Considered Kickstarter of PR v2.0?

[Wokeye]

An open question to the devs/black sand studio: have you guys considered using a platform like Kickstarter to raise funds?

Personally, I've seen numbers in PR wane with BF3 etc coming out... but none of them have the blend of teamwork, tactics and strategy that PR gameplay presents. IMO we only need a new 2012 graphics/physics engine build and we'd be back in business.

I worry about the future of our community each day that goes by without PR being upgraded onto a current engine. If a reshash of Wasteland 2 can get $900K in like 48 hours - why couldn't Kickstarter be used to pay for frostbite engine licencing, contractors or something to get PRv2 out ASAP and looking awesome?

Apologies if this has been discussed elsewhere.

[dtacs]

PR2 is already in development, and the C4 engine licence has already been bought.

[sylent/shooter]

AFAIK, frostbite 2 is not available for licence anyways. The best bet would be cryengine 3, but as DTAC's mentioned it has already used the C4 engine licence.

[badmojo420]

A good question. And it doesn't really matter that the engine is already chosen and bought since any game being developed will require funding. Publicity, staff, equipment, hookers, blow... there's always a use for free money.

[dtacs]

A good question. And it doesn't really matter that the engine is already chosen and bought since any game being developed will require funding. Publicity, staff, equipment, hookers, blow... there's always a use for free money.

I don't think the management ever intends to pay PR2 developers. The game is being made the same way PRBF and PRA are: on PC's that the devs themselves own.

I'm sure that the devs have considered many options for PR2 and other endeavors, Kickstarter being only one of them. From my perspective it seems that no large-scale financial input is needed for making PR2 anyway.

[badmojo420]

I'm just saying "free" money could assist development, speeding things up for what is already going on. There's going to be costs in developing any game you intend to sell. Something like kickstarter could give people with no game dev skills a way to contribute directly towards PR2.

Maybe PR2 would be further along if there was a budget to pay a salary for the main developers. So they could focus all their time on development? Or maybe a professional studio could be rented for the many sound recordings. Or to pay for copyrights and other licenses.

[KaizerSosa81]

I'm just saying "free" money could assist development, speeding things up for what is already going on. There's going to be costs in developing any game you intend to sell. Something like kickstarter could give people with no game dev skills a way to contribute directly towards PR2.

Maybe PR2 would be further along if there was a budget to pay a salary for the main developers. So they could focus all their time on development? Or maybe a professional studio could be rented for the many sound recordings. Or to pay for copyrights and other licenses.

True... you'd be surprise at the interest and backing a potential game like PR2 would receive. It would even bring more players to PR, not that it is a problem of course but exposure would be great on all ends.

[paul161616]

i think i can speak for alot of the community members when i say i would definitely be willing to contribute towards pr2 to help get better sounds, or better models, or even faster development. because like you guys said, who doesnt love free money? although i seriously doubt the money would go towards devs salary as im sure they have their own careers and wouldnt want to develop pr2 full time from kickstarter salary i am pro pr2 kickstarter

[dtacs]

Donate now then, there is nothing stopping you. Every bit of money helps.

[Psyrus]

Donate now then, there is nothing stopping you. Every bit of money helps.

^ This

If people are talking about being happy to support PR but haven't got a supporting member bar, I'm reasonably skeptical

[You may note I don't have one either, as my contributions went directly towards keeping the server I played on, active]

[badmojo420]

Except the kickstarter community doesn't read the PR forums.

[Maverick]

Except the kickstarter community doesn't read the PR forums.

They will if we get this started

[Wokeye]

PR2 is already in development, and the C4 engine licence has already been bought.

Cheers for the link - but that FAQ hasn't been updated since 2009. That is what I'm worried about... that PR2 will never be made, and/or that most of the community will have moved on by then. Surely more $$$$ = faster development?

As for the existing donation system, - what am I buying? Kickstarter needs the pitch to be planned, articulated and committed to by games developers. I'm suggesting we (the community) could well do with a concrete proposal/goal to pitch into. I don't see that we really have one right now unless it's buried in the forums here somwhere?

[DankE_SPB]

As for the existing donation system, - what am I buying?

There are ongoing costs, ie team needs servers to host site and forum on, servers for SVNs, testing servers and so on, might add sound recording trip to that( + iirc team bought a sound library back in the days).

[AquaticPenguin]

As for the existing donation system, - what am I buying?

What are you buying with Kickstarter? You're buying the marketing pitch since there's no guarantee that the money will go towards the project. So what exactly is the different compared to the donation system?

[CommunistComma]

I'd just like to point out that PR2 post was last updated in early 2009; we're now in 2012.
Every R-Dev I talk to says "I can't talk about it but ehhh...."
So from my view PR2 is about as active as BM:S.

[Murphy]

How could drawing more attention to PR be anything but good? I'm entirely dismayed at some of the responses here, take your heads out of the sand and look at the possibilities that could open up with the publicity brought by Kickstarter.

It's not just about the money but about drawing attention, exposure, and more importantly gauging public interest in the game. We all know everyone on these forums drools over PR:2, it's about the people who would kill for this game but have no idea it's in development.

[hobbnob]

How could drawing more attention to PR be anything but good? I'm entirely dismayed at some of the responses here

Uhhh you realise that the more people brought into the PR community by PR2 the more frustration that there will be that there is no up to date information on it? I wouldn't be surprised if it's turned to vaporware tbh, making a whole game on zero wages is a very difficult thing to do, though I'd love to be proven wrong.

[dtacs]

Cheers for the link - but that FAQ hasn't been updated since 2009. That is what I'm worried about... that PR2 will never be made, and/or that most of the community will have moved on by then. Surely more $$$$ = faster development?

Just because it hasn't been updated doesn't mean it isn't being made, that FAQ is straight to the point and gives all necessary information to the public. The only reason we haven't seen anything is because there isn't anything valid to show yet. We can be as skeptical as we like but nothing can be proved until its either canned out of lack of funding/issues with development, or the game has teasers to show.

Kickstarter needs the pitch to be planned, articulated and committed to by games developers. I'm suggesting we (the community) could well do with a concrete proposal/goal to pitch into. I don't see that we really have one right now unless it's buried in the forums here somwhere?

Why should the community do it? We've never been developers and probably never will be. We have no idea of the costs of game development nor of what the plans for PR2 are financially and as an actual profit-based product. UKF is the Industry Liason, he and the other management devs would do it over community randoms - if they were going to use KickStarter.

The worry that PR2 isn't getting enough funding isn't yours or mine, nor is it a problem of anybody except for those who are working on it.

[SGT.Ice]

Still would be nice if even at the bottom of the FAQ if it so much as said "Yes PR2 is still in development." I found myself actually looking at it two days ago hoping the ship hadn't sunk yet.

While that current systems great, what makes it so much better compared to as proposed the exposure and such people would see on kickstarter, whether they even donate or not. It gets the name out there, lets people know about it, they may come to PR. May not see updated FAQ on PR2, who cares they might like PR and thus it benefits the community far more than the cons.