeping DF open and making games. Kickstarter is more of a donation than investment.

Someone threw down $5,000!!!
 
This is a pretty interesting development. If the AVGN hadn't raised like 325,000 I would have thought this would be a rather limited source of money to supplement traditional sources. They might actually be able to fully fund the game this way.

That said, I'm a little concerned what this means for Double Fine's financial state. I get their whole reasoning that outside money comes with strings attached and this is a novel way to develop a game without compromises. That said, having to get your newest project funded by donations does not inspire confidence about a company's well-being.

Hopefully this is just a one-off experiment they want to do, because all the things they railed against about game development (rightfully so or not) is part and parcel of the way game development works. Like it or not that's the reality. I would hate to see this be Double Fine's last gasp if this means they're having difficulty getting outside funding for projects, but I'm probably just cynically reading too much into it.

Double Fine is a multi-team studio at this point. It isn't like they're putting all their eggs in this basket.
 
Why are you so worried? It's Double Fine. Why would they suddenly fold for no reason? Their recent downloadable games have been successful, right? This isn't some shady... well not JUST some shady dude asking for money. They make good games on a regular basis.

I am not worried about Double Fine doing this, it is just something I have been wondering about Kickstarter in general.

What is to stop someone from just running with any money they raise for their "project"?
 
That said, I'm a little concerned what this means for Double Fine's financial state. I get their whole reasoning that outside money comes with strings attached and this is a novel way to develop a game without compromises. That said, having to get your newest project funded by donations does not inspire confidence about a company's well-being.

If there's an audience for the game, they get to make it risk-free. If there's not, they get to devote that time towards making something that's more likely to turn a profit. There's no downside.
 
Awesome idea, with no publisher lurking over them they will have allot more freedom.
 
That said, having to get your newest project funded by donations does not inspire confidence about a company's well-being.

I think that you're missing the point of this. This is a fan-requested dream come true, and an effort to deliver another adventure game, which is remarkable to even get produced in any capacity now. It is a special production in which those who donate get to see the game progress and help create the game. I've never considered Tim a man about the money, but more about the passion and creativity. For this particular genre, this is the only way to get it produced--and more to the point, solid evidence that people would really pay for another one of these games.
 
That said, I'm a little concerned what this means for Double Fine's financial state. I get their whole reasoning that outside money comes with strings attached and this is a novel way to develop a game without compromises. That said, having to get your newest project funded by donations does not inspire confidence about a company's well-being.

You don't need to worry.

They have an investor who funded PC ports for three of their games and a Mac port for another one of their games. He's on record as of yesterday pledging to be willing to fund more stuff for them. All of these PC ports will have pretty long tails and generate revenue to help cover ongoing costs.

Once Upon a Monster was almost certainly lucrative for them.

They have at least two projects in development for this year.

To me, this Kickstarter is very promising news because it basically says "We're at the point where we have enough breathing room to try to work without publishers, rather than desperately going hat in hand to every publisher out there"
 
To me, this Kickstarter is very promising news because it basically says "We're at the point where we have enough breathing room to try to work without publishers, rather than desperately going hat in hand to every publisher out there"

That's a good way of looking at it. It seems like Iron Brigade and Sesame Street were successful to some degree, and I predict a small success for their incredibly genius Double Fine Happy Action Theater.
 
I'd donate $30, but I'm in the middle of a PC upgrade. :( This and a $100 3DS (newegg giftcard) I'm passing on today. I feel like a bad person.

I have a 2,800$ credit card debt and am in full-on "only spending for basic needs" mode, and I just donated 30$.

There, I just inspired you to give the same amount.
 
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