作者：Ben Maxwell

如今，我们总是很难再回想起Kickstarter出现前的游戏产业，其实也才过了12个月，而那时候集资网站在游戏产业中还没有多大的名气。有趣的是，该网站于2012年正式启动时之所以会引起众人的注意是因为刊登了一篇有关雅达利镇压其它开发者的文章（游戏邦注：以这些开发者侵害其IP为由）。

double_fine_kickstarter（from edge-online）

不过事实上，推动Kickstarter获得世人关注的真正动力是，Double Fine为其全新指向点击冒险游戏（由《Full Throttle》和《Grim Fandango》的创造者Tim Schafer领导创造的游戏）所执行的集资活动。我们都知道，《Double Fine Adventure》获得了比预期（40万美元）高出许多的资金（330万美元），从而吸引了更多备受瞩目的游戏开始采用这种方法，并也让人们开始好奇，传统发行商的重要性是否还将持续下去。

随后，Brian Fargo的《废土2》募得了将近300万美元资金，Replay Games的《花花公子拉瑞》募得了65.5182美元，而Ryan Payton的《Republique》则募得了55.562美元。随着越来越多游戏成功筹集了大量的资金，Kickstarter的重要地位也逐渐成形了。

强大的品牌意识，明确的说明，差异化，推广以及合理的融资目标（在达到最初目标之前和之后）等是推动游戏成功的关键因素，而所有早期在Kickstarter上取得成功的游戏都能够在还不甚拥挤的市场中有效突显出来，避开之后的“淘金热”。同时还需要注意的是，这些早期的活动只是利用一些概念艺术和承诺——但是换在今天便不适用了。

Stainless Games的《死亡赛车》于6月份在Kickstarter上筹集了62.5143万美元，这也在向世人告知Kickstarter影响力的减弱，同时也向开发者发布了警示，如果他们想在日益拥挤的平台上成功募得预期的资金，他们就必须采取适当的方法。

Stainless的Patrick Buckland在7月份的开发大会上说道：“尽管Kickstarter创造了一种全新的集资模式，但是这种模式还需要不断进行完善。当投资者将钱置于某一项目中，但是该项目却遭遇了失败，他们便会感到沮丧。而如果该平台能够让他们觉得自己的投资和收益是有保障的，他们便会更乐意进行投资。”

根据相关预测，这一有效的新型集资模式的作用正在逐渐减弱。即除了《Project Eternity》在此募集了400多万美元外，其它游戏的集资结果都很惨淡。

Brenda Braithwaite和Tom Hall在花了13天时间纠结游戏宣传是否足够吸引人（基于概念艺术和理论）后，最终决定取消他们在Kickstarter上针对其“老派RPG”《Shaker》的集资活动。独立开发商Raylight Games也在难以有效吸引广大投资者注意后取消了益智游戏《伊洛历险记》的集资活动。尽管Android主机Ouya和虚拟现实耳机Oculus Rift仍然证实了集资的强大力量，但是在其它领域，Kickstarter的力量的确在衰退着。

《Code Hero》的创造者，也就是早前与Double Fine一起进行集资的公司最近便遭遇了集资重创（即所获得的资金未能满足预期需求）；《Dizzy Returns》所遭遇的集资挫折也深深打击了Oliver兄弟，并因此向广大开发者证实了不合理策略的危险性。当然了，集资活动仍将继续进行着，但是我们可以预见，2013年的成功集资活动将明显区别于几个月前获取成功的活动。

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Stories of 2012: How Kickstarter changed game funding for ever, and why devs still have much to learn

By Ben Maxwell

It’s difficult to recall a time before Kickstarter’s game industry prominence, but just twelve short months ago the crowdfunding website had a considerably lower profile. Given the empowerment it has brought to developers, then, it’s ironic that the website kicked off 2012 at the centre of controversy as it became the source of a report that Atari was threatening legal action against developers it felt had infringed on its IP rights.

But it was Double Fine’s campaign for a point-and-click adventure helmed by Full Throttle and Grim Fandango creator Tim Schafer that truly catapulted Kickstarter into the public consciousness. As we all know now, Double Fine Adventure flew past its goal of $400,000 to raise $3.3 million, opening the floodgates for more high-profile games to follow and causing many to question the continued relevance of traditional publishers.

Brian Fargo’s Wasteland 2 subsequently netted nearly $3 million, Replay Games’ Leisure Suit Larry closed at $655,182 and Ryan Payton’s Republique raised $555,662. And as they did so, an unwritten Kickstarter best practice guide began to coalesce.

Strong brand identity, clear explanation, differentiation, promotion and tempered funding goals (both before and after the initial target is reached) seemed key to success, but all of the early Kickstarter successes were able to stand out in what was a rather empty field compared to the  ensuing gold rush. It’s worth noting, too, that these early campaigns traded on little more than concept art and promises – a tactic that often fails today, but more on that in a minute.

Stainless Games, whose own Carmageddon Kickstarter raised $625,143 in June, warned of impending Kickstarter fatigue, saying that developers would need to evolve their approach to crowdfunding in order to offset the challenges an increasingly crowded – and possibly over-exposed – market would bring.

“Kickstarter has starting a new funding model and that model needs to evolve,” Stainless’ Patrick Buckland said at July’s Develop conference. “Some projects will fail and people will start to get pissed off. If I put my money in this all I’m getting is a promise right now”.

It was a prediction of remarkable accuracy as the previously rock-solid foundations of this perfect new funding model began to look less firm. There was another broken record, courtesy of Project Eternity which raised close to $4 million, but elsewhere things were less rosy.

Brenda Braithwaite and Tom Hall cancelled their Kickstarter campaign for the “old school RPG” Shaker with 13 days left on the clock fearing their pitch – based on concept art and theory – wasn’t strong enough. The campaign for Illo – Birth Of The Cool, a puzzle game from little-known indie dev Raylight Games, was also cancelled when it failed to attract enough interest (charted in this Edge-exclusive developer diary). Dizzy Returns, meanwhile, one of several nostalgia-fuelled projects that followed Kickstarter’s UK launch in October, raised just ￡25,620 of its ￡350,000 goal despite the “legendary” status of its ovoid hero.

Trading on nostalgia and reputation alone, then, is no longer enough to guarantee success – though such tactics are by no means worthless, as shown by 22Cans Populous successor Godus, David Braben’s Elite: Dangerous and Wing Commander creator Chris Roberts’ Star Citizen. Even so, developers wishing to take advantage of Kickstarter are rapidly having to revise their strategies to give their projects the best chance of reaching target. Campaigns like those for the Android-based console Ouya and virtual reality headset Oculus Rift continue to demonstrate the power of crowdfunding, but the cracks are beginning to show elsewhere.

The creators of Code Hero, an early campaign that ran alongside Double Fine’s, recently came under fire for not meeting the goals it set out at the time, and while the high-profile failure of Dizzy Returns will certainly be a blow to the Oliver brothers, it also highlights the dangers of getting your strategy wrong. Crowdfunding is almost certainly here to stay, then, but this year has demonstrated that 2013′s successful campaigns will look very different to the ones that burst into view just a few short months ago.(source:edge-online)