It looks like Jane bought advertizing on adventuregamers.com. One has to wonder if that business from her would have any indirect influence on the ratings. It also raises the question whether Big Finish should do the same thing although they'll probably get free exposure anyways.
I find myself torn. I want everyone in the adventure genre to knock this out of the water, but I do have concerns about the direction Jane is going. I would rather Jane use excess funding to make Moebius better than to try and fit two adventure games into one cycle if excess funding does happen. She is the only "big name" to do this. Everyone else in their projects has given me the impression that excess funding will be used to make their one game bigger. I just don't see the quantity approach as being the best, and she has raised the bar high by using the basket analogy, but I wish her the best.
Finally I don't feel like adventure games should have to take any kind of a hit to please the casual gamers, because of Monkey Island Lite. However I get the sense that some people in the industry may disagree with that.
I find myself torn. I want everyone in the adventure genre to knock this out of the water, but I do have concerns about the direction Jane is going. I would rather Jane use excess funding to make Moebius better than to try and fit two adventure games into one cycle if excess funding does happen. She is the only "big name" to do this. Everyone else in their projects has given me the impression that excess funding will be used to make their one game bigger. I just don't see the quantity approach as being the best, and she has raised the bar high by using the basket analogy, but I wish her the best.
Finally I don't feel like adventure games should have to take any kind of a hit to please the casual gamers, because of Monkey Island Lite. However I get the sense that some people in the industry may disagree with that.
I can't afford that. Can we pool our $? Can Big Finish consider it?
To me that's nothing but a conspiracy theory. I know the editor-in-chief of Adventure Gamers - Jack Allin - well enough to say that you can't buy him.
Seriously, the truth is simple. Hey, I love Aaron and Chris, but Jane Jensen has an even bigger name in the game industry than Aaron and Chris. You may not like to hear it, but that's how it is. Want a proof? The thread about the new Tex Murphy game on Adventure Gamers has 57 replies. The thread about Jane Jensen has 712 (!!!) replies. Well, that doesen't sound like a conspiracy to me, but clearly shows that Jane is bigger than Aaron and Chris.
And again, don't get me wrong. I admire Chris and Aaron a lot, but that's how it is so you can save your money for the Kickstarter campaign instead of buying ads on Adventure Gamers.
Seriously, the truth is simple. Hey, I love Aaron and Chris, but Jane Jensen has an even bigger name in the game industry than Aaron and Chris. You may not like to hear it, but that's how it is. Want a proof? The thread about the new Tex Murphy game on Adventure Gamers has 57 replies. The thread about Jane Jensen has 712 (!!!) replies. Well, that doesen't sound like a conspiracy to me, but clearly shows that Jane is bigger than Aaron and Chris.
And again, don't get me wrong. I admire Chris and Aaron a lot, but that's how it is so you can save your money for the Kickstarter campaign instead of buying ads on Adventure Gamers.
I'm convinced that Jane has a bigger name, yes. On the other hand I don't necessarily think that the Big Finish campaign has to do worse than Jane's. I think there is one big difference. A lot of people know and love Gabriel Knight, which doesen't mean that all of them will support anything else from Jane but Gabriel Knight. I'm convinced that Jane would have made a LOT more money if her Kickstarter campaign would have been for Gabriel Knight 4 (which by the way seems like a realistic option for the future regarding what she said in the Adventure-Treff guest column).Bjyman wrote:So since you're saying Jane is a bigger name we should expect Project Fedora's Kickstarter to do worse than Jane's? I don't see anything around $300,000 to be substantial enough for a real game.
In Jane's case you're supporting a name and not the franchise that people love her for and that made her the legend she is. In the case of Aaron and Chris their Kickstarter campaign will be for the franchise that people love them for so it's a difference.
The thing that worries me is the relation between the Tex Murphy thread on Adventure gamers and the Jane Jensen thread: 57 replies compared to 712 replies. That doesen't seem very promising. But who knows... maybe it will change as soon as the Kickstarter campaign started. I can only hope so, because Chris and Aaron deserve it!
but...
Don't forget that a lot of people didn't liked Gray matter at all. I've read a lot a people saying that it was the reason why they are not backing the jane jensen project. I've also read some people, like me, saying that they prefere spare money for a new Tex Murphy. Also, the Jane Jensen pitch video is not very good, we don't know what the game will be, and one year seems short to produce 2 adventure games from a scratch. Plus, a lot of people don't care about creators, but only about franchises. If the lsl kickstarter campaign was instead the "new untitled project of al lowe", I don't think he would have raised more than 150k. Tim shafer is an exception, because he is still famous now in the gaming world, and have created a lot of different new games (Instead of JJ, only famous for GK).
I'm sure Tex Murphy will do a lot better than Jane Jensen, because they'll have a good pitch video (they took time). With the delay, a lot of people (like me) had the time to spare money. They have a lot of rewards to give away (old games, music, books, and maybe also a new book). We know for sure we'll have Tex voice, Tex humor, FMV! If the engine sucks, FMV will still be good, voices too, we know that for sure. And also, Tex had a second life with gog.com.
I'm sure, if the pitch video is really good, that they'll raise at least 600k.
And joliet_jane, to answer your question, I think the kickstarter campaign is already the back up plan.
(plan 9)
I'm sure Tex Murphy will do a lot better than Jane Jensen, because they'll have a good pitch video (they took time). With the delay, a lot of people (like me) had the time to spare money. They have a lot of rewards to give away (old games, music, books, and maybe also a new book). We know for sure we'll have Tex voice, Tex humor, FMV! If the engine sucks, FMV will still be good, voices too, we know that for sure. And also, Tex had a second life with gog.com.
I'm sure, if the pitch video is really good, that they'll raise at least 600k.
And joliet_jane, to answer your question, I think the kickstarter campaign is already the back up plan.
(plan 9)My $02. And you knew I had to chime in here right?
I think Chris and Aaron should go low as they can on Kickstarter. Look at The Banner Saga. People LIKE to give to successful campaigns. It's like climbing on the winning horse's back. There's even a button on the main screen to find the most funded projects. More of them caught my interest because, hey, lots of folks thought this was cool, I'll give it a look. Once Larry hit his goal a few days ago, he got a SIGNIFICANT jump in pledges. Jane is floundering right now, but if she had set her goal at 200k I'm sure she'd be sitting much prettier right now. Even though I gotta say, her $$ per backer is head and tails WAY above Larry and even Double Fine. If Tex could get the best of both worlds.... (wipe drool away here)
PLUS, by setting the goal lower and hitting it more quickly, they can open up to Paypal payments, checks in the mail, stacks of benjamins, etc..
KEYS to success, IMHO!
Kick ass video that can appeal to old fans and NEW USERS. Maybe even a story pathing introduction for players who have never encountered Tex before, so people that are unfamiliar with the games can still enjoy the experience. And having that info (new players welcomed with open arms) featured in the pitch. Whether that be text or vid, either should work.
And cool swag. Definitely definitely cool swag.
I think it's a little unfair to take post counts as an indicator of brand success right now. Once Tex's Kickstarter starts, and people get involved, I think you'll see the love.
Kirk out.
I think Chris and Aaron should go low as they can on Kickstarter. Look at The Banner Saga. People LIKE to give to successful campaigns. It's like climbing on the winning horse's back. There's even a button on the main screen to find the most funded projects. More of them caught my interest because, hey, lots of folks thought this was cool, I'll give it a look. Once Larry hit his goal a few days ago, he got a SIGNIFICANT jump in pledges. Jane is floundering right now, but if she had set her goal at 200k I'm sure she'd be sitting much prettier right now. Even though I gotta say, her $$ per backer is head and tails WAY above Larry and even Double Fine. If Tex could get the best of both worlds.... (wipe drool away here)
PLUS, by setting the goal lower and hitting it more quickly, they can open up to Paypal payments, checks in the mail, stacks of benjamins, etc..
KEYS to success, IMHO!
Kick ass video that can appeal to old fans and NEW USERS. Maybe even a story pathing introduction for players who have never encountered Tex before, so people that are unfamiliar with the games can still enjoy the experience. And having that info (new players welcomed with open arms) featured in the pitch. Whether that be text or vid, either should work.
And cool swag. Definitely definitely cool swag.
I think it's a little unfair to take post counts as an indicator of brand success right now. Once Tex's Kickstarter starts, and people get involved, I think you'll see the love.
Kirk out.
Last edited by Bjyman on April 28, 2012 • 6:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I didn't mean to upset anyone by being objective. Jane isn't at her fullest potential by not having Gabriel Knight so perhaps that wasn't the best comparison. There are really too many factors for me to analyze anything, but from Tim's campaign it seemed like 300k would make a tiny adventure game. Jane also has other funding so I don't know what her total budget is and I'm sure that impacted her goal. I agree that Tex's goal should undershoot and it's a good idea to echo the majority of what Tim did although we don't know exactly what made his campaign so successful.