Adventure Gamers - Forums

hm.
sigh.
well i wish them the best.
It should be a reasonable goal, i think they’ll probably make it… but probably will be as close to not making at as the original kickstarter.

100k seems steep for a 2nd kickstarter in a time where even interesting kickstarting adventure projects are struggling to reach 30k or less.

There’s a post by Corey Cole in the Kickstarter comments that sums up the state of the whole thing pretty well:

“This is not at all the same project we Kickstarted 2.5 years ago; it just has the same title and story line. That original project was a top-down Rogue-like with story built around the MacGuffin’s Curse engine. What we are building now is a full-blown graphic adventure RPG.”

Honestly, I wish Hero-U hadn’t reached its initial target. The project just wasn’t ready and clearly defined, and they’ve been paying for that ever since.

tomimt - 06 May 2015 04:23 PM

Personally I wouldn’t back the same project twice, I have backed same developer twice, but that was only for a different project (inXile, if you were wondereing).

I even have reservations about this, and haven’t done it so far. I feel like if you’ve put out a successful product thanks to a Kickstarter you should be able to support your next move on your own.

Of course there are different definitions of “successful” and sometimes a good KS project won’t make much impact outside of that audience. So in the case of a company that put out something I liked, and it ran its course, and they still needed a KS boost to do another, I’d consider it. But in cases like inXile and Double Fine where their first product wasn’t even out yet? No way.

This second Hero-U Kickstarter (for the same game!) goes against the spirit of Kickstarter, in my opinion. Corey Cole promised to deliver the game in 2013, unless I’m mistaken, and he got the hundreds of thousands he sought then. What he’s doing now, years later, asking for A LOT more money, is shameful and harms the perceived integrity of Kickstarter itself. Corey Cole and Hero-U are giving people more reason to be doubtful about Kickstarter campaign claims, sadly.

Do we really want to support setting or reinforcing this kind of precedent? Should failed projects which run out of money be able to count on going right back to Kickstarter for another hundred thousand or so? In real life, sometimes it’s better, in the grand scheme of things, when bad ventures fail. Bad management and broken promises should not be rewarded. This new Hero-U Kickstarter deserves to fail. If this Kickstarter fails, it would be good for future campaigns and would discourage others from following in the Coles’ footsteps.

Of course, Corey Cole probably will reach his goal again, though. And that’s because it seems many people believe they “owe” Corey Cole something. Well, I never pirated anything and I purchased all my past software legally. I don’t Corey Cole one cent.

Corey Cole was marketed by Sierra to the hilt. The Coles became rockstars both through their well-received work and through Sierra’s effective marketing. Over the years I have read the Coles’ borderline grousing about certain aspects of the their dealings with Sierra. There were complaints about the “limitations” of the game engine. In truth, the SCI game engine (and maybe AGI for the first one?) was a big reason for the series’ success; they were extremely adaptable engines and allowed for a very accessible gameplay experience. Corey Cole should thank his lucky stars he got to take advantage of it, not grumble about how KQ got more publicity.

I will try to keep an open mind going forward, but right now the chances of my donating to a second Hero-U Kickstarter (for a game that looks like “baby’s first RPG”, not an actual adventure game or at least not one in the Sierra tradition) is not looking good.

Final thought: I wonder how many people are backing this project because they truly are, in their hearts, excited about the game. How many, when they saw that sad gameplay footage, said, “the world needs this game!” Let’s be honest. Or how much is the desire among some to want to give them even more money just because we liked their old games?

Doom - 07 May 2015 06:46 AM

At this point they should go the Tim Schafer way - release what they’ve made so far as “Part 1” and start selling, kickstarting, searching for sponsors, etc. Because their idea sounds like a dead end, unfortunately.

the problem with that is: i doubt what they have is playable. Theyr going to be releasing a “combat prototype”. I dont think theyr anywhere near having several hours of playable game.

^and really, for them to even consider a 2nd kickstarter, id think itd have to be because they really need it. If they were sitting on a playable half of a game and saying “well we could use a little more money for bells and whistles, so lets turn to kickstarter again”... that would be awful.

Even though I’m a backer of the first Hero-U Kickstarter campaign (and I hope I’ll someday get the finished game), I hope this second KS campaign will fail, because asking for more money with second campaign isn’t something Kickstarter is supposed to be, in my opinion.

Doom - 07 May 2015 06:46 AM

At this point they should go the Tim Schafer way - release what they’ve made so far as “Part 1” and start selling, kickstarting, searching for sponsors, etc. Because their idea sounds like a dead end, unfortunately.

I don’t think they have much done like that. And I’m also not sure what they’re asking for to finish it is enough again. It doesn’t feel like they’re all that much closer even 3 years later. If anything it feels like it’s grown and gotten further away.

My heart goes out to them, but as a consumer I don’t have a lot of confidence in what they’re doing at this point. Even the much maligned SpaceVenture seems a lot further along.