Points: 5
Cover Story: It Came From Outer Space!

Kickstarter's First Near-Failure Shows How Honesty and Transparency Are Key

Developers react to what could have been the first crowd-funded game not to be completed.


It was inevitable that, sooner or later, we would see a game funded through Kickstarter fail to see the light of day. It's a fate suffered by countless games funded through the traditional, publisher-backed model, and there's no reason games made possible through successful crowd-funding campaigns would be any different. If anything, Kickstarter games are more likely to fall apart prior to completion because most of the independent developers turning to fans for money do not have the deep pockets of a big publisher capable of keeping a project alive through adversity. Late last week, the developer of Haunts: The Manse Macabre delivered some alarming news to its Kickstarter backers, immediately causing some to assume it would become the first Kickstarter game project to die before being released.

Mob Rules Games, the indie developer behind this turn-based horror game, was seeking $25,000 through Kickstarter earlier this year. On July 6, it was fully funded, having received a total of $28,739 in pledges. Updates from the developers were delivered over the next months, including an outline of the anticipated budget and schedule on August 8. Things then went quiet following September 11, with an update not being posted until last week, on October 18. This one made it clear the lack of updates was due to problems being encountered in development and that the exact future of the project was now uncertain.

Both of Mob Rules' programmers have left the company with the game in an unfinished state. It was known one of these would be leaving around now, except it was believed he would be able to continue contributing in his spare time. That has not proven to be the case, and the other programmer has (from the sound of it) unexpectedly left and decided not to spend his spare time working on the game. That means Haunts, which was written in an uncommon programming language, is incomplete and the remaining two employees don't have the programming know-how to take care of things themselves.

In the initial post revealing the situation, Mob Rules' Rick Dakan wrote, "We have spent all the money we raised, but I will personally refund out of my own pocket anyone who wants to withdraw their support, no questions asked. We're going to make this game, and if you can hang on for what looks to be a long road ahead, we will get it finished, but that's not what I asked you to sign up for and it's not what you gave us money for." A subsequent update clarified the money situation, explaining that there is money left, but much of it is owed to the IRS and what's left would not be sufficient to hire a programmer to complete the project.

Dakan described the situation as "collaps[ing] at the finish line" and offered up some glimpses of what they've been working on. The trailer above, along with gameplay details shared on Mob Rules' website, are meant to serve as evidence the money was not squandered; instead, it was a matter of things taking much longer than anticipated which resulted in the current predicament.

Haunts is obviously a far lesser-known project than something like Double Fine Adventure. Even so, this turn of events has sparked a discussion about the potential impact of a Kickstarter game failing to be released. Will it lead to a decrease in people's willingness to pledge money to games seeking funding? Will developers have to alter their pitches in response?

Having spoken to handful of people with experience using Kickstarter, the consensus seems to be that one failed project will not have a significant effect -- at least, as long as the project in question is on a scale similar to that of Haunts.

Dakan himself told 1UP he doesn't believe "Haunts will have any major effect on Kickstarters in the future." Only four to five out of the game's 1,214 backers have requested a refund, an awfully small number even accounting for the fact that not all of those people are likely to be aware of what's happened (I know I'm unable to keep track of all the goings-on of the projects I've backed). "I've gotten dozens of messages from supporters who not only are sticking with us, but they go out of their way to say that they knew the risks when they made their pledges and that they were supporting a cool idea that might not pan out," Dakan said. "But I do think a large portion of that good will is something we earned by being as open and honest as we have been, and I hope that other developers who use Kickstarter follow our lead in that respect."

That honesty and forthrightness has undoubtedly helped to quell any anger or frustration that may have arisen as a result of what's happened with the game. In fact, beyond the outpouring of support from fans of the game, a number of programmers have volunteered to help make sure the game sees the light of day. This establishes a precedent for future Kickstarter projects that end up in the same position (and there will be more): tell people the truth and they might not only be willing to continue supporting you, they might even be able to help you.

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Comments (6)

  • c0debunny
  • Unfortunate

    Posted: Nov 10, 2012 12:00AM PST by  c0debunny

    I agree to an extent with the article re: that the size of a project and its funding are huge contributors to the reaction of a failed Kickstarter game. I can't imagine what the response would be if Double Fine, or the Ouya, or another huge 6-7 digit project fell through. The thing is, Kickstarter backers are reminded that there is no guarantee of a project's completion. You can be disappointed or angry, yeah, but it's always a possibility that an indie dev won't have the resources to be finished. I did back the Ouya, primarily because I'm a developer and want to be able to do some development with the console. While I was excited for it, I thought about the 'funding' and basically prepared myself for the possibility of failure. In this situation, while it's not that surprising, I do sympathize for the company. It's too bad they didn't have more reliable programmers who believed in the project.

  • nipsen
  • Pitching

    Posted: Oct 28, 2012 12:00AM PST by  nipsen

    "An interesting point Payton raised about Kickstarter failures is the way they could result in a shift in the way potential backers evaluate pitches. "I think one unfortunate takeaway from this is that I think we'll start seeing more and more people judge Kickstarter projects based on the pedigree of the team (and their apparent likelihood of actually shipping) and less on the creative vision," he said. "But I think that's the natural evolution of this platform.""

    I don't think this is true. I didn't donate.. er.. "pledge" money to Obsidian's project until I heard what Sawyer thought about politics and questions they would be able to ask in a game that didn't have the typical styrofoam covered edges that a "commercial" development would have. I simply wouldn't have, and didn't, pledge money based on the idea that they would make "something".

    In the same way, the Double Fine project was half a political statement. We all know that Double Fine has been struggling a lot with games that have to be pitched in a particular way, and then developed in extremely uncreative and separate tracks. That this has to do with bookkeeping and budgeting rather than the actual sum spent in the end as well is not a secret for a lot of developers. We hear this over and over again from developers who have had their projects canned - that the actual sum was very small, but the milestones became token and meaningless for completing the projects. And that the "most successful" developers actually are the ones who have management who can happily exploit that and create another fps/shooter.

    So don.. sorry.. "pledging" to the Double Fine project was a way to say: "We think you're able to do something with this, and I'm willing to bet x amounts of dollars on it in return for such and such returns". The pitch also was utterly transparent in that sense. We knew on beforehand that they didn't have a specific game laid out just yet. And I think that that's the reason why they had a larger number of small contributions. Against the Obsidian project, which is more specific, has screenshots, has writing examples, etc, where you see more +$60 pledges.

    I mean, it's easy to underestimate people who buy video-games. That's what we're very used to doing. That's what for example the pitch at IGN and Rock Paper Shotgun is based on - that gamers are 100% made out of whimsical angsty teenagers acting out a power-fantasy, etc. But in this case, with the way Kickstarter has developed, there's very little there to suggest what spawned it, or what is maintaining the project is ignorant people who are easily influenced by name-dropping. Like the Haunts guy said - people are pledging to a project like that knowing well that it's a gamble, and that very little has to go wrong for the project to keel over. So it's primarily betting on an idea, and getting the return is not the first motivation.

    The opposite of what the usual publishers ask for, yes? 

    Ironically, I noticed that a lot of pledges for Payton's game as well were grouped in with Revolution software and Jane Jensen pledges. In that it's a "ooh, it's an adventure game" boom, not a "wow, it's Payton and MGS". Almost never see that, and there's a very good reason that, I think.

  • Pacario
  • Donating to Kickstarter...

    Posted: Oct 25, 2012 12:00AM PST by  Pacario

    ...is a strange proposition, because if it is never finished, you lose your money.  But if it succeeds, you still kind of lose your money, as you don't reap any of the profits (outside any bonus items the company might send to you). Even in normal charity giving, you expect your money to actually help someone, but you can't even be assured of that in a Kickstarter campaign, as it could very well never materialize a final product.

    Guess it's a good thing people are so generous with their money, at least for these developers' sakes.

  • ambivalent
  • Sad :(

    Posted: Oct 24, 2012 12:00AM PST by  ambivalent

    This is the kind of thing you would ASSUME people realize could happen when they pledge on kickstarter. Asking for a refund would be pretty petty, especially if the developer is willing to stick it out and TRY to finish the thing.

  • trevorvonryan
  • I might be interested in helping to complete this (programmer)

    Posted: Oct 23, 2012 12:00AM PST by  trevorvonryan

    Forward me to them, or vice-versa.

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