We all know Kickstarter is a way to help people try to create something. Whenever you back a project you are told in plain English that you are not guaranteed to get the product at the end of it. Dr McNinja was one of those projects that completely disappeared from the radar. The project had been fully funded and under development. The developers delivered all material rewards except the actual game, but after an update in September 2013 they completely disappeared. In December 2015, Kotaku included the game in a scathing list of Kickstarters that had not delivered. This provoked a response from the developers and they updated their Kickstarter page and told backers exactly what had happened.
They want to try and create a game again to help them cope with their depression.
Essentially, the developers had been forced to file for bankruptcy and had been made homeless. The responses on that update were rather warm and actually made me feel good about humanity. but the responses on the latest update has killed that feeling. The developers decided to try again at making a game since they have found it hard to find an employer willing to take them on. They updated their Kickstarter page to tell their previous backers that they had managed to get lodging with a friend and that they were working on a new project called Breakfast Quest. In the video they posted, Alisa said that she felt that this would help them mentally since they had been struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts. When I read the update I was glad to hear they were still alive, since the last update had me worried for their safety. I don’t know why, but I expected people to share that feeling of “hey, they’re going to get back on that horse and keep trying”, especially since Alisa broke down crying in the video, but no, it turns out my inner misanthrope was on the money on this one.
Alisa was barely able to hold back tears in the update while talking about life since Dr McNinja.
The comment section is a vitriolic mess that left me thoroughly disgusted. I’m not saying that backers are wrong to be angry, but they’re acting like this update is the first they’ve heard of Dr McNinja being cancelled. Backers seem to find the fact that they’re trying a new project to be a slap in the face. I was particularly disgusted by a comment from Chris Hastings, the writer and artist of the Dr McNinja comic who essentially kicks the developers while they are down by asking them to remove the update.
Twist the knife a little more Chris! I think you missed the Pulmonary artery!
Chris seems to have lost nothing in this transaction, in fact, he got 15% of the Kickstarter funds, that’s nearly $7k! I wasn’t all that enthralled with Dr McNinja to begin with, but after that, ha! I wouldn’t so much as give him a view. If you look at the update you’ll be able to see how ridiculous Chris’ claim is since Dr McNinja is not even mentioned. The developers said that whether they get funding or not they will be working on the game, it is more for them at this point. They have also mentioned in their video update that they are looking for any work and commissions they can get.
What do you think? Are Chris and the other vocal backers right to be so abrasive? Do you believe developers who fail to create their projects shouldn’t be allowed to make another?
I certainly understand being upset; hell, we go after developers who shit the bed all the time. But Hastings and the other backers attacking them like children can get bent and should have their Kickstarter accounts nuked for posting offensive messages. You backed a game, it fell apart, the devs owned up to it and can’t make good on their promises, move on.
Well, I can kind of see where the backers and Chris Hastings are coming from. Not in any way saying that spewing vitriol at the projects creators is justified, but I can see why some are doing so.
Granted, around 15K is not a huge amount of funds to be lost on a failed project (I have certainly seen much bigger Kickstarter projects vanish without a trace), and any Kickstarter project is never a guaranteed thing; as Kickstarter often reminds us. “You pays your money and you takes your chances” as they say in my neck of the woods. You certainly hope the project delivers, but some never do.
But I would think that asking the same people that backed one of your failed projects to consider backing a new project of yours is going to ruffle a few feathers, especially with those who are still a little salty over the first project failing.
It probably would have been much better for them to just create the new project, and perhaps add a blurb on there along the lines of ‘…while our Dr. McNinja project unfortunately failed, we are back and excited for our new project…” (for disclosure) rather then going out and promoting their new project on the Dr. McNinja’s project page.
Regardless, I am not one for kicking anyone when they are down, and it certainly sounds like they had a rough go of it since the Dr. McNinja Kickstarter. One certainly hopes their new project is much more successful. I just think that their talking about/promoting their new project really could have been handled much more tactfully then they chose to do.
Yeah, I think they probably looked at the responses on the last update, where lots of people said that if they had known things had gotten so bad they’d have given some extra money and thought they’d call them up on it. It’s rough being homeless and rougher still when you have depression since the medication can run up a bill too. I just hope things get better for them in future.
[…] This is why having a pie chart or some other clear spending plan is important. It provides backers with insight into your project, but it is also an important exercise for the developer themselves to undertake. Working out the exact amount of money you need or at least a well researched estimation can be a confidence booster for both you and your audience. Developers need to also take into account the fee that Kickstarter imposes on your funding goal. It was partly a lack of financial planning and not asking for enough which killed the Dr. McNinja Kickstarter. […]