$ 2.3 Mio. ? We can raise that!!

Star Citizen keeps giving more things to their backers and I don't think it is hurting, though I'm not sure it is necessary to give the world.

I think the fact that Star Citizen has a great video trailer really helps. The fact that their web site looks really sharp really helps.

I'd like to see another cross promotion from Star Citizen to get some more people pledging here as well, but maybe before directing people in this direction it might help to spruce up the appearance of the site and produce a new killer video.

 

Absolutely! Having something to show that looks great, never ever hurts, especially, when you do promotion/commercial for a product.

 

This might not be the most favourable idea but I know alot of people haven't pledged or have shown hostility towards the idea because it is a Richard Garriot game. The same man that spent $30 million to be a tourist in space, and here he is asking for a few more million for his pocket. I know that Lord British has indeed pledged alot of his own money towards the game and the company Portalerium also. However If Lord British were to make a token video and say behold my faithful citizens "thank you, thank you thank you" and pay a scalable amount to the amount of backers we have it will show humility and also a dedication to his support for his own game. Like I say it may not be the most favourable idea but having a kind and just monarch will appease his citizens and may in-fact encourage them to go deeper into their own pockets. lead by example.

 

Pay us money? How will that help the game? Or are you implying he needs to fund the game as well? It isn't like Richard Garriott asked fans to foot he entire bill while offering nothing himself.

You do realize that before the Kickstarter, he started Portalarium as a company and paid staff to start working on the game and present the tech demo?

It impossible to put out a game of this scope and with these features for $2 million dollars. RG put his own money in, and I believe they have investors as well.

 

No not pay us money. Pledge some of his own money, publicly, recorded in a video as a promotion for shroud of the avatar and as a token of goodwill for the current backers.

Like I say it is probably not the most favourable idea.

Yes enderandrew I did acknowledge he has already used some money towards portalerium and possibly too, shroud of the avatar.

 

There was another kickerstarter fantasy RPG project which the founder also was rich, and offered to pay the same amount as what the backers back, for instance if 1 million was backed he too would back 1 million. I forget now what that kickerstarter project was. so It's not completely unheard of. just I guess not the most favourable suggestion

 

The way I look at it RG is probably wealthy however he should have the opportunity to double his worth by inventing an awesome game. Also the money we spend goes to the salaries of the developers, and various managers. I don't think just because RG has money that he should be forced to spend it on creating a game for us to enjoy. He should have the same rights as any other game developer and the trend is crowd sourcing.

Also think about this, the more people that pledge the greater the group of community members that can contribute to the game itself, and also the greater numbers of testers too. RG can develop this game out of pocket but he can't gather the people alone. However I don't see any problem with them fund-raising because he's earned it! Other people fund raise and they haven't earned it. They've also been very open with us when other projects have not. So lets not let our jealously over RG's money cloud the reason for his business to be allowed to make money.

 

I wouldn't be shocked if RG had invested $2.3 million as well. He opened Portalarium in 2009 and didn't launch a Kickstarter until 2012. He was funding the bills from 3 years, including all the initial development costs of SotA.

I'm not sure why people have this impression that he is just sitting on wealth and investing nothing. This is a passion project for him.

 

True, they did begin development on some of the internals for SotA long before the kickstarter. Somebody had to pay the programmers.

In fact I think I remember him saying he did invest some of his own money, and there were others as well. Either way nobody can just have an unlimited budget on a project otherwise it will lose focus. Having a budget will help keep it on track.

 

Very true. If you pay the programmers a regular payment you find yourself easily to spend hundrets of thousands if not some millions. If we talk about a team of at least 20 programmers and artists who are programming and designung for at least 2 years
So I guess Lord British has already used a lot of private money, just like Chris Roberts only to have the whole thing started!

@Nietzsche: Unfortunatly you are right, for some, his name is already a reason not to pledge. I still think he is one of the most skilled gamedesigners in the industry.

AND: Instead complaining about the PC game industry or to blame "who I don't know else", like Peter Molyneux, Garriot did something and took the risk by developing a game by kickstarter.

 

If he had a staff of 20 people that he paid for one year at $50k each for 1 year on the initial develop of SotA, that is $1 million right there. And that doesn't include the rest of the bills since he opened Portalarium in 2009.

 

Then put licenses for software, computers, the cost for office space, upkeep, and utilities... the more we think about it the more it costs. See why they can use the money?

FYI -- I pledged because it was a Richard Garriott game. I think the people who aren't pledging are missing out.

 

I think people may be overestimating things here. Alot, if not most kickstarter projects have a company and development team before starting a community campaign. Also most projects have already come a fair way into development before starting a campaign. SoTA is no different, infact shroud may in fact of been further back in the development process when it started the campaign.

 

I do agree that 2.3 isn't much to develop the ambitious game that is SoTA

 

Well, don't worry, misunderstandings in discussions about the backgrounds on gamedevelopements happen all the time
As a example: There a still maaaany people who still don't know the difference between a developer and a publisher or even know THAT THERE IS a difference!

 

I won't be making money until after graduate (June 2014). So if pledging is still going on, then I will pledge then. I would pledge if I could. This is the number one game I am looking forward to.

 

So we raised it, as it is now over $ 2.4 Mio!