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Kickstarter : The new 8-bit Hero. Mystic Searches


TheBiRD

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God, I remember that Kickstarter. I think the finish date forecast for like a year or so? I backed it, and am still waiting patiently, but it's still eye-rollingly long in it's delay. I really should look up his programming engine though. It's been getting some buzz and I need all the help I can get in that arena. 

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This is the exception rather than the rule for Kickstarter NES games. There have been 17 funded Kickstarter (or other similar platforms) NES games that have shipped. There are currently 9 games that have been successfully funded but have not shipped. Five of those were funded this year (some within the last couple of months). That only leaves four games with significant delays.

Full Quiet was supposed to release in September 2018. Their last update was on September 2.

Gamer Quest was supposed to release by end of 2016 (it was a stretch goal). Their last update was on September 12. (note: game is also being made by Mystic Searches team)

Mystic Searches was supposed to release in November 2015. Their last update was on July 23.

Sydney Hunter and the Caverns of Death was supposed to release in December 2016. Their last update was on June 28.

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1 hour ago, Code Monkey said:

Every NES game on Kickstarter since 2015 can blame this game as the sole reason I have not backed them. This game killed Kickstarter for me, I just don't trust it anymore.

And Sydney Hunter.

And Mighty No. 9.

It's totally fair not to trust Kickstarter (there isn't any guarantee about what you're going to get), but I'd suggest it makes more sense to trust or distrust a particular person/creator instead of the platform.  When Khan or @SoleGoose or @K3VBOT or @IBtiM kickstarts a game, I have confidence in that person as a member of the community that they'll deliver what they promised. But I wouldn't necessarily back something by somebody I had never heard of, or by somebody who has failed to deliver in the past.

Kickstarter is just the platform.  The people are who you are trusting (or not trusting)

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Homebrew Team · Posted
28 minutes ago, gauauu said:

It's totally fair not to trust Kickstarter (there isn't any guarantee about what you're going to get), but I'd suggest it makes more sense to trust or distrust a particular person/creator instead of the platform.  When Khan or @SoleGoose or @K3VBOT or @IBtiM kickstarts a game, I have confidence in that person as a member of the community that they'll deliver what they promised. But I wouldn't necessarily back something by somebody I had never heard of, or by somebody who has failed to deliver in the past.

Kickstarter is just the platform.  The people are who you are trusting (or not trusting)

I agree with this.  When I back on kickstarter, I check on the creator's past projects and what happened to them.  Also, more so, how far along the project is and how transparent they were with the project development.   

For all the individuals you have there, no reservations about backing their projects.

Out of the blue projects, where the company or creator has no past projects, the campaign and supporting documents would have to be top notch for me to back it.     

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Moderator · Posted

I agree with what’s been said, the reputation of the person launching the Kickstarter is a more important concern than Kickstarter itself. In addition to seeing what if any campaigns they’ve launched I also look at their backing history to see if they also support others in the community. Not that reciprocation is necessarily expected, but it also shows a level of awareness of and involvement with the wider community.

And communication is key, both in terms of frequency of updates and in providing satisfactory responses to questions. All the brewers mentioned above are great about keeping in touch because they’re great people, and they know the value of maintaining their reputation and that of the community.

As for Mystic Searches, I missed the boat on backing Mystic Searches on Kickstarter but did manage to put in pre-orders for both Mystic Searches and Mystic Origins before they closed it on their website. I don’t get any updates there, so I have to either check the Kickstarter page for updates or send a direct email, and to his credit Joe is usually very quick to respond to emails. My concern though is that the last time I messaged him, I got a weird response. Earlier this year I noticed on the Kickstarter page that they were offering copies of Mystic Origins to people that didn’t want to wait for Mystic Searches. So I thought, cool maybe that means he’ll be fulfilling pre-orders for Mystic Origins soon after he’s taken care of anyone on Kickstarter that wanted to get a copy. I messaged Joe and said hey I saw you offering copies of Mystic Origins to backers, does that mean that you’ll be sending out copies to those who pre-ordered on your website soon too? And he responded that he made some extras, told me to keep watching, and pasted a link to the NESmaker Facebook group. This confused me for several reasons because I had said I ordered off the website so 1) why am I looking for a giveaway and 2) why didn’t you order enough to cover pre-orders you collected. I get that he’s busy and gets no end of crap from his Kickstarter backers, but his response made me feel not listened to. I checked my pre-order status and as far as I could tell no money was collected, so I cancelled the order for Mystic Origins (keeping in place my pre-order for Mystic Searches) and managed to find someone’s resold copy of Mystic Origins on eBay.

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2 hours ago, gauauu said:

It's totally fair not to trust Kickstarter (there isn't any guarantee about what you're going to get), but I'd suggest it makes more sense to trust or distrust a particular person/creator instead of the platform.  When Khan or @SoleGoose or @K3VBOT or @IBtiM kickstarts a game, I have confidence in that person as a member of the community that they'll deliver what they promised. But I wouldn't necessarily back something by somebody I had never heard of, or by somebody who has failed to deliver in the past.

Kickstarter is just the platform.  The people are who you are trusting (or not trusting)

Except one of those guys you mentioned abuses the system by fully funding their game without Kickstarter, completing it and then using the platform to gauge interest for pre-orders. That's why you know the game will be delivered, it's done before it ever hits Kickstarter, which I don't agree with. That's not the purpose of the platform.

We need something in between this and Mystic Searches, something that could not otherwise get funded but also has realistic timelines and community support.

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Homebrew Team · Posted
29 minutes ago, Code Monkey said:

Except one of those guys you mentioned abuses the system by fully funding their game without Kickstarter, completing it and then using the platform to gauge interest for pre-orders. That's why you know the game will be delivered, it's done before it ever hits Kickstarter, which I don't agree with. That's not the purpose of the platform.

We need something in between this and Mystic Searches, something that could not otherwise get funded but also has realistic timelines and community support.

Based on the people mentioned and some deductive reasoning, I feel that's a narrow-minded statement.  Having a product done, or mostly done, but not being able to eat the up front costs of production, let alone being crippled by unsold merchandise is a big factor that I argue Kickstarter is still for (not to mention getting the word out there about your product, especially when it's so niche). 

It's not like we are talking about a huge company (or even just a  reasonably well established/well funded one), completing a full game and then using Kickstarter to secure preorders of a game they could easily release on their own.  We are talking about hobbyists with limited resources and reach, wanting to get a cool/unique project out to the masses, better than they would be able to on their own.

Not saying your opinion is wrong or invalid, just that I strongly disagree with it.

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Agreed. Kickstarter is certainly a great marketing platform bundled with a way for people to pre-order. Having a completed project and using Kickstarter to fund the production costs is an obvious and suitable choice. If you think about it the only real cost are production. You don't have to pay anyone to be able to code your game, so you can technically code for free and finish it 100% before you ever need to worry about fronting or collecting any money to manufacture physicals. 

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On 10/29/2019 at 11:31 AM, gauauu said:

It's totally fair not to trust Kickstarter (there isn't any guarantee about what you're going to get), but I'd suggest it makes more sense to trust or distrust a particular person/creator instead of the platform.  When Khan or @SoleGoose or @K3VBOT or @IBtiM kickstarts a game, I have confidence in that person as a member of the community that they'll deliver what they promised. But I wouldn't necessarily back something by somebody I had never heard of, or by somebody who has failed to deliver in the past.

Kickstarter is just the platform.  The people are who you are trusting (or not trusting)

Thanks so much!

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On 10/28/2019 at 11:35 PM, TheBiRD said:

5 years ago, back in 2014, I pledged that project. I guess it will be a masterpiece (at least, I hope so..!). Are you on board with M Joe Granato?! When do you think we will get that game?!

I'd like to echo the thoughts above- it's about the person/company who's producing rather than the platform for fundraising/sales. 

Never got a good read on the project myself, seemed like it was secondary to a movie (did that come out?), and then there were a few dustups on the previous boards- so much so that I thought the content creator put more focus on defending the movie and his view of NES development than on putting out a product.

creating just music carts is an endeavor, a whole game, with cardboard to boot is a serious project. It's amazing what some of the folks in this thread have done in game production and professional presentation!

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26 minutes ago, zi said:

I'd like to echo the thoughts above- it's about the person/company who's producing rather than the platform for fundraising/sales. 

Never got a good read on the project myself, seemed like it was secondary to a movie (did that come out?), and then there were a few dustups on the previous boards- so much so that I thought the content creator put more focus on defending the movie and his view of NES development than on putting out a product.

creating just music carts is an endeavor, a whole game, with cardboard to boot is a serious project. It's amazing what some of the folks in this thread have done in game production and professional presentation!

Movie and programm to developp a Nes game are done.    What I think is that the programm evoluates day after day, What make the producer start the game from the beginning with all the new futurs and the power of the programm itself.   Also they had to developp the programm before they were able to create the game itself...

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If I recall correctly, I'm pretty sure Joe has stated that Mystic Searches isn't going to release until he is satisfied with the development of the NES Maker. From what I can tell, he is just working on NES Maker right now, and is fully focused on that. Whenever he considers the program to be done, or adequate, then he will release the game as a showpiece for what the development software is capable of. 

I remember being a little bummed that I didn't get on-board the kickstarter, but seeing how long it's been taking, I'm pretty glad this is one I missed.

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On 10/30/2019 at 11:30 PM, Zezzler said:

From what I can tell, he is just working on NES Maker right now, and is fully focused on that.

Yeah, I'd totally agree with that.

On 10/28/2019 at 10:35 PM, TheBiRD said:

Are you on board with M Joe Granato?! When do you think we will get that game

I feel like it's a little disingenuous to have taken everyone's money like that and then moved another huge project. I don't believe he's acting in bad faith but I disagree with how he's handling it.

The Kickstarter was before my time but I've since pre-ordered the cartridge so I'm in the same boat with the backers and really would like to play this game. I do think we'll get it, eventually.

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On 11/2/2019 at 8:02 PM, BacteriaMage said:

Yeah, I'd totally agree with that.

I feel like it's a little disingenuous to have taken everyone's money like that and then moved another huge project. I don't believe he's acting in bad faith but I disagree with how he's handling it.

The Kickstarter was before my time but I've since pre-ordered the cartridge so I'm in the same boat with the backers and really would like to play this game. I do think we'll get it, eventually.

How do we pre-order Mystic Searches?

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