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So computer programs appear out of thin air? They don't require programmers, artists or project managers?

Why don't they sell that service, instead of doing it entirely on spec and then, once it's totally complete, trying to recoup their costs by selling something demonstrably worthless, instead? Seems like kind of a broken business model. Oh, wait, I know the answer: "BECAUSE THAT'S HOW IT'S ALWAYS BEEN DONE."

Could you explain how the service would work, because I can't envision it.

Like this, or this

So computer programs appear out of thin air? They don't require programmers, artists or project managers?

Why don't they sell that service, instead of doing it entirely on spec and then, once it's totally complete, trying to recoup their costs by selling something demonstrably worthless, instead? Seems like kind of a broken business model. Oh, wait, I know the answer: "BECAUSE THAT'S HOW IT'S ALWAYS BEEN DONE."

Could you explain how the service would work, because I can't envision it.

Like this, or this

And funny that you cite Fallout: New Vegas, but Obsidian just ended up laying off 30 people. The owner of the company hasn't taken any salary in over six months and they're fighting bankruptcy. But surely, they're making too much money and should lay off the rest of their staff.

I can't comment on the organization or management of the company, but if they're having problems making $300 million last for 2 years then maybe there are other issues going on other than the cost of development. Or, to put that another way, I have a hard time believing that New Vegas is the reason for Obsidian's troubles.

When I look at a practical business model, I'm assuming a relatively low budget ($20 million as opposed to $100 million for titles like Max Payne 3) but also assuming I'm not selling 1 million copies.

Citing $20 million as a relatively low budget is sort of stretching the meaning of "low". Speaking of Brian Fargo, I'm sure you're aware of Wasteland 2. He said he could develop that game for $900k, and with the $2 million he has now he's saying he can also port it to 3 platforms. So why does a company need to spend $20 million? What are they spending it on? And $100 million for a game? How many developers does it take to make a game? I'm not arguing the fact that companies actually spend that much money, I'm trying to suggest that they could do it for much less. It's like the stories we occasionally see where the government paid out several million dollars for someone to develop what is essentially a database-driven web site and every developer here wondering where that money goes. Just because they budget and spend that much doesn't mean that they need to in order to get what they want.

You want another example? How about Minecraft? It's sold over 5 million copies. What do you think the 1 developer budgeted for that, do you think he spent $20 million building that game? There's a mindset, not only in game development, that huge big-budget productions are the only way to make large amounts of money, and that's not really the case. Look at Portal, for example.

Tim Schafer raised over 3 million dollars with just the promise of a new game. Gamers are disloyal to companies that don't respect us.

Brian Fargo also got a million and a half dollars in less than two days from fans in order to make a sequel to Wasteland (the predecessor to the first two Fallout games).

There is *far* more developer loyalty and appreciation among fans than the OP thinks. The publishers made the same mistake in their thinking. For a decade they refused to help Brian Fargo get a Wasteland 2 game made, thinking it would not make money. Then someone gave Fargo the idea of raising money via Kickstarter and *boom*.

The *publishers* deserve the little to no appreciation or loyalty they get. They only get in the way of the gamers and game makers who want to make each other happy. They are the ones who insist on ridiculous DRM schemes, DLC scams, and such.

Not to mention that nowadays you can have "distributed patronage" instead of relying on rich people or the state. The most funded page on Kickstarter is impressive, with Double Fine getting $3.3 million and a webcomic getting $1.2 million.

Something like this?

Though, admittedly, it only works when you already have a name that comes with good reputation among the target audience, and a solid portfolio of past works.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/64409699/ftl-faster-than-light

FTL
It is a spaceship roguelike where you actually control the ship up close, rather than directly.

A friend mailed me a link to that today -- looks cool. I've been thinking about a similar game for awhile. It's cool that I can just sit back and let someone else write it :)

FTL
It is a spaceship roguelike where you actually control the ship up close, rather than directly.
Glad it got funded, these guys sound pretty good and the idea sounds solid.

Would like to see him have a try at it. So little actual decent space-trading games that are full-on, large or even fun.
So many of them are just a plain chore to get in to, and you can lose everything just like that.
Quite literally a second job to get in to in order to even play most of them.

I loved the idea of Elite but the implementation (particularly the later ones) was always a bit off for me. The crew based thing would be quite a bit of fun. Have a game that is part space shooty, part RTT or TBT crew management.

There is a kinda related indy game a couple guys have up on Kickstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/64409699/ftl-faster-than-light. It is a space ship game with crew management and that sort of thing, but more a pure tactics game, not a space shooty/sim which is what I love. Also not Firefly, of course. Still, worth a look if that kind of thing interests you. Used to be a demo on Onlive, but hat expired so now al lyou can do is watch gameplay videos and the like.

Being worked on right now.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rocknail/filabot-plastic-filament-maker

Currently waiting to receive mine to give a try, last message from the guy (in the comments, not the posted updates) says that the major systems are working and gives an indication that the issures right now are going to be getting parts sourced and kits made and everything. Still definitely at the hobby stage but it'll work great for recycling bad prints or for reclaiming material from other sources.

This makes me think of a Kickstarter project I saw the other week to consolidate credit and other cards so I don't have to carry so many in my wallet. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1404403369/geode-from-icache

TFA mentions that they have a Kickstarter project going to build a new arena (made out of tougher materials so they can allow higher-powered weapons while still keeping spectators safe), if anyone wants to kick in a few bucks. Linky.

And what does it matter? Is my refrigerator a walled garden because it's hard to get into and fix? Is my dishwasher a walled garden? How about my car? My car now has a fancy computer that needs a special adapter and software to interface, is that a walled garden?

I fixed my washing machine using espares.com and youtube. I want more open source things like the open source coffee machine on kickstarter http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zpmespresso/pid-controlled-espresso-machine I want to fiddle about if I feel like it.

But the physical medium is hardly worth anything to begin with. So where's the value? In the combination of content on the medium? Shouldn't that same combination also have value on a magnetic disk?

The only consistent answer is that a copy of information has no value on its own, and that the real value lies in access to the content, a notion merrily encapsulated in the idea of licensing.

Yes! Also, even more merrily encapsulated in the idea of sponsorship

Not having created something yet is the ultimate access restriction.

Not just law. Also, the constitution. Also, the senate. Also, the house. Also, the executive. Also, the judiciary.

All of each represent a very small part of the society.

Also, pretty much anyone who is well educated, formally or otherwise.

Oh, I couldn't find data that showed the acceptance of copyright by level of education, is it online?

Also, pretty much anyone who has created significant IP.

Well, that's called "biased people". I'm sure horse breeders disliked the car as well.

Yes, we will. And if they manage to defeat the ideas of copyright and patent without a suitable replacement, we'll see how many great new movies and songs they get to enjoy as well. Because the relationship there is very solid.

But is it really? It's kinda hard to believe when e.g. film piracy has been rising and at the same time the MPAA was having record profits, year after year, when studies like this appear or when people pay millions for a product that doesn't even exist yet.

I don't doubt that getting money is sine qua non for the development of new content, but I find the claims that copyright is necessary for that money to flow to be far from proven.

Sharing and buying are not incompatible:

As it currently stand the purchase once and give away free to everyone is not sustainable.

You're falling for the mental trap they've set up. That situation simply won't happen. People who share also pay: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/apr/21/study-finds-pirates-buy-more-music

Hell, they buy it even before it's made: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/66710809/double-fine-adventure/

The "copyright or bankruptcy" dichotomy is simply false. Maybe there will be less money to go around, but that's all.

You know who will really suffer? People who sell shit and don't take refunds, because pirates try before they pay. But should we really give a crap about them?

But I'm going to have to wait a bit for it to be released...

The finished game in all of its awesome glory DRM free on PC, Mac, and Linux, or via Steam for PC and Mac, exclusive access to the Beta on Steam...

if you donate 15 USD or more.

This was the KickStarter project:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/704089843/the-search-for-the-lost-da-vinci

In the mean time, the Double Fine Adventure game has raised $3M (including KickStarter's/Amazon's take).
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/66710809/double-fine-adventure

Patronage type project vs appeals-to-the-masses type project, I suppose.

This was the KickStarter project:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/704089843/the-search-for-the-lost-da-vinci

In the mean time, the Double Fine Adventure game has raised $3M (including KickStarter's/Amazon's take).
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/66710809/double-fine-adventure

Patronage type project vs appeals-to-the-masses type project, I suppose.

and while we are on the topic, the Erfworld Kickstarter has raised over $64000 with over 880 backers to fund a motion comic

Additional funds will go towards -

        New Erfworld website
        Free Erfworld book 1 for a variety of people
        Funding a reprint of book 1
        Funding to making Hamstard beanies
        Funding for a make-your-own-Hamstard-comic tool
        Funding for a soundtrack album

"..an independent team led by Chistian Allen (lead designer/creative director for games like Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter and Halo: Reach) has launched a Kickstarter for a new hardcore tactical shooter."

Their PR is nowhere as good as Schafer's, but tactical shooters deserve some love too!

Anyone know of a non-capacitive glove other than this one? I want to be able to rest my hand on the tablet. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/josephbell/the-hand-glider

[...] and then little 15 year old Suzie walks by the camera on the way from her bathroom to her bedroom and *boom!* the company behind this has just analyzed child porn

Putting aside for a moment that perhaps such households should think for a moment before opting into such plans, I have to ask... ...what, exactly, would be wrong with that scenario?

For one thing, it's not child pornography. The law may perhaps interpret it as such, especially if it ends up being treated as such by the person caught on camera / their legal guardians, but naked people walking in front of a camera does not necessarily pornography make.

For another, my computer could be analyzing child pornography all day long every day of the week. Perhaps it's analyzing it to see if it's known pornography or new pornography. If it's new pornography, perhaps it's trying facial recognition to see if this is of a person whose case has already been handled, or that it may be a new case and should be flagged as such.

But given that the system doesn't know what the material is in the first place, perhaps it's analyzing the picture, sees what looks like a human form, detects that either there's no clothing or the person happens to walk around in a wetsuit that matches their skin color, and either way decides to discard the data.
The analyzing software may be much more interested in that bright rectangular surface called your TV to see what programs you watch.

People are way, way too jumpy about this stuff. Next thing you know an adult can't go to a lake for a swim because there's also kids who like diving into the water and have issues keeping their bikini bottoms on* and you just might see that. Oh noes.

It's different if that's the purpose of going swimming there in the first place, of course. Just as it would be different if one of the goals of this company would be to catch people naked (adults: blackmail, kids: CP market?), or if, as part of its operation, the material would be made available to third parties who in turn might have such motives.

( * apparently, that's a thing? Here, have a plug: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/525823883/swimwear-that-stays-put-made-locally-made-responsi )

Don't get me wrong, I'm not opting into such a program anytime soon.. but the whole "what if it catches X doing Y!?" thing? Not the biggest problem with this by a long shot.

If you are referring to the three cases HBO highlighted, two of those were found to be unrelated to fracking. The third, of course, was an issue and that land owner was compensated, probably quite well. As for the other two, it turns out that their water wells were drilled through three coal beds and contain NATURALLY occurring gas.

Sources? A serious request has I haven't seen anything that has ever mentioned alternative theories to the source of the gas in the water.

Certainly. HERE is an NPR article explaining the whole debate. As we all know, NPR is a right wing outfit that is in the pocket of big oil. Except, they are not. Here is an excerpt:

Some worry fracking fluid will leak out of a well and contaminate aquifers. In fact, a recent draft EPA study about water pollution in Pavilion, Wyo., does make that link. Fracking wastewater has also spilled and contaminated surface water.

But fracking does not put methane into tap water. Tap water blow torches, as seen in the documentary film Gasland, result from methane migration. Such movements of gas may or may not be related to drilling. But they do not result from fracking. And that’s an important distinction to make.

HERE is something describing the problem in 1983, before any friggin' fracking ever started.

Of course, you also have to have your BS detector on the most sensitive setting. Take this quote:

A study released Monday by five Duke University scientists found that drinking water wells near gas extraction sites had on average, 17 times higher levels of methane gas than wells that weren’t.

Um... maybe that's because there is no gas in the area, there will be no drilling. Of the places where they are NOT drilling, how many of those had as much natural gas in the ground as the places where they were drilling? Of course, that's not in the study, but common sense doesn't get grant money, doesn't get professors published and doesn't make headlines.

Also, note your sources. Anything called "CleanWater.org" is going to be against fracking. For that matter, I'm willing to bet these guys are against all forms of energy with the exception of wind or solar. To be fair, there are sites like NaturalGasAmerica.com (or whatever) that will do the same thing, but the tree-huggers outnumber them 10-1.

THIS looks interesting, but I don't have the time to view it right now.

From my research, it appears that NPR is right. Fracking may contaminate deep ground water. This is obvious since it is pushing high pressure water deep under ground (duh). Will that have any effect on wells, which are not terribly deep? Most of the time, no, but it is possible. This is why it's important to know the chemical makeup that the frackers are using. As long as it's not toxic, it shouldn't be a problem. But understand that even if they were pumping the cleanest, purest, distilled water into the ground, the environmentalists would oppose it. I've actually seen it happen here in Central Texas.

A school wanted to use river water, which comes out of the ground at a chilly 50 degrees F, to cool the air conditioning evaporators around campus. This would save a fortune in electricity bills for the school, use much less energy, which is green, and would allow the school to stop using the chemical mix they were using to cool the evaporators now. The cost would be that the water would be returned to the river downstream about one degree warmer. There were protests non stop for years. People would carry signs saying "Don't let SWT Kill the River!!!" Now, again, SWT was doing the environmentally conscious th

Maybe he should talk to Tim Schafer, Double Fine, et al. and tell all these people that they are having fun incorrectly.

Apparently, what Jaffe enjoys most is telling others that they're playing wrong.

Maybe he should talk to Tim Schafer, Double Fine, et al. and tell all these people that they are having fun incorrectly.

True, they could do better in that regard.

For what it's worth, if you want to look at all of them, go to a section page, scroll down to the 'popular' section on the page and click on the 'more' link. E.g.
http://www.kickstarter.com/discover/categories/board & card games/popular?ref=more

Now scroll down until it's done dynamically loading content - there's all the projects in that section (not just the popular ones) that have been published.
They're pretty much ordered from oldest project down to latest project (the project close dates may vary).

If you have something like autopager installed, you can set up a rule to automatically load a bunch of pages. The URL format in that case is;
http://www.kickstarter.com/discover/categories/board%20&%20card%20games/popular?page=N

But it would definitely be much more awesome if they could offer an RSS for each category.

True, they could do better in that regard.

For what it's worth, if you want to look at all of them, go to a section page, scroll down to the 'popular' section on the page and click on the 'more' link. E.g.
http://www.kickstarter.com/discover/categories/board & card games/popular?ref=more

Now scroll down until it's done dynamically loading content - there's all the projects in that section (not just the popular ones) that have been published.
They're pretty much ordered from oldest project down to latest project (the project close dates may vary).

If you have something like autopager installed, you can set up a rule to automatically load a bunch of pages. The URL format in that case is;
http://www.kickstarter.com/discover/categories/board%20&%20card%20games/popular?page=N

But it would definitely be much more awesome if they could offer an RSS for each category.

Cloudtilt is missing this:

A project is something finite with a clear beginning and end. Someone can be held accountable to the framework of a project — a project was either completed or it wasn’t — and there are definable expectations that everyone can agree to.

That is from Kickstarter's FAQ. A really important idea if you're going to be donating money to strangers over the internet. Either need a way to verify it (kickstarter) or a really great reputation (redcross).. otherwise you're just asking for scammers.

You'd have to walk pretty slowly, but:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/peterseid/romo-the-smartphone-robot

Not just games. The Order of the Stick is there, too. And that's one of biggest heavyweights among webcomics.

The problem is that almost all success stories with new business models so far have been something like this:

But what if it's not a video game? What if it's, say, a board game? The niche board game industry (as in, board games not published by Hasbro) has been rapidly shifting to Kickstarter. Basically, the model goes something like this:

1: Design and test boardgame to be close to playable.

2: Bring game to boardgame conventions and meetup groups, allow people to test it out to get a bit of buzz.

3: Start a Kickstarter page. The rewards for backing the project are essentially pre-orders for the game. You donate $40 to the project, you're promised a copy of the game in the mail as soon as it comes out, and maybe a bonus pack of something for your support.

4: Kickstarter money game is used to fund the initial production of said game.

For example, check out this new fighting card game called BattleCON. That game is being published by a small, local studio with basically no name brand value. That game got shopped around a little, they put out a starter pack in a pdf for people to download to test, and the game doubled its Kickstarter goal. The first printing just came out a couple of months ago, and I've heard nothing but good things about it so far, including hearing a boardgame podcast put the game in their best-of-2011 list.

So really, why can't videogames do the same thing? It's a bigger project, you'll need to build buzz in different ways, but I don't doubt that it could happen to more people than just DoubleFine.

That said, this is still very cool, and I would be very surprised if this project didn't top the #1 slot for most funded
I happened to look up the most funded game project on KickStarter the other day. The top funded game (and you can question whether or not it's a "game" since it mostly seems to be about artificially intelligent creatures in a game world) came in around $56,000. So, yeah, Double Fine blew all the game projects out of the water.
http://www.kickstarter.com/discover/categories/video%20games/most-funded

For those who cannot be bothered to actually rtfa:

The actual kickstarter page

I have to say, this strikes me as a damn fine idea. Even if people do not participate in the kickstarter itself the game will still be on sale on Steam once completed, and with a large marketing headstart. win-win.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/printrbot/printrbot-your-first-3d-printer?ref=live

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/relativedesign/reprap-self-replicating-3d-printer-fuel-the-moveme?ref=live

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/printrbot/printrbot-your-first-3d-printer?ref=live

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/relativedesign/reprap-self-replicating-3d-printer-fuel-the-moveme?ref=live

you'll be able to get a printrbot for $499. I'm not sure when they're going into full production. Right now they're producing units for the kickstarter backers. I ordered the plastic parts only, and will try to build one for less.

Hypothetical - If I'm an independent game developer who relies on game purchases to finance myself to make future games, what do you expect me to do?

Let's look at the not-hypothetical-at-all practical and functional answers to this question, which has already been handled quite adroitly by that community...

Fund them upfront -- granted this seems to work a lot more for Board and Card games (too many examples there to list even a significant fraction of them), but there's no specific reason it couldn't be used by indie video game developers (and maybe they'd get better at estimating costs after a project or two).

Let people decide how much they think your work was worth -- hey look, you could buy them all for $0... but people don't.

Free-To-Play -- provide services, cosmetic add-ons, and bonuses for revenue

Those are just your basic answers. Handing out your game for free isn't the end of the world... and in many cases has proven to be a far better business model than actually trying to sell it!

P.S. It also works for music -- give it away, sell performances and physical copies worth actually owning.

Hypothetical - If I'm an independent game developer who relies on game purchases to finance myself to make future games, what do you expect me to do?

Let's look at the not-hypothetical-at-all practical and functional answers to this question, which has already been handled quite adroitly by that community...

Fund them upfront -- granted this seems to work a lot more for Board and Card games (too many examples there to list even a significant fraction of them), but there's no specific reason it couldn't be used by indie video game developers (and maybe they'd get better at estimating costs after a project or two).

Let people decide how much they think your work was worth -- hey look, you could buy them all for $0... but people don't.

Free-To-Play -- provide services, cosmetic add-ons, and bonuses for revenue

Those are just your basic answers. Handing out your game for free isn't the end of the world... and in many cases has proven to be a far better business model than actually trying to sell it!

P.S. It also works for music -- give it away, sell performances and physical copies worth actually owning.

Hypothetical - If I'm an independent game developer who relies on game purchases to finance myself to make future games, what do you expect me to do?

Let's look at the not-hypothetical-at-all practical and functional answers to this question, which has already been handled quite adroitly by that community...

Fund them upfront -- granted this seems to work a lot more for Board and Card games (too many examples there to list even a significant fraction of them), but there's no specific reason it couldn't be used by indie video game developers (and maybe they'd get better at estimating costs after a project or two).

Let people decide how much they think your work was worth -- hey look, you could buy them all for $0... but people don't.

Free-To-Play -- provide services, cosmetic add-ons, and bonuses for revenue

Those are just your basic answers. Handing out your game for free isn't the end of the world... and in many cases has proven to be a far better business model than actually trying to sell it!

P.S. It also works for music -- give it away, sell performances and physical copies worth actually owning.

Or just get one of these http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1439004669/toob-immersive-dome-display. I've used one of these and it was very impressive, can highly recommend it if you enjoy gaming or even just watching movies. Was FAR superior to a flat screen of any size.

Yeah, I remember that time that a company got $100 million dollars by using a Kickstarter campaign.

Did you know that no videogame has ever reached $100,000 on kickstarter? The most-funded videogame project I could find on Kickstarter (called "Grandroids") topped out at $56,000. Why, that'd get you a software developer and an artist for a whole six months!
http://www.kickstarter.com/discover/categories/video%20games/most-funded

You cannot have a sensible business model based on "you invest 100 million so that we can develop this game, then we'll give it away for free afterwards because people are only going to pirate it anyway". You won't get the investment in the first place, and your next game will have to be made for free, including people's time.

Sure you can.

http://www.kickstarter.com/

Be very careful to read the fine print on contests like this. I looked into one a few years ago (run by Hammacher Schlemmer, I think), and by entering you essentially wound up giving them your IP at pretty unfavorable terms. If you have a good idea, something like KickStarter is a much better bet.

Just write the damn thing once, somehow, and give it away free to everyone. Seems inevitable, and I'm eager to see it.

Hey man if you're up for writing it, I'd definitely chuck $25 at a thing like this. I donated $25 to Daniel Shiffman's Nature of Code book and plan on reviewing it on Slashdot once he's done. Here's some examples of his latest products for it: PDF of Chapter 10 and Code.

Figure out how much money you would need to have your department make some creative common texts and see how Kickstarter responds ...

A tool for anyone to communicate even when the authorities bring down the communications network.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kvogeltanz/dovetail-voice-to-the-people

Here's an Arduino offshoot that's got the software support of Arduino, but flexibility with add-on modules: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/upgradeindustries/boardx-the-open-source-miniature-motherboard-redem

Reading The Fine Article provides some links to follow. If you did, you would wind up on their KickStarter Page. That page includes a short trailer as well.