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Project GODUS (Populous reinvention) Kickstarter by 22cans [Ended, £526K Funded]

GraveRobberX

Platinum Trophy: Learned to Shit While Upright Again.
Molyneux's exorbitant speeches/statements are coming to come back him bite in the ass

Kickstarting this, good it's not going to get funded, they can get funded some way else

Rather than leech it off crowd-sourcing and under-delivering

At least with a publisher they can be held accountable

I wouldn't trust him with my money
 
That "interview" with one of the dev is some funny shit:

Q: What pledge tier would you recommend people pledge at?

A: I would have to go for the PARTNER pledge. I want that ingame statue with all my little followers gathered around it. However I think the student tier is an incredible opportunity for anyone currently studying design or digital art. The knowledge and advice in those Forums really will be invaluable.

How insulting to your audience's intelligence can you be?
 
Yes, there is a single-player campaign. The game modes mentioned in updates are roughly broken down into:

Homeworld which is the sandbox where you just muck about and build up your civilisation / followers. Your Homeworld also becomes your base for SP and MP games (though how that works in MP is unclear.)

Crusades which are the SP challenges and campaigns.

Multiplayer...

And they've expressed a hope to be able to have cooperative multiplayer as well.

Thanks, i really don't know how i missed that there's an SP mode. I'm ashamed.
 

Grief.exe

Member
If anyone is interested here is a good site for tracking kickstarter data. Shows how many backers and how much money was generated per day, also extrapolates the data out and creates a trending line.
It currently shows Godus as falling short of its goal. The trending line is usually pretty accurate. Projects like Pier Solar and Star Citizen were always trending far above their funding goal.
http://www.kicktraq.com/projects/22cans/project-godus/


While its impossible to track a trending line with raw data to take into account social media or the 'last day push' that these titles seem to give. What I think is interesting is that Godus is trending to only get 81% of its goal, and this trend is dropping daily.

What I'm getting at is the 'last day push' and other factors that the trending line cannot take into account may not be enough to push this project into the funded category.
Right now the last 24 hours would need to earn somewhere in the region of 85,000 pounds. I've been monitoring this project daily and the trending line is dropping pretty significantly. It has started to even out over the past week and has lost 100,000 pounds in that time.
If this data continues the trending line could drop down to 75% of the goal which would be 115,000 pounds short. Keep in mind that Godus hasn't even earned over 60,000 pounds in a day even during the first 72 hours, which typically has some of the highest donation amounts for a project.


I think kind of case in point here is the Project Eternity Kickstarter.
Look at the trending line: http://www.kicktraq.com/projects/obsidian/project-eternity/#chart-exp-trend
The trending line really evens out in the last two weeks of the project and is showing the trend to fall about about 3.75 million, this is exactly where Godus is right now as well. The end funding ended at 3.9 million, this shows a margin of error about 3-4% in the last two weeks. Very small.
Then take a look at money/backers per day: http://www.kicktraq.com/projects/obsidian/project-eternity/#chart-daily
Notice that the first few days earned a decently larger margin than what was earned during the 'last push'

We will see, but I think Molyneux is right to be worried about the Kickstarter.
 
So wait, he shouldn't use Kickstarter because he has money, but he shouldn't hire a bunch of people because it costs money? Which is it?

If he didn't hire the staff then we certainly wouldn't be seeing the prototypes, videos and other aspects of the game right now and all we'd be hearing is that Molyneux has nothing to show for his promises etc etc.

Though I guess we're getting that anyway so he should probably just take his money and retire rather than making games. I guess that works out best for us as gamers.
He should build a studio within his means, and make games within those means, not put the risk of £450k onto his fans. Those means include personal wealth, VC funding, traditional funding. It's really not that complicated.
 

JaggedSac

Member
The minecraft creator dude just sent some money their way.


And the general populous is going to determine whether they want Pete to fund his games on Kickstarter or not. We will find out in a little over a week. Not looking good so far.
 
he has put pretty much put his personal savings into 22cans and Curiosity and its servers. Those bandwidth costs of the servers are making him bleed money right now.

Maybe instead of making PoS experimental games he (and all of you people!) could've used that money to make Godus?
 

Frogacuda

Banned
Molyneux could afford 450k out of his own pocket no problem. This is greed.
If you had that $700,000, would you invest it in a game? I sure as shit wouldn't and I don't expect Peter to gamble any more of his life savings than he already has.

I don't think this is a fair criticism. He HAS put a lot of money into establishing 22 Cans. That doesn't mean he has to go and be the next Curt Shilling.
 
Molyneux's exorbitant speeches/statements are coming to come back him bite in the ass

Kickstarting this, good it's not going to get funded, they can get funded some way else

Rather than leech it off crowd-sourcing and under-delivering

At least with a publisher they can be held accountable

I wouldn't trust him with my money

Would be a shame if the Kickstarter failed and GODUS got funded by a big publisher who wanted lots of input in the creative process though - subsequently ruining the vision that he's trying to achieve with a purely independent studio.
 

Frogacuda

Banned
With final push it will make it.

One thing is sure. Mobile phone version backfired at them. They should create only PC game and it would be already above that funding goal.

I think people bitching about parity with a mobile version are silly, but it backfired for people like me, because I'd love a mobile version, but I'm sure as shit not spending $24 for it, and that's the minimum pledge to get the game. If they had a 5 quid mobile buy in, I'd have backed.
 

syko de4d

Member
yeahe the mobile version is the problem. I see no reason to pledge 25$ for a mobile game.

I can´t see how godus can get 450k in the next days. For that they really need a big big push. Last 2 Days they get around 20k, they still need 180k and only 7 days left
 
If you had that $700,000, would you invest it in a game? I sure as shit wouldn't and I don't expect Peter to gamble any more of his life savings than he already has.

I don't think this is a fair criticism. He HAS put a lot of money into establishing 22 Cans. That doesn't mean he has to go and be the next Curt Shilling.
I put all my savings into making games last year.

Kickstarter is absolutely a sensible thing to do. Put the risk onto the fans. It just isn't moral.
 
It would be immoral only if people were mindless. People understand what it is, if they choose to fund, the onus is on them.
Nonsense. Hardly anyone out there knows what goes into making a game. Cuts, delays, cancellations are more of an inevitability than a risk yet none of that is presented on the Godus page. Instead in-game bonuses are offered relating to features that aren't even developed yet. I find it sickening.
 

LAMBO

Member
Shows how little people trust him anymore. Chris Roberts raises 7M, Obsidian 4M, Planetary Annihilation raises 2M, he can't get 1M. His whole 22 experiments rhetoric leading to the ultimate game really rubs me the wrong way. I really don't want to fund his experimenting in social media.
 

Frogacuda

Banned
I put all my savings into making games last year.

Kickstarter is absolutely a sensible thing to do. Put the risk onto the fans. It just isn't moral.
But that's what Kickstarter is, in every single case. The idea is to split the risk up into relatively small pieces that fans are willing to take a gamble on.

Even if I was rich, I doubt I'd ever risk a million of my own on game development. But even though I'm broke, I'm willing to gamble $10 or $20 on a project I think might give me something unique and special. I'm well aware that it's a risk and that if I back enough projects, I'll be disappointed occasionally, but the amounts are small enough to make that risk seem reasonable.
Nonsense. Hardly anyone out there knows what goes into making a game. Cuts, delays, cancellations are more of an inevitability than a risk yet none of that is presented on the Godus page.
This, by the way, is exactly why people like Molyneaux are ideal for KS. I wouldn't want to back a company that had zero resources outside of the KS money, because if it runs out, they're fucked. However, a company that can afford to bankroll a few delays is a much more secure investment.

People get all hopeful about these little indie projects by people that have never published a game before, but these are the risky projects. These are the people who have never managed a budget before and have no fall back plan. So if you'd rather back shit like Code Hero over GODUS, be my guest, but don't cry when it implodes and GODUS ships.
 
But that's what Kickstarter is, in every single case. The idea is to split the risk up into relatively small pieces that fans are willing to take a gamble on.

Even if I was rich, I doubt I'd ever risk a million of my own on game development. But even though I'm broke, I'm willing to gamble $10 or $20 on a project I think might give me something unique and special. I'm well aware that it's a risk and that if I back enough projects, I'll be disappointed occasionally, but the amounts are small enough to make that risk seem reasonable.
But this is not how the whole thing is being sold. There is no acknowledgement that the whole project can come crashing down. The language should be "please donate $20 so I can try and do this crazy idea I wouldn't be able to otherwise" not "back now and you'll receive the gold horse armour". You may be more enlightened than most.

This, by the way, is exactly why people like Molyneaux are ideal for KS. I wouldn't want to back a company that had zero resources outside of the KS money, because if it runs out, they're fucked. However, a company that can afford to bankroll a few delays is a much more secure investment.

People get all hopeful about these little indie projects by people that have never published a game before, but these are the risky projects. These are the people who have never managed a budget before and have no fall back plan. So if you'd rather back shit like Code Hero over GODUS, be my guest, but don't cry when it implodes and GODUS ships.
Well I'm absolutely not suggesting that people go out and support all the small indie game Kickstarters, as you say they are probably an even bigger risk. Making a game is at once very easy (the barrier of entry cost-wise is insanely low compared to manufacturing or even making a film) and very difficult (a lot of skill is required). Someone with almost no resources can make something very meaningful. It ends up being hard not to see most of these as being cash-grabs.
 

wiggleb0t

Banned
If fable has taught me anything is that to increase your appeal you're supposed dance, flex your muscles, burp, fart and partake in all sorts of other useless boring drivel. I don't see Peter dancing to raise funds to increase his appeal. Get on with it!

Usually it's hype with hype with more hype which is just lies. Would love to have played a single game that resembled Peter description, instead Fable: The man who cried Wolf by Peter Molneux is all he delivers time and time again.
 
Would love to have played a single game that resembled Peter description, instead Fable: The man who cried Wolf by Peter Molneux is all he delivers time and time again.

Dungeon Keeper, Populous, Syndicate?

The latest stuff hasn't been up to that, but with that said, I really enjoyed Fable 2 (aside from the ending).
 

Mr Cola

Brothas With Attitude / The Wrong Brotha to Fuck Wit / Die Brotha Die / Brothas in Paris
what happens if it doesnt reach its goal? do people get all their money back?
 

whyman

Member
I dont see this as a gamle at all. The goal for the game itself arent set that high and they will have plenty of time to develop it. I really love the idea. So just back it allready, its going to be great!
 
I dont see this as a gamle at all. The goal for the game itself arent set that high and they will have plenty of time to develop it. I really love the idea. So just back it allready, its going to be great!

Well, considering that picture with a timeline, this is the predecessor to the industry changer game. So i'd say the goals are high in terms of what it will be a precedent for. And probably like many of his projects, fail to do so.
 
Dungeon Keeper, Populous, Syndicate?

The latest stuff hasn't been up to that, but with that said, I really enjoyed Fable 2 (aside from the ending).
I think people don't trust him anymore to make the game he promises to make.

He hasn't released a game in the past 10 years which matched his ambition; see fable, black & white 2, the movies.

Some would say he lies, I just think he's a wishful thinker who can't keep his mouth shut.
 

beastmode

Member
If fable has taught me anything is that to increase your appeal you're supposed dance, flex your muscles, burp, fart and partake in all sorts of other useless boring drivel. I don't see Peter dancing to raise funds to increase his appeal. Get on with it!
Fable III removed a lot of that and people just got angry.
 
Some would say he lies, I just think he's a wishful thinker who can't keep his mouth shut.

Did he even really say anything on Fable 2 and 3? Every time I saw him talking he had Microsoft handlers keeping him from saying anything stupid. I know he got overexcited about the dog, but I don't think that really counts as a broken promise.

(I really liked the dog, probably the best part of Fable 2)
 

Autofokus

Member
Did he even really say anything on Fable 2 and 3? Every time I saw him talking he had Microsoft handlers keeping him from saying anything stupid. I know he got overexcited about the dog, but I don't think that really counts as a broken promise.

(I really liked the dog, probably the best part of Fable 2)

Did you see his Gamescom (I think 2009?) Fable 3 speech about its groundbreaking, emotional touch/hand-holding feature? Also this.
 

dejan

Member
It seems like the project is picking up speed again. :)
I haven't pledged (yet), but I've been watching this campaign from the start. You know, it's a pretty good Kickstarter campaign. Lots of information about the game itself and the development team involved paired with constant meaningful updates in text and video. They are definitely putting some effort into this. My personal disgruntlement towards this particular project stems from the fact that it's targeting PC and Mobile and that compared to similar projects (in scope) the price of entry is pretty steep (£20 right now).
 

tmarques

Member
I'm not sure why anyone would give Molyneaux their money sight unseen. Curiosity is one of the dumbest and worst things I've ever seen and it didn't even work right.

You're going to look pretty silly when the contents of the cube are revealed and they change the history of mankind.
 

Mr Cola

Brothas With Attitude / The Wrong Brotha to Fuck Wit / Die Brotha Die / Brothas in Paris
So this thread intrigued me without giving much thought to the game and I actually went and watched the video on the kickstarter and, although the game isnt my cup of tea I cant really understand the vitriol. What I saw was a group of idealistic people who are obviously very passionate about their game, I dont see why this needs to be a discussion about one mans promises and not about the game. Ive played all of the fables and I remember some of the "hype" generated by the studio which fell flat but I dont hate them for it, and I have nothing against Peter himself.

I live in England, we got hit hard by the economy and are recovering slower than other European countries. I know alot of people out of work and maybes its putting a face behind the game but I think maybe some people in this thread should think before posting as if this was Molyneaux building a game by himself asking for money, its not, he has a team of talented people behind him and inflammatory comments against the owner have the power to discourage other people who might like the game from pledging.

So could we please use this thread to discuss the game itself?
 
So... and this I guess is a question for SamVT as much as everyone else... what happens if the kickstarter fails?

Obviously a lot of work has been done already but I'm guessing that 22 Cans will need to concentrate on maybe a particular version at that point to get the game out. Perhaps with fewer features than otherwise intended.

That, or the idea dies completely, which would massively, massively suck.
 

RiccochetJ

Gold Member
I don't. I've never seen anyone else in the gaming space have an enormous supply of goodwill and piss it all away.

I've never seen people have such hatred for a person who clearly is enthusiastic about what he does and has grand plans at the beginning of a project and it doesn't pan out exactly the way he envisioned.

It's mind boggling that people don't know how to temper their expectations after all this time and instead lash out at him, and from what I've seen in this thread, also at the people that work with him.
 

freddy

Banned
My Guess? If it comes close but not quite then expect a few mysterious donations from family and friends. I can't see the ego losing this one.
 

qwerty2k

Member
Not pledged yet but think i will do. Like others can't quite understand the hatred towards Peter. He clearly is a passionate guy about what he does, yes sometimes he gets carried away BUT...a lot of what he says is 'wouldn't it be good if...' and then people take that to mean he has promised it will be in the game, so partially his own doing partially people misinterpreting what he is saying imo.

Wish all the luck to the studio and Peter.
 

JaggedSac

Member
I've never seen people have such hatred for a person who clearly is enthusiastic about what he does and has grand plans at the beginning of a project and it doesn't pan out exactly the way he envisioned.

It's mind boggling that people don't know how to temper their expectations after all this time and instead lash out at him, and from what I've seen in this thread, also at the people that work with him.

There are a lot of douche bags out there.
 

freddy

Banned
I'd say to do that they'd be wanting a bigger top donation option. More like 10-15k.

Hell, maybe Notch would have gone for that one. ;)

Oh my, I didn't notice 5 big ones was the highest. How will the Microsoft servers keep up with all the Paypal connections?
 
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