InSomnia’s backer’s are mad as hell at the latest update, but is it unwarranted? InSomnia’s developers released an update recently detailing everything they’ve added to the game. They have increased the gameplay time to 40 hours, transferred all their data to Unreal Engine 4 and overall have made some ferocious progress. Basically, all that is left to do is polish and improve what they have. Unfortunately, and very predictably, they ran out of money a long time ago.
It does not take a degree in accounting to know that a game of this scale could not be completed on $92K, which is how much the Kickstarter raised. According to developers they have spent $140K of their own money on top of the Kickstarter funds and with their bigger team now spend an average of $18K a month. The InSomnia Team aren’t ready to resign just yet, they’ve put too much work into the game. In the update they told backers that they would be launching a second crowdfunding campaign in February.
“We still need at least $80.000 to complete the game without any loss in effectiveness and time so our team can release it until September 2016.”
I doubt the developers could have predicted the landslide of negativity that reigned down upon them. There were backers who even went so far as to say that when the new campaign came out they would back it long enough to actively dissuade other backers from funding the campaign. I’m not saying that I can’t understand why people are upset, the game was originally much smaller and due out last year. Still, it seems like backers didn’t predict this, which boggles my mind a little. Some have taken issue with the tone of the update, believing that the developers were too happy or flippant about running out of money. They also seem to have taken the idea of the team trying to get additional funding as an insult, despite the fact they needn’t be the ones putting money in.
What do you think? We have seen Kickstarters run out of money before for less valid reasons than trying to provide better quality than originally promised. Should the InSomnia team simply give up on their game as some backers have? Do you think it is necessary for the developers to grovel? Taking into account the previous coverage of InSomnia I’m not ready to go gentle into that good night just yet.
Hate to say this but people are more unforgiving now days, really you only get one shot now, and if you do either a bad campaign or not budgeting correctly or just release a lousy product there is almost no chance of getting more backing, but if you do well you almost have a blank cheque for future projects (though oddly i think Double fine is the exception to the rule).
I really could not guess how well their second campaign will do but i wonder if the game is finished as such and all is needed is polish and improvements why not early access on steam ?
I actually think they probably will. I was thinking about it when I was writing and they were talking about making a new demo for everyone, but since everyones being all ‘rawr rawr rawr’ I bet they will end up bringing it to early access
I actually did ask them and they said “We plan to run the early access closer to the actual release”
Hm, i back this one..but i didn’t read the update. So, i kind learn it by reading this article..so thanks..i guess? It really run out of money quite fast…i mean the KS was successful like a year ago?
I must say i have backed like 330 project but 300 were during 2012/14 and since all those recurring situation the last 39 must have been from 2015 and i’ve been quite bitchy about it, because the creators keeps pushing you to pledge more for more and more often a disgruntled result.
I actually can count on my two hands the product i’ve received and i am happy about it.
That’s rough times 🙁 I haven’t backed nearly as many as you (184), but I don’t keep track of where they’re at any more than any other project I track for the site. I will say though, I’m no longer interested in posters as an incentive for backing. Every single one I’ve received was wrinkled in some way. What good is that?
I’ve given up for a long time on physical. You’ll never receive in one piece.
Only situation where i would dare to is with huge enterprise like InXile, Obsidian, Double Fines, Larian.
I didn’t even get physical on Muv-Luv and god knows i wanted to.
But, being a VN fan i’ve bought a lot of stuff directly from Japan..
and it’s not a good idea..I can’t count how mny stuff i’ve never received or got broken during the trip.
I was watching at what i backed..and if you’re not including stuff done big entities..and only indie indie stuff..i guess things i am satisfied..would be
Consortium, War of the overworld, unrest, Celestian Tales, Lord of Xulima, Legend of Eisewald, Darkest Dungeon, Hard West, No one but you, Hunie Pop and..hand of fate. I hardly reach ten.
Then i’ve been deeply annoyed by huge company like RSI, Star Citizen which i tried to get a refund..but was denied like a lot of people. It seems a 100$ over a 100M funded project is too tough to deal with. I got received with full of bylaws and an automat bot answer..i’ll never give one cent to chris roberts and co (so i guess be it indie or huge companies you always get the short side of the stick).
But most things i backed aren’t out yet. My oldest project backed which i still wait for a release is double dipping Corey Cole..and Arakion.
But geez if i had to make a guess over 334 project backed maybe half didn’t get funded and over the 165 funded..maybe like 30 got released..
another 50 disappeared in the wind and the rest in still “working”.
Which i bet this year over the last 80 remaining i’ll get another 30 that either will run out of money or give up.
Now, i only back if i like the project and i think the people doing it have a good chance to actually finish their project.
I am very very fussy about what i back probably only around 25 in total, the only one that let me down was Beasts Fury but if i would have done more research at the time i would not have backed it. I think the ones i am very happy with so far are Grim Dawn, Pillars of eternity, Project Nimbus and Kingdom Come.
I don’t think they should give up. That would be a terrible waste of time and money.
It seems like they are still working away on it? I’ve seen projects in far worse situations press on to completion.
Personally I wouldn’t mind if a project I backed had to do a second crowdfunding campaign (although I’d want to see a significant effect the previous funding had on the state of the game), although I think if they had to do more than two I’d start becoming really concerned about their ability to manage money. (and about how much they respect their backers contributions)
Having to do two campaigns seems unfortunate, but having to do 3+ just seems careless.
I’m inclined to agree with you on this. I regret not backing InSomnia the first time, and am looking forward to the opportunity to back the upcoming campaign. As Octavia said, I can see some people being upset about them pushing the boundaries beyond their financial/manpower abilities, but I’ve still got some faith that it’ll see the light of day.
I’m digging your profile picture btw Nyehhehe.
I’m of the same mindset, it’d be different if they’d stayed silent, but they’ve been pretty good with updates and made substantial changes to the game
Firstly, I would have to say that this was a project I never funded so I have no horse in this race really, as they say.
But I can see why some backers would be upset, Yes I am certain the new engine is much superior graphically, that 30-40 hours of gameplay is much better then 15-20. That a staff of 46 does work a lot faster then a staff of 12.
However, it does seem that the original proposal was much more modest, and more fitting to the budget. The Kickstarter project developers seemed to have went went hog wild and greatly expanded their vision and scope, burning though their backers investment, seemingly a fair bit of their own funds, and now have them looking for more funds needed to actually produce anything, would understandably not sit well with some of those who donated.
I think it is safe to say that no-one likes unexpectedly being asked to paying twice for one product.
This is probably one of those times were it would have been much better for the project to post their proposed changes, and be up front that it would require additional funds to find out if there was interest and willingness to pony up a second time for the same project, rather then going ahead first and seeking forgiveness (and funds) after the fact.
I’m worried about how much they’re going to ask for. The update mentions needing $80,000. If you factor in rewards, taxes, and fees, then their campaign would need to be at least $100 to $120k to get them there. I don’t know if they’ll be able to do that unfortunately.
[…] MONO expanded the scope of InSomnia far more than what they could afford. It’s a common problem on Kickstarter. They should have known when to scale back their ideas so […]