How have you fared with Kickstarter/backing?

[darkpen]

There was a period in about 2012 when I had a bit of time and money, and there was a lot of excitement about Kickstarter and all the cool stuff it was going to bring and make possible. So, like a lot of people, I started backing a few projects.

Because I got extremely busy, I actually forgot about most of them and filtered out my inbox from most updates. I got a couple of surprises in the mail that way, which was kind of fun, but now that I have some free time again, I'm wondering what happened with most of these projects. The problem is, a LOT of them seem to get off Kickstarter for updates (or they're still being filtered out from my inbox, and I'm not about to go through the hundred rules to figure it out :P) and I have no clue what the hell is going on with them.

So, I'm interested in finding out what people backed, and what happened with these projects. On my side, it's a bit hit and miss so far:

Double Fine Adventure: I guess the one that started the whole "big deal" aspect of Kickstarter. Loved the guy from Monkey Island and whatnot, so I backed. Got the game, actually played it. I remember reading something about people being ticked that he asked for money again? I don't know. I got both parts, didn't mind the split either. Wasn't a bad game. I think I paid $20 for it, so for a brand new adventure game, I was pretty satisfied (it could've been better/went in another direction for sure, but you can buy a game off the shelf and have that same experience). [Verdict: Fine]

Leisure Suit Larry Reloaded: What can I say, I'm an adventure game guy. I thought this one was a pretty good remake. I thought the pitch was that this was going to be a series of remakes though, so I guess they crashed and burned in some way or lost money on the deal? [Verdict: Good]

ALL-DOCK: Some dock for iPads, iPhones and whatnot. Looked better in the promo, but it did the job. I'm actually still using it, so I guess that's good. Except I just saw how much it cost me and it's worth nowhere near that--$119 for what amounts to a $20 dock. [Verdict: Got took]

Series E2 Notebook: Paper notebooks. Was pretty good, as advertised, though the corners got dinged with shipping. I used them. [Verdict: Good]

Unsung Story: I think this was supposed to be by the Final Fantasy Tactics guy? A brief follow up shows that this is another clusterfuck that will probably never see the light of day. [Verdict: Money gone most likely]

Napwell: I have a sunrise alarm clock that I really like, so I figured a sleeping mask that would do the same function would be pretty cool. I actually got it, but it was the cheapest piece of crap ever. Broke after 1 or 2 days. Sigh. [Verdict: Crap]

ARK: Some system for wireless charging of an iPhone 4S I had at the time. Was pretty much shit, you had to use their case (fine, though not particularly attractive or protective) and had to place the thing on some dock that never worked well. Not only that, now every once in a while they send me snail mail with some religious come on like I've signed up for some cult. [Verdict: Crap]

Heatworks: Promises of a highly efficient tankless hot water heater. I was really excited about that one and it was the one project I kept reading the updates as they were concise and relevant. Then they announced that they weren't getting the efficiencies that they had planned and that I would need two in a row in my region to have decent temperatures, or one at the source and another one at every water point. I asked for a refund and actually got it without any fuss. So for me, the project fell through, but they were really nice about it and I think ended up delivering to people who stayed on board. Didn't follow up after that, though. [Verdict: Not for me, but good vibe]

Kingdom Come: Not sure why I backed this, but I did. Guess the promo was good. Not sure what's going on with this, looking at KS I got some come on for a private forum that I haven't signed up for yet. [Verdict: Moved off-site or something]

Torment: Tides of Numenera: Had to look that name up in my KS dashboard, I was going to write "Torment of Chlamydia". Anyway, no clue what's going on there. It was supposed to be delivered in December 2014, guess that didn't happen either. [Verdict: Unknown]

Star Citizen: Yeah. [Verdict: Star Citizen]

Hero-U: Loved Quest for Glory, so what's the risk, right? All I remember is Corey Cole sending me some sob story about having mortgaged his house and wanting more money and all the updates started being filtered out. So I have no clue what's going on here. [Verdict: Panhandling]

SpaceVenture: Loved Space Quest, backed this, no clue what happened. These guys completely disappeared off my radar, and the SpaceVenture site has no information? I don't know what's going on here, I'm going to assume they crashed and burned as well. [Verdict: Down the toilet]

Jane Jensen adventure: Sierra theme, I guess? I backed something but I don't remember what it was. I remember playing some new game from her that felt completely unfinished, but I don't remember the name, so I'm going to assume that was it? And I got some Gabriel Knight remake which I think was cool. [Verdict: Already forgotten]

Dreamfall Chapters: I guess I didn't back this on KS, since I don't see it on my dashboard, but I have it on Steam. Didn't have time to play it, but at least I have it. [Verdict: Delivered]

And I *think* that's it (not counting the unsuccessful ones). There may be stuff I backed outside of KS that I don't remember, one day I'll go through my filtered updates and find out. So all in all, these are my results:

Double Fine Adventure: $15, delivered, good
Leisure Suit Larry: $15, delivered, good
All-Dock: $119, delivered, crap-ish
Series E2 Notebook: $25, delivered, fine
Unsung Story: $20, not delivered
Napwell: $75, delivered, total crap
ARK: $89, delivered, total crap
Heatworks: $700, refunded
Kingdom Come: £15 ($20), not delivered
Torment Chlamydia (loving that name now): $20, not delivered
Star Citizen: $37, enough said
Hero-U: $20, not delivered
SpaceVenture: $15, not delivered
Jane Jensen: ?? can't find what I bid on it, going to assume $20. I think it was for two games, one which was crap and the other a (good) remake, but the new one was crap.
Dreamfall Chapters: $20, delivered, don't know if it's good

Total: $1,210 - $700 refund = $510 for 2 good games, 1 good remake, 2 good enough notebooks, a bunch of crap stuff and other things I don't know if I'll ever get.

Buying at retail, I probably would have paid $50/game and $25 per notebook, and returned everything else I actually received so far. So I'm technically in for $510 for $200 worth of stuff.

Not horrible, but I have not bid on anything on KS since and have 0 interest in doing so in the future again at this point.

How about you guys?

[dsmart]

I haven't looked at my crowd-funding metrics recently, but last I checked, I fared pretty well. Of course only games tend to fail and end up not being delivered. Some are still in development, long past their promised dates.

I really need to login to my accounts to see where I'm at today.

[Serviceman]

Project Eternity:  Pillars of Eternity.  Excellent CRPG that is similar to Baulder's Gate and other Infinitity engine CRPGs. (Released)
Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire:  Still in development
Divinity Orginal Sin: Excellent Turn base CRPG  (Released)
Divinity Original Sin 2: a sequel to the game above, even better than the first. (recently released)
BLACKROOM: A New FPS from Romero & Carmack  The crowdfunding was canceled so no money was taken out from my account.  Apparently they are going to do some work to release a playable demo/teaser and do another Kickstarter then.
Aquanox Deep Descent: Reimagining of the Achimedian Dynasty/Aquanox series. (Still in development, making excellent progress)
Overload: From the makers of Descent series.  Overload plays and feels just like Descent. (Still in development, making excellent progress)
Eterium:  Wing Commander like game, just as difficult as the space sims of old like Wing Commander, Freespace, and Tie Fighter.  (Released, and a massive value for only $5 if you want to buy it now, could have easily been worth $30 in my opinion)
Torment Tides of Numera:  spiritual successfor to Planescape Torment.  Excellent game that really feels like Torment. (Released)
Bards Tale IV: well the title should be enough, basically dungeon crawling RPG. (In development)
Elite Dangerous: Great Space sim.  I just wish they used a better "flight" model, more akin to Wing Commander/Freespace.  I play it casually.  (Released)
Star Citizen: (Still in development)
Everspace: I know it is not a crowdfunded game, but it released in Early access so close enough.  Rogue-lite game.  Not a space sim, but a space arcadey action shooter.  Really fun to play and very challenging.
Infinity: Battlescape just going to copy paste here: Infinity: Battlescape is a multiplayer space sim spanning a single true to scale star system filled with dozens of planets and moons. Hundreds of players spanning up to 3 powerful corporations of the Starfold Confederacy will fight to win control of the system. The primary goal will be to capture or destroy your enemies infrastructure through a combination of the orbital bombardment capabilities of capital ships and small spacecraft including bombers, interceptors, and corvettes. (Still in development, making great progress)

[Flashwit]

Torment is actually fine. It had a massive delay but it did come out earlier this year. I haven't gotten around to playing it yet so I can't give a verdict but I'm sure it's at least decent.

[darkpen]

Project Eternity:  Pillars of Eternity.  Excellent CRPG that is similar to Baulder's Gate and other Infinitity engine CRPGs. (Released)

I have it in Steam, I wonder if I backed it outside of KS. Can't remember.

Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire:  Still in development

Really need to play the first one, then. :)

Divinity Orginal Sin: Excellent Turn base CRPG  (Released)
Divinity Original Sin 2: a sequel to the game above, even better than the first. (recently released)

I have 1, classic and enhanced edition. I think I got that in a Steam sale though. Looks like I need a vacation just to lock myself in and play RPGs. :)

Eterium:  Wing Commander like game, just as difficult as the space sims of old like Wing Commander, Freespace, and Tie Fighter.  (Released, and a massive value for only $5 if you want to buy it now, could have easily been worth $30 in my opinion)

It's already in my Steam list, must have been on sale. I'll raise it up the backlog.

Torment Tides of Numera:  spiritual successfor to Planescape Torment.  Excellent game that really feels like Torment. (Released)

Uh oh, looks like I gotta figure out how to get my key then.

Bards Tale IV: well the title should be enough, basically dungeon crawling RPG. (In development)

Cool, I remember the first two.

Elite Dangerous: Great Space sim.  I just wish they used a better "flight" model, more akin to Wing Commander/Freespace.  I play it casually.  (Released)

This one intrigues me somewhat, though I'm not a MMO person. I loved Elite II.

[darkpen]

I haven't looked at my crowd-funding metrics recently, but last I checked, I fared pretty well. Of course only games tend to fail and end up not being delivered. Some are still in development, long past their promised dates.

I really need to login to my accounts to see where I'm at today.

You may have (good) surprises waiting!

[Serviceman]

Project Eternity:  Pillars of Eternity.  Excellent CRPG that is similar to Baulder's Gate and other Infinitity engine CRPGs. (Released)

I have it in Steam, I wonder if I backed it outside of KS. Can't remember.

Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire:  Still in development

With Elite Dangerous, you can play in your own private universe with zero chances of meeting a real person.  I play with a group called Mobius and it is all PVE with no PvP.

With Elite you have these options.

1- Play in your own private universe
2- Play in a private universe for you and your group
3- Play in Open play, playing with everyone else that chose open play, PvE and PvP.

All 3 options you are still playing online on their servers, but for 1 and 2 they allow people to basically create their own section of the server for themselves or their group.  The group I am in has hundreds upon hundreds of players if I remember right.

Really need to play the first one, then. :)

Divinity Orginal Sin: Excellent Turn base CRPG  (Released)
Divinity Original Sin 2: a sequel to the game above, even better than the first. (recently released)

I have 1, classic and enhanced edition. I think I got that in a Steam sale though. Looks like I need a vacation just to lock myself in and play RPGs. :)

Eterium:  Wing Commander like game, just as difficult as the space sims of old like Wing Commander, Freespace, and Tie Fighter.  (Released, and a massive value for only $5 if you want to buy it now, could have easily been worth $30 in my opinion)

It's already in my Steam list, must have been on sale. I'll raise it up the backlog.

Torment Tides of Numera:  spiritual successfor to Planescape Torment.  Excellent game that really feels like Torment. (Released)

Uh oh, looks like I gotta figure out how to get my key then.

Bards Tale IV: well the title should be enough, basically dungeon crawling RPG. (In development)

Cool, I remember the first two.

Elite Dangerous: Great Space sim.  I just wish they used a better "flight" model, more akin to Wing Commander/Freespace.  I play it casually.  (Released)

This one intrigues me somewhat, though I'm not a MMO person. I loved Elite II.

[darkpen]

With Elite Dangerous, you can play in your own private universe with zero chances of meeting a real person.  I play with a group called Mobius and it is all PVE with no PvP.

With Elite you have these options.

1- Play in your own private universe
2- Play in a private universe for you and your group
3- Play in Open play, playing with everyone else that chose open play, PvE and PvP.

All 3 options you are still playing online on their servers, but for 1 and 2 they allow people to basically create their own section of the server for themselves or their group.  The group I am in has hundreds upon hundreds of players if I remember right.

That seems alright. Is the basic game good or do you really need the expansions?

[Backer42]

I remember backing four crowd funded video games (no other stuff like self filling water bottles).

One turned out excellent (backed in 2011 with $7 for the full release including DLCs, which I received).
Two released crap, one of them literally broke my $350 force feedback controller.
One still unreleased (guess the name).
Two refunds.

Investment: $7 (great) + $17 (crap) + $52 (crap) + $50 (crap still in alpha)
Other expenses: $350
Refunds: $52 + $50
Loss: $265

I consider it an expensive lesson.

[tuberchimpy]

Divinity: Original Sin - Delivered and happy
Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire ( Fig ) - Delivered and happy

Empires of EVE: Volume II by Andrew Groen - Still in progress but looking good with regular updates. Really looking forwards to this when it completes.

Only kickstarter that has let me down was a real life buddy was producing a roleplaying source book. Rasied just over 1.5K GBP to do it. I wasn't interested in the thing being kickstarted, just wanted to support a buddy. He's pretty much abandoned it and stopped updating.

[dsmart]

I have done quite well actually. I track them in mobile program and will see about posting some images over the weekend.

[flex-wrap]

 I can't give a verdict but I'm sure it's at least decent.