Thrive Games first took to Kickstarter in January seeking funding Dragon of Legends. It was a 2D RPG full of Norse mythology and presumably dragons. Dan Miller wrote that it was “one of the better examples of a Kickstarter project,” and was pretty optimistic the campaign would pan out.
Unfortunately for Thrive, it didn’t. With a goal of 60,000 CAD (over $43,000), the campaign only received 17,000 CAD (just under $13,000).
After just a week of retooling, and one major benefit, Dragon of Legends is back, this time seeking less than $10,000. Why the big change in goal? Because Thrive found a potential source of financial assistance.
In response to one of the backer’s comments, the developer stated that the only change is this new hope of attracting a publisher.
“In all actuality the only difference now is that we have the potential opportunity to work with a funding agency, which would provide financial assistance to create the game. It’s not guaranteed that we will get this funding but a successful campaign will help in proving our business case, and if we do get this assistance the project will be created as originally intended.”
They aren’t kidding. The two campaign pages are almost identical, especially towards the top. The new is laid out slightly differently towards the bottom, it lays it’s information out more clearly. Good luck scrolling down the page with all those high res images, gifs, and videos without your browser freezing a few times though.
There is one big changed tucked away at the bottom in the FAQ section however. Previously, Thrive stated that the game will be Free-to-play and contain microtransactions. They’re now backing off from that, saying it will now be a standard buy-to-play model. When the game is out of alpha and beta, they will open a discussion with the community to decide if it should remain that way, or switch to free-to-play.
I’ll save you time, Thrive, and tell you now everyone’s going to say keep it buy-to-play.
The other change is a more detailed explanation of this financial agency. As long as Thrive can get 20% of the original 60,000 CAD goal, i.e. this new campaign’s 12,000 CAD goal, this unnamed financial partner could give them the remaining 80%. While Thrive is not at liberty to say who this agency is, they are apparently a reputable business, having worked with the Canadian government.
It’s a bit risky to lower the goal so drastically when it’s not guaranteed Thrive will get that financial assistance. Publishers can be finicky, especially with Kickstarter projects. They’ve also cheekily removed the “why is the funding goal so low” questions from the new campaign’s FAQ.
That’s what Kickstarter is about though. It’s a risk to back any project. Your donation is an investment, not a pre-order, and Thrive Games makes that perfectly clear.
For more information about the campaign, you can check out Dan Miller’s article, or check out the new campaign for yourself.
Track the progress of the Dragon of Legends Kickstarter in our Campaign Calendar.
