With an initial forecast for a release in March 2014, sci-fi action adventure game Radio the Universe is currently more than two years overdue. With most Kickstarter projects this would result in plenty of irate backers, but the comments section for the latest update is still brimming with enthusiasm and support for solo developer sixe. What gives?
Well it’s simple – regular updates. While the updates may no longer be monthly as they were during the year after the Kickstarter was originally funded (back in December 2012 with just over $81,000 from 3,567 backers) they are still being sent out every few months. It’s always reassuring for backers to see the project is still being worked on and, even when there is no news to report, sixe makes sure to at least check in and provide some screenshots. The majority of Kickstarter creators could learn from this example.
It also helps that the updates for Radio the Universe continue to showcase the off-beat sense of humor evident from the initial Kickstarter campaign. Many backers repeatedly express how they look forward to reading the updates and the number of likes and comments each update gets is always considerably higher than you’d expect for a project of this size. The July 2016 update for example has so far received 93 likes and 31 comments – all of which are positive.
At some point backer patience must surely start to run out. The April 2016 update gave a vague ETA of late 2016. With some very ambitious concepts and several key aspects of the game still being worked on, I wouldn’t be surprised to find myself writing a similar piece on Radio the Universe at this point in 2017.
