Until a couple of years ago I was never into the social media scene. Hell, anyone who's met me knows I'm as social as a brick but despite this I'm stoked about the news from Kickstarter and Double Fine.
Tim Schafer, an innovator behind such projects as The Secret of Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Grim Fandango and Brutal Legend, reached out to the crowdfunding site to get his next game off the ground.
Publishers weren't keen on his idea to revive the point and click genre for which Schafer is best known however fans had a different opinion. He was looking for $400,000 to start Double Fine Adventure but managed to pull in a whopping $3.3 million.
The success of his campaign has captured the attention of fellow developers and now teams looking to revitalize such franchises as Leisure Suit Larry, Wasteland and Shadowrun have hit the site in hopes of making their next project a reality.
If you are unfamiliar with Kickstarter it is a website where someone with an idea posts and if you like it, you can back it financially. More than just games, the site reaches out for movies, documentaries, inventions and more. Those who are successful might even opt to put a percentage of the finished projects profits back into crowdfunding while others roll around in a Scrooge McDuck style money pit.
Personally, I think Kickstarter is a cool concept because it allows you to become more than just a gaming consumer; now you are a part of the game (literally in some cases, see the $2,500 pledge here http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/355932838/crowdsourced-hardcore-tactical-shooter).
Despite some truly horrible sounding ideas and the obvious flaws of potentially overfunding or not delivering/performing, what do you think about Kickstarter? Do you see its potential as a viable way to keep new games on the horizon in a shrinking market of developers?
Note: original story was found here http://mashable.com/2012/04/15/retro-games-kickstarter/. Check it out.
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