Prodigy - Kickstarter Launched

Prodigy is and odd game to most of us I guess. It is a tactical RPG that adds an additional playing interface next to your keyboard and mouse. With it you can move figurines that are placed on physical board that is connected to your PC.

Prodigy is a turn-based tactical RPG featuring high quality figurines for PC.
The player manipulates magical objects to fight epic multiplayer battles and follow a heroic solo campaign.
Prodigy's gameplay focuses on squad-based combat on a physical board for deep-thinking and fast paced 1v1 fights.
Prodigy is a new way to play without any keyboard, mouse or joypad.

This is where they are now:

Prodigy is currently being developed for PC (Windows) with the Unreal 4 engine. We have a prototype of the game that has proven its worth - it includes our first figurines, displays a wide range of NFC (Near Field Communication) interactions and demonstrates the basis of our combat system. It’s been tested multiple times, works really well and we have received lots of good feedback so far from those who have played the prototype.

And this is where they want to go:

Now we're aiming for the real thing: we're deepening the gameplay and tactical use of the board and figurines, building the storyline so each figurine has its own personal content, enhancing the universe with a solo PvE campaign, and polishing our technology for an even more robust and reliable product.

At the moment they are already close to reaching half of their goal of $100K.

More information.

Each character is represented by a figurine of exceptional quality that carries its own characteristics and story

Okay I want them all then.

Pledge $330 or more
JACK OF ALL TRADES PACK - 2 full Companies + additional figurines + beta game

Well excuse me. Isn't that perhaps a bit expensive?
Oh wait, it's only 14 figurines, and in fact there are 17… I want them all with their story!

Pledge $450 or more
SEVENTEEN PACK - 2 full Companies + additional figurines + beta game + deluxe items

For god's sakes.
Are those figurines made of gold perhaps?

Anyway, not only it's too much but it smells like a pay2win scheme. Milking. DLC that is not DLC but is still cut out content sold separately. Anime cards.

With that price and scam strategy I can't possibly back it. Let's see if I'm right that we'll see ebay counterfeit versions with full set of figurines that cost max 20 bucks even before this game gets released.

Not only is it insanely expensive, it's a stupid gimmick. The figurines look neat, I guess, but if I want to play a board game, I'll buy a board game. When I play a cRPG I don't want expensive peripherals, I just want a good game; interesting story, challenging / strategic gameplay, and hopefully something that hasn't been done before (e.g., different setting). It's a shame, because this might have made a decent RPG if you could just play it with a mouse / keyboard…Then again it also seems too focused on multi-player and has a pretty generic fantasy setting / premise, so perhaps it's no great loss to cRPG fans who don't want to drop several hundred dollars to play one game.

Originally Posted by daveyd
Not only is it insanely expensive, it's a stupid gimmick. The figurines look neat, I guess, but if I want to play a board game, I'll buy a board game. When I play a cRPG I don't want expensive peripherals, I just want a good game; interesting story, challenging / strategic gameplay, and hopefully something that hasn't been done before (e.g., different setting). It's a shame, because this might have made a decent RPG if you could just play it with a mouse / keyboard…Then again it also seems too focused on multi-player and has a pretty generic fantasy setting / premise, so perhaps it's no great loss to cRPG fans who don't want to drop several hundred dollars to play one game.

Nintendo did very well with developing a new system around a different kind of controller. Arguably MS did too with Kinect. Apple was eventually successful enough with their controller that we all take it for granted.

Even more recently, I think guitar hero did really well in spite of its bankruptcy, but u-draw…

I was fully on board until we got to "The Ring of Power" reference. Clearly the target audience is just beyond the Pokémon age.

The game looks interesting, but the physical part is a big no for me (all the games I backed in KS I always choosed digital-only tiers)

The computer aspect is somewhat cool, but I'm a bit long in the tooth to be playing tiddly winks. I'll pass.

A side note connected to what I've said above.

One of last year's Kickstarter hits was Pressy:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects…android-button
Asked 40K and gathered almost 700K. What does it do you may check on the link, but the thing important here is that the gadget reward (without shipment) was $17.

Just by seeing it you'll say, hell that's too expensive. Okay, it needs an application, but think about it, in this case it's a software that doesn't include rocket science knowledge and calculations. It can probably be made in just a couple of days!

What happened? Pressy is still in the development cycle - but a copycat product surfaced and is already shipping! I dare to say of a completely same design. With one difference. The price.
You can buy the copycat product for $0,79. You're seeing it right. It's not even one dollar per piece!

You don't believe me? Okay:
http://socialnewsdaily.com/34009/chi…roject-pressy/

Hopefully this will be a school lesson for anyone who tries to pass a kickstarter project with overpriced prototypes.