Community Financed Games

[epmode]

Valve is just about the last company I'd want to give money to to fund a project, behind 3D Realms and the US government.

And yet they're one of the most consistently brilliant developers around. I don't think I've ever been really bothered by a Valve delay because the finished project (even when it's not a Half-Life game) is always so good.

Anyway, this model is already in use by a few developers. Stardock, for example, routinely allows fans to purchase their games 1+ year in advance. In exchange, the owners get access to all betas. REAL betas, not the glorified demos that we're used to these days.

edit: Case in point: http://elementalgame.com/

[Frogacuda]

A few independent games have offered early pre-orders for downloadable games, occasionally with incentives and the like, and they did that as a way of financing their games completion. It does work, but not for the entire dev cycle, and not if you can't earn people's trust that you're going to deliver a good product on time. It's never going to work as a primary means of financing for a large-scale project either. There just aren't that many people that will do it.

And yet they're one of the most consistently brilliant developers around. I don't think I've ever been really bothered by a Valve delay because the finished project (even when it's not a Half-Life game) is always so good.

I'm not really arguing that, but I feel like if they want to waste their own dollars, that's fine, but I'm not going to pre-order something they can't even afford to finance themselves in the off-chance it the project doesn't collapse during the 6 year cycle. The way they're framing this as taking the risk off the developer and putting it on the consumer seems misguided. Their game isn't our responsibility.

[gamevet]

If community money could have saved Factor 5, I would have gladly thrown a bone or 2 their way. They were way too talented a group, to have been forced out of business when their publisher (Brash Entertainment) folded.

[Cowutopia]

I would pre-fund BG&E 2

[Cowutopia]

Yeah the idea that they can finance an entire project up front is ridiculous. Just like with corporate investors, they'd have to show me part of a product and progress on the product, and the product plan, to sell me on it.

[Joust Williams]

LOL, PC gamers can't even buy completed games...

[gameoverDude]

If community money could have saved Factor 5, I would have gladly thrown a bone or 2 their way. They were way too talented a group, to have been forced out of business when their publisher (Brash Entertainment) folded.

I'd have been willing to chip in some cash toward a Super Turrican 3. Shame about F5 San Rafael's (Factor 5 Inc.) current situation- going under and getting sued by former employees seeking back pay.

Factor 5 GmbH (Cologne, Germany) is apparently still around.

Factor 5 GmbH, which has been creating games since 1998 with its headquarters in Cologne, Germany, is completely unrelated to Factor 5 Inc. and the circumstances surrounding Factor 5 Inc.'s recent challenges. Although we are saddened by Factor 5 Inc.'s situation, our corporation will remain unaffected by these developments and has partnered with both old and new friends in the industry who will reveal our upcoming projects over the next months. - Factor 5 statement

[kedawa]

I don't see this working at all.
It would make more sense to finance something like bounties for open source game engines, or something that could actually benefit the community of gamers that provide user-generated content.
If developers had a free, robust engine upon which to build their games, they could make games with a much smaller budget in the first place.
Some impressive things have been done with mods for commercial games, and many of those could have been stand alone games if they had been based on a free engine instead of a commercial one.

I just don't see any reason for the community to fund things unless they're getting something more out of it than a license to play the game.

[YellerDog]

Well, as Yoshi pointed out*, there would be a potential financial payoff if the game became successful, beyond simply getting a copy of the game.

[kedawa]

Ultimately, all they would be offering is a copy of the game as an investment incentive.
It doesn't really alter the relationship between developers and players in any meaningful way.
Some sort of extended ownership or creative input might make it more appealing, but it just seems like a gimmick.