Starflight 3 crowdfunding now!
- Thread starter Rilzi
- Start date
Jenner
I wish I was English like my hero Tj.
Kickstarters usually have a burst at the end, but it still may reach its goal.
I know that I'm pretty much done with Kickstarting games nowadays, even for stuff that I'm a big fan of like this. I'll definitely pick it up on release if it's good. I may even pre-order it a few months out if I'm feeling extremely positive about it and have seen some basic gameplay in action, but plonking down money on a dream.... I've been burned too many times now.
Well Star Flight 1 and 2 actually have a story and they are exploration centered. Star Flight 2 was one of the first two games I bought for the PC back in 1991 and I still fire up DOSBOX so I can replay it evert few years. It is somewhat like NMS but is it played 3rd person and if it is like 1 and 2 it will be much deeper than NMS better story more clues to follow more sense of purpose. The problem is that that last version was 28 years ago and very few people now know about it and they havent done a very good job of publicizing it. It is a shame really because either SF1 or 2 with modern graphics and controls would be a huge success. The last time I looked it was only at 48% and there are only a few days left. I hope they don't give up though and that they try again.
I can understand your point of view and I have acrazy ieda for you. You can go to GOG and get SF1 and 2 for under $10. I know its and old game. Pre-mouse DOS. Cursor keys and hot keys the graphics are EGA but they were really good EGA fot the time. It runs in windows under DOSBOX. IF you can overlook the old graphics and controls and play it for a few hours, the story is really entertaining and it manages to create a sense of wonder as you explore the galaxy. I still play it every few years and I would love to see them make a modern version. Heck, if they took the SF1 or 2 engine and reworked the graphics and controls, that would be a big success. trust me it was a good game. Assuming that SF3 follows the same scheme it should be a lot of fun.
Before this one, the last time I kickstarted a game was in 2012. That year, I did Elite Dangerous, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Shroud of the Avatar, and Star Citizen. So I had a 75% success rate and I have been happy with those three games that have released,( Well, Shroud is about to release). So I am satisfied with my investments. I learned two things in the process. One is that you are not buying a game, you are funding a game development and as such, you should only put in money you can afford to lose because it is far from a sure thing. Two, at least for me, is don't waste you money on alpha and beta access levels. The only alpha/beta that was any good was Elite: Dangerous. KCD put out a Beta pretty early on and did a few patches and that was it. Everyone played that for 5 years with no further changes. Shroud of the Avatar is pretty good now but the first few years were buggy and boring and empty. I wont even talk about the continuing history of the Star Citizen Alpha. So while I did invest in the Starflight 3 development, I took the lowest tier that would give me a playable copy of the game. No Alpha no Beta, no Name a Planet after me and no dinner with the team. And especially no soundtrack of book of developer highlights. (The one perk I did buy was when Elite: Dangerous sold perpetual updates forever for $15. That was the best $15 I have spent in a long time. I get all the new content free every year).
I still have my 5 1/4" floppy disk version of the original. Found it a couple of months ago sorting thru all my ancient computer stuff that was going to go to "computer heaven". I then found out that it was released for Sega Genesis and yep, I still have a working Sega console so I went looking for the cartridge. Expensive thing it is. While looking for it I found a game called Elite Dangerous.....
I'm afraid that many backers found that the reality of crowd funded video games doesn't meet their expectations.
From the Crowdfunding site:
For what do you need these rights for? What's wrong with making a completely original Starflight-like space game without any franchise license? Afraid of not getting any of those nostalgia bucks?
Reminds me of this one:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/descendentstudios/descent-underground
which is overdue since 2016.
As do I, and I also have an old DOS PC with a 5 1/4 " floppy drive wich I used to install the game. Then I copied the install to Windows 10 and sucked it into DOSBOX and it runs and plays just fine. You can also find it on GOG I think for about $5. I comes with DOSBOX ready to run. GOG also has Starflight 1 which is as good at SF2.
seems some crafty... err desperate... individual was trying to hit up Elon Musk to save the game and fully fund it.
Musk apparently responded with a reference to elite dangerous.
I'm not on social media, so can't verify any of this, but they've now created a special backer level, just for Elon Musk. only $420K! lol
https://www.fig.co/campaigns/starflight-3/updates/808
Musk apparently responded with a reference to elite dangerous.
I'm not on social media, so can't verify any of this, but they've now created a special backer level, just for Elon Musk. only $420K! lol
https://www.fig.co/campaigns/starflight-3/updates/808
That was just ... embarrassing.
But it's a worthy lesson about crowd funding, which didn't cost anybody anything ... yet (with 3 hours left). Just over 3000 backers spent an average of $140 - about seven times the price of the basic package ($20) and didn't made it past 60 % of the $800000 budget, which is already unrealistic low.
Without insanely overspending backers, crowdfunding goes nowhere. You need publishers and investors.
Or you need more backers, ED had 25,681.
That's about nine times more. A bit unrealistic if you ask me.
Jenner
I wish I was English like my hero Tj.
There are other, potentially better, avenues to releasing the game anyway. If it has merit they can get investors and still turn it out. Or get a publisher if they can pitch the idea. I liked Starflight back in the day so I hope they find a way to realize it.