Surprised there's not already a thread about this (that I know of or could find)

Post here when you back something on kickstarter or see something worth sharing.

I finally bit the bullet tonight and backed my first project - Pebble

I would have backed the Shadowrun Returns project, but they met funding within a day and they can't hand out iPad games to supporters so I'll have to support that one afterwards by buying the game.

4/16/2012 8:44:37 PM

I wonder how many projects end up like this one where these geniuses turned $37,000 of funding into about $4,000 actually spent on the game proper?

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/starcommand/star-command-sci-fi-meets-gamedev-story-for-ios-an/posts/208395

4/16/2012 9:50:09 PM

I hadn't saw that before. That's interesting. Personally I am waiting for a bubble to burst with one of these game companies that gets a million+ in funding and just straight up takes the money and runs/doesn't meet deadlines/Duke Nukem Forevers themselves. Cause right now kickstarter is looking like a great tool in fighting the evil mega corps like EA. But sadly, I'd imagine most of the goodwill of the community in general will probably go away when something like that happens.

4/16/2012 10:09:59 PM

I backed Wasteland 2

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/wasteland-2

Only 9 hours left on it, up to $2,800,000

4/16/2012 10:49:07 PM

i've backed the following:

Pebble: E-Paper Watch for iPhone and Android
Elevation Dock: The Best Dock For iPhone
Magnetic Levitation Sculpture
Bamboo Blackbox Cases
Ferrofluid Sculpture Project (canceled)
Capture Camera Clip System

4/17/2012 3:12:27 AM

I didn't back these but they are fucking rad

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/joedp/the-digital-bolex-the-1st-affordable-digital-cinem?ref=live

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/photocritic/trigger-trap-the-universal-camera-trigger?ref=live

I love Kickstarter.

4/17/2012 4:04:44 AM

man, i would fund that pebble thing if i had even a small hope it would fit on my wrist

4/17/2012 7:55:49 AM

I didn't back this (in fact I'd never heard of the website before this ended) but Tim Schafer is hilarious.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/66710809/double-fine-adventure

4/17/2012 10:18:09 AM

do you get anything if you back it? what's your ROI?

4/17/2012 10:46:01 AM

anyone use http://www.indiegogo.com/ for similar stuff?

I am very interested in investing in these kinda projects but would like to know if any of you are invested and what ^he asked?

4/17/2012 11:32:39 AM

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hermesspace/hermes-spacecraft

4/17/2012 11:35:01 AM

Quote :

"do you get anything if you back it? what's your ROI?"

Click on one of the links and look on the right side of the page. At the most basic level of most projects, most of the backers are simply using the service to "pre-order" a game or product, usually at a discount of what it will be offered for after it is available to the general public.

4/17/2012 12:54:25 PM

Just backed:

Wasteland 2
Leisure Suit Larry Reload
Shadowun

4/18/2012 2:03:53 PM

What did the Leisure Suit Larry guy spend the first $billion on? Hookers? Why should I give him more?

I can guarantee that fraud is rampant on kickstarter.

4/18/2012 7:25:18 PM

pretty sure Ken Williams sold Sierra long ago

4/18/2012 7:27:18 PM

I'm a backer for the Shadowrun game.

4/19/2012 3:15:13 AM

Supported:

Star Command
Shadowrun Returns
The Espro Press
The Banner Saga
Wasteland 2
FTL
The Euphonism Project (friend's a cappella group)

Agreed that in many ways, Kickstarter serves well as a pre-order system; it's a good way to do gauge interest in starting up a production run. I was talking with my father about it the other day, and he also suggested that it made a very good marketing tool as well, especially if you're able to generate sufficient buzz around the product (I'm thinking in particular some of the massively successful software development Kickstarters).

4/19/2012 11:38:24 AM

I just backed OUYA. A $99 Android game console/hack box. Looks fun.

7/10/2012 6:03:23 PM

^me too.

7/11/2012 2:36:58 AM

I backed Chameleon for Android

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gaborvida/chameleon-a-better-home-screen-for-your-android-ta-0

7/11/2012 7:59:46 AM

^^^ I was debating started a thread about that.

It's goal was $950K in 30 days, and they hit that number in 8 hours. It's currently up over $2.6M.

7/11/2012 9:20:21 AM

I think the game dock for iOS devices is a great idea. I'd love to see it pan out.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/500587227/gamedock-for-iphone-ipad-and-ipod-touch-devices

7/11/2012 9:52:34 AM

it's already been funded, but I found this fairly useful and backed it:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1171859847/twig-the-amazing-ultra-portable-cable-for-your-iph

7/11/2012 10:13:09 AM

omg omg ogm

7/11/2012 11:01:33 AM

Just thinking about all of the possibilities of OUYA outside of gaming is making me excited. Google TV was such a disappointment, and it can't be improved because all of the hardware is locked down tight. If this is going to be a true open platform then it will be capable of some crazy stuff IMO.

7/11/2012 11:23:02 AM

Also backed Double Fine Adventure, but you can still donate directly to the project even though funding is complete (but they're super over funded so fuck em, where's my game? )

7/11/2012 1:16:55 PM

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/401662159/pair-with-pear-bluetooth-to-your-speakers-dock

7/12/2012 2:19:34 PM

Sometimes I just go on Kickstarter and I'm like

FUCK!

IDEAS!

7/12/2012 2:25:27 PM

kinda want to back ouya at the $99-get-a-console level...but there's not memory expansion slot!

7/12/2012 3:12:50 PM

I wish there was less terrible stuff on there so I could dig through and find good stuff easier

7/12/2012 8:21:20 PM

considering http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/anomalisa/charlie-kaufmans-anomalisa

7/13/2012 9:44:47 AM

I just discovered this which seems pretty sweet:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/484889112/the-pocket-tv-makes-any-tv-a-smart-tv

basically a stick that plugs into a HDMI port that runs Android

7/15/2012 3:37:00 PM

^There are already a half dozen different "Android-on-a-stick" products actually out on the market that cost less with the same or better hardware specs.

7/15/2012 3:49:01 PM

Quote :

"The processing power in the Pocket TV will allow you to display Android on your TV turning it into a mega-sized tablet (just imagine a 50 inch iPad)."

7/15/2012 4:16:52 PM

^^Feel free to share. This was the first that I had seen

7/15/2012 6:05:10 PM

^^seriously. 90% of the appeal of an iPad or Android tablet is the nice touch screens and how the respective operating systems work with touch. Putting iOS Or Android up on a big TV completely defeats the purpose.

-Although it is fun for emulators.

[Edited on July 15, 2012 at 8:06 PM. Reason : s]

7/15/2012 8:05:32 PM

^^The funniest thing about that kickstarter page was after you got finished watching the videos, all the related youtube videos were of devices that were cheaper, similarly or better spec'd and available for shipping right now. Noen's right, while that product isn't a massive ripoff, it's absolutely nothing to get excited about.

Hell, a OUYA will end up doing everything that pocket TV does and that's not even its primary function.

7/15/2012 8:20:10 PM

almost all the videos on there look/sound the same, I chuckle each time I watch one

7/15/2012 11:17:05 PM

Just backed a couple more projects:

Jetpack 2
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/adept/jetpack-2?ref=users

Castle Story
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/902505202/castle-story?ref=users

[Edited on August 23, 2012 at 7:37 AM. Reason : beck]

8/23/2012 7:36:22 AM

Twig is the only product on there i've seen that was worth a shit to me.

8/23/2012 9:05:46 AM

i tend to have a soft spot for simple and/or retro games. I had completely forgotten all the hours i spent playing Jetpack as a kid until I saw homeboy's kickstarter.

8/23/2012 9:37:54 AM

the Castle Story pledges are phrased weirdly

does pledging mean I get the game, or does it mean I get the opportunity to purchase it at a reduced price later?

8/23/2012 10:56:50 AM

You are buying the game while it's still in beta version (and for other games would actually be pre-beta version), and will be able to patch it to the release version when the game is finished.

They are selling the game for people to play while they are still developing it. This gives them revenue to fund the development and also gives them a bunch of free and willing beta testers who can find the bugs for them. Lots of independent game developers do this these days, I bought Mount & Blade this way a few years ago when it was in release version 0.6.

8/23/2012 12:32:35 PM

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/692213374/the-porthole

8/23/2012 12:33:41 PM

Total Annihilation style game with multiple planets in the same battlefield!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/659943965/planetary-annihilation-a-next-generation-rts?ref=live

The video is just a CGI rendering unfortunately and not gameplay, but if it looks anything like that I'm gonna need new pants.

8/23/2012 1:55:18 PM

8/23/2012 3:58:03 PM

I think that was about a specific game, and poking fun of people who just buy into kick starter projects blindly. Penny arcade discussed planetary annihilation specifically just recently.

Quote :

"There’s an exhilarating gambling aspect to Kickstarter, at least, sometimes.  I backed some hot sauce, for example.  Sometimes it’s not really a gamble.  For example, I don’t think Planetary Annihilation is a gamble.  It doesn’t fit the general profile, which may explain its runaway success.  This is an established independent developer with interesting, sophisticated product out, and veterans stem to stern.  Anything Tim Schafer might have said about the Adventure genre goes for RTS in terms of publisher “enthusiasm,” “enthusiasm” in this case meaning “a distinct lack of enthusiasm.”  End of Nations and the new Command and Conquer are both Freemium, and I don’t think that’s coincidental.  The superscale concepts of Planetary Annihilation - I’ll be surprised if they can keep the name - would make publishers sneeze, and sneeze, until ultimately they sneezed out their forebrain and died. Uber intends to make an RTS game you can purchase and play; given the arc of the genre, it’s almost charmingly retro. (CW)TB out. "

8/23/2012 5:48:13 PM

8/23/2012 10:24:28 PM

This is pretty sweet. Opensource bluetooth control pad with keyboard. Fairly pricey though, $61 shipped.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1703567677/icontrolpad-2-the-open-source-controller?ref=home_popular

9/15/2012 10:51:37 AM

I've got two Portholes headed my way, but I ended up backing out of supporting the Twig until they start making one with a Lightning plug. Then I'll pick one up from what will probably be an actual product website by then.

9/15/2012 5:01:42 PM