So, who's heard of Kickstarter? They're a kind of internet crowdfunding site. People who have ideas but no money ask people on the internet to donate, perhaps offering rewards if the project goes through. It's a neat idea, but it's all changed recently.
Because recently, Tim Schafer raised <a href='http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/66710809/double-fine-adventure' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>3 million dollars to make a classic adventure game.</a> Schafer is a supergenius and one of the people who made Lucasarts so great, and now heads Double Fine, maker of such gems as Psychonauts and Brutal Legend.
And he raised three million dollars to make an old school adventure game. This has opened the floodgates.
<a href='http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/wasteland-2' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>Brian Fargo, creator of Fallout, is now running a Kickstarter to fund a sequel to Wasteland, the original post-apocalyptic RPG</a>. It's now sitting pretty at almost $2 million. At $2.1 million, they bring in Obsidian studios to help with the writing (note that most of the original Black Isle team will thus be involved), and at three million they're going to release a tool kit with the game.
Fargo has also started a side project called "Kicking it Forward", a pledge that Kickstarter groups can put sign to donate 5% of their profits (not donations, profits after product release) back to Kickstarter projects. This is a great idea, and people are signing up at a good pace.
And now Shadowrun, the cyberpunk with magic RPG is getting a resurrection from its original creator as <a href='http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1613260297/shadowrun-returns' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>Shadowrun Returns, a 2D RPG much like Wasteland 2 above</a>. I'm a huge Shadowrun enthusiast, though it's something I never got to play since none of my friends growing up played PnP games. The project is halfway funded in one day, a good sign going forward.
And there's almost certainly more to come. Obsidian has expressed interest, smaller developers are looking at this seriously and the sky's the limit.
Because recently, Tim Schafer raised <a href='http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/66710809/double-fine-adventure' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>3 million dollars to make a classic adventure game.</a> Schafer is a supergenius and one of the people who made Lucasarts so great, and now heads Double Fine, maker of such gems as Psychonauts and Brutal Legend.
And he raised three million dollars to make an old school adventure game. This has opened the floodgates.
<a href='http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/wasteland-2' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>Brian Fargo, creator of Fallout, is now running a Kickstarter to fund a sequel to Wasteland, the original post-apocalyptic RPG</a>. It's now sitting pretty at almost $2 million. At $2.1 million, they bring in Obsidian studios to help with the writing (note that most of the original Black Isle team will thus be involved), and at three million they're going to release a tool kit with the game.
Fargo has also started a side project called "Kicking it Forward", a pledge that Kickstarter groups can put sign to donate 5% of their profits (not donations, profits after product release) back to Kickstarter projects. This is a great idea, and people are signing up at a good pace.
And now Shadowrun, the cyberpunk with magic RPG is getting a resurrection from its original creator as <a href='http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1613260297/shadowrun-returns' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>Shadowrun Returns, a 2D RPG much like Wasteland 2 above</a>. I'm a huge Shadowrun enthusiast, though it's something I never got to play since none of my friends growing up played PnP games. The project is halfway funded in one day, a good sign going forward.
And there's almost certainly more to come. Obsidian has expressed interest, smaller developers are looking at this seriously and the sky's the limit.