Alpha Colony: A Tribute To M.U.L.E. Is A Great Example Of Increasing Kickstarter Abuse - And The Blurry Line It Sits Upon
Total Shares32
Article Contents
Update: I've refined a few of my points in this article to focus less on the whole "how much it costs to make a video game" angle, because I'm not exactly an expert on project funding. I think the point I'm trying to illustrate about Kickstarter as a whole is now clearer, and articulated in a more generally-applicable manner.
Note: This piece is of tangential relation to Android (and it grew more tangential as I wrote it), but the game in question is a joint Kickstarter venture promising an Android game, M.U.L.E. Returns, as well as a multi-platform title, Alpha Colony: A Tribute To M.U.L.E.
If you're not familiar with Kickstarter, you've been probably living under a rock the last year or so. The crowd-sourced-venture-capital meets product pre-order mechanic behind the company is simple: someone comes up with an idea (within Kickstarter's accepted project guidelines), and asks people to fund it. In return, backers are promised some sort of fungible good should the project meet its monetary goals as pre-determined by the project creator.
And if you're a Reddit reader, especially of /r/games, you know that the system has a . The "" scandal was probably Kickstarter's most obvious case of fraud in recent memory (and most elaborate), but there have been other, less clear-cut instances of shadiness, too.
Take . One man, Steven Washington, claimed for $2000 of seed funding he would work with his team to create a home light control system with Wi-Fi and a mobile app - for just $20 backers could get the end hardware product. After quickly reaching over $25,000, the project was cancelled under some very . Like MYTHIC, the project was canned by the creator, resulting in no lost money.
Supporters of Kickstarter would likely say "hey, no harm, no foul." But they haven't talked to . The project's goal was to produce a high-quality pair of HD video recording sunglasses with Facebook integration. Of the project's $55,000 goal, over $350,000 ended up being raised by backers. Minus Kickstarter's 5% cut, the remainder of that sum went straight into the bank account of the project creator when the fundraising ended - on July 31, 2011. Shortly thereafter, a group photo of the project creators on a beach in Thailand popped up on the company's Facebook page. It has since been removed.
ZionEyez has released basically no substantive updates on the status of the project, and backers are pissed.
About 25 people gave Eyez over $500 individually, and over 2000 gave them over $150.
is littered with cries of fraud, false identity, and just about any other legal accusation you could think of. Was it particularly wise of these people to give a company they'd never heard of a significant amount of their own money on a promise of an admittedly complex product? In hindsight, pretty obviously not. But at the time, people were truly excited by the idea - and I don't think anyone can hold that against them.
Eyez isn't the only such story found on Kickstarter.
- an iPad accessory.
- which did end up being delivered, but severely disappointed recipients (it degraded phone signal to the point of uselessness).
- a DSLR case project whose creator has mysteriously disappeared after receiving his funding is yet another. All this risk is
such that they can never be held liable by backers, which makes sense, but the fact that Kickstarter actively hides all failed projects from search queries and does very little policing isn't exactly encouraging.
But these are tales that come close to outright fraud - of enraged customers, or of people simply being unable to fulfill what they promised. And most of them (except MYTHIC) have also been hardware. Increasingly, though, we're seeing abuse of Kickstarter's system take a new, less obvious form. One that isn't so outwardly nefarious, but one that I would contend is still very much against the spirit of Kickstarter's goal.
Enter Alpha Colony: A Tribute To M.U.L.E.
It was before my time, but M.U.L.E. was a very popular PC game way back in the day, and a group of developers calling themselves DreamQuest games are, under license,
in the form of a M.U.L.E / Civilization / Settlers hybrid of sorts. They want to make this game available on iOS and PC/Mac. A bonus for donating $25 or more gets you a copy of M.U.L.E. Returns, a direct remake, for Android and iOS. It's a cool idea - no doubt. The concept renders the team shows are impressive (though of a single render of the game area and one animation sequence), and the pitch video is full of heart-warming enthusiasm. It all sounds great - until you read the fundraising goal.
Let me just spell that out: five-hundred-thousand dollars. For developing what isn't exactly a groundbreaking game. Sorry, I don't mean to be dismissive toward the idea (in fact, I like it), I just mean to point out the fact that they aren't trying to develop Crysis 3 or the next Portal here (those games cost millions to make, but are much more complex), and they aren't Tim Schaefer. They don't need a crack graphics team, Hollywood voice acting, or years of development to perfect highly complex gameplay mechanics. And they aren't embarking on this venture with a time-proven track record or world-renowned creative mind like Sid Meier. It's a cool-looking indie game that is designed to be priced at, probably, $20 for the computer version ($15 gets you a desktop copy for PC/Mac in the Kickstarter pledge), and $5 for the mobile version.
And if it really does need that $500,000, there really isn't any information made available by DreamQuest that makes me comfortable with that number.
So let's dig a little deeper, shall we? The man in charge of this project is Christopher Williamson, a software engineer from Colorado. Since 2000, he's run a homegrown game development studio called . DreamQuest has experienced some success, but its entire product catalog consists of various 2D card games, checkers, and chess. . Williamson himself claims to have been the lead developer on the movie-based game Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, which
most movie games do: "meh." I don't want to knock the guy, but the work his company has produced doesn't exactly make me any more confident in the project he's aiming to undertake here.
Like a lot of recent Kickstarters (), Alpha Colony seems to be a slow to take off pet-project gone grand ambition, seeking to become a reality on the backs of nostalgic small-time investors, and to avoid the risk of failure, rather than a truly innovative venture that needs a "kickstart" to get going. It draws you in with a compelling, well-produced (if awkward at times) video, teasing concept art and images, and what looks to be a decently orchestrated social campaign. Basically, standard fare for a Kickstarter of this magnitude. It was definitely enough to catch gaming blog
with its immediate "nostalgia factor."
And the addition of that nostalgia factor seems fairly recent, because the
is for an apparently different iteration of the game, as we can see because of the company's failure to update its own banner photo:
But anyway, how does Alpha Colony justify its $500,000 goal? They actually tell us :
Why an aggressive fundraising goal?
We wanted to make sure we raised enough to do the game right. For example, we have experimented with both a simultaneous play prototype and an asynchronous turn mode similar to Words with Friends and both were fun. Do our fans want to play this way or something more like the hot seat turn-based original?
We would like to see:
more clear race benefits (such as one race being able to move a little faster, better at catching wampus, producing food, etc.),
a more intuitive auction trading interface,
a beginner tutorial,
and more story.
Perhaps even an interactive single-player campaign, like we are used to seeing in hit games like Starcraft, Diablo, and Civilization.
Let's go down the list. First, there's the special stuff like simultaneous play (eg, multiple games at once, from what I can tell), and asynchronous turn mode (eg, you don't have to leave a game "open"). There are literally dozens of throwaway clones of DrawSomething and other casual titles like Words With Friends out there with these features - I'm guessing they're not rocket science to implement, though feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. Next:
"more clear race benefits (such as one race being able to move a little faster, better at catching wampus, producing food, etc.), "
I understand adding gameplay tweaks takes time, but it's hardly what I'd call a huge undertaking to figure this sort of stuff out and balance factions, especially if you've got a willing pen of beta testers.
a more intuitive auction trading interface,
Again, a single feature. One that requires attention to detail? Sure, so does anything, but I hardly see this sort of thing having its own price tag as compared to something like, I don't know, all the models and textures?
a beginner tutorial,
Seriously? You're going to tell me it's some kind of big deal to show someone how to play the game?
and more story.
If you're hiring pro writers, this can obviously cost money. But this is a turn-based tile strategy game, not the next Heavy Rain. I think people will live without a deep, compelling tale of a multipurpose resource-harvesting robot and his organic overlords who live in a hex-based world.
Perhaps even an interactive single-player campaign, like we are used to seeing in hit games like Starcraft, Diablo, and Civilization.
This one isn't even a promise, it's a thought. You might be able to incorporate a more linear, structured single-player experience that would actually add a lot of value to the game?
Taken together, these so-called "AAA-level features" aren't exactly making me think "$500,000 game." Of course, they talk about the need for visual polish and good music as well, but they're clearly trying to sell backers the idea of gameplay features that, frankly, should probably be there in the first place if this game isn't going to suck. And Android support will only come if fundraising exceeds a certain undisclosed amount above the initial $500,000 goal. Great.
My problem here is accountability. Funding a Kickstarter project is a lot like throwing money into the ground, and expecting the creator to water, tend, and harvest the fruits of those individual investments in a responsible way. You don't get to see how your investment is used, only the occasional (and typically superficial) glimpse into progress. Venture capital funding is much different. Budgets, business plans, and timelines are strictly laid out such that the investor has a very good idea what's happening. Any additional funding sources are also usually disclosed to the investor.
For a $50,000 project, the concern of accountability is much lower. People have a better sense of what something costs at that point - it's an amount of money they can wrap their heads around and assign a value to pretty easily. They're also usually well-aware of the limitations of such a budget, and don't set their hopes too high. It's a lot easier for the creator to break down where that money goes, too. If I promise to build 200 people a custom-painted cherry wood end-table for $250 apiece, it's a lot different from me saying I'll build electric cars for 20 people at $25,000 apiece. The more ambitious and complex (expensive) the project, the more likely the end product is to disappoint - that's the basic principle business lending and seed funding operate on.
Missing The Point
The fact is, this isn't what Kickstarter is about, and it's dangerous and risky for small-time investors. What's going on here is pre-order phishing by a company that doesn't have enough confidence in its idea (or apparently enough interest from outside investors) to just do it. And if they did, and really just needed the money to make it a practical reality (rather than the "ideal amount" to produce this "AAA" pie in the sky) without having to accept strings-attached VC funding, they'd probably be asking for less to start with. Hell,
to completely revolutionize sword combat in videogames - that's a cool idea.
is an action RPG that sets out a realistic base goal ($100,000 and a playable pre-alpha), and is backed by people who have worked on very successful, modern big-name titles. And even if both of these projects don't meet their upper-level goals, the creators will keep working on them anyways - because they're committed to their ideas.
Some projects deserve these large price tags. Because they're truly ambitious and inspiring. Because their creators' track records speak for themselves. But more and more, we're seeing Kickstarter used as a glorified pre-order system to gauge whether or not a venture, particularly mobile apps and games, will be profitable, or if they'll be able to get enough cash up front so the creators can quit their day jobs. And that's not cool, even if your idea is. It doesn't speak to the quality of the end product, or the dedication and passion of the creator - it just says "x number of people would buy this if it's as you describe it here." It encourages people to blindly front money into risky projects they know very little about, sometimes managed by people with no idea what they're really getting into.
It's time get more wary of Kickstarters (and other similar services) for mobile apps and games, especially when so much money can be at stake for one project. It's easy to get caught up in the hype. There's a fine line between enthusiastic support and financial investment, and when it comes to software, there's something to be said for a product you can buy and use today, as opposed to the promise of one (made by someone you know nothing about) a year from now.
Just a friendly reminder.
Where and how did you buy your Google Pixel?
The Google Store, with the official financing option.
The Google Store, outright (full MSRP up front).
Verizon, using monthly installments.
Verizon, outright (full MSRP up front).
Project Fi
Other (carrier/operator)
Other (retailer)
&Loading ...Making Light: Both more and less than political您好，欢迎来到新东方
八年级英语上册期末试卷
上学期期末测试题听力部分（共20分）
I. 听单词, 从A, B, C, D中找出能填写在句子空白处的选项。（5分）
1. A ______ must be strong.
2. Don't ______ to bring your homework.
3. Michael Jordan is a famous ______ player.
4. The ______ athlete broke the record again.
5. Bring the turkey out of the ______, please. It's hot, I think.
II. 听句子, 根据其内容在空白处填写一个适当的单词。（5分）
1. The ______ woman never helps others.
2. Of all the students, Bill was the most ______.
3. The doctor tells the old man to do more______ exercise.
4. Mrs Smith always eats ______.
5. Betty is ______ than her cousin.
III. 听对话, 从所给的四幅插图中找出与其内容相符的选项。（5分）
IV. 听对话,根据其内容在每个空白处填上一个适当的词（词首字母已给出）。（5分）
Note: dream [dri:m] n. 梦
1. Peter is f______ years old.
2. It's a s______ day and they're going to the zoo.
3. Peter is h______ because he likes animals.
4. Peter will go to the zoo for the f______ time.
5. Peter said he s______ his mum in his dream.
笔试部分（共80分）
I. 词汇。（10分）
A）根据句意及首字母提示，完成下列句中的单词。（5分）
1. The vegetables are good for our h______.
2. Mike is going to Beijing for v______.
3. She is very tired. She can h______ walk.
4. ―How m______ cinnamon do we need?
―A teaspoon.
5. English and Chinese are my favorite s______.
B) 用所给单词的适当形式填空。（5分）
6. The boy is always ______ (fun). He often makes us laugh.
7. Mrs Lee is a kind and ______ (love) grandmother.
8. This story is ______ (interesting) than that one.
9. How many ______ (foot) does an elephant have?
10. The teachers are always ______ (friend) to us.
II. 选择填空。（10分）
11. ―______ do you exercise?
―Once a week.
A. How many B. How long C. How often D. How far
12. You must ______ yourself and ______.
A. keep healthy
B. stay healthier
C. stay healthy
D. keep healthy
13. ―Kate, could you come to my party on Saturday evening?
A. Yes, I'd love to B. Sorry, I have to do my homework
C. I'm sorry I'm late D. A and B
14. We teach ______ English and they teach______ Chinese.
A. us B. our friends'; our
C. our friend's; us D. our
15. The boy is ______ young ______ go to school.
A. too, to B. to, too
C. so, to D. such, to
III. 动词填空。（10分）
用所给动词的正确形式填空。
16． They enjoy ______ (read) science books and ______ (write) novels.
17． Thank you for ______(invite) me to your sister's birthday party.
18． Are you good at ______ (swim)?
19． My father ______ (try) ______ (exercise) every day.
20． ______ you ______ (had) a fun camp yesterday?
21． Miss Huang wants ______ (go) for a drive.
22． I ______ (have) an English party next week.
23． Tina ______ (hurt) her left leg just now.
24． Could you ______ (find) your bike?
25． It is very cold outside. You need ______ (wear) some warmer clothes.
IV. 句型转换。（10分）
26. She is tall and fat. She has long hair. (合并为一句)
She is ______ tall and fat girl ______ long hair.
27. You should eat more fruit. (改为否定句)
You ______ ______ more fruit.
28. Kate is going fishing on May 2nd. (对划线部分提问)
______ ______ Kate ______ fishing?
29. Mr Wang usually goes to work by bus. (改为同义句)
Mr Wang usually ______ a ______ ______work.
30. It takes me half an hour to get to the shop. (对划线部分提问)
______ ______ ______ it take ______ to get to the shop?
31. His bike is new. My bike is newer. (合并为一句)
My bike is ______ ______ ______.
32. Peel the bananas and apples. （改为否定句）
______ peel the bananas ______ apples.
33. We have a good time every day. (用last Sunday改写句子)
We ______ a good time last Sunday.
34. He went to school when he was 7 years old. (对划线部分提问)
______ did he ______ to school?
35. They are going to have an English party this evening. (对划线部分提问)
______ are they going to ______ this evening?
V. 英汉互译。(10分)
36. 多数学生每天晚上在家做作业。
________________________________
37. 当你疲劳时，你应该听听音乐。
________________________________
38. 盒子里有不同的东西。
________________________________
39. 他花了两天的时间看这本书。
________________________________
40. 明天我不得不帮母亲打扫房间。
________________________________
41. Kate likes to wear the same clothes with me.
________________________________
42. How many sandwiches did you eat yesterday?
________________________________
43. I went to the Summer Palace the day before yesterday.
________________________________
44. She started ice skating at the age of five.
________________________________
45. It's fine today. How about going fishing?
________________________________
VI. 阅读理解。(10分)
When Bill is very young, he loves pictures. His mother often draws some for him on old pieces of paper. She is very bad at drawing, but Bill likes her pictures and always wants more.
Then, when he is a little older, Bill's mother gives him some pencils and a drawing book, and he begins drawing pictures himself. But they are never good. When Bill is five years old, his mother gives him a small blackboard and some pieces of chalk(粉笔). He likes those very much. One day he tries to draw a picture of a baby on the blackboard. He draws lines(线条)and rubs(擦) them out, draws more and rubs those out too for ten minutes, but when he looks at his picture he is not happy. "Well", he says at last to his mother, "I'll put a tail (尾巴) on it and make it a monkey."
根据短文内容，回答下列问题。
46. Is Bill's mother good at drawing?
________________________________
47. What does Bill's mother give him when he is a little older?
________________________________
48. What does he do one day?
________________________________
49. Does Bill want to draw a monkey at first?
________________________________
50. Does Bill like drawing?
________________________________
VII. 书面表达。(20分)
寒假就要到了，你打算怎样度过你的假期，下面就写出来告诉我们吧。词数为60词左右。
听力部分录音原文与参考答案：
I. 1. A. student B. pilot C. programmer D. singer
2. A. admire B. forget C. disagree D. heal
3. A. football B. volleyball C. baseball D. basketball
4. A. outgoing B. stress C. outstanding D. sick
5. A. box B. oven C. dish D. bottle
II. 1. The woman has a lot of money. She never helps others.
2. Of all the students, only Bill had a great success.
3. The doctor tells the old man to do more exercise outside.
4. Mrs Smith always eats much meat.
5. Betty is thirteen, but her cousin is eight.
1. rich 2. successful 3. outdoor 4. meat 5. older
1. W: What are you going to be when you grow up?
M: I'm going to be a pilot.
2. M: What do you like to watch best?
W: I like to watch the goldfish.
3. M: Which is the most expensive of the four?
W: Of course, the computer is.
4. W: What's that man?
M: He's a pianist.
5. M: Would you like a hamburger?
W: No, thank you. But I think it's junk food.
IV. It's seven o'clock. But Peter is still in bed.
"Get up, son," his mummy comes in and says. "It's a fine day today and we're going to the zoo."
Peter is a boy of five. He likes animals, so he's very glad.
"There are all kinds of animals in the zoo, mum," the boy says when they have breakfast.
"How do you know that?" the woman asks. "You never went there before."
"I was in the zoo in my dream."
"Yes? What did you see in your dream?"
"Why do you ask me about it? You were in the zoo, too!"
1. five 2. sunny 3. happy 4. first 5. saw
I. 1. health 2. vacation 3. hardly 4. much 5. subjects 6. funny 7. loving 8. more interesting 9. feet 10. friendly
II. 11. C. 提问频率用how often。 12. D. "照顾某人"用"look after sb."；"保持健康"可译为"keep healthy"，也可译为"stay healthy"，在没有比较的情况下，应该用原级，故选D。13. D. 回答别人的邀请，A是表示同意，B是拒绝对方。14. A. teach sb. sth. 意为"教某人某事"，当sb.是代词时，应用人称代词的宾格而不是物主代词。15. A. 由句意判断，应用"too...to"表示"太......而不能......"。
III. 16. reading, writing 17. inviting 18. swimming 19. tries, to exercise 20. Did, have 21. to go 22. am going to have 23. hurt 24. find 25. (to) wear
IV. 26. a, with 27. shouldn't eat 28. When is, going 29. takes, bus to 30. How long does, you 31. newer than his 32. Don't, or 33. had 34. When, go 35. What, do
V. 36. Most students do their homework at home every night.
37. When you are tired, you should listen to music.
38. There are different things in the box.
39. It took him two days to read the book. / He spent two days reading the book.
40. I have to help my mother clean the room tomorrow.
41. 凯特喜欢和我穿一样的衣服。
42. 昨天你吃了多少三明治？
43. 前天我去了颐和园。
44. 她五岁时开始滑冰。
45. 今天天气很好，去钓鱼怎么样？
VI. 46. No, she isn't.
47. She gives him some pencils and a drawing book.
48. He tries to draw a picture of a baby.
49. No, he doesn't.
50. Yes, he does.
VII. （略）
推荐 》》》
深圳新东方学校官方微信（微信号：xdf_sz）
咨询课程，找名师，找校区，网报优惠，请扫一扫二维码，关注我们的官方微信!
版权及免责声明
①凡本网注明"稿件来源：新东方"的所有文字、图片和音视频稿件，版权均属新东方教育科技集团（含本网和新东方网）
所有，任何媒体、网站或个人未经本网协议授权不得转载、链接、转贴或以其他任何方式复制、发表。已经本网协议授权的媒体、网站，在下载使用时必须注明"稿件来源：新东方"，违者本网将依法追究法律责任。
② 本网未注明"稿件来源：新东方"的文/图等稿件均为转载稿，本网转载仅基于传递更多信息之目的，并不意味着赞同转载稿的观点或证实其内容的真实性。如其他媒体、网站或个人从本网下载使用，必须保留本网注明的"稿件来源"，并自负版权等法律责任。如擅自篡改为"稿件来源：新东方"，本网将依法追究法律责任。
③ 如本网转载稿涉及版权等问题，请作者见稿后在两周内速来电与新东方网联系，电话：010-。}