Kickstarter - Star Command

Dhruin

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Von Paulus suggests the Kickstarter for Star Command is worth a look because of the RPG elements. I'm not sure how true that is but it certainly looks like fun for space fans. This campaign is to fund a desktop version based on the current iOS game:
Star Command is an upcoming space ship-simulation-adventure game where you build an interstellar starship of your own unique image. You choose the colors, the hull types, the size and most importantly, who and what goes inside. Engine rooms, medical bays, shield generators - the choice is yours.
After you build your vessel, you will search the galaxy for talented crew to hire and help on your voyage. You will level-up crew members, give them new ranks and powerful abilities like tactical grenades to obliterate invaders, deployable shield walls to defend from incoming laser basts, or even the ability to revive slowly-dying crew members.
Once your awesome ship and elite crew are assembled, you will hyper-speed to new and strange places throughout the galaxy, making contact with exotic alien lifeforms. Some will be friendly, some weird and bizarre, and some will be downright evil.
More information.
 
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So it will be available next month (aug 2012) and that development will cost them $100,000(!). How could they fund iOS version for $20,000 with almost a year of development time? Funny how the kickstarter iOS version was supposed to be out last year and it's still not out.

Guess they arent very confident it will get good reviews so they're trying a cash grab from the PC crowd too before iOS version hits the market? If they would've been confident they would have released iOS version first, get good reviews etc and then start a PC kickstarter..

Hopefully i'm wrong, the concept is nice.
 
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So it will be available next month (aug 2012) and that development will cost them $100,000(!). How could they fund iOS version for $20,000 with almost a year of development time? Funny how the kickstarter iOS version was supposed to be out last year and it's still not out.

Guess they arent very confident it will get good reviews so they're trying a cash grab from the PC crowd too before iOS version hits the market? If they would've been confident they would have released iOS version first, get good reviews etc and then start a PC kickstarter..

Hopefully i'm wrong, the concept is nice.

They want to make a whole new version. And the IOS version might be unrepresentative of what they want to make on PC.

They will have to add features for the PC version because on PC, there is some anteriority and the IOS version seems light.

I have been waiting for a spaceship game with crew recruitment but what...
 
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Not sure i'd agree adding hi-res UI and mouse support is "a whole new version".. And i still don't get how this is suddenly $100.000 when the rest of the game was $20.000 and for a much longer development time. But whatever.. To me it sounds a bit odd.
 
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Not sure i'd agree adding hi-res UI and mouse support is "a whole new version"..
vurt, they stated in their mini faq this:

Will the PC/MAC Version differ from the mobile?

Yes - it will have a new UI, better sound, more FX, and some additional features to capitalize on the much more powerful desktop system. Furthermore, the PC/MAC version will most likely have missions, aliens, ships and planets that are exclusive for some time to that version (these may eventually get re-converted into the mobile game as well so you can play the same save-game between them).

Regardless- think of the PC/MAC as the ultimate version.

It seems it's not not only a new UI and Keyboard/mouse support.
I too agree that it sounds strange August to be the release date, unless they have already half finished the game in PC.
In that mini faq they also say:

When is Star Command coming out?

The mobile version (iOS, Android) is on track for Late Summer. The PC/Mac release will be POST LAUNCH after the dust settles on the mobile version.

So I'd say that date will be postponed.
Personally I only believe in the JFK conspiracy theory, but I admit that use of these words, "after the dust settles", is a little awkward. ;)
 
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Added to that:

High-resolution UI, surround sound, mouse/keyboard input, increased processing power, and enormous storage space would all be unleashed in a super-nova explosion maelstrom to create the most complete and ultimate version of Star Command.

In the end, when all the information is crossed over, it looks fishy. Did not know about that possible return toward IOS version which indicates the PC version will be close enough, neither that PC version is half finished.

Got sucked in by the enormous storage space that could hint at a complete overhaul of the game. But with the will to make savegames compatible between IOS and PC versions and the possibility to resume a game from one version to another, games mechanics shall not be that different.
 
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http://www.kickstarter.com/projects...d-sci-fi-meets-gamedev-story-for-ios-an/posts
Our kickstarter earned $36,967 after asking for $20,000 so that was incredible.[...]

Now, right off the top you had $10,000 for prize fulfillment.[...]

Leaving us with around $6000, which is income, so that was taxed (piece of advice to other kickstarters - spend that money before the end of the year).[...]

So were right around $4000 remaining and even that cursory math isn't working as there are other things that weren't big tickets but sapped the coffers. There's odds and ends etc, so that goes rather quickly as you can imagine.[..]

So that gets us to the present. We have still taken a lot of debt on ourselves (over $50k), and hopefully this can help give insight to other kickstarters and would-be-developers on what to expect.

We have still taken a lot of debt on ourselves (over $50k),
Welp, now I know where the $100,000 asking figure came from. They are making a Kickstarter, to cover debts, and help pay for development the first Kickstarter was supposed to do. Yeah, if you couldn't get it right the first time, I'm not sure if I should help you out this time. Call me cynical.

I like kickstarter, really I do. But this is either scammy, or irresponsible. I feel for these developers, they got themselves into a hole. And they are honest about it, I appreciate that. But a second kickstarter, -supposedly for a PC Port, which in reality looks like just to get funding to finish the game- doesn't feel right to me.
 
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I like how it looks, but how does it play? Tactical combat needs to be turn-based.
 
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Thing is, the action is taking part in several different places at once, making TBWP combat even less attractive than usual.
 
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