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

Two things:

1) Leave people alone if they don't want to fund the KS. That's their right.
2) No one cares to see a dozen posts about why you aren't funding it. You aren't and that's enough.
 
besada said:
Two things:

1) Leave people alone if they don't want to fund the KS. That's their right.
2) No one cares to see a dozen posts about why you aren't funding it. You aren't and that's enough.
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Agreed!

I am not interesting in these type of games but I do like for this game to get funded.
 
OnionPowder said:
I can't believe this is actually going to happen. Always obsess over Harmonix games and could use another in my life.
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I hope it does. Still has a ways to go though, I think it's still too soon to be sure it's going to happen. It's had some spikes today but is generally going up at 1k an hour or less...at that rate it's still going to fall well short.
 
hawk2025 said:
Sorry :(


But seriously, we've been dealing with every single pointless complaint in this thread for two weeks now. It's really, really bizarre.
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It's all good. I was half kidding. People on both sides of this thing are passionate, and that's cool. Like I said earlier, we'd of course love for people to back it because they want the game, but if someone has reasons for not wanting to (or being willing to), that's okay, too.
 
Originally was not going to fund this as it only had a few days left and was barely 1/3 funded to goal. Now that's it's getting close, I'm getting really hype and will definitely back $40 in the last 24 hour stretch! I'm still a little skeptical about it reaching it's goal.. but any little bit helps.

Here's hoping it reaches the goal (and gets made in a timely fashion).
 
Petrie said:
Again, not the same at all. If the supermarket has a "deal" it is available to all, and if they run out I get a raincheck to get the item later.

It is specifically the limiting this item to only the first 1000 users at that price I take issue with as a method of funding. All these examples you keep pulling are silly.



Well then your hopes will never come true.
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I agree with Petrie 100%. I told Harmonix about it on the second day of the kickstarter too.

Their attitude was basically that I should be happy to back their game at retail price (or more) and that it was unreasonable for me to expect a break in price, that my refusal to back would be counter-productive since it might lead to the game not getting funded (THE HORROR!).

They were very polite about it, and I very politely explained to them that their approach to kickstarter was arrogant and shortsighted. I'm also very confident it will get funded because a lot of people don't see eye to eye with me.

Thank God for Petrie, mah man!

Here is my convo with Harmonix

dr. kaos said:
It's only been a day after this kickstarter launched and I already can't back at the $15 level?

Not cool, guys. You know you have (way, way) more than 1000 dedicated fans. I feel left out in the cold, here. I must have bought almost a dozen harmonix games over the years and I ain't feeling the love.

Bring back the $15 tier please.
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Harmonix said:
Hi Dr.:

The $15 tier was intended to be a "first people through the door" set of units that we sold at a loss to prime the pump. We kept that number of backers intentionally small because we really need as much support as we can at the normal price of the game, $20.

We saw $15 as a nice discount to offer people - we really didn't think it would sell as quickly as it did.

They were intended to be a limited flash thing - I'm really sorry that you missed out on that window, but I'd hope you'd still see the value in the game we're trying to make and hope you'd consider helping us out.

Let me know if you have further thoughts on it. Again, sorry it bummed you out. That was super-the-opposite of its intent. :-/

Yours,
JohnD
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dr. kaos said:
Thank you for taking the time to write back. First, I readily agree that $15 is a nice discount to offer people. Let me elaborate on my objections.

There are two options here, either the game is priced at $20 at retail, or it is priced higher.

A- If it is priced higher, then I disagree that a downloadable HD remake of a game I already bought a decade ago should cost more than $20. That is solely my opinion and I fully respect your right to disagree, in which case I will vote with my wallet and play something else.

B- If it is priced at $20, then there is no value in backing a kickstarter instead of making a choice of buying it at retail when it releases. Afterall,
the implicit Kickstarter contract is the buyer takes a risk and ties up money, eats whatever inflation occurs between backing time and release date and is rewarded with a discount.

Finally, words are wind. I will back at $15 or not at all :)
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Harmonix said:
Okay, if that's the way you feel about it. But it's definitely going to be $20 when it comes out. I've backed dozens of kickstarters and it's exceedingly typical to be charged the price of the product as your base entry. Expecting a discounted price for backing seems inconsistent with most kickstarters in video games and beyond, in my personal experience.

FWIW, in my opinion, the real reason to back a kickstarter is to contribute to a project that otherwise won't get funded. You can totally choose not to back our game if it isn't $15 - I get that and it's totally reasonable. But if we don't get funded, you won't have the option to buy it at retail, since it won't be released. That's the actual risk that putting your money down now mitigates.

But I'm done with the hard sell - I just thought it was worthwhile to explain my experience and POV so you didn't think "Harmonix is out to gouge people" with our Kickstarter or anything. I'm really surprised by your perspective, but I appreciate you reaching out and sharing it with us. It's definitely food for thought!

JohnD
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Dr. Kaos said:
And I appreciate your answers and willingness to discuss Kickstarter dynamics with me.I completely understand that what's done is done and it would be a huge headache to try and re-introduce a 25% OFF tier. With that said, I want to address some of your points.

You have backed dozens of game kickstarters. I have backed three:

Broken Age, Massive Chalice and Mighty No 9.

Broken age was priced at ($15) which is about half price or less for early backers. Mighty no9 was priced at $20, which is 33% less than the cheapest portable Megaman out there. Massive Chalice, on the other hand, at $20 might have been priced at retail price (I'm unsure about the wisdom of backing that one...). So, in my (very limited, and clearly lesser to your) experience, 66% of kickstarter devs give backers a deal.

It's only fair, after all, we are not only their customers, but their (nice) publishers as well, right? From a business perspective, we certainly deserve a break in pricing equivalent to at least a portion of the cut they would have given a real publisher.

Indeed, you are smart folks and you gave early backers a 25% deal so this thinking was not alien to you at all. Your only failing was to only allow 1000 backers in at that slot.

If you had allowed 10,000 slots, you might have lost up to $45k, (assuming equal numbers of backers at both pricepoints).

If you had allowed 5,000 slots (which would have been enough to allow people in the first 3-4 days to back at a discount), you might have lost up to $20k, again, assuming equal number of backers.

Is that bad? Is that good? From an economic standpoint, I don't know.

I never thought Harmonix was out to gouge people. I am saddened you thought that. That's a very harsh word. This is your baby and you have every right to value it however you please.

I DID think that Harmonix was somewhat more arrogant and less generous than I would like. I normally wouldn't care but I have a special place in my heart for the artists who gave me Frequency, Amplitude, Guitar Hero and Rockband, among other gems.

Am I right? Am I wrong (and a cheap, coldhearted jerk)?

There is no factual answer, it's all a matter of perspective. What is very clear is that I am an easily ignorable minority that will certainly not stand in the way of the successful funding of Amplitude HD, which is a good game that should get made.
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In my considered opinion, the bolded parts of their explanation for the miserly 1000 slots are utter nonsense. Sold at a loss? Need those extra $5?

Nah, that doesn't pass muster.
 
bananafactory said:
I hope it does. Still has a ways to go though, I think it's still too soon to be sure it's going to happen. It's had some spikes today but is generally going up at 1k an hour or less...at that rate it's still going to fall well short.
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It's went up $1000 in the past 10 minutes.

Anyways, I never actually played Frequency or Amplitude. But I'm a huge Bust A Groove fan so I'm always down for some timed button pressing with music. I think I'm going to back this.
 
Fried Food said:
This ain't gonna happen

http://sidekick.epfl.ch/campaign/131105520-amplitude
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Dr. Kaos said:
I agree with Petrie 100%. I told Harmonix about it on the second day of the kickstarter too.

Their attitude was basically that I should be happy to back their game at retail price (or more) and that it was unreasonable for me to expect a break in price, that my refusal to back would be counter-productive since it might lead to the game not getting funded (THE HORROR!).

They were very polite about it, and I very politely explained to them that their approach to kickstarter was arrogant and shortsighted. I'm also very confident it will get funded because a lot of people don't see eye to eye with me.

Thank God for Petrie, mah man!

Here is my convo with Harmonix

In my considered opinion, the bolded parts of their explanation for the miserly 1000 slots are utter nonsense. Sold at a loss? Need those extra $5?

Nah, that doesn't pass muster.
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Dude I usually stay out of stuff like this but from reading over those emails you were being kind of an jerk about the fact that you can't get 5 dollars off of a 20 dollar game.
 
okayfrog said:
Why would trips to the supermarket be stressful? Stores put out ads beforehand with advertised prices.
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Not always. It's a nearly extinct phenomenon, but supermarkets have traditionally had on-site flash sales.
 
I've been watching this project debating whether to pitch in. I wasn't as I thought the 775K was just to high of a mountain to climb but this thing has taken off and they have a shot at making their goal. I pledged $20.
 
KalBalboa said:
Perhaps some will just be pleasantly surprised!
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Yeah, but I was argumenting AGAINST people who said that this will never make it because it's a console exclusive (and even a manufacturer exclusive) Kickstarter. That post from me that you quoted, in it I was just saying that there really haven't been any examples of console exclusive Kickstarters before Amplitude that would even have a little bit of a strong-ish cult following or a really loved developer behind it. Amplitude is really the first console exclusive Kickstarter with a well-known developer behind it and a pretty devoted fan-base who have been hoping for a sequel of some kind for a decade. PC has gotten the big names & big-ish IPs, while consoles have, at most, been getting "just" the stretch goal/port treatment. Even then, would something like Mighty No. 9 gotten even near to the kind of numbers if it had been only for PC? Or are those millions actually mostly from all kinds of Nintendo, Sony & MS people who grew up playing Mega Mans on consoles/handhelds and wanted to play a new spiritual sequel on their most recent consoles/handhelds.

The reason why there have been some crazy successful PC Kickstarters is because those were basically either new IPs from some of the best, most beloved masters of the genres (Pillars of Eternity, Broken Age) or revivals of beloved, long-dead IPs (Shadowrun, Wasteland 2). The equivalent to those would be if Sakaguchi had gotten the rights to develop Chrono Trigger 2 + got a lot of the old team back together and made it a console exclusive. That would get past the millions so fast. Now, Amplitude isn't nearly as big as one of the most beloved JRPGs of all time (which is why it's struggling a bit), but as this Kickstarter has already proven (even if, in the end, it doesn't get past the goal), even a super-niche but really beloved game like Amplitude can get some serious backing from console people. I was just pointing out how wrong those people were who were dismissing a console exclusive Kickstarter just because there hasn't been a console equivalent of a millions-reaching Kickstarters like Pillars of Eternity (the answer is: because no one has really even tried).

So my post doesn't quite belong among the other actually negative ones.
 
Wereroku said:
Dude I usually stay out of stuff like this but from reading over those emails you were being kind of an jerk about the fact that you can't get 5 dollars off of a 20 dollar game.
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Yeah I don't think it's typical for Kickstarters to give you a discount anyways.
 
Wereroku said:
Dude I usually stay out of stuff like this but from reading over those emails you were being kind of an jerk about the fact that you can't get 5 dollars off of a 20 dollar game.
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What's your definition of a jerk? I fear it might be erroneous. The way I (and Harmonix) look at it, I sort of own my money and am allowed to do what I want with it. It's not like I stole their money.

You may disagree :p
 
Wereroku said:
Dude I usually stay out of stuff like this but from reading over those emails you were being kind of an jerk about the fact that you can't get 5 dollars off of a 20 dollar game.
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Yeah. Kickstarter isnt a way to preorder a game. It's to fund the product, and usually as a byproduct, they give you one. If you don't want to pay $20, that's fine, don't fund the game. But don't whine that you can't get a deal when there is still a chance the game doesn't even get made
 
Dr. Kaos said:
What's your definition of a jerk? I fear it might be erroneous. The way I (and Harmonix) look at it, I sort of own my money and am allowed to do what I want with it. It's not like I stole their money.

You may disagree :p
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And they are allowed to do what they want with the KickStarter, it's not like they owe you a game if you don't help back the project, nor did they steal your money.

Dr. Kaos said:
It's only been a day after this kickstarter launched and I already can't back at the $15 level?

Not cool, guys. You know you have (way, way) more than 1000 dedicated fans. I feel left out in the cold, here. I must have bought almost a dozen harmonix games over the years and I ain't feeling the love.

Bring back the $15 tier please.
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This made me chuckle.
 
Dr. Kaos said:
What's your definition of a jerk? I fear it might be erroneous. The way I (and Harmonix) look at it, I sort of own my money and am allowed to do what I want with it. It's not like I stole their money.

You may disagree :p
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Mostly you insulted them in your post accusing them of being incredibly arrogant when in fact their email is quite different than that. Also your email to them lecturing them on the proper protocol of doing a kickstarter is rather high and mighty sounding so that sort of falls into my definition of being a bit of a jerk.
 
Well I've now did a "friendly" reminder (which might or not have involved the mention of murder during their sleeps) to my facebook friends to back this game

At least one of them decided that $20 was worth enough to erase the risk of anything happening to their personhood.
 
Wow i had no idea they were this close, 2 days ago it was barely half the target, what happened since??
Anyway still a pretty long way to go considering the short time, campaign needed more time.
 
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