Anyone know what's up with Antharion? Updates are few and far between, and their forums have very little traffic. It's still listed as a 2014 release. Can any backers confirm that?
This and a few others like it have really turned me off of kickstarter.
You're right, LoD additional rewards are not shipped yet - not just boxes but also bonus games. It's not dead, dev is answering on KS comments.
The delay of several months already is also happening with Neptune Pine (smartwatch). They also keep communication with backers on KS comments.
For the project in the title, Antharion, I didn't back it so honestly never checked what's going on with it. Hopefully it's devs didn't stop posting in KS project comments.
In any case, I won't stop backing projects on KS because of a few delays.
Antharion abandoned? I don't think so.
To date there have been 34 updates for backers. The most recent was 4/4/2014, before that 6/3/2014, before that 19/1/2014…
So, they've settled into an (almost) monthly update after a year and a half. There are plenty of KS that I've backed that are less communicative than that.
The most recent was about being accepted in Steam Greenlight, and likely release dates:
" And since we're frequently being asked for ETAs we're going to throw out some worst case scenario release dates… Release: Dec 5th 2014; Beta: November 5th 2014. Alpha September 15th 2014. Keep in mind that this is a very broad window and in all likelihood some or all of these ETAs will be moved forward in time to earlier dates. "
Wow not sure how I missed that. A little embarrassing actually.
Doesn't really change my feelings on kickstarters though. It just doesn't make sense to tie up my money for years when there are always good games being released. Might as well just wait for release or early access.
…however, I see what JDR means about the http://orphicsoftware.com/ website. They should really be updating that more often. The KickStarter site is a better indicator of activity:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/879484120/antharion-an-old-school-rpg/posts
Well, that's the thing. From a financial point of view backing a Kickstarter makes no sense, since the finished product is possibly a bug-ridden nightmare, or the game will go on sale/become part of a bundle soon after release and thus be cheaper than the lowest backer tier was.
Instead, backing a Kickstarter should be about backing an idea and giving someone a shot at developing a game which might otherwise never be created. And some of those games could turn out to be great.
I have contributed to a bunch of kickstarter projects, and will continue to do so. One thing I will not do anymore is KS 1-3 person teams (i.e. indies). The risk of the product being abandoned/indefinitely delayed is much more dependent of 1 person's "real life issues" than on bigger teams.
The Banner Saga did pretty well on a three man team. So far I've backed 22 games that were funded and about 10 that weren't. None of the games I've backed have let me down so far, although it is pretty telling that out of the 22 only 3 have been released so far, and 10 are overdue, many over a year and some a couple of months so far. I think it's a problem that Kickstarter "demands" a release date within a set time frame, I would have backed all these games even if it had said "late 2014" instead of july 2013. None of the games have been cancelled so far, and at least four of them are shaping up nicely (I've tried the betas), so I'm still happy I've pledged and will continue to do so.
...
Speaking of the Banner Saga, I must say right now that's probably been my favourite game of the year. I was surprised at just how much fun I had with it, I certainly got my moneys' worth.
Exactly! ANOTHER game that might not have seen the light of day if Icefire and others of his ilk had their way. And, backing a bit more, I'm now getting 2 more games from these guys! Talk about a great deal only available thru KS.
Oh I'm not saying that small development teams can't do a good job. My point was that the risk of the project failing is much much higher. In a team of 20, someone leaves or gets sick and the project is delayed a bit, they hire a replacement, the others train him/her and project gets back on track. In a team of 3, removing any one piece is a catastrophic event.
It's not that I don't support indies, I do, but I put my money after the product is done, not before.
Well, that's the thing. From a financial point of view backing a Kickstarter makes no sense, since the finished product is possibly a bug-ridden nightmare, or the game will go on sale/become part of a bundle soon after release and thus be cheaper than the lowest backer tier was.
Instead, backing a Kickstarter should be about backing an idea and giving someone a shot at developing a game which might otherwise never be created. And some of those games could turn out to be great.