I've backed 19 projects, 18 at Kickstarter, one at Indiegogo (another crowdfunding site).  Sixteen games, three non-games. 

Still active at the time of this post: Asylum - Xing: The Land Beyond (for 1st-person fans, looks very good!) - Mage's Initiation - Dreamfall Chapters - Ithaka of the Clouds (I love Jonas Kyratzes' unique games).

Succesfully funded:  Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption - Broken Sword: The Serpent's Curse - Jack Houston and the Necronauts - Quest for Infamy - Lilly Looking Through - Tex Murphy: Project Fedora - Jane Jensen's Moebius - Double Fine Adventure - Blindside: An Audio Adventure - Cognition: An Erica Reed Thriller - Hadean Lands (text adventure)

One of the three non-game KS projects delivered the goods to most backers. I never received anything, not even a reply to my emails and PMs, and I wasn't the only one. The second project did deliver after a long period of production problems, but I found the end result disappointing. The third one delivered promptly and the end product was fine.

Only two game projects have shown results so far: Cognition and Blindside.  No complaints here.

Hadean Lands is still a work in progress after 27 months and it won't be finished in the foreseeable future. Developer Andrew Plotkin is working on all kinds of other commercial projects and his backers helped tide him over when he quit his job. He may produce a text adventure in the end, but I still feel this is no way to treat your backers. 

Thanks for that link to Adventure-Treff, Fien. 

Other than Asylum, which just funded today and Homesick, which funded about a week ago, I haven't backed and funded games on KS.  I did however, back Jane Jensen's Pinkerton Road project via Paypal and they have already delivered on a promised book, and several of the promised perks.  They also issue monthly updates, which are reassuring. 

I guess that I remain cautiously optimistic.  Hope that you finally get all that you've pledged for. 

I think I'm getting worse....

Dreamfall Chapters

Tex Murphy: Project Fedora

Asylum

Xing

I added Dreamfall Chapters since they reached their stretch goal of a Mac port.

Regarding Adventure-Treff, they do have an excellent screenshot gallery, too.

Absolutely

Mostly adventure and rgps with a few graphic novels thrown in. I've pledged 23 projects with 20 being successfully funded.

The problem is I look at Kickstarter as a pre order service, which so many people tell me is wrong. But sometime starting in Sept 2013 will begin the deluge of my projects coming to fruition. Soon well see . . .

I too tend to think of it as a pre-order service.  I hope you get your perks, Dajjer.  I think most of the projects are floated by people who legitimately plan to produce what they promise.  Meanwhile... Indiegogo anyone? 

Originally Posted By Val (1 MAR 2013 3:30am)

I think I'm getting worse....

Dreamfall Chapters

Tex Murphy: Project Fedora

Asylum

Xing

In the beginning yes, but now I'm more selective.  I'm treating it like an investment in the Stock Market hoping my return will be well worth it.

Another question to ponder:

Is there a difference in the "addiction" when you pledge, for example, $5 to 50 projects versus $150, etc. to 3 projects. To me, they are different kinds of obsession.

Pledging $5 to 50 projects seems generous but I don't think you'd have all that much fun. (forgive me if I'm totally missing the point)

There might be a slight difference in the math in how much money is directly invested into the actual game project. Pledging $150 for any game project will most likely entitle you to a boxed or deluxe edition and perhaps some other type of memorabilia. The actual cost of these items would be deducted from your pledge thus reducing the game's true budget.

I generally treat it as a pre order, and generally if I back a product I will back it at the lower tier where you "get the game" when it's released.

However a few kickstarters that I really believe in/want to help, I'll donate more (like Jane Jensen's Moebius, etc).

I've never contributed to a kickstarter. While in principle they might be a good idea, I think the devs are too mysterious about these things. I mean, what would I be funding? They might say its an adventure but what kind? Is it going to be a cross-platform, direct control action/adventure hybrid? Is it first or third person? Hand-drawn or 3D?

I can understand why they don't say too much. They don't want to alienate any potential donors who might not fund a traditional p&c or a hybrid. It's good business sense. But while I'll pay top dollar for a hard copy of an AG I like, I won't buy a pig in a poke.

Many of the games that ask for a kickstarter tell you that.

Like the recent Torment game, they clearly said it'd be an old style isometeric rpg simialr to planescape torment in themes/atmosphere.

The recent adventure game for the new Dreamfall had gameplay footage showing the game, and explained you could control it via w/s/a/d or even point and click style iwth your mouse if you wish to.

Too Mysterious? Not really - the Kickstarter projects come in a variety of works in progresses. Some come with just an idea, some need the funding to complete the project, some need the funding to move the game to anohter level. You can easily tell where they fall just by looking at their initial Kickstarter video.

I also disagree with the idea that they don't want to alienate potential donors. I believe the whole idea of Kickstarter is to get your vision out there and get others to see its value as you do. The Kickstarter failures I've seen aren't dealing in withholding information to trick donors but in not having a compelling and coherent vison that gets other to believe in their project.

Many of the potential kickstarter games also have their own websites where more info is available.  The developers usually enjoy talking about their projects and provide the backers with neat tidbits of information.  I've enjoyed visiting Senscape (makers of Asylum) which has a special section just for backers.

      As I wrote earlier on and elaborated in the thread "Trends", Kickstarter is not for me ! I like my games completed and not half baked (unless I'm doing beta testing !!).

IN ANY CASE...according to the information given to me just 3 or 4 days ago by Mikael Nyqvist (MDNA Games Sweden - 9 Carol Reed Mystery games) Kickstarter is ONLY available to Americans and since I am NOT an American I could not participate even if I wanted to - which as I said, I DON'T !

     From years of experience,  Mikael is very  rarely incorrect !!!

Contributing to a Kickstarter project is available to any body.

But folks outside of the United States have to cough up the postage to get the product mailed to them.

As far as half baked programs, none of us hope that our invested dollars are going to a half baked program. One Kickstarter game I know of FTL, turned out to be a great game. It's received raves from both critics and players. Most likely a half baked program will not get the necessary funding to succeed.

I recommend any one who thinks the idea of Kickstarter is silly, is to just visit the Website and see what it's all about.

http://www.kickstarter.com/

There's more than just games there.

I guess I over-generalized in my previous post. Kickstarter is a good business idea. I wish I would have thought of it. But the problem is with me.  I am very picky about the adventure games I buy and play. I like 3rd person point and clicks. I hate action and timed sequences. I've hated them since the skimmer in Space Quest 1 to the QTE in Book of Unwritten Tales. All I want to know is if there's going to be action (combat, jumping, shooting, QTE's, etc.) in the proposed game they're trying to fund. This is the info that is hard to come by when searching adventure games. That's why (in my peculiar case) I think funding an AG is more of a gamble than an investment.

Originally Posted By MKB (26 APR 2013 10:40pm)

I guess I over-generalized in my previous post. Kickstarter is a good business idea. I wish I would have thought of it. But the problem is with me.  I am very picky about the adventure games I buy and play. I like 3rd person point and clicks. I hate action and timed sequences. I've hated them since the skimmer in Space Quest 1 to the QTE in Book of Unwritten Tales. All I want to know is if there's going to be action (combat, jumping, shooting, QTE's, etc.) in the proposed game they're trying to fund. This is the info that is hard to come by when searching adventure games. That's why (in my peculiar case) I think funding an AG is more of a gamble than an investment.

I feel exactly the same as you MKB.

I too prefer 3rd peron point n'clickers, although I hae played some 1st person Quest/Adventures which are excellent!

I am possibly even more picky than you !!

As far as possible I am pretty careful about  buying games.  As I have said - it is not as though there are hardly any adventure games on the  market - the opposite these days - there are dozens of fairly recent games to choose from and I am a very slow player and have neither the time, energy, or eyesight to play more than a a half dozen every year and would like those to be the most enjoyable to my taste.

I usually start by reading as many differentlreviews as possible, and then peruse players' positive & negative comments on various forums. I very rarely buy a game without first having played its demo. This gives me by far the best guidance as to whether i am reasonably likely to enjoy the game from all practical points of view. But even more important than that - a demo proves that the game will play properly or indeed at all on my PC setup.  I have played graphic Quest /Adventures for more than 30 years, and beta tested and written walkthroughs for very many dozens in addition. Once in a while I have had a game which just wont work on my computer (wrong video or sound card or operating system or memory or whatever) - and I do not like wasting money - and I'm not a fiend who likes to be THE FIRST to play the game - on the contrary, later versions are usually more bug free (and cheaper).

I wrote in my previous post here that I don't buy games "half baked" and was correctly criticized for that statement - it was inappropriate.

More apt would be :- I don't like buying "A pig in a poke"   :~ ))       :~ ))

Originally Posted By Dajjer (26 APR 2013 5:48pm)

Contributing to a Kickstarter project is available to any body.

 

But folks outside of the United States have to cough up the postage to get the product mailed to them.

 

As far as half baked programs, none of us hope that our invested dollars are going to a half baked program. One Kickstarter game I know of FTL, turned out to be a great game. It's received raves from both critics and players. Most likely a half baked program will not get the necessary funding to succeed.

 

I recommend any one who thinks the idea of Kickstarter is silly, is to just visit the Website and see what it's all about.

 

http://www.kickstarter.com/

 

There's more than just games there.

The problem is that in many countries the crowdfunding itself isn't covered by law yet, and in some cases illegal.

The US has been quite progressive in this case, it sees the benefits for the economy whereas other countries see it as something beyond their control.

So while anybody can contribute, many can't legally start a crowdfunding project themselves.

Originally Posted By markornikov (27 APR 2013 2:17am)

 

 

The problem is that in many countries the crowdfunding itself isn't covered by law yet, and in some cases illegal.

The US has been quite progressive in this case, it sees the benefits for the economy whereas other countries see it as something beyond their control.

So while anybody can contribute, many can't legally start a crowdfunding project themselves.

 

 

You're confusing platform with country. Kickstarter is just one of the many, many crowdfunding platforms. It is true that creators, or at the very least their bank account, must be US-based but that's entirely Kickstarter's choice. (They recently added the UK.) A smaller and less ambitious platform like Indiegogo has been international for years. Anybody can start a project there.

Last year, I pledged to an immensely successful multimillion euro project and I now am one of the proud 2700+ owners of a wind turbine that supplies my electricity.  

Just shows how blinkered I am

I had never heard of the word "CROWDFUNDING" until these posts today.

I don't know if it exists in Israel although I've never heard of it here either in Hebrew or in English

If it DOES exist here, I see no reason whatsoever why it should be illeggal !!

Yes Len, in Israel too. 

Originally Posted By MKB (26 APR 2013 10:40pm)

I guess I over-generalized in my previous post. Kickstarter is a good business idea. I wish I would have thought of it. But the problem is with me.  I am very picky about the adventure games I buy and play. I like 3rd person point and clicks. I hate action and timed sequences. I've hated them since the skimmer in Space Quest 1 to the QTE in Book of Unwritten Tales. All I want to know is if there's going to be action (combat, jumping, shooting, QTE's, etc.) in the proposed game they're trying to fund. This is the info that is hard to come by when searching adventure games. That's why (in my peculiar case) I think funding an AG is more of a gamble than an investment.

QTEs?  Did you say QTEs?. QTEs prevented "Hard Rain" from being one of the best adventure games of all time. Such a shame with that amazing story.

Oh but I do hear you about clicky action in adventure games. I too am a very picky gamer. I like my RPGs like Gothic, Fallout Vegas and Might and Magic and I like my adventure games like Mission Critical, Syberia and Grim Fandango. I too hate reflex actions in my adventure games and have yet to buy Dreamfall.

However, being a gamer since the 80s, I have played so many games, that if I only played my specific subset I just wouldn't be playing that many games nowadays. So I take a chance on games that hold potential and pray for the best - and that's on the typical-regularly developed games we find in the stores and online.

Enter Kickstarter. I've found more games that offer the type of game play that I like than I have seen in years. And it's pretty exciting to be getting in on the ground floor of some of these games and seeing them march to a reality. Actually the game I am most looking forward to, I completely missed when it started up on Kickstarter. It is an adventure game where a US astronaut goes to Mars and finds out the Russians beat us there by a couple decades. However the place is deserted. Or is it?

It's called:

http://www.lifelessplanet.com/

I missed the funding but it will be a day one buy for me.

I missed that too, and it looks like something I'd be greatly interested in, thanks for posting that Dajjer.

Interesting you should mention Lifeless Planet. That was the very first Kickstarter I contributed to. Very interesting concept, quite promising. Really looking forward to seeing how it turns out.