Topic

Kickstarter?

I know everyone is terribly sad about the news; I know that I'm devastated. But perhaps Kickstarter can be a way to, well, kickstart Glitch again. It's done incredible things; it recently raised $1.4 million for an indie game (based off of something that is, admittedly, rather popular, but still!), and I have faith that we might be able to accomplish something with it. In addition to money, it's publicity, which Glitch needs in order to sustain itself -- Kickstarters have a ripple effect. Tell your friends! Tell your family! Tell your neighbors! So on and so forth.

Would anyone be interested in starting a serious effort, or is it just an exercise in futility?

Posted 28 days ago by Pastora Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • I just wonder why this cant go in the way of WoW where we'd buy the game and updates and subscribe? Less strain on servers if we all had the basic game downloaded on individual computers I would think
    Posted 28 days ago by Samurai Jenn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I know a LOT of Homestucks who play this game. Half the streets I visit have animals named after the characters. We did it for Hussie. We could do it for Glitch.

    My husband and I have both been playing this every single day. We've never played any MMOs together until now, and I'm absolutely devastated to get this news. We're in a dire financial situation ourselves, but hell, I'd cancel Netflix and pay for this instead. We both intended to buy a subscription when things looked up a bit for us, but we'd do it now if it would count.

    Please, developers. Please give the community that loves this game a chance. We don't want you to all be unemployed. We don't want to lose what everyone has built.
    Posted 28 days ago by Elendraug Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I would love if this did go the way of WoW, but I can't see that happening without a huge amount of effort from the devs, who have a lot on their plate already. Same with the kickstarter. Starting up and managing a kickstarter is a lot of work, and it would be unfair to ask Tiny Speck to do that at this point. Maybe we as a community could do something independently? 
    Posted 28 days ago by Kastor Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I think that Kickstarter is only for projects that haven't been started yet, unfortunately.
    Posted 28 days ago by SorchaR Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @SorchaR: No, one webcomic used Kickstarter to fundraise in exchange for having ads on the site. So I feel like they're kind of flexible.

    Kickstarter or not, I would gladly donate at least $50 without a reward.
    Posted 28 days ago by Reirei Umezaki Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Stop....it's torture to do this....once it's gone public like this it's over.
    Posted 28 days ago by FlatEarther Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Yes! This is what I'm talking about. I would gladly push my money into a Kickstarter to try and help Glitch get out of whatever slump it is in right now. Anything to keep it alive. We as a community could easily put together a good Kickstarter, and raise the money. This is something that really could help the game, and you need to realize this! I will never give up until the day my bookmark for Glitch goes to a blank screen. Please. Let us fight.
    Posted 28 days ago by Shrimpables Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I would donate and I've never donated to anything before!
    Posted 28 days ago by Tarar the Destroyer Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Unfortunately, it's not just about the money, formidable as that issue is, it's also about the technology, scaling, and the future.  Please read Stoot's complete posting and try to understand what he's telling you.
    Posted 28 days ago by Goddess Freya Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Yeah, as sad as it is, it's selfish for players to ask devs to commit indefinitely to a project that likely won't see the amount of growth necessary to sustain the company. I think a majority of us are still in the denial stage of grieving for Glitch, but once we move past that we can just wish the devs the best for the future. 
    Posted 28 days ago by Kastor Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Guys, they said on the closing that they'd gone through all the possibilities, and if there was any way of saving the game that they'd have done it. It looks like it's just too far gone.
    I hear that monthly expenses is $500k a month, and with 35 employees, that's a LOT of expenses.
    Posted 28 days ago by Avnas Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'd donate... This is the first game that's actually kept my attention in a long time... If they're so worried about flash dying, couldn't they switch over to another technology?
    Posted 28 days ago by Torako Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Even if this community could scrape together a couple million for a Kickstarter campaign, all that would do is keep the game afloat for a few more months.  A few more months of great fun, I'm sure!  But a Kickstarter drive would not solve the underlying problem that Stoot et al has alluded to: sustainability and keeping up with the cost of growth.

    This problem a thing that the devs have certainly been trying to solve since Day One of Glitch.  It's what every company has to defeat in order to be successful.  It's hella depressing that they were not, but I commend the devs on their bravery and just knowing when to call it.  I'm trying to follow their example by not buying into denial, really.
    Posted 28 days ago by Classical Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Torako, Moving from flash to a different technology would be, effectively, rebuilding the client part of the game from the ground up; you can't really "port" something from Flash, just start over.
    The amount of work involved is immense; probably a year or two of work for a whole team.
    It would be worthwhile if the game was going to be cashflow positive sometime soon; but it became obvious, according to the official announcement, that that would never happen.  With no reasonable expectation that the game would ever turn a profit, it just doesn't make sense to invest a couple million $CA to migrate the client.  I hate the result, but I've seen these kinds of business analyses, and I believe Stoot when he tells us they looked at every possible way to make this work and failed.  It's hard to see this incredible world go away, but it would be even worse to see it dissappear without warning a year from now because the money just ran out.
    Posted 28 days ago by Zanthis Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I don't think it's gonna happen but for the record I would donate.
    Posted 28 days ago by The Docta Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Why can't they let someone else try, though? If the choice is between just shutting down or letting the fans have the resources and code and letting them at least TRY to set it back up (I've seen it happen on another game. It failed, but not because the fans couldn't figure it out... It was because they "fixed" things that didn't need to be fixed) what would it hurt to let the fans try?

    The worst that could happen is that it wouldn't work and we'd be... exactly where we are now. Except we'll know we tried.
    Posted 28 days ago by Torako Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Glitch had gone on for so long, in an unsustainable way, that maybe now with the approaching loss of the game will get people to do something (that is contribute money).
    Posted 28 days ago by Yarrun Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I just want to try. I want to know that we tried, and then if I was able to fight for it, and failed, I will be able to live with that. In this case, I feel like I am being kicked out, and told that nothing is going to work. I feel helpless.
    Posted 28 days ago by Shrimpables Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Shrimpables, exactly!
    Posted 28 days ago by Torako Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Why cant the game just go to the facebook platform? Its way more fun the farmville. Or, even to Zynga;s platform.
    Posted 28 days ago by EzBreezy Subscriber! | Permalink
  • EzBreezy, Zynga isn't a platform, it's a company. They would ruin something like Glitch.
    Posted 28 days ago by Torako Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'd stop playing if Glitch went to FaceBook.
    Posted 28 days ago by Piratice Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Oh god no, please no Facebook/Myspace bullshit.  That would totally ruin it.
    Posted 28 days ago by Serra Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I too was wondering about a "Hail Mary" attempt on Kickstarter.
    Posted 28 days ago by Hawk Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Unfortunately, even if they do a Kickstarter there are still the issues with Flash.  They'd have to rewrite the whole game from scratch.
    Posted 28 days ago by Lucille Ball Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'd help Kickstart for a (digital?) artbook/postmortem, though.
    Posted 28 days ago by Bekh Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Me too, I want to help, please Glitch, don't go away :(
    Posted 28 days ago by PyP0 Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'm curious just how much we'd have to raise for one year. start at just keeping the servers running and then do stretch goals from there on.
    Posted 27 days ago by Tarod Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Torako, Zynga is a company with its on platform. Check out; http://company.zynga.com/news/press-releases/zynga-unveils-new-platform-play
    "Zynga Platform PartnersIn an effort to let players discover and play even more games on Zynga.com, for the first time ever, Zynga will enable third party developers to create and publish games on the Zynga Platform."

    And they will not be run by Zynga, just published by them. Players can play on Zynga.com and be included on the Zbar on facebook. Playdom is an example of a company who is partnered with Zynga. Their games are NOT run by Zynga, just published by them and have access to their playerbase.
    Posted 27 days ago by EzBreezy Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I would absolutely love to contribute to something like this. I know the developers said they've considered everything, but I think they underestimated just how many people would want to help out and donate rather than see the game go. Please!
    Posted 27 days ago by tozoku Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I don't think there are enough of us to support a kick starter project.  By my estimate, judging from the feat leader boards, there are maybe 2k active glitch players.  Even if all 2000 of those players donated 100 dollars, that's only 200k.  To raise a million we'd each have to donate 500 dollars, and that's only if everyone had 500 to donate.
    Posted 27 days ago by Pickle Juice Subscriber! | Permalink
  • How about a massive, community driven viral ad project? Like I mentioned on another thread we could probably create some interest about this game if we could get the 'celebrities' of gaming/popular culture (Notch, Wil Wheaton, etc.) to take a look at it and perhaps even mention it. Would that be worth a try? If the problem is that the game is unsustainable, a massive increase in players/subscribers would help, wouldn't it?

    Also slowing down on new updates etc might mean that fewer people could keep the game running  (and that hurts to write, seriously), which would save some money?
    Posted 27 days ago by Rannera Subscriber! | Permalink
  • *points to Pickle Juice's post*

    I think Pickle brings up a really important issue - it feels like there are a LOT of Glitches, but in reality, I think there are far, far fewer of us than we think.  If you look at the "hi sign" leaderboard at any given time, it looks like only maybe a couple thousand players sign in during any given Glitch day.  That's just really not many.  If the quoted expense figure of $500K a month is even close to accurate, that's just totally unsustainable.

    I am heartbroken to see this game shut down, it's the most fun I've had online in a very long time, but I think we need to accept the news we've received and understand that the devs most assuredly did everything in their power to avoid this outcome.  If a fund-raising push could have saved the game, I'm sure they would've tried that before making the choice to abandon further development.
    Posted 27 days ago by Zoethor2 Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Pickle Juice - That's a good figure to work from. However, it won't be just people who have played the game that may donate. A lot of my friends on twitter actually just browse and donate on Kickstarter even if they don't play the game being publicized (or gadget, film project etc)they just do it for the donation rewards. And I am certain there will be possibly 100's of others who would find out about this from those who already play or just spot it on kickstarter, see the potential and let it spread though word of mouth. Hey T.S theres no harm in trying! What is there to lose!
    Posted 27 days ago by iDylan Subscriber! | Permalink
  • The counterpoint to the post from Pickle Juice is that though the active comunity is small, the main effect of a large kickstarter is that it spreads awareness.

    If the $1.00 donation level came with a code that allowed a character to be generated, some of those players would play.

    Sadly, that's surely not enough.

    I'd have liked to see the game safely out of beta with solid code, but it seems that just will not be.
    Posted 27 days ago by ICountFrom0 Subscriber! | Permalink
  • KickStarter's terms of use also restrict the majority of uses you could set up for an existing product.
    Posted 27 days ago by Gattsuru Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Having the money to continue the game while it would be fantastic and wonderful, probably would still not help with continuing to grow the playerbase.  So while it could save Glitch as it stands, without a steady growth of new players, it would really just be a delay to an inevitable end.  A temporary increase due to the efforts and devotion of our players now isn't really a fix either.  Even if I got 600 of my friends to make accounts today, at best ten of them would still be playing in two months time, probably three of them in six months.  It's sad but it's understandable.

    Now a donation fund for out of job TS folks to help with their coming holidays while they are looking for new employment?  I'd throw some bucks that way to show my appreciation for all the joy the game has brought me.
    Posted 27 days ago by mightywench Subscriber! | Permalink
  • People who are suggesting Kickstarter are forgetting that this game received investor funding.  I'm pretty sure any funds raised would first belong to the original investors.  This isn't a Kickstarter type project.

    Aside from that, it's not practical to suggest that meeting a minimum amount of funding would allow the game to continue.

    While it might be possible to extend the existing gameplay for a few months, with investor approval, there would still be the same technical issues and lack of game development.  The game can't grow and expand without the talented devs and designers who created Glitch and who need to get paid and also be assured of some kind of continuation.

    What would be the point of prolonging the inevitable?

    That's the conclusion they reached and that's the conclusion you have to accept. 
    Posted 27 days ago by Goddess Freya Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Guys, if they could save it, they would. It is sad, and I'm broken hearted, but TS wouldn't have given up on Glitch if they hadn't considered every possible idea.
    Posted 27 days ago by Aliera Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I wonder how much of that 500K is from the high cost of being in california. and how that breaks down into salary, data center, bandwidth etc.
    Posted 27 days ago by Tarod Subscriber! | Permalink