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Presenting "Civitas", a game that totally has curved roads: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1584821767/civitas-plan-develop-and-manage-the-city-of-your-d?ref=category This one might not be as all-out awful as your run-of-the-mill furry genderbender deviantart-tier anime VN, I just find it... well, completely deplorable. Basically, this dude and his anonymous "ragtag team of AAA developers [insert various franchises here]" wants to make a better SimCity. So far, so good - it's just that his platform seems to be entirely "We're not EA, EA, ruined Sim City, EA did X, Y, Z, EA EA EA". It's even in the updates. The screenshots look skeevy as hell, the pitch reads like a bad gaming forum post. It might just be my intuition, but backing this doesn't really seem like a sensible idea to me.
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Mar 7, 2013 11:24
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Oh boy, Civitas update time! And this time, they nailed it! Thankfully, they got their poo poo together and really do the proper team introductions. We even see more of their working environment, and an actually really smooth-looking alpha. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1584821767/civitas-plan-develop-and-manage-the-city-of-your-d/posts ...Wait sorry, that was my iguana rolling over the keyboard just right now. Basically the video is the same two guys as always (though they do fill up the screen for five), we have a yellow-tinted wall and a blank Windows desktop poking into the picture. Let me summarize the content for you: " " And as always, the main comment section is amazing - full of people that will defend Brandon Smith and his elite developers to the death. The internet is truly a crazy place.
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Mar 12, 2013 17:10
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DoctorTristan posted:There seems to be enough interest; maybe a better poster than I could try making a separate thread for the Sarkesian videos? I really totally agree. There's an old one that's been gassed, but that was from before they were out. Backseat modding maybe, but personally I'd like to discuss lovely Kickstarters instead of video games as a reflective medium for current social issues... On-topic, I'm actually half hoping Civitas will get funded right now. I think a more obvious and threadbare KS scam hasn't been tried yet on that scale (at least by people who may even be genuinely convincing themselves they're not scammers), and the inevitable meltdown by delusional backers will be a real hoot to watch.
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Mar 12, 2013 19:46
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I don't know what amazes me more - the ingenuity of some scammers, or the stupidity of the internet. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/susanwilson/9-year-old-building-an-rpg-to-prove-her-brothers-w?ref=category The gist: White middle-class mom wants 900 bucks for her  widdle daughter (who plays on PS3 and Kindle HD) to visit RPG Camp so she can make an RPG. This is because a.) her brothers called her a poopyhead and this is clearly the best solution and b.) it's a meaningful step to make "Girls in Tech" (verbatim quote from the thumbnail) more relevant.The first reason would classify this as a light-hearted parody kickstarter, the second one however is just impossible to fathom in human thoughts.
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Mar 21, 2013 19:49
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I also appreciate how she implicitly represents her other two children as worthless bastards, provided this is indeed an actual person and not a completely fake setup.
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Mar 21, 2013 20:30
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Awww, lil' Kenzie is at 10k already with no signs of stopping.Jen Roberts posted:Have fun @ RPG camp, Kenzie, and I hope your brothers enjoy their heaping helping of crow they get to eat now! Blonadine Taylor-Straggi posted:I used to play so much RPG maker when I was younger, though it was an older version! Have fun at coding camp, show the boys how to do it and I'm excited to play your game when it's finished! Scott Kirby posted:Greetings from Malaysia, Mackenzie! Looking forward to seeing the finished game, and please make sure you remind your brothers every day just how cool and successful you are hahahahaha You go little grrl!
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Mar 22, 2013 10:29
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For what it's worth, I don't think the "everyone pay to send my kid to camp" thing is the biggest issue (even if it does look fishy considering the "you finance a project" Kickstarter rule). It's the shameless exploitation of the girls in tech/girls vs. boys angle to get money from stupid and emotional people. Because she could have easily presented the whole thing as "get my kid to camp" instead of "Support girls in tech by helping this bullied cute little girl show the boys who's boss! Here's a picture of the boys, don't they look like total cunts?". The thing is made up like an 80's kids/teen comedy narrative, only you put in dollars to get the feelgood ending.
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Mar 23, 2013 19:25
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So, uh, does this even qualify as a project? I mean it's pretty much a charity thing or a "fund my life", i.e. project without clear-cut goal. Because I'll admit that I find this offensive enough to think about reporting it to KS (who won't give a poo poo naturally as it's gonna make them $10ks of cash). Not to mention the general doubts regarding the veracity of facts and people involved.
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Mar 23, 2013 22:31
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Probably the same kind of person that puts an embarassing photo of them on the internet, villifies them repeatedly and adds updates reporting the humiliation they're experiencing thanks to all this. Also one should add, she mercifully limited the $10k tier to 5 slots. No reason to get greedy after all if your goal is just $900, right?
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Mar 24, 2013 20:38
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Another precedent would be the Penny Arcade kickstarter - "Give us LOTS of money for removing one banner ad", and also a slew of "ironic" rewards. One might argue this is not a clearly defined project, with a tangible product coming out at the other end. But given that KS let that one through because it made wagonloads of cash, I'm honestly doubtful their reputation is worth enough to them to cancel lil' Mackenzie's camp adventure.
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Mar 25, 2013 19:47
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Is your iPhone being tragically oppressed by those evil Samsung devices you own? Do you have sappy photos of your iPhone? Do you have a catalog of 4000 iPhone-related fluff news sites queued up for twittering?
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Mar 25, 2013 21:15
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Forgive me Lord, for I have pledged a dollar to take a look at the backer reactions to the Update video.Huey posted:Great to see what she is inspired by! I'm sure she will warm up in no time. No reason to dwell on the negativity, move forward and do the best to ensure she has a cool experience. I hope she can channel her creativity to figure out how she can make something kids her age will enjoy Dewey posted:It was fantastic seeing what Kenzie likes and what she wants to create but I have to second the suggestion to take the video down since someone has already posted the link to it in the main comments. Louie posted:It fills me with such joy that you guys are trucking through all the negativity. Don"t let the haters bring you down. Keep a hold on those happy thoughts. You're doin' it kiddo. You're doin' great. And this is easily the best, encapsulating the whole affair pretty well: Pluto posted:The video was pulled before I saw it, but I wanted to add another voice of encouragement. Kenzie's attitude rocks! I'm looking forward to seeing what this project will become. 
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Mar 29, 2013 15:08
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Mr. Burns' Solar Eclipse Machine/iPhone camera rack posted:142 iPhone Kickstarters are nothing if not reliable. OK, I'm challenging the Kickstarter community right now: Make an iPhone accessory that turns your phone into a self-propelling vehicle for a person. miguelito has a new favorite as of 08:02 on Apr 9, 2013 |
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Apr 9, 2013 07:59
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Isizzlehorn posted:Oh god.. or Alf I don't remember, didn't Alf end on a big "cliffhanger" (if you want to get decidedly too melodramatic for a sitcom) with him ending up in military custody or something? I would totally approve a bleak and horrible continuation of the series with him somehow getting out of jail after 20 years of solitary confinement and eating toenail clippings. Preferably done in a "Children of Man" style.
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Apr 13, 2013 11:29
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Does Kickstarter somehow de-list failed projects after a while? I tried looking for some of my favorite projects (Lore, Civitas...) and they don't pop up in the search. Or it might just be me. The pages are still up though, I just had to jump some hoops. Another nostalgic fave from earlier this year, the Susan Wilson thing, has some gorgeous character portrait art up, as well as some OK looking, serviceable tilesets. Wait no, it's all just RPG maker default assets while Suse and her kid(s) are chilling in Istanbul and jetting to do Dell presentations.
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Jul 1, 2013 21:12
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Rapdawg posted:Just sent my Kickstarter in for approval, and have gotten good feedback and am thinking its looking really nice. Launch is getting me anxious. Ctrl+F the following: steampunk, zombies, wallet, post-apocalyptic, webcomic, iAccessory. If nothing turns up, I'd say you're on the right track!
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Jul 3, 2013 20:28
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The General posted:It's only okay to do that right now is because there isn't really any competition. Should somebody release a less lovely KS, then they might be in trouble. As it is they don't really enforce the rules they have set out. It seems/is arbitrary, and I'm betting that eventually it will bite them in the rear end. I think after Penny Arcade and Susan, who both got plenty of coverage, we're officially past the point where KS needs to worry about failure through bad press.
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Jul 16, 2013 19:17
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So reading that woman's pitch, it seems to be a common thing for a certain type of Americans to clamber over that mountain in Turkey searching for Noah's Ark. You learn something new every day I guess. Surely the mountain is well-mapped and she'll be shown around by local guides, right? Hey, anyone want to finance my 6-week, uh, study trip to the Red Sea? I was thinking of floating around on a rubber mat looking for the authentic stone tablets Noah probably dropped somewhere around there.
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Jul 17, 2013 22:30
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So in what's probably one of the most awful of awful Kickstarters, at least in my opinion, Truth and Trolls - more commonly known as that Susan Wilson thing - has its release date on July 31st. Are you all excited? The game is coming along splendidly, with a ton of great art presented in a pretty fascinnnnnaaah, I can't do it. Basically, Susan decided to switch engines from RPG Maker to - wait for it - Unity of all things, and put out this splendid Official Intro Video trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsl3ZdQzzZM (Don't click this, it's a single photograph with a bunch of Movie Maker subtitles superimposed.) I think we're in for a pretty good gaming time in two weeks, aren't we?
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Jul 18, 2013 20:27
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- We have sent several letters and emails to many departments of SE which we know have been received and read. Square's general legal counsel has been aware of this project for many months. "We wrote them mails, no reply yet. This is a good sign." - We have engaged in persistent dialog with the manager of SE online, who assured us that both the North American and European divisions were supportive of our efforts. "Suddenly, American and European branches of Japanese game companies have even the slightest say in company proceedings." - We have had the series trailer actually appear on the SE website. Where? Please don't say the forums. - We have acquired the music rights via a surrogate agency that gives us licensing permission with specific legal caveats. >surrogate agency >legal caveats Some choice morsels past that point: "tacit approval on some levels", "not officially endorsed by Square Enix", "eager to speak with SE about our project" Oh man, this is equally sad and amusing...
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Jul 23, 2013 20:01
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You know, take away the Afro and considering the general JRPG "realistic age minus 20 years" rule, Mars here is the only thing about this that might actually *work*.
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Jul 23, 2013 21:32
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Guys, stop making GBS threads on 8-bit theater please. It was hilarious for me when I was 14.  NESguerilla posted:In regards to the Final Fantasy thing, I'd bet that publishers are just laying off fanboy poo poo on the internet unless it directly competes with their IP in some way. If they sent those people a cease and desist they would just look like assholes to the people who are buying their crap. I'm sure a FF7 remake kickstarter from a 3rd party wouldn't go over as well. I think you may be giving an international developer/publisher conglomerate way too much credit. In my limited experience, companies like these move in a coordinated fashion as much as ten cats in a sinking sack. Squeenix shut down the CT "remake" when it was just three 3D models and one environment, but looking at the big picture and tons of derivative works floating around the web, that's not because they're Disney-tier trademark hawks - someone probably just had a bad day.
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Jul 24, 2013 19:44
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Until you roll a seven and block the ore supply supporting all players other than you.
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Jul 24, 2013 22:48
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OrganizedInsanity posted:Can someone explain the zombie thing to me? It was interesting when used as a way to dissect man's cooperation with each other but now its literally an interchangeable thing with aliens/monsters/etc. Is it because its the most "realistic" possible outbreak? Guilt-free mass homicide scenario. Before, it was slavering inhuman WWII Germans in uniform.
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Aug 1, 2013 13:41
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Geek U.S.A. posted:http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1192311215/ghost-song-a-journey-of-hope The game certainly uses Metroid as a template, but it's not like he's "lifting" stuff directly. It's obviously thoroughly inspired by it, yes, but whether that's a good or a bad thing is entirely a matter of opinion. He's also extremely up-front about it, "Super Metroid" is right there in the description. Whether you like these kinds of projects or not is a personal thing, but in my opinion this is anything but an Awful Kickstarter.
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Aug 7, 2013 19:18
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Geek U.S.A. posted:You're right in that it uses Metroid as a temple. It looks like he traced over all the animations/tilesets and all the game mechanics in SM. To me, a game obviously inspired by Super Metroid is something like Castlevania SOTN or Shadow Complex. This is simply a shameless ripoff that he's looking to make money off. Admitting that you took SM and slapped some new sprites over it doesn't really make it not awful. Disclosure, I'm not affiliated with the dude or project, but I've been following his dev thread on another forum and for what it's worth, personally I think it's legit. I'm also fine with staying this close to your inspiration as long as you create every last thing newly from the ground up. He did state several times he was going to add his own twists, and while I haven't played the game myself, I can hardly imagine NOT creating something new in the process - simply because you're another person. Because I do think (I dare say know?) that this is an actual person doing it out of admiration, and with some talent to boot. It might be a matter of perception, but looking at the gifs I saw Turrican as much as Metroid in there. Then there's the stated Dark Souls influence, the Creepy Black Haired Girl(tm) in the thumbnail, all things that show there's someone wanting to add to this, instead of copying. I'll stop my gushing now, maybe I'm just easily impressed by good looking homemade games. Personally I'd definitely consider this a worthy project though.
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Aug 7, 2013 19:46
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I'm not sure how prices are in Mr. Levine's neighborhood in New York, NY, but here in Europe where everything costs triple a new Catan is still half the price of a videogame. Also you get two little cloth baggies where you can fit the whole thing including cards, small enough to fit into a tiny little side pocket of your man satchel - much more portable than a bigass vinyl plate, I might add. "Cumbersome and costly". 
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Aug 27, 2013 21:27
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It's not a misleading statement at all, the FF7 fan film guys said exactly the same. Only a fool or someone in an extreme hurry would ever assume "contacting" to refer to anything mutual. I will admit thought that following up with "Having done so..." is pretty elegant and smart use of grammar-based obfuscation.
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Aug 27, 2013 22:41
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Ehh, not traced. He would have gotten the proportions right and not put the tits somewhere around the shoulders.
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Feb 15, 2014 13:26
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