Amplitude (Harmonix) PS3/PS4 - KS (Funded, final day)

It's slowed to an incredible crawl, sadly. But they're smart enough to see what's happening and try to turn things around. It's a hard sell for many though. Alex Rigopulos talked at PAX East about how few people cared about the game before trying it and how many enjoyed the game after playing it. He mentioned that it's easier to overcome that obstacle today with digital distribution and demos. But ironically, history is repeating itself and they're running into the same problem with this Kickstarter. Most potential backers don't care about/understand the game. And after inferior spiritual successors like the Rock Band handhelds and RB Blitz, I've seen people already writing this off because they weren't crazy about Blitz. Blitz isn't the worst game in the world, but it's a far cry from Amplitude, and people generally don't seem to be able to comprehend the major differences just by watching gameplay videos on Youtube. It really is the kind of game you have to try for yourself.

If there were any justice in the world that'd let the Kickstarter succeed, they'd be able to convince Sony on allowing a PC version so they could access a much wider pool of backers who could still swoop in to potentially save it. As much as Sony must want to keep the IP on PlayStation machines, they stand to make profit off game sale royalties if the Kickstarter succeeds while they'll get nothing from the property if the Kickstarter fails. And I'm sure they could even try to negotiate some arrangement where they also take a cut of PC sales if that's what it would take.
 
Rock Band Blitz and Unplugged just weren't the same. In Amplitude you built a song by playing tracks successfully (hitting all the gems) which would also activate each part of the song in turn (vocals, drums, synth etc). You really felt like you were creating and remixing each song as you played through it. When you weren't playing a track, and it wasn't activated, that part of the song just didn't play. Often I would mess around purposefully not playing or activating parts of the song just to hear how it sounded.

In RBB and RBU, while visually similar, the song pretty much played on no matter what you do albeit at a lower volume. There was no way to isolate and choose to play, or not play, different parts of the song so each one pretty much sounded the same no matter what you did. Also the backgrounds in Amplitude were way, WAY tripper as you went through various crazy worlds.
 
Bundy said:
As it seems, not a chance.
Seems like people/gamers aren't interested in a "Amplitude" sequel.
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seems more like after the usual 1st day rush people are sitting back and connecting the dots and not liking what they see if it's not half way by the last 5 days then it's probably not going to reach the goal
 
Backed, but it looks like this might struggle to make its goal...

It's a shame, I fucking loved the original. One of my most played rhythm games ever.
 
I thought this was one of those kickstarters I could just let it get funded and reap the benefits when it comes out, but this looks like its going to be "every backer counts", if it even gets funded.

With that said, I just backed it. Love amplitude and most of harmonix work, best of luck.
 
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repost for new page.

It's doing as I expected. Good, but no where near "775K" good.
 
The fact that Sony holds the rights and it can only be on PlayStation, kills virtually all hope at this succeeding. It's really unfortunate. I'd love a new Frequency/ Amplitude. If this was also on PC, I'm sure there would be more backers. I don't think console exclusive games and gamers are ready for crowd funding

Edit

I'm sure if Sony decided to back it , the PS4 version, at least would perform well. PS+? Oh hell yes it would.
 
Personally, I vastly preferred the looping track in frequency to what they had in amplitude but these games are rare and it looks like this might not hit its goal. I chipped in the for the $40 tier. Hope it succeeds.
 
They added to their FAQ.

Why doesn't Sony just fund Amplitude?

We can't speak for Sony, but our guess is that it's difficult for them to make a business case for funding the release of another Amplitude. The original games, while critically acclaimed and beloved by fans, weren't commercially successful.


Why don't you just fund it yourself?

While Harmonix is fortunate enough to have had some successes in the past, we’ve also had plenty of failures and false starts. The simple truth is we can’t afford to fund the entirety of this game’s budget by ourselves.

All of our noteworthy games from the past have had a publishing partner to help us fund. We’ll be funding most of the budget for Amplitude ourselves, but without additional funding, the game is just too expensive for us to take on alone. We won’t be able to make it without your help.


Why did you choose this funding level? Why so much money?

Games are expensive to make. We’re hoping to post a backer update soon going into detail about how this budget breaks down, but we can say now that 100% of the Kickstarter funding will go to the development cost of the game.

The project costs to make another Amplitude are well beyond $775,000 – Harmonix is going to shoulder the risk of whatever we can’t raise through a successfully funded Kickstarter, and that risk is substantial. That’s how much we believe in this game coming to be.

In reality, this is the minimum amount of funding that we need to make this possible – if we can’t raise this money, we can’t afford to make Amplitude.


If you don't fund this Kickstarter, will you still make the game?

Unfortunately, we don't see how that will be possible. There are no viable funding options available that would allow us to make Amplitude if we can't crowdfund this portion of the budget.
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Neuromancer said:
They added to their FAQ.
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This one is interesting even if it's not new

You've only announced releases for PlayStation®3 and PlayStation®4? Why not PC or other platforms (Xbox/Nintendo)?

Amplitude and FreQuency were originally funded and published by Sony for the PlayStation 2. Since Sony owns these properties, sequels are exclusive to the PlayStation platforms (PS3, PS4 and potentially PS Vita), as is the case for all other Sony-owned properties that we know of.

Last updated: Thu, May 8 2014 1:06 PM PDT
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I would love to hear if a spiritual successor was ever on the table that wouldn't be bound by Amplitude's IP being owned by Sony
 
Given the initial rush of interest in the campaign, I'm sure it'll get picked up by some publisher and if/when the Kickstarter fails. Kind of how Atlus picked up Citizens of Earth.
 
Vandole said:
Given the initial rush of interest in the campaign, I'm sure it'll get picked up by some publisher and if/when the Kickstarter fails. Kind of how Atlus picked up Citizens of Earth.
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A failed kickstarter is usually a sign that it wouldn't have made enough money anyway. I really hope it goes through.
 
noobasuar said:
These guys just made hundreds of millions due to Viacom. Fuck em for asking for crowd-funding and thankfully this looks like it won't reach its goal.
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THIS. Jesus christ I forgot about the 300 million they won. Everyone should just stop funding it, they'll fun it anyways.
 
This will not get funded. 14 days and still below 200K.

I just don't see why they don't just fund themselves. Aren't they sitting on a bunch of money. It will probably be what 1.5-2 mil in development costs which may sound a bunch but don't they have a couple hundred million under them.
 
Jinfash said:
This KS is not raking money as fast as it should. Never knew PS Nation was so cheap.
j8ZiHrA.png
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I will hate myself if Unsung Hero winds up having made more than this. Sadly, I'm not sure which has less actual content to show, but at least this has the actual devs involved.
 
So why did they go with a Sony owned IP instead of going the spiritual successor road and having complete freedom? I dont think the Amplitude name brings much to the table and its extra stupid if Sony isnt or co funding it.

Also who thought doing a Kickstarter without a PC version was a good idea?

And begging the PlayStation community for money when you spent the entire last generation being best buddies with Microsoft.


This whole thing is poorly thought out.
 
I don't know why they didn't just go for spiritual sequel. The name isn't that well known or important. Given they'd be a high profile game just via their pedigree and Sony's outreach to even some pretty obscure kickstarters, they'd have no trouble getting onto Sony systems. Would allow them to go to whatever platforms they want. They wouldn't need to deal with the baggage of why we're kickstarting a game for an IP that is owned by Sony. They wouldn't need that weird 20 days thing. It really seems like tying it into the Amplitude IP is doing far more harm than good.

Granted, they'd still have to deal with why they aren't funding it themselves but that's been overcome by various other kickstarters already, including several of the most high profile ones.
 
funkystudent said:
So why did they go with a Sony owned IP instead of going the spiritual successor road and having complete freedom? I dont think the Amplitude name brings much to the table and its extra stupid if Sony isnt or co funding it.

Also who thought doing a Kickstarter without a PC version was a good idea?
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Yeah, it's really weird. All of the "spiritual successor" Kickstarters never had a problem to convey people the know-how of their creators. Why would it be any different in Harmonix' case? Especially since their name is probably better known than Amplitude.

Having both a high funding goal and betting completely on Sony hardware is a dangerous risk to take. Personally, I can tell you that they lost me with the lack of a PC version. Sure, I could play it on PS3 and I'm probably going to pick up a PS4 sooner or later, but Indie games are just something I prefer to play on the PC.
 
wrowa said:
Yeah, it's really weird. All of the "spiritual successor" Kickstarters never had a problem to convey people the know-how of their creators. Why would it be any different in Harmonix' case? Especially since their name is probably better known than Amplitude.

Having both a high funding goal and betting completely on Sony hardware is a dangerous risk to take. Personally, I can tell you that they lost me with the lack of a PC version. Sure, I could play it on PS3 and I'm probably going to pick up a PS4 sooner or later, but Indie games are just something I prefer to play on the PC.
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That's probably plan b if this fails.
 
Corpekata said:
I don't know why they didn't just go for spiritual sequel.
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Again, they've already done that. TWICE.
They weren't satisfying for Harmonix or their fans. People want the real deal, just not enough of them, apparently.
 
TAJ said:
Again, they've already done that. TWICE.
They weren't satisfying for Harmonix or their fans. People want the real deal, just not enough of them, apparently.
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It's almost as if those games were hobbled by the Rock Band license and that factor would not come into play anymore. Mighty Number 9 is basically Mega Man. There's no reason Harmonix could not do the same with their own new name now that they are free to do what they want.
 
Neuromancer said:
Rock Band Blitz and Unplugged just weren't the same. In Amplitude you built a song by playing tracks successfully (hitting all the gems) which would also activate each part of the song in turn (vocals, drums, synth etc). You really felt like you were creating and remixing each song as you played through it. When you weren't playing a track, and it wasn't activated, that part of the song just didn't play. Often I would mess around purposefully not playing or activating parts of the song just to hear how it sounded.

In RBB and RBU, while visually similar, the song pretty much played on no matter what you do albeit at a lower volume. There was no way to isolate and choose to play, or not play, different parts of the song so each one pretty much sounded the same no matter what you did. Also the backgrounds in Amplitude were way, WAY tripper as you went through various crazy worlds.
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The soundtrack in Blitz was also fucking awful. That goes a long way to destroying the game, even if the core gameplay were as good.
 
They update the FAQ but still haven't included a tier that gives you the game and a digital copy of the soundtrack for less than $200? Come on Harmonix.
 
Corpekata said:
It's almost as if those games were hobbled by the Rock Band license and that factor would not come into play anymore. Mighty Number 9 is basically Mega Man. There's no reason Harmonix could not do the same with their own new name now that they are free to do what they want.
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There are patent obstacles to making that much of a clone. That's why they didn't do it before.
 
This seemed interesting:

If you don't fund this Kickstarter, will you still make the game?

Unfortunately, we don't see how that will be possible. There are no viable funding options available that would allow us to make Amplitude if we can't crowdfund this portion of the budget.
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I wonder what that's all about.
 
I dont understand at all why they wouldn't launch the KS with a sample gameplay clip from a vertical slice. Model of the Beat Blaster? What?
 
hodayathink said:
It's because people keep saying that Sony's going to swoop in and fund this if it fails. I think they're trying to get it into everyone's head that that's not the case here. Sony isn't funding this.
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My question is regarding the whole "this portion of the budget". AFAIK, Kickstarters are typically the budget for a project (outside of any prototypes and preliminary artwork that had been drafted up to help sell it to the public), so I'm curious as to what money is already being put into it, and where it's coming from.
 
Ridley327 said:
My question is regarding the whole "this portion of the budget". AFAIK, Kickstarters are typically the budget for a project (outside of any prototypes and preliminary artwork that had been drafted up to help sell it to the public), so I'm curious as to what money is already being put into it, and where it's coming from.
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They've already said that if this Kickstarter succeeds, they're putting a million dollars of their own money into the project. That's why they're saying "this portion of the budget".
 
I was obsessed with Frequency but Amplitude didn't really grab me in the same way. Still have vivid memories of trying for days to beat a really hard song and finally doing a run where I entered "the zone" and just ripped off crazy combos, unable to fully comprehend what my fingers were doing. GREAT game, Amplitude was good but something about frequency couldn't be replicated for me. Sad this game won't get funded but I look forward to playing frequency again when I get my retro setup going
 
I bet this gets funded anyway when everyone spams the hell out of this Kickstarter during its final hours and it pulls a Republique
 
5amshift said:
THIS. Jesus christ I forgot about the 300 million they won. Everyone should just stop funding it, they'll fun it anyways.
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Sigh, guess I'll respond to one of these posts again. These were long overdue bonuses owed to the Harmonix shareholders. Viacom did not deposit $300 million into the Harmonix Happy Time Game Funding Pool™.
 
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