Dear Voidrunner,

I want to love you so much but you just won’t let me.  There you sit, well short of a fairly reasonable Kickstarter goal; teasing me with how great you could be.  Your funding video immediately draws me in with some breathtaking visuals, particularly this:

voidrunner1

But even though the video is a bit too lengthy you still keep my interest.  My eyes fills with visions of spaceships flying through alien worlds, beautiful music fills my ears, and silky smooth flight controls give me much hope that you could be something special.  But then you do something like this:

That’s the one animated gif on your Kickstarter and it looks like a lightning storm made against an 80’s bluescreen over a flat textured castle maze.  But you know what?  I’m willing to forgive you Voidrunner because I really want to spend some time with you.  You, me, some Cheetos, and a few Barq’s Root Beers could make for a great night in.

But what’s this?  “Virtual Reality” support?  You know, I’m not really sold on the whole VR craze at this point.  There’s just too many things to keep track of, and none of them seem finished; except for Google’s Cardboard, and I really don’t want to cheapen you like that. But I think that VR could help you stand apart from the crowd.  I want to strap on some head gear, tuck a vomit bag under my chin, and lose myself in you.  But what kind of VR?  This?

OculusRift1

Or this?

segavr

Or any of the countless other systems?

Telling me that you’re going to support “virtual reality systems” makes me feel as though you’re just saying it to be cool.  That you know you’re meant to be played with some sort of VR equipment, but you haven’t quite figured it out yet.

Your lack of VR detail makes me nervous, but I can look past it.

What I can’t get over, though, is the fact that you have a demo to try requires me to be a YouTube or Twitch streamer.  Hell, you even ask that I email someone to play with you.  Why should I have to email someone to enjoy time with you, why not just make yourself available?

If you’re going to ask me for money don’t play games.  Just lay your cards on the table and be clear on what kind of shape you’re in, why you need the money, and where it’s going if you hit your funding goal,

Unfortunately it looks like it’s not going to work out between us this time, but I hope we see each other again sometime soon, you really have the makings of something special.

 

Love,

Greg

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About the Author

Greg Micek

Greg Micek has been writing on and off about games since the late nineties, always with a focus on indie games. He started DIYGames.com in 2000, which was one of the earliest gaming sites to focus exclusively on indie games.

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