Hi everyone!
I’ve decided to do something a little out of the ordinary and step outside the Star Citizen realm for a moment.
There are many reasons why all of you so generously backed Star Citizen: You missed a good space sim, you wanted back someone that cared about PC games, you liked the previous games I’ve made and would like to play another. But I also think you backed Star Citizen because you wanted to say something to the business and marketing machines that normally decide which games are made. You said they are not the taste makers for you, that you want your voice heard on what kind of game you play and you want to have a greater involvement and connection to the development of that game.
I can’t tell you how invigorating this last part has been for me as a game designer, for the team that worked on the prototype and the new people we are bringing on. I make games that I want to play. But I also get a huge satisfaction from making games that other people enjoy and lose themselves in, much the same way I want to be entertained when I play a game.
In the old days before digital and online you almost never got to connect with the people that you were making your game for. Instead the only people that would see your progress was a few publishing and marketing executives that most of the time didn’t really care about the game outside what it could do for their bottom line.
With crowd funding you cut the middle man out. No retailer. No publisher driven by the demands of its shareholders for quarterly profits. Instead you build the game directly for the audience that wants the game for the right reasons – because they want to play it. This is an exciting shift in the dynamic and something gaming needs unless everyone wants no other choice other than to buy yearly sequels to one of a limited number of gaming “brands” that the big publishers focus on.
I’m committed to delivering a great game to you all. I’m committed to involving you all in the process and making that process as fun as possible. I’ve said it in a few interviews, but my hope is by the time we release the final “live” version of the game for the public, all of you will have already had a huge amount of enjoyment and fun and will feel the journey was worth the price of backing, with the playing of the final game a pleasant bonus.
I don’t think this model works for everything and everyone, but I do think it is a very viable model for a lot of games. And I think it’s great model for some designers, genres and platforms that don’t get the big publisher love because their type of games don’t sell 10 million copies worldwide.
Which is why I’m writing this comm-link today.
There are a couple of other games coming towards the end of their Kickstarter campaigns that need a little help.
The first is Project GODUS from 22 Cans. They’re about £60,000 away from their goal with just under 3 days to go. Without a decent end of campaign kick they won’t make it. Which would be a shame as they have been doing everything you should in a crowd funding campaign; daily updates, taking on their community’s suggestions, showing work in progress and embracing all that is good about crowd funding.
I’m not the biggest God Game fan, but I played the original Populous and Black and White, and PeterMolyneux pretty much invented this classic PC category. I think it’s great that he’s going back to his roots with GODUS and you can clearly see that his team really cares about what they’re doing.
I know there has been some blow back because a lot of people have felt let down by some of Peter’s promises in the past. I’ve known Peter for many years. Back when Origin and Bullfrog were acquired by EA and we used to travel the world on press tours promoting our respective games. He is definitely very enthusiastic, which can get him into trouble sometimes, as he can over promise, but it always comes from the right place – he wants to push the possibilities and he has a childlike wonder with doing this. And having been in the situation in the past, the fault with this doesn’t lie all at Peter’s feet. A lot of the reasons why promised features don’t make it into the final product are publisher driven. When Electronic Arts or Microsoft want a product on a certain date to make a financial quarter features get cut. The difference between Peter and a lot of other developers is that other developers are a lot more circumspect in public in disclosing what they’re trying to put in the game. Trust me, there are many lofty goals on most projects that never make it, Peter just is more public about his and sometimes gets caught out because of it, especially when there’s a hard date imposed by his publisher.
You have already been so amazingly generous that no one should feel that they need to back any of these just because I am, but if like me, you like the idea of the gamers cutting out the publisher and enabling the developers to connect directly with their audience in a new connected way you should take a look as these are both titles from people that have made great games in the past and I think in the right environment, with no meddling publisher could make something special again.
-Chris
Yes: “You missed a good space sim, you wanted back someone that cared about PC games, you liked the previous games I’ve made and would like to play another.”
No: “But I also think you backed Star Citizen because you wanted to say something to the business and marketing machines that normally decide which games are made.”
To further clarify:
Personally, I could care less who is publishing or not. What I look for, and why I pledged to this game is an entertaining experience, that brings good value for the dollar.
I took a bit of a gamble (along with many others) putting money down before the game is even made. The concept looks great, well polished for a pre-alpha, and I have loved Chris Roberts games ever since I played the original privateer on my 486. There looks like there are a lot of resources, time, and effort put into the game before the crowd funding even started, (i.e. Chris has skin in the game), which is why I made my decision to do a small pledge.
In my opinion, these other two games aren’t worth 2 cents, and are looking for a free ride. I have a feeling they will keep looking for handouts as they waste the money on make-work until the games ultimately fail. There needs to be much more work done up-front before I would even consider.
I am looking forward to star citizen, because Chris has a proven record of great games, not because he is doing something different with the middle-men. What I care about is a good product, and I believe he will deliver (hoping anyways)
Keep up the good work!
This is where I’m at, too. Neither of these two projects has really shown me the level of planning and pre-production effort I’d expect out of guys who, lets face it, already have shops set up and are making other games. The timing really just radiates a vibe of “Hey, Kickstarter opened up to British currency/residents, let’s see what kind of money we can get!”
Molyneux, for all his ambition and brilliance, has really gained a reputation over the years of making grand promises way beyond his team’s ability and budget to deliver. So even if some of the games he has delivered have been decent and worthwhile, it’s hard to take him at his word when the whole thing is in the concept stages and he wants my money based on that. Couple that with his recent projects really seeming to suggest that he’s grown out of touch with what makes a fun or interesting game, and I worry that his career has devolved to peddling snake oil on the back of his once-good name. Not the sort of situation that makes me keen to back a crowdfunding project that launches with nothing but promises. This is an example of where some concrete details and some demonstrated effort into budgeting and planning would go a long way. GODUS could well become a game I’m interested in, but I’m afraid I’m inclined to see if others are more willing to risk backing Molyneux, and then buy the game at full price retail if it comes to pass and reviews well.
On the other hand, I didn’t know much about Braben the way I knew Chris Roberts’ name by heart from my childhood. I dug around some, and found that the guy’s generally well remembered for his early Elite games — but a few things gave me pause about this new project. First off, as I dug around, I found that he’s been promising to try to deliver a new Elite game off and on for the last decade, and has come up with nothing but excuses. Launching the campaign without any early art assets or coder-graphics engine preliminary work underscored this to me. The second big red flag here, for me, is that I’m not really that interested in a procedurally generated multi-million dollar project. Don’t get me wrong, procedural generation is really cool — but it generates procedural content, at the end of the day. It’s a *GREAT* tool for the garage programmer to afford to make a lot of content and give his game the illusion of having a lot of detail and size. You know, a project like Limit Theory, which I was quite excited to back. But I look at Elite: Dangerous and have to wonder what on earth the two million dollars is paying for if the content is procedural and the setting is space. It just seems like a poor value, to me. Am I paying for the name, essentially? Subsidizing their other game projects? That’s what I feel I’m left to assume, because it’s not like the 2 million dollars is paying for a dozen guys to design landscapes and levels or write stories, dialogue, and scripted encounters…
I wish them no ill with their projects, but my money is valuable enough to me that I can’t just toss it at anybody who declares they want to defy the standard publishing model. It has to be in the name of making a product or service I will eventually want, and it has to look like a reasonable risk of success to me. Does it give me warm fuzzies as I fund games that I am interested in to know that the middle-man gatekeeper is being cut out of the equation, benefitting both myself and the developer in the process? Yes, but that doesn’t mean the role of the gatekeeper is no longer relevant — *I* simply become the one who gets to decide if this is too risky to back or will fail to deliver a desirable product. The risk and the market for my decision-making process is simply on a different scale (my own money doesn’t have the cushion of other sure-fire projects, but on the other hand, I get to favor niche markets that I’m a part of more than a publisher might)…
Well said. I may end up backing the other projects, but my focus has really been on Star Citizen since I saw the project more as funding a startup company rather than proving interest to an already established company.
Not to mention I <3 Wing Commander and this is the game of my dreams lol
In defense of the procedural nature of Elite Dangerous, the previous two sequels to Elite used a similar technique to populate their worlds. In the case of Elite 2, this meant they could simulate a galaxy of equal size to the real Milky Way we inhabit and have it fit on a single 3.5″ floppy disk.
Of course, it’s impossible to visit all of it and I doubt they’ll go for anything as big this time around but it still amazes me how they could do that.
But at the same time, I understand the concerns for this game. It wasn’t until they started showing some actual content that I backed it. Unlike Star Citizen, they really dropped the ball getting started and I think that has hurt their campaign pretty badly.
My thoughts exactly on the two projects, this is mainly the reasons why I haven’t backed either of them, I need to be thoroughly convinced that backing a project is worth my hard-earned money: As soon as I heard the name ‘Peter Molyneux’ I immediately lost interest, his recent games have simply shown he is out of touch and his far too well known reputation for making over-ambitious promises tht he doesn’t fufil isn’t the material I am willing to back. David Braben’s project and campaign I also found to be quite underwhelming and unconvincing, perhaps when the game comes out and with good reviews, I would buy it on sale with the information I know now. But backing it? I don’t feel it is worth that.
Simply that a particular project is being crowd-funded is not enough to earn my cash. You need to prove a commitment to developing a good project, and show me why I should stray from what I do normally and back financially a game coming out in a few years time, otherwise I will treat it as any other game and wait for reviews and the release.
Well said indeed.
I want good quality interesting games to get involved in, not, as you say, in generic updates of big AAA titles.
Unfortunately, both Elite and Godus look exactly like generic updates to big AAA titles of 20 years ago.
I’m all for sticking it to the man, but not for those two.
Did you check out the updates in the project? They’ve churned out quite a few video updates on youtube and some even show pre-alpha footage including working multiplayer. They are putting them as youtube links such as:
Multiplayer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5JYRyhxYhI&feature=youtu.be
Procedural Generation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTBvpd3_Vqk
Sorry, the above comment was for Elite Dangerous. Not sure about Godus.
I’m talking about ED and Godus. Sorry I should have put up a more detailed post.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGHM6wu1WY4
Yeah, you pretty much hit the nail on the head with these two charlatans.
True words, nothing to add here!
Exactly my thoughts. I pledged for Star Citizen because Chris never, ever disappointed me, so I gave him the trust he gained in me during my youth. Molyneux gave me a good dose of fun when I was a little boy, with Populous and Black&White, but he became worse and worse in time, he made promises he couldn’t keep and he did this a lot of times. I didn’t like his last games, not counting the story of Curiosity which is really ridicolous, in my opinion.
Knowing Chris I can be sure that, even if it will not be perfect, Star Citizen will be a really good game. I cannot have the same trust in Molyneux.
I’m a student, I don’t have money growing out of the back of my ears, so I chose to give my money and my trust to someone that really deserved it. For this reason this is my first donation for a game development and probably the last one, too.
Wow, you guys philosophize too much. You want to play an unrestricted space sim where everything happens in realtime, no borders, no jumpgates, no loading sequences, etc. ? Back it.
You don’t want it? Don’t back it, no need to bash it.
I personally backed it because it’s another ambitious space sim project with rich history starting from 1984, it’s a grand daddy of them all, not another “hitchhiker” as someone mentioned (it’s even badly timed, first Star Citizen overshadowed it, now holidays are coming, people ran out of money, etc).
By the way, did you even see the latest teaser?
http://youtu.be/XGHM6wu1WY4
The reason why people are reacting so cautiously is that in essence they are being asked to back the development of a game which is due for release in a few years time (which itself is intimidating). As a result they need to be assured that spending their money for such a long term investment is well worth the risk and the rewards. People do do not possess the luxury of being able to look at reviews or hear other people’s opinion while making such an investment. Thus the game creator must work feverishly to help quell all doubts and present a clear and attractive vision of the game so that it must only not just convince people to buy the game on release, but help back it’s development. To simply state that “back if you want this, this and this” is irrelevant to the whole debate when backing a project. When buying a game that is important (as well as knowing how effectively these were implemented). But for people backing a game they don’t just want to know what’s in the game, but how it can be achieved, the likelihood of such a thing being implemented, the method, the other benefits associated, other features, how well it can be implemented, effects on the wider product etc.
Nostalgia, motivation (example, wishing to go against traditional publisher model) etc may be factors, but their effects pale in compassion to knowing the many facets in the game (as many as possible), as well as being impressed by how they are delivered.
The main point that these previous comments were trying to make is that you need to do more to convince people to back then simply saying that you will go against the traditional publisher model. Thus this is where they became somewhat critical of parts of other campaign. for example, take Peter Molyneux, the man has a horrendous record of being unable to live up to over-hyped promises he made when releasing the final product, and considering that promises and plans are what backers rely on, this isn’t a confidence booster to a would-be backer.
People live on a limited budget and therefore have to be very careful when considering what investments are worthwhile in making, and are therefore very frugal when it comes to decision making on such investments.
P.S Excuse me if I have left out something, these types of comments lack an editing feature, also don’t take my comment the wrong way, it’s in no way an attack on you.
No reply button for your post Matin Sanguine, so I have to reply to myself:
“The reason why people are reacting so cautiously is that in essence they are being asked to back the development of a game which is due for release in a few years time (which itself is intimidating).”
In regards to this, please remind me when is Star Citizen’s launch due ?
It didn’t seem to bother anyone.
“The main point that these previous comments were trying to make is that you need to do more to convince people to back then simply saying that you will go against the traditional publisher model.”
Sorry but…need to do more to convince people? Did they even saw all the updates, trailers, teasers, art, actual ships look, Braben talking about game mechanics, procedural generation of their own, how universe will be “live” and all actions will have impact on it, player interactions, etc. ?
This just makes no sense.
“People live on a limited budget and therefore have to be very careful when considering what investments are worthwhile in making, and are therefore very frugal when it comes to decision making on such investments.”
I understand that, but then they can simply choose not to back it. Instead, they choose to bash it and thus create a negative hype that will lure more potential backers into not-backing, simply because they’re not interested in the game, don’t have money for it, aren’t satisfied with existing promotional material, etc.
Then, potential backers will give up because they saw a bunch of people discussing negatively about the game, except that, negative opinions here are flawed and, in my opinion, completely wrong and irrelevant.
Not giving a chance to this gem is going to, ultimately, bring it to failure (if). Then, those same people will be like “you see, what did I tell you, it’s was a fail project!” not knowing/caring that they actually made it fail, which is a shame because, in the end it just makes PC space sim genre poorer for one more (famous!) game, no matter you liked it or not.
My comment was never specifically targeted at Elite: Dangerous so I don’t know where you got the idea that it was (though perhaps it was implied considering I replied to your comment, but it wasn’t my intention).
“The reason why people are reacting so cautiously is that in essence they are being asked to back the development of a game which is due for release in a few years’ time (which itself is intimidating).”
“In regards to this, please remind me when is Star Citizen’s launch due ?
It didn’t seem to bother anyone.”
I was using this to build up the mind-set for a would-be backer, I never suggested that it was a deal-breaker or that this comment was specifically applicable to Elite: Dangerous, but it is certainly a key aspect people think seriously about before backing any project (if it were a deal-breaker like you implied my comment was, then Star Citizen or Project Eternity would never have been funded and crowd-funding in it’s entirety would not exist.)
“The main point that these previous comments were trying to make is that you need to do more to convince people to back then simply saying that you will go against the traditional publisher model.”
“Sorry but…need to do more to convince people? Did they even saw all the updates, trailers, teasers, art, actual ships look, Braben talking about game mechanics, procedural generation of their own, how universe will be “live” and all actions will have impact on it, player interactions, etc. ?
This just makes no sense.”
Okay, first off my comment was not targeted at Elite: Dangerous but to the mind-set of the general backer and the general point that the previous comments were trying to make to crowd-funded projects in general, which is probably why you misunderstood the point I was trying to make.
“People live on a limited budget and therefore have to be very careful when considering what investments are worthwhile in making, and are therefore very frugal when it comes to decision making on such investments.”
“I understand that, but then they can simply choose not to back it. Instead, they choose to bash it and thus create a negative hype that will lure more potential backers into not-backing, simply because they’re not interested in the game, don’t have money for it, aren’t satisfied with existing promotional material, etc.
Then, potential backers will give up because they saw a bunch of people discussing negatively about the game, except that, negative opinions here are flawed and, in my opinion, completely wrong and irrelevant.”
I disagree sincerely on this point, people are allowed to express an opinion (whether it be positive or negative), and if others are influenced by it then so be it. There are plenty of people creating a positive hype for this game through their comments, but those whom you describe as creating a “negative hype” for disagreeing are to be discouraged from expressing their opinion? because it contests your own on the matter and criticizes something you favour? I find that personally to be quite ridiculous, people should be allowed to look through the good and the bad and make their own mind up without the negative being excluded so they are given the product in an unbiased light (and thus not making a decision that is made on false premise), not silently influenced to think a certain way by a lack of negativity. Likewise people who feel there is a flaw in the product should not be excluded from expressing it while those who point out it’s positives are given a free reign (you may disagree, but that’s bias on your part I’m afraid). And if we are applying your logic, then I wish that those who support the game would just back it and shut up. (exaggeration to reinforce a point)
“Not giving a chance to this gem is going to, ultimately, bring it to failure (if). Then, those same people will be like “you see, what did I tell you, it’s was a fail project!” not knowing/caring that they actually made it fail, which is a shame because, in the end it just makes PC space sim genre poorer for one more (famous!) game, no matter you liked it or not.”
At the end of the day people only care for the product, not for any greater ideal or sense of commitment. If a product fails then I don’t blame the people who do not wish to embrace it, but those who failed to sell it adequately (such as the creator etc.). If Star Citizen was completely awful then I would not have cared that it failing was going to make the space-sim genre poorer.
“I am looking forward to star citizen, because Chris has a proven record of great games, not because he is doing something different with the middle-men. What I care about is a good product, and I believe he will deliver”
You cannot be serious. really. saying Peter Molyneux and Braben never delivered?
straight from wikipedia, Peter Molyneux:
Fusion (1987) (designer/programmer)
Populous (1989) (designer/programmer)
Powermonger (1990) (designer/programmer)
Populous II: Trials of the Olympian Gods (1991) (designer/programmer)
Syndicate (1993) (producer)
Theme Park (1994) (project leader/lead programmer)
Magic Carpet (1994) (executive producer)
Hi-Octane (1995) (executive producer)
Genewars (1996)
Dungeon Keeper (1997) (project leader/designer)
Black & White (2001) (concept/lead designer/programmer)
Fable (2004) (designer)
Fable: The Lost Chapters (2005) (designer)
The Movies (2005) (executive designer)
Black & White 2 (2005) (lead designer)
The Movies: Stunts & Effects (2006) (executive designer)
Black & White 2: Battle of the Gods (2006) (lead designer)
Fable II (2008) (lead designer)
Fable III (2010) (lead designer)
Project Milo (formerly known as The Dmitri Project) (cancelled) (lead designer)
Fable: The Journey (2012)
Never delivered?????
Ok, David B’s Cv is a lot shorter…
Elite
Frontier
Rollercoaster Tycoon 3
Wallace & Grommit
and ofcourse the Pi, the raspberry Pi..
but don’t forget David has done a lot “on the side” besides making games..
You cannot say they “never delivered” with a straight face. these guys delivered. many times. they are 2 of maybe the greatest game creators, guys who “invented” several aspects of modern gaming.
This is a happy time for me. some of the greatest iconic games and game creators are back in one way or another. (even Larry!) I only miss a decent mechwarrior, Homeworld 3, Freespace 3 (how did it end???) and Battlezone (the 98/99 ones) but hey, a guy must have something to dream about.
no flame intended btw, just my opinion.
and also, you all seem to forget:
Chris’ games where NEVER on time or ON budget. Never. always late and over budget. If you want to see something which was overhyped and overpromised, look no further then Freelancer. a great game, but not what was promised. WC4? great game but really nothing more then a rehash of WC3. I have ‘m all. I played chris’ games to death. I love ‘em.
That’s the reason I backed SC in a blink of an eye: didn’t need to see anything: seeing Chris was back was more then enough! yeah, it will be late… so what?
but the same goes for Braben & Molyneux. They deserve(d) to be backed. and If they go down in flames, well so be it. Can’t say we didn’t try..
So go and back Elite, for Godus your chance has already passed.
I had never heard of Elite before this post from Chris. I read your comments and those of the others here. I then went out to learn more about both games.
TL;DR; I am backing Elite — heavily. I didn’t back Godus. Here is why.
I am a software engineer and I am all too familiar with the false idea that “it doesn’t exist if I can’t see it”. The true job of a programmer is most similar to a translator — translating ideas between different systems of understanding. This process is never seen, rarely understood and appreciated, and only lends itself to visual confirmation of success at the very end of the entire process.
Procedural content generation does not mean that *everything* is generated and therefore is just simple copy/paste. There are many layers that can be used such that the result is constantly fresh and not stale. Furthermore, to say that game assets and logic trees are generated and therefore simple, is a very rough understanding of what procedural routines can do — if the game consisted solely of this mechanic, it would be exactly as you describe. However, from what I have been seeing, there is a lot more intelligent use of procedural methods. I see more evidence of an awesome experience than a waste of money.
In the end, I didn’t back Godus because I love space sims too much. Though I enjoyed Black and White, god games just don’t scratch my itch like space.
SC and ED are my christmas and birthday gifts to myself for the foreseeable future.
Cheers!
Thank you Chris Roberts! You got my eternal respect! And thank you all Star Citizen backers for helping us out at Elite Dangerous kickstarter!
Yes to both. especially to #2. Being the management major that I am, I know how theory can cloud the judgement of and overlook the real reason behind innovation ventures. This new business model approach that Kickstarter has introduced is fantastic and I want to wholeheartedly support such endeavours.
Just saying that I greatly disagree with this and you should too imo.
By cutting out the publisher it gives developers the freedom to make the games they imagine rather than something that is and has to be first and foremost a cash grab.
We don’t know for sure if the developers will make a better game because of this freedom but if they have a strong interesting vision for it, (which should determine the success of the kickstarter), the odds are good. No-one who’s seriously into making games and willing to put their face/design ideas out there is going to take peoples money and waste it (at least no-one who’s a serious game developer, there might be a few projects that fail, or take the money and have nothing to show for it, but they will be in the minority cause people will be skeptical). And they ALSO wanna make good games for their backers, they also want to sell them, there is no desire at all to waste money on projects that post launch should ultimately benefit them even more than developer shipped titles.
Giving developers freedom in their design process is only going to do positive things for the entire industry as an artform and as entertainment, and it’s what the games industry has been crying out for.
If this takes off, we could have indie/niche games, the sort that got so popular when everyone got bored with the endless sequels from the main market, with AAA budgets… That’s fucking brilliant!
Down with publishers etc.
Whether I’ll support a game will still hinge on whether it’s one I’ll play, but this shift to empowering developers and consumers is only positive, and will affect what I choose to spend money on.
I’m stoked by how the flow on effects of these games post launch can spur the industry in creative directions too… If they do make money when they ship, developers will be able to put that into more of their own projects and wean themselves off publisher funding till they’re able to make ambitious awesome projects all on their own, with success and awesomeness being rewarded x100 more than it is now (and consequences of failure still approximately the same).
Hopefully they get funded
Can’t have too many good games to play can we
Let me fix that for you:
Yes: “You missed a good space sim, you wanted back someone that cared about PC games, you liked the previous games I’ve made and would like to play another.”
Yes: “But I also think you backed Star Citizen because you wanted to say something to the business and marketing machines that normally decide which games are made.”
YES: “You missed a good space sim, you wanted back someone that cared about PC games, you liked the previous games I’ve made and would like to play another.”
YES: “But I also think you backed Star Citizen because you wanted to say something to the business and marketing machines that normally decide which games are made.”
I totaly agree with Chriss Roberts, only short and narrow minded people do not realise how important is for developers to become independent, and how much whole gaming comunity could get and improve by having developers free from nasty publishers who pushes them in to deadlines and thats why now when you play every game you feel that its so much missing stuff that everything is just been hastilly put together, that so much potential is not being used. By cutting out the middle man who only worries about his shareholders, gamer community can shape the game They want to play and features they want to be implemented which would not see the daylight otherwise.
Also people speak about their money value, but I say its bulshit, because you pledge what you can afford, and 10 or 20 $ its not the big deal, everytime you go out you spend like 10 times more than that in just few hours, and then you will spill all that in the toilet of some club lol, where game you play will entertain you for a days, weeks, months.
I will definately back the David project because I loved playing ELITE on my first computer ZX Spectrum (game was loaded from the tape lol) At that time it was a mind blowing because other games you can play was like a Pacman or Lemmings
Well said! I make your words, mine.
Backed Star Citizen and Elite with proud.
Then I would be such short and narrow minded man, since despites I agree that it is great when devs break the chains of publishers, I dont see why I have to support every project that appears on KickStarter. Not interrested in Elite, since Space Citizen seems to offer exactly what I want to play, and not interrested in supporting Mollyneux project, because he fails to convience me that what he says is true. And sure, Id rather spend my money on real beer than on promises of notorious dreamer. On the other hand, Godus get funded so maybe I will be surprised and maybe I will buy the product when it is done…if it matches the project description.
I have not read any commentary about any aspect of pc gaming that made me feel as empowered as Mr. Roberts statement just did. Also its been a VERY long time since I read any thing related to pc that gave me for lack of a better term a “rush”. I want other peoples opinions on this. Do any of you think that these kickstarters could possibly hack out their own niche in the game industry? Could this even dare I say, revolutionize certain aspects of gaming culture? Im really not versed in the dynamics and the culture of game development and publishing. Truely I know nothing about it. But if Chris Roberts and Peter Molyneux are willing to throw down such massive amounts of effort and time into these things. One cant help but dream that we are on the cusp of something big. I do understand that this whole culture and how it works is deeply engraned into all of our minds. It may be a little while before we realise what kind of influence and power we as just simple gamers will have in this new environment.
Honestly my first pc game I ever got was Wing Commander 1 I was in thrid grade and I knew the name Chris Roberts. My best friend Micahel Hawkers older cousin worked at origin at the time in Austin. When he foundout how big a fan I was he took us to Austin and Chris was nice enough to take a few minutes out of his day to come out and say hi. I remember he was wearing a blue toned hawaiian style shirt. I was expecting some stereotypical “bill gates” looking guy, but I remember how it struck me how young he was. He didnt look like a stuffy computer guy he seemed “hip” to me. I know this is just video games and this sounds cheesy but him coming out to say hi and being friendly that always stuck with me. And when he mentioned Peter was in on a project using this same financing model I was sold on this whole concept. Black and White I, II, and creature isle were absolutely earth shattering games for me. Their AI for the creatures was the most free Ive ever felt when gaming. Those prgrams felt like an empty canvas ready for me to control as I wish. Honestly since space combat is my favorite game genre (so you can bet I havent gotten a real good gaming fix in over a decade)The Wing Commander series will always be my favorite. And Black White will always be the one that blew my neurological cave to pieces. My mind got so blown Im still finding dried pieces of brain matter all over my old mans computer room.
So support these projects I shall. It sure as hell has been a long time coming. Im ready to slip the surly bonds of earth once again and venture back into the cold unforgiving vaccum of space. ……………I wonder if Ill run into BlueHair out there
Dear Chris/webmaster,
The “project Godus” link seems to go to a cloud imperium mailaccount
Fixed. Must have happened when Ben cut and pasted from the email I sent him with the text. Weird!
The same goes for the KS page.
same with the elite dangerous link
Yes: to both.
And I have backed Elite and seriously considering Godus.
Come on, Chris, how are you gonna plug these two and not give a shout out to Barkley 2?
Barkley hit is goal and then some!
This was about helping a few projects that I would like to play get over the line…
My guess is that it is only because that game has already surpassed its goal on Kickstarter.
Whoops, I got sniped there. Guess I should have refreshed the page before replying, but nice to see that I was right at least.
Ninja’d by Chris Roberts. Feel honoured.
Both worked for me
Woah, i didn’t even know of Godus’s existence, i’m going to look into it, thanks for the heads up, Chris
Now THAT’s community, Chris!
PS – you convinced me to back Elite:D, thought I’m a little tapped out from being here. And winging back here, this post makes me even more glad I pledged for SC to begin with, knowing that it’s going to, at the very least, buy some good people a few rounds of pizza or tea.
Always liked your games. Didn’t know much about you personally, though. It’s great to be seeing some of your perspective on these things – whether to agree or disagree – and I hope you continue to feel free to let us know what’s on your mind.
Well said
I have backed Elite as well, if not out of principle then because I foresee a revival of the space sim genre. Competition only creates better games.
I am glad to hear Chris is trying to help out other game projects. I just wish he’d used other avenues/mediums besides the Comm-Link to do it. It makes sense on the kickstarter project page; it makes sense if he sent out a press release that the major game news websites would pick up and help spread; it even makes sense if he’d started a forum topic here on this site and talked it up there. I just don’t think it’s as relevant in the Comm-link section. When I come to the Comm-link, I expect to hear more about the game, events surrounding the game (and it’s makers), or even other news sources that might have tidbits of new things about SC.
I just think this is the wrong place to have this article. But, hey, that’s just me.
A little odd that it isn’t directly about Star Citizen, yes, but it’s the best way to reach Star Citizen fans, and Star Citizen did go through the same process as these other projects (crowdfunding), so there’s some commonality between all of these.
It seems like a very rational use of the website’s news page to me, especially since these are time-limited events. Would also add, I think the title of the comm-link post did a whole lot to let people who are not interested in these games know what the post was about.
I’m not planning to donate to either as I will have plenty on my plate waiting for this one (and the numerous other Kickstarter games I have donated to in recent months — seems like a new hobby, this crowdfunding thing), but I wish them the best of luck.
Agree. Is the best place for Chris to speak out his mind and is intended for that. Of course we expect news about SC and its development, but is also a loudspeaker for Chriss and his team. We should expect too non directly related to SC topics.
Chris felt he should make this call to the community to support people with passion for computer games, any game, and to send a clear message to industry that they are wrong about PC games. That in fact are the future, that they allways have been the future. So is in his right to use his best mean to be sure he reaches the broader auudience he can reach. In the end, is his site. We should not forget that.
I am now pledged for both games. I hope they reach their respective goals.
I might not have the money to spend since backed your game Chris, but I truly admire how you want others to succeed, it sportsman like.
Same here
Hope i can help with Elite but Kickstarter dont has PayPal
But Respekt
They have paypal now as of today;
http://elite.frontier.co.uk/kickstarter.html#.UNFb0W_rz-U
Just saw it, thanks anyway.
In Update 15 3rd Video David & Chris
There is a difference between being over-ambitous and just plain lying. I don’t care what kind of pressure Microsoft may or my have not applied, but that demonstration Peter Molyneux did of Project Milo for Kinect was showcase of his character.
Yup, when the vid about Milo surface in 09, I find it to be too complete to be just a demo, the whole thing got a very scripted feel to it. MS might had a hand in oomph it up because at the time Kinect was gearing up against PlayStation Move. But still… That was just hyping unrealistic expectations up for project Milo.
(That girl, Claire is one sexy lolita though. LOL)
I’ve back Elite and is 1 of last of the 10000 at the £20 Pledge level.
This is an analysis of the video referenced:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFAK8ubYtZE
Well, if there would be paypal I would have pledged for Elite weeks ago. They had a very bad start without any video, but they improved and I like the gameplay aproach they are taking.
According to Godus: It won’t be a game with the Black & White quality (which I liked). It will be designed as a multiplatformer even for iOS and mobiles and thats not my thing. I want a game with much detail for pc.
Paypal here;
http://elite.frontier.co.uk/kickstarter.html#.UNFb0W_rz-U
Ah thanks they just added it recently.
Now this is sportsmanship of the highest order!
Well done Chris Roberts!
I will try and back both projects as soon as I can.
I am for helping the PC space gaming experiences reach for new heights. Make the hardware companies once again fire up their drawing boards to try and keep up with the demands of the gaming community (after all this is what drove the PC Technology in chips, graphics cards, sound cards, harddrives, memory, etc.). If we don’t step up and bolster the Lord British’s and the David Braben’s of the world who are proven foundations in the PC Genre then you will be left to the EA’s of the world with nobody to blame but yourselves for the demise. Let’s help…After all, what better time than christmas to give to one of these promising game projects.
Don’t forget Activison
I can understand people feeling burned by PM, there’s a track record that’s simply hard to argue with. It’s not just one game or two… and yet…
It’s hard to overestimate his passion, his ideas, his creativity; and it makes one wonder, “What if, after all this time, he could actually deliver on his promised vision and turn out a game that ended up being what he actually wanted from it. The fruition of his plans, finally come home?” Just imagine what kind of game that would be.
Peter’s never been shy of telling people what he thinks or what his plans are, and it’s those ideas which have sparked such marvelous anticipation of his games. His ideas are inspiring, making us imagine the possibilities of what could be… and really, for what other reason do we play games? To be engaged, to be entertained, to be taken out of our daily routines and put somewhere else for a moment which is magical, fantastic, extraordinary.
Peter is certainly capable of making the journey and taking us all along with him. Now if he can just make it to the destination and get us all there as well.
A post like that has been missing greatly! Thanks for putting that down. I can’t pledge to ED though, cause I’m kinda $6k short on my budget with all the bills at new-years as it is..
It just barely summed up to $35 for SC, but that’s mainly because of my huge love for Freelancer that I shut my eyes and clicked the button 
Anyway, Chris have pointed out that he’ll be able to create the game he actually wants, now that his campaign was successfull and he thus have the funds he needs.
As you state, who’s to say Peter can’t do just that too, now that he’s not bound by some publisher?
I hope it gives people enough incentive to pledge just a bit. I’d pledge to ED, but not GODUS, simply because I don’t like god-games.
I speak for a lot of us when I say this; I’m too broke from Star Citizen to pledge to other games.
I just pledged for both, as well. Hope they reach their min. targets!
Both backed!
Already did awhile ago. But I too loved the Populous and Black and White. Still got them somewhere. Hope they both make it!
I really want to play this two games too. David and Peter rightly deserve the chance to get back to their roots and build yet another great game.
The comm-link is relevant to anything he says it is. And it’s still early in the project. It’s not like he’s neglecting telling us about anything extraordinary right now, or losing other vital info off the front page by posting this.
Besides, it’s a real hand-up to those other two kickstarter projects that got buried under the global blitz that was the SC campaign.
It is very big of Chris to do this. It shows what he thinks of the projects.
And he isn’t kidding about there being room for more space games. It will help RSI’s sales two years from now if there is a strong genre at launch time.
Since one of the very first games I’ve played on a “computer” (an Amstrad/Schneider CPC) was actually Elite I’ll definetly WILL support this game. The only reason why I haven’t done it yet is because I’ve got so much time left to do it… (waiting for my January salary on that one).
And thanks to Chris I’ve heard of Godus as well. since I’ve enjoyed Populous 1-3, Black & White and my absolute favorite from Peter Molyneux: PowerMonger I will definetly give him a try and help out with a small amount like around 10-20£. It’s something I can affort without feeling going over the edge (… like I sometimes feel when I check my pledges for Star Citizen
)
CR – nice to see a real community approach – Sometimes life isn’t a competition. I funded both – because Elite is the classic and deserves a modern take. Godus because no other god game has been as playable as Populous was.
Thanks for taking the time out to reinforce your vision isn’t just SC as a game, but the principles you refer too are just as important. The revival of the creativity of games without the constraints, conditions and agreements that publishers insist on. I’ve backed both and will continue to watch with interest.
I bought in on SC when announced. I got my Golden Ticket. I think SC is going to be fantastic, but my heart lies with Elite and always did. I’d given up any hope of it coming out.
Then one day … Boom there it was elite dangerous kick starter. I bought in on that one too.
Chris did his crowd funding so perfectly well, it’s giving many other crowd funding efforts a bad name.
And here he is again, publicising other games (one a direct competitor) for no other reasn than he’s an all round good guy.
I’m quite new to this crowd funding scene, but I backed both projects already some time ago, because of very evident reasons, confirmed by Chris today. Just like Chris Roberts, both David and Peter are very respectable personalities without whom the PC gaming scene would never have seen some of the most brilliant pieces of work. As a pure PC gamer, I support them gladly and without hesitation, and I am also of the oppinion that cutting the middleman (publisher) out of the game creation process is the way to go whenever possible, in the best interest of us all.
Already pledged for Elite. Godus, however, meh sorry but not my cup of tea.
Good Guy Chris Roberts: http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/32125836.jpg
Haha, great
…great idea giving a shout out to your peers, chris: keep it up!..
FOr me personally, I backed Star Citizen because you gave a good pitch. I watched your videos, I researched your resume, and I saw that it appealed enough to me to willing risk placing my money down on your game. I was sure that you could make star citizen. I believed you were woth my money and that I was making a good investment
These two however, aren’t selling it to me. Godot looks boring from my perspective, not to mention I;ve played Black and White 1 and 2 and wasn’t impressed. Elite is a series I’ve never played and that short video of cruising in an asteroid field was dull. Unlike Star Citizen which displayed ungodly brilliant graphics, a redefining physics gameplay and the fact you are including a genuine single player campaign that has meaning was what lead to me place my money on Chris Roberts.
I’m sorry, but these two are not for me
I dont know where the great visionary Peter Molyneux is Oo
He just tells: “blablabla great blablabla astunnishing blablabla amazing blablabla 20 gods (8)”.
No really, i think one of the best commentaries by his own team was: “He doesnt have a real picture of his game…he hands lots of responsibility to us.”
You know what, if i cant imagine my game, i shouldnt pay someone to do it for me, especially not if im the head of the enterprise.
To be true, i just saw a pretty boring version of black&white based on a voxel engine and heard lots of adjectives which suggest the game becomes unique and enjoyable. But i didnt get ANY clue WHAT i should imagine, indeed, the only thing which appeared in front of my inner eye was black&white with a multiplayer. PERIOD.
And it wasnt for the demo that i imagined black&white, it was just because they gave me nothing else to feed my imagination on, so my mind used the black&white experience as a placeholder for the necessary facts yet to come.
Id say Molyneux better starts searching for new genres to create, best on a very simplistic and low-tech basis, so he really can: “…focus purely on the gameplay.”
And for Elite:
Well, id say they better waited until SC campaign was over. It wasnt a good idea to start a KS campaign without any preproduction-material when in the neighbourhood there is a high-profile campaign running with tons of evidence for their capacities and competences. Really, when i compared the two KS Videos i wondered if Elite Designer “” was making a bad joke stepping up with such a meager portfolio while the SC campaign was running. Indeed i got the feeling he might just want to use the vibe created by SC to get some over-enthusiastic Space Sim Fans to back him as long as they are in this state of “rush” we all were during the campaign.
Already had pledged on Elite:Dangerous if for nothing more than nostalgia and to see what can really be made with current computing technology. On the other hand, I do know that the Elite name has been abused around extensively with promises, IP conflicts between the game founders and I mostly consider it vaporware however call me naive but just as it took 10 years+ for DNIII to come out, the Elite brand will see the light of day again and I shall be there to play it.
Hi Chris
I am a mod on the Frontier Forum and update the ModDB site for the open source re-make of Elite II called Pioneer. I wanted to thank you for what you just said and your recent interview with David too. It was so cool to see you both so committed to your projects yet at the same time have such an affinity with each other. And of course you are correct there is room for both games, certainly in my collection at any rate. With a little faith Elite will make it’s target,but every bit helps
As for Peter’s game Godus, this guy is a legend. His games have always had a grand scope and this latest one is well worth backing. I have been a fan of his since Populous on the Amiga, which I still play to this very day on the original machine.
The gaming world needs games like Star Citizen, Elite Dangerous and Godus. They are different, innovative and bring a sense of wonder back into gaming. That same wonder us “older” gamers used to have back in the day. If you want your gaming to have a brighter future, be full of wonder again, I beg you people, back these games!
Thanks to Chris Roberts for the support. I’m backing Godus and Elite already, and hope to see both projects succeed. It’s a bit saddening to see some of the negative vibes people are putting out here.
Whatever people may think of Peter Molyneux, he was behind some really awesome games back in the day. Dungeon Keeper was one of my all-time favourites, and Black-and-White was also a really good game (though not without a few faults). Personally, I’m very much looking forward to an old-style god game running on new hardware.
It also amazes me the number of comments you get comparing Elite with Limit Theory, as though they’re going to be similar. Yes they’re both space games that use procedural generation, but it’s how you use it that counts. Limit Theory is going way overboard, with PG ships and space-stations and all the rest of it. For Elite, they’re actually designing and creating the ships properly, hand-crafting missions, and essentially designing a full game, then using PG to augment their created content so the player never runs out of things to do.
…i backed GODUS out of appreciation for magic carpet; that was reason enough for me to support peter molyneaux’s new independent venture…even if god games aren’t my thing, i think it’s important to nurture the sort of diversity people like him bring to a healthy PC gaming ecosystem…
…i backed elite at an even higher level because it’s the grandfather of open-world space simulators; that legacy commands respect and deserves a chance to succeed on modern terms…sure, it ‘s a different sort of game from squadron 42 and star citizen, but it looks like a fun romp nonetheless, one i’ll enjoy having in my library…
Thanks for the offer, but no thanks, I’m a poor guy, but yet SC made me pledge, because you offer so much and in high quality. If I had money like americans or europeans have, I would think about it, but I’m a poor and will dedicate myself only to Star Citizes.
I am very happy and proud to know that the Star Citizen team supports other creatives seeking financing for their games.
With this kind of mentality the world moves towards a better future
I watched both videos and while elite dangerous looks good, I cant say that it tingles me like Star Citzen does. But to Chris this means something to him, and although he doesn’t know me personally (yet..lol) I will at least to my best and tell my freinds to check out these videos. To Chris: I bought your first WC game when i was 12 by begging my dad to buy it for my Sega CD, and for that I owe you at least the gratitude to help these guys out. Keep up the good work, I check your site religiously.
Hey Chris, I am so glad that you supported other competitor games. I like it! It’s the gaming industry/scene that become our goal, not one particular game. Honestly, I never played any Chris’s games before. I pledged because I like space-based games, whether it is 4X games or simulation games. Though I have little experience in simulator games, I am willing to shell out cash just to help my favorite genre grow.
But I think other projects, such as Limit Theory, should be included also in this list, although Limit Theory has also completed their Kickstarter.
I already pledged to both games, and really hope they get made.
I have waited for a suitable successor for Elite for a very, very long time. The two sequels Frontier and First Encounters would have been great games, if only they hadn’t been that buggy. Other franchises never quite got it quite ‘right’ (Unfortunately this includes Privateer.)
Alas, it seems that David Braben isn’t quite up to scratch to advertise his game. While I heard (probably carefully placed) rumours that Chris Roberts was getting ‘active’ again quite a while ago, I stumbled across Elite:Dangerous more through accident. They are getting better, writing more and more comprehensive updates, and I think they will meet their minimum amount, but I don’t think they will get much further, certainly not as much as Star Citizen.
As for Godus: I still fondly remember packing my Atari 1040STF on the trailer for my bike to transport it over to my friend so that we could play Populous against each other via parallel cable. Those were the days, long before network multiplayer games really took of.
Anyway, now I need a new computer. (Actually, I should probably wait another year or so, otherwise it will be old again by the time Star Citizen, Elite, Godus, Limit Theory, Planetary Annihilation … Oh my god, I spend more time pledging money now than I have spent playing computer games the last year.)
I backed Elite just enough to get the final game, but the tiers are poorly planned – you need to spend a lot to get in to the Beta to help find bugs, and even more to get in Alpha.. that isn’t helping. I just hope to god he hires a QA team, unlike on First Encounters.
As for Godus, or Populous HD as I see it, it has three things in common with SC… the letters R, S and I; sadly, in Godus’ case, they stand for Repetitive Strain Injury, so I won’t be going back there – if you ever played Pop, Pop2, Theme Hospital et al, you’ll know what I mean, and your mouse will thank me for it
I will say, Chris gets my respect, merely giving us all a gentle nudge to consider helping out these other projects; fingers crossed, who knows, maybe more sci-fi games out there will get us a worthy pc followup/remake to XWing, or even TieFighter.
I think it is nice to put this here! I would love to back Elite, but after Star Citizen im kinda tight on cash for games and the 20 pound level is not avaible anymore.
I emailed the guys at frontier developments asking if they would consider paypal because I will not bother using kickstarter because tis a pain to get through (and there are people out there that can’t use it). I never recieved a reply not even a we’re insanely busy or anything to suggest theyre going to do it. If they want more money, they need to introduce paypal.
Blargh. Having read through all the comments they have paypal now http://elite.frontier.co.uk/kickstarter.html#.UNFhf29wp8F
But they need to be broadcasting it loud and clear and an update on their kickstarter page and in big letters!
Why do you still bother? When you email them that you want to support them you dont even get a reply. Now suddenly they finaly have a paypall account and are to lazy to even bring it under atention. Everything braben’s company does looks half commited. Look at there resume of games last 5 years it says enough.
I’d have backed Elite if Kickstarter had payment options I could use…
I’m really glad Chris used his own site with a multitude of payment options beyond those of kickstarter, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to back Star Citizen either.
Yeah, that was very smart decision from Chris
They have now a additional Site to pledge with PAYPAL:
http://elite.frontier.co.uk/kickstarter.html#.UNFrTm_8LTo
I wish I could back Elite: Dangerous but all the money I can spare has gone into Star Citizen but I really hope it succeeds. I also really hope Godus exceeds as I loved Populous, played it when I was very little and I also loved Bullfrog with their incredible gaming catalogue, including Theme Park and Theme Hospital, and their amazing sense of humour, but Godus hasn’t made me sit back and go “Wow” yet but if I could back it I would, if I with a billionaire with endless money coming in, I’d make sure all the kickstarters always hit their goals.
I am not going to support them. You know why? Because they use kickstarter (new middleman). I backed Star Citizen because I could pay with my card. Also because of no DRM, offline singleplayer, great trailer and Chris Roberts even though I had to google his name to realize that he was the man who promised so much features for Freelancer:) I hope that others will back those games and I will be able to buy them later.
I backed Elite Dangerous already
. I like the concept of procederal content. I hope they reach the goal. It would be a great 2014/2015 with cool new space sims!
As may others here I was not impressed by the first info on Elites kickstarter page, I got the feeling it was just similar to SC, but with worse graphics, so didn’t bother at first.
But I kept an eye on it and after a while they had actually posted some good info, so I decided to pledge. If anything, they need to improve their presentation, try and make it more clear what they want to do, because it does sound cool.
I backed Elite Dangerous before, but now I am backing both. Thanks for reminding me, Chris!
I really liked Powermonger of Molyneux’s earlier games, but that wasn’t a god game as such, and Magic Carpet was quite fun. My impression was that the quality of Bullfrog’s games plummeted downwards as Microsoft got into it. Godus is not something I will play though, and the same is true for Elite. As a youngster I skipped Elite in favour for stuff with a real story (read Wing Commmander).
When that is said, I always thought there has been very little talk about Starlight Inception (Kickstarter in the first half of 2012) in the Star Citizen community, considering SI’s blatant references to Wing Commander. I think Garriot backed it; maybe Chris did too?
Dang! I forgot that Bullfrog was behind Syndicate! (With PM as the producer). Syndicate was one of the absolutely best games of that era. I never got to play Syndicate Wars due to the hardware requirements, but it was said to be very good too.
I am backing Elite, and will upgrade my pledge during the weekend. Elite will be different from SC and i am backing them as i want to have variety in the genre i am so interested in. I really hope that Elite will make it and im sure it will. Also i really want to see seamless planet landings that Elite will have at some point (not on release)
Another game i will be absolutely backing is Infinity Universe when it comes to KS sometimes next year. I’ll back it for the same reason. I want to have variety and the whole space games sector to grow and draw more people. I would like to think I’m backing a whole genre here, not just individual games.
I definitely want to see the publisher model biting dust and I really appreciate developers like Chris Roberts and Brian Fargo being vocal about it. Thank you for that too.
Sorry, but Peter Molyneux disappointed me with Black & White… it’s all a matter of trust… without this trust in you Chris I never would be a pledger – but seeing your efforts I grade up my pledge too…
I was a huge fan of the origional release of Elite but this latest production has lots of promises but not much to back it up. I emailed them for a little more info they didn’t bother to reply unlike RSI who responded to an email within 24 hours.
If Braben wants to treat potential backers with contempt then he wont be getting my money.
I’d support both games but as long as Kickstarter has no Paypal option I can’t do anything. I’d be curious how many Star Citizen backers (percentage) have used Paypal for their pledge and how many support Godus and Elite miss, just because they only bet on Kickstarter.
Thinking about it I have a suggestion, if you at CIG / RSI really want to back those games. Re-open your Paypal service you used for SC and allow people to pledge. The final amount only needs to be transfered from RSI to the Godus / Elite kickstarter campaigns. But how should the Paypal backers form here be counted in the other campaigns.
Well, this might be probably too complicated.
http://elite.frontier.co.uk/kickstarter.html
^^ Paypal now an option for Elite
Thank you. Lots to do at the moment, so I’ve missed this completely.
Backed Elite just for the sake of it. Hope it turns out better than Frontier. The original kept me really entertained for a year, if i remember correctly. I gave up on Frontier in a couple of weeks.
What interested me in this particular Cris call wasn’t specifically the debating about Godus or Elite Games being at every ones heart contempt or what I like in them or what I like less, as such is an side event best left to each one to judge on its own, but what really called my attention was the remarkable sportsmanship of Cris Roberts which quite frankly says everything about is character, one got love him…a one of a kind exemplar no doubt !
…and yeah I am very happy that someone is really committed in cutting the middle man out of the equation and their crappy money making dumb down products. Now is the time to push even further be it these 2 Games that Cris brought up be it other projects that you might find appealing ! Cheers !
Respect for Chris
I’m not going to throw money at these two because I’ve already thrown all of my throwing money at Star Citizen,
I’m not backing a game by a company that lays people off just before Christmas.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-12-17-layoffs-at-elite-dangerous-developer-frontier
Whilst Godus doesnt hold any interest for me, Bullfrog did make Syndicate and Dungeon keeper…..
I backed Star citizen for 2 reasons:
– I liked the idea you brought to us (and the trailer), it looked and felt awesome and couldn’t wait to play it myself (I know I have to wait 2 years, shush)
– secondly I supported the fact that you didn’t want to go with a publisher because they just get in the way, there’s been many examples of a publisher destroying a great game just to make a deadline or cash in some money
that being said, I’ll not back the 2 project you recommended, not because I don’t want to cause I really want to see Godus become a game but because my bank account is currently depleted
it’s good to see Chris sporting the other games besides his own, witch shows what kind of man Chris is. But I’ve watched both vids an to be honest when i saw the vid for ED I felt as if it where reused and just put up there cause they saw Chris do it. Now that’s just business. You see some one do something you try to do something better to grab a peace of the pie be fore it’s all gone. Again it’s just business. But after looking a both projects in depth I feel here not for me. I honestly hope they both do well, and reach there stretch gole’s. cause both games seem to have there own fans like every game dose so I’m shore they will make it and again I hope they both do. As for me I won’t be backing them. I’m happy to be apart of Sc and i am most defiantly looking forward to it I can’t wait. But cue dose to Chris well done in sporting the other two games.
Nice letter from Chris, respect!
Despite some other opinions round here i strongly support the idea of bypassing publishers because i think market and shareholder-value only focused game development does nothing good for me as a gamer. If it wasn´t for the Indie scene and some extremely successful F2P titles i´d not only see PC gaming, but gaming in general in severe danger of decline.
From all past experience i know that the best game comes from those developers who do the game *they* like to play as a gamer themselves the most – and not what they are told to develop.
Also imho the gaming industry needs to pay more attention to innovative and sometimes even crazy ideas. There are so many possibilities of how games could be that have not even been touched yet – and a major reason for that is that we are having a yearly CoD remake instead! And yes, i want also AAA titles to evolve around crazy, innovative ideas, not just some indie game with crummy gfx!
However i do not really wish to back Elite Dangerous (sadly).
Why? Because i still remember WHAT A SCAM Frontier was. Yes it was a scam, Mr. Braben told the press how much a great successor the game was but it wasn´t anywhere near that. It was a huge loadoff! Even as a teen i felt tricked by you, back in 1993. Especially since you bloated up the files of your game so it would fill up a whole floppy disk to “pretend” it had more content then there actually was. SEE MR. BRABEN, SUCH THINGS NEVER PAY OFF.
Addendum: And guess what, the irony, it were the games from Chris Roberts who made Frontier look so pathetic back then…
Hmmm Project Godus… In my opinion that whole “godlike” Stuff fromm Molyneux has always been overrated. I didn`t like populous, I didn´t enjoy B&W 1&2. I won`t pledge for Project Godus…
Elite:Dangerous instead sounds fantastic, i think that promising game will recieve some of my Euros…
The only reason I backed CS is that I want to play a space sim/game that I can really enjoy. The last time I did that was with nexus the jupiter incident.
A couple of months ago Nexus 2 was on KS, sadly due to zero exposure they didn’t make it. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mostwanted/nexus-2-the-gods-awaken
Supported Elite already. Will see how the Christmas affects my budget and will eventually rise my pledge. Great respect to Chris for supporting those projects! These times it’s of utmost importance not to be selfish and share what we have.
Excellent Chris – that’s a fantastic write-up of GODUS and Elite: Dangerous in the spirit of why we all backed Star Citizen.
If anyone is interested, I would also recommend watching the podcast interview(s) featuring Chris, David Braben (Elite) and Gary Whitta (ex Games journalist) which are featuring on the Elite: Dangerous Kickstarter page.
Finally, Chris, how about a small feature on RSI regarding Stryker’s Run? This was one of my favourite games on the BBC platform and actually inspired me to try and write a similar game for the Acorn Electron back in the day (which turned out rubbish – so let’s not go there!), but you got me into programming with Stryker’s Run!
Love your community spirit!
Really a heartfelt update! Thank you, Chris.
Sure,supported Elite .
Supported Elite.
I dont even want to think of how many hours l sunk into that game
[...] but he’s not too busy to make a case for a couple of high profile Kickstarter projects. In a lengthy post on SC’s official site, Roberts shows his support for Elite: Dangerous and Peter [...]
How did you get hyperlink into your name?
Hey Chis,
I agree with a lot you say, but both of the games you want us to support just don’t give me the goose bumps like your stuff does. Godus for example just gave us some nice words in the beginning. Then when 22can realized that there was no money to grab just with promises, they rushed out a “prototype” that shows nothing but an ugly casual game, capable of beeing sold on any device with a screen but nothing more. The game just looks dumbed down for the sake of multiplatforming without passion and soul.
I may have an other look on Elite now, but it didn’t manage to get my attention in the beginning, I doubt it will now.
There is a difference between Star Citizen and the two, Godus and Elite. You showed us from the beginning on, that you are commited to the game with life and soul. No tradeoffs, no empty promises, , a brilliant trailer, a well crafted concept and most importantly, work has been done and goose bumps! I won’t spend my money on promises.
More likeley I will spend additional money on Star Citizen.
Non the less, your request honors you!
Out of sheer respect of Chris, I’ll back up Elite. I really don’t have interest in the game too much itself, but Chris truly gave me a positive experience in gaming when I was younger. In turn, I’ll support Chris’ product and respect what he supports, as well, though almost all of my financial support will remain with Star Citizen.
I had pledged but only with paypal.
Peter Molyneux was leader of Lionhead studios when Fable 3 was published. Given the game-breaking bugs of the console version made it into the PC version (not a straight console port, we promise!), some of the already patched bugs where brought back during porting, and there was never any attempt to fix any of the bugs, or even acknowledge them…
Sorry, but if you led the company with the worst customer service I ever had the displeasure to encounter, you’re not going to get a single cent from me.
I’m not backing either, especially Elite. Its been stated the core change will be changed after release with avatars, and that will probably be paid for. I can’t see what Elite brings other than procedural generation and nostalgia.
Well, honestly i backed the game becouse of who is making it.
One of my very first PC games was starlancer (along with HOMM3 and diablo xD)
and i realy enjoyed it. it had very fun content etc.
then later on i came to freelancer that i enjoy playing ever since i first started.
so both are , atleast to me , legendary games.
i am also backing it up becouse of noted, getting away from publishers that got the word “cut” tattooed on their foreheads. or similar things like limiting the availability of the game to only some regions of the world. publishers don’t care about the games, but the $_$. sure everyone cares about it, but no1 as much as they do.
why i wouldnt back the 2 other games?
well i simply do not care who or what they are. they may be super elite game designers, or some newb with an idea. i played black & white 1&2 and liked em both. elite was before my time.
But i am not interested in a new “god” game. Sure if a new one comes up with crazy details and great features ill buy and play it, but i can wait for one , if one ever comes.
The new “Elite” doesn’t seem like a promising new Space-Sim. they showed nothing “revolutionary” in it or anything whatsoever interesting or unique about the game. so the game is by all means a copy of a copy of a copy of a……. with new gfx! (maby).
if someone is presenting their idea for a new game , and ask for monetary help from normal people. they have to properly present what they wish to make, and what is so good about that game. if the game doesn’t have a unique feel to it, no1 in their right mind will back it. simple as is.
star citizen is a compilation of many great same-genre games and ideas forged by developers and players.
elite is a new remake of an old game that had its content fit onto 3.5″ floppy and they had to “wait” until the pc’s are strong enough to handle a new version of it. think the first pc ever made (Programma 101) vs. Alienware Aurora.
they had to wait? i tottaly belive that! not..
Whether or not you are into either project. I think it is agreat sign that dvelopers are looking out for each other supporting the independent space. Just look at Notch he has pledged somewhere in the hundred thousand dollars into different kickstarter projects. Crowdfunding and especially Kickstarter now are a trend even though I am optimistic this will last there will be fluctuations of public appeal to this kind of thing. Plus the more ‘hardcore gaming crowd’ will always be on the look out for cool new kickstarter projects but that may not be true for the ‘average gaming consumer’.
So that is why I so much like the fact that devs are looking out for each other.
I too have to say, I didn’t contribute to say something about the game publishing business model per se; in the end what sold me on pledging to this project was what Chris Roberts stated he wanted it to have/be, etc. Since I REALLY enjoyed his past works (Wing Commander 1 – 4 and Privateer especially; WC5 was okay), and he essentially wanted it to have a WC type MMO element (something I thought I’d never see when EA gutted Origin) <—- All that convinced me to pledge for SC. To be honest, if he could have gotten a good publisher behind the project and got it done that way, I would have been just as enthused. In the end, I honestly don't care how it gets done, just that it gets done, and I have a game I want to play. As for Elite Dangerous, I considered pledging to that too, but after reading more about what is going on there behind the scenes (which has been reported by a few gaming sites) – I don't get a good vibe,, and think that project (unfortunately) has a good chance of folding before they finish (that's just how I see it, not speaking for anyone else but me). Hell, it's possible that some unforeseen situation could kill Star Citizen before completion as well; and that's ALWAYS the risk you take when you back a crowd funded project. Still, I think this project has a VERY GOOD chance of succeeding, and the final result living up to the majority of the features promised; and I don't get that same feeling from the group behind Elite. VMMV – and as always, folks should decide for themselves – but to the folks behind the scenes at SC; I wouldn't read a lot more into all of us pledging other than: "We want to see another, expanded WC, Privateer, Freelancer style game from Chris Roberts – and we trust him to deliver such a game."
I did as you said. Pledges for both games…as much as i have to for getting the digital copy. I hope my money will be spent wisely…
We have just recieved this update ….Better late than never ..
Thanks for your kind words Chris
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGHM6wu1WY4
good going chris. just to let you know that i backed your game for many reasons. high end pc game, space game, and it will be done when it’s ready not when a publisher wants it so it won’t need a day 1 patch for it to run without crashing every few mins like most games released these days, in the old days a game had to work before it came out, now it seems that more and more often a unfinished title is rushed out and the devs reputation ruined by the people in suits that only care about the bottom line. it’s also nice that we get to add our comments while it’s being developed so that any niggles we the players have can be ironed out and the final game can be nice and polished. i spent a good six months in the eve beta doing 10hrs a day and that has been the best experiance so far as far as player/dev communication goes. it’s looking like you are going the same way
My problem is Peter Molyneux. He is the Lord of Lies next to Smedley.
I want to back Godus quite a lot, but it is Peter who is holding me back. If it gets close to completion, I will back it purely out of the gratitude of what Peter has created as one of my favorite genres.
Godus is now funded. Chris has the power.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dJolYw8tnk
GODUS doesn’t really interest me, but I’m glad to see they were funded. Elite: Dangerous looks promising, but I don’t think I’ll be funding that game. Star Citizen has far more depth and vision, in my opinion. None the less, I wish both projects luck.
Godus just passed its target goal.
Roger Sir, baking 20$ to Godus. By your command.
Say what you like about David Braben and Peter Molyneux but they have certainly been very community oriented.
I remember from years back David’s postings on usenet and (more recently) Peter’s development diaries on Black and White 2 (which admittedly was awful compared to the excellent original). Weirdly I’ve got a horrible feeling that I’ve seen David at a trade(ish) show years ago.
The main reason I backed Star Citizen is that I loved the Wing Commander games in-fact only around 6 months ago I dusted off prophecy and gave it another run through.
The main reason I backed Elite is because I loved the original game.
The main reason I have backed Godus, is because I loved the early Bullfrog Stuff, which was really the last time Peter would have had a significant amount of control over the output of the work. If I’m honest, it’s also because he’s really not asking for very much money. I remember as a school child with my paper round money and buying populous 2 on release day (may have been the day before, releases weren’t such a big fuss then). I actually played it all the way through.
Now we just need Ron Gilbert to start a crowdfunding campaign and I think that’ll be all the greatest developers from my childhood.
why why why did you post this Chris… I just crashed my car I shouldn’t spend money on games but I could resist, I had to back both of them, too many good memories from Populous2 and Elite:Frontier…
bad Chris
Personally I didn’t back Star Citizen to make a statement of anything. I backed it because I want to play it. I don’t care who the developer is, what he made or what his friends do. I care what he shows me, what his vision is what HE hopes the game is going to be like. If a developer gives me something I think is awesome then there is a slight chance its going to be awesome. And this Hope, is what Kickstarter is for.
Elite: Frontier is the perfect example on why space games nearly died. Sandbox with no soul, is not what games are for. Funnily, this applies even more to GODUS, which is not even a game (at least I can’t see what the game is supposed to be from the videos, it looks like Black and White with no creature and even less control.
Do you realize what you have here, Chris?
You are the moot to 4chan. We are like your personal army.
“This was about helping a few projects that I would like to play get over the line…”
“…I would like to play…”
(sarcasm)
I’m just joking around
These really are some pretty cool games. I was always a huge fan of Black & White. I was so said when I lost my copy. GODUS looks very interesting. Sadly I won’t have enough for Elite.
I backed Elite: Dangerous for the Procedural Content.
I actually wished Procedural Content option could be included in the modding tool for Star Citizen.
Done right, Procedural Content could create (in a very short time) much more worlds/systems to explore than if a person (or 3 or 5 or 10 level designers) create it one by one.
These worlds will look as good still in terms of graphics.
The dark side of it ofcourse is how to fill those many worlds with Stories that are different and unique.
And remember, with all these crowdfunding projects, they are all susceptible to flop anytime…..even Star Citizen.
Sometimes the projects we thought will not fail can become the one that disappoint us.
And Sometimes the projects that we thought will not succeed is the one that flourish.
The advise is, don’t put your eggs in one basket, and ofcourse there are still plenty of room for space sim.
And at the moment, there is no better person that can deliver the space sim genre we want other than Chris Roberts and David Braben.
I have backed “Elite Dangerous” because I remember playing it on the BBC Micro all those years ago. I loved the fact that it came with its own back story “The Dark Wheel” and a massive technical manual, they really added to the immersion and was the first game ever to do so (I think – please correct me if I’m wrong here.)
I also played “Wing commander IV” (life got busy very between Elite, and Wing Commander IV for me…) I enjoyed playing both games for months and months, and because I enjoyed both games I’m backing both projects.
There is no either/or for me concerning these two great game producers. I believe there is more than enough room on my PC for at least two high end space shooter sims!
Brian
@Chris: respect for raising the flag for these 2 campaigns. Good form on your part.
Encouraging a direct genre-competitor such as Elite will make both your game and theirs better. Friendly rivalries are a good thing.
The decision to back either will be weighed against additional add-ons for SC
Elite may get my funds. Godus is not a genre that excites me, but best of luck to them.
New £80 tier available at Elite Dangerous kickstarter. This is a digital only copy of the game,and you will get a lifetime of free expansions with it.
I back ELITE, but this crowfunding project has been addressed very unprofessional.
It was the first time that they try crowfunding and I hope they have learned from Chris. He is a real professional and worked over a year for his comeout.
I dont like Good Games but Godus has hit over 490.000 and is funded without my money.
Sorry for my bad englisch
Nice to see Chris trying to drum up support for these two titles, especially as Elite: Dangerous might be seen as competition for Star Citizen. I’ve pledged for E:D, and I really hope it reaches its funding goal. I have fond memories of the original (despite how long it took to load from tape) and if some of the recent demos are anything to go by, the new game should be every bit as special.
i wonder how much chris has a part in the success of godus funding. well, at least one of the two games he advertised here made it already!
New pledge tiers at Elite Dangerous kickstarter campaign. Different types of career,start positions and ships.
Nice to see. I ultimately pledged for GODUS – I believe Molyneaux has another interesting god game in him, regardless of what he’s promising (learned not to get too wrapped up in his ideas early on). I’ll revisit E:D before the end – less excited for it after the initial pledge drive.
92 £20 pledge slot are available at the time of writing.
I’ve got Elite on my radar for quite some time now. You can feel the passion behind this project as much as with Chris and Star Citizen and i’m fascinated by some features just as the interior of the ships, the ability to create those ships and the physics and damage model that comes into play when those ships get damaged and the hull cracks up. Actually that’s something i also would love to see with Star Citizen.
I loved playing Elite back in the days….
I am interested in the next gen
but I am not convinced by the plan (or rather the lack thereof) to deliver.
Credentials are not enough. Fuzzy feeling are not enough.
Even if the amounts are nowhere as big as venture capital, why should I invrest mney in projects which are not convincing.
I am backing YOU, mr Roberts.
not only because of what you promise me, but because I believe you kow the market well enough to deliver a game which will appeal to million of customers.
I was already a backer of elite, but I must say that it shows how passionate Chris Roberts is for this type of game genre. Certainly makes me feel more confident in the quality of the up and coming game.
6 days to go and Elite Dangerous is nearly there just 200 k more needed to goal.
So I guess we will have a second star sim game then
Still SC will be my first chosen one.
Have a great New Year all around the globe.
Elite on the 64 was kewl (still have my gold elite pin)
Elite 2 was really bad after that i had no hope anymore for my favourite night time game.
When its better then before i gonna play it for sure. I wait for that before i buy. (what i seen in the demo vids it’s giving me not that dream of wanna have it)
With 62 hours to go Elite: Dangerous is just 62,060 £ short. I think they’re gonna make it.
And now after 6 hours with 56-hours remaining, a quick gap-closing sprint to GBP 28,055 remaining… 34k+ in 6 hours… woohoo… there IS hope for Elite: Dangerous yet…