Saturday 5 March 2016

And I'm sorry to report that I'm abandoning another Kickstarter...



This time it's Into the Shadows lovecraftian fate RPG, and while I only backed it at a low level, there's a pattern to kickstarters that go under without the production of anything, and this one is exhibiting all those signs.

Slow to respond (if at all) to backers requests for updates...

Limited progress on the product since the beginning of the project...

Very busy in all other places except the project...

Deletes conversations on their google pages when a backer takes them to task on what they haven't been delivering when they realise that they were replying honestly and the truth makes them look bad...

It was the last one that sealed it for me...

By my own admission, I was badgering for updates, I'm getting to the point with many kickstarters that although I don't have a problem with the money that's been lost (never put anything on that you can't comfortably lose), I do have a problem when people don't seem to have any respect for the idea that it's someone else's money they're having the party with.

And that's why I was badgering, this was a month and a half back and after asking for updates, it was apparent that Alan (Project Creator) was online and of a mind to respond to people, so I started asking questions, and that's when it got interesting.

Because the funny thing about being notified for things is that if you're on for notifications to everything new, it only updates when you go back to the page.  If you never come off the page, it sends you every update as it comes in, and it doesn't matter if someone later deletes what they think is all the evidence.

I've still got it...

I had thought that there was light at the end of the tunnel, but then he took the conversation down from the group and engaged me directly, saying that he'd got the book finished and that he was just typing up the last adventure.

And I've got that too...

When I questioned further, it transpires that the 8 or so pages that have been posted seem to be most of what has been done, and if it isn't, then he's certainly not willing to give out the rest of it.

And I've got that too...

Apparently, all that remained to be done was the writing of the adventure and then "80 hours" of layout to put it all together.  I offered help if it was needed, was turned down, and the conversation went dark after that.

And so did the updates...

There's still people trying to get updates out of him on the group and all over the kickstarter page, but I don't believe we're going to see this unless someone else takes it on, and after a number of people have been burned on this, I can't see why anyone would want to.

I'll be posting this in the main group for this kickstarter as well as the other channels that I'm in, I have no doubt it will not last long in the google group, but it'll be the first update in that group since everything got deleted.  I have also no doubt that I'll find my membership of that group removed shortly after this, so would others keep me updated please?

It was a good idea, as are many of the things I back, and I wanted to see it go far, there are at least a few people who wanted to see it work, possibly outside of the framework of this project, and I'm certainly interested in making that happen, to the point at which I may have a word with a few people to put something together.

Anyone else in?