Antinomy - New Kickstarter

[HiddenX]

Homegrown Games starts a new Kickstarter campaign for Antinomy:

Welcome to Antinomy, a unique 19th century Indie open world action-adventure video game bringing the "The Holy Land" to life!

Antinomy is a game set in a fictional Middle Eastern country in the late 19th century, about people from different origins coming together to fight for the same cause, which is justice. They have stood up against the tyranny of those who swore to protect them and who were left unpunished after committing disgraceful crimes against innocent people. The main character, Nathaniel, has the pursuit of justice as his mission, until one day, when he finds out something, that drastically changes his plans…

The message of the game is to promote the importance of underlying themes within the game such as family, friendship, justice and unity, and to show that despite the diversity of the characters' backgrounds, when they put aside their differences, they are able to live in prosperity.

Features:

• ~20 square kilometres open world with a vast lethal desert and a variety of other unique areas
• Most of the 800+ buildings in the world are enterable.
• 34 main story missions, 35+ side quests
• 25+ hours main storyline gameplay
• A variety of 19th century weapons including muskets, flintlock pistols and a range of Middle Eastern melee weapons.
• Trading, crafting and a dynamic world economy.
• Political alignments, shifting alliances and diplomacy and conquest
• RPG elements such as player skills and character customisation
• Innovative combat system inspired by V.A.T.S. in Fallout series
• A full body realistic injury system

More information.

 

[HiddenX]

Thank you for the info, Morrandir!

 

[Morrandir]

Well, it's a strange strategy. After their faild campaign having asked for 75k £, they're now asking for only 1k €.

The explanation is:

Why 1.085 Come on, no one can develop a game with 1K €, right?

Of course not! With all of the team members taking only minimum payments to support their living, a game like Antinomy still costs at least 150.000 or more to see the light of day.
However, with that amount, minus rewards and fees, we get two additional characters game-ready for populating the world in the upcoming pre-alpha. This pre-alpha is used to negotiate deals with additional sources of funding.

I've backed them anyway. Doesn't hurt and if they really can pull this off I'll be glad that I supported it.

 

[Farflame]

I think its not full time job for most developers like for Crazy Ivan himself as he said he also works for other company. So they are not fully dependent on this campaign.

 

[IvanErtlov]

I think its not full time job for most developers like for Crazy Ivan himself as he said he also works for other company. So they are not fully dependent on this campaign.

Exactly, right now I am working as internal producer for Mipumi Games Vienna, currently assigned to their embedded team for IO Interactive on the upcoming Hitman Game. Release March, in combination with running a Kickstarter a hell of a combo. Sleep keeps eluding me.

In addition to that, I have pumped ALL the revenues from our Steam Game "Into the Dark" into Antinomy.

 

[HiddenX]

Welcome at the Watch Ivan!

 

[IvanErtlov]

Thank you very much!

Had been reading here for quite some time, comes with the job, but here I had to step in and explain

 

[Farflame]

Welcome here, Ivan

Exactly, right now I am working as internal producer for Mipumi Games Vienna, currently assigned to their embedded team for IO Interactive on the upcoming Hitman Game. Release March, in combination with running a Kickstarter a hell of a combo. Sleep keeps eluding me.

Yes, you mentioned it in KS. Congratulations. I assume its much more mainstream and strict job, while Antinomy is more indie and crazy stuff you apparently like.

Make open world game in Holy land is interesting idea, even if some ppl would prefer medieval age without guns. Writing may be tricky to represent all those tribes and nations so I hope you will hire some good writer.
But there are some advantages too. So good luck with the game!

 

[IvanErtlov]

Antinomy is more indie and crazy stuff you apparently like.

Yes, I do

Make open world game in Holy land is interesting idea (...)
But there are some advantages too.

Well, the game is based on a script of Ali-Han Ibragimov who had this idea for quite some time. But most devs and publishers were afraid because of the topics you can´t avoid when doing the game right. No matter how sensitive you tackle the issues, you have situations like this one:

in the game. And that is hard to swallow for companies bound to shareholder values. But with the team partially being from the Middle East, I am confident we get it done in a good and respectful way.

 

[Morrandir]

I'm excited about RPGs in this middler eastern setting.
I'm hoping for games catching the arabian nights atmosphere. Of course Antinomy lacks the necessary magic, but it could help developers and gamers alike to mentally open up for this setting.

 

[GothicGothicness]

Well, while I wish all serious kickstarters good luck, I can't help but to think this feels like abusing the kickstarter system.

It is like using kickstarter to get "flexible" funding which is availiable on indiegogo but not on kickstarter.

 

[IvanErtlov]

Good morning!

Honestly. I haven´t seen it from this perspectice, but I can get a grip on why you might think so. However, we state in the text clearly that the base goal (the campaiign) is for the next version shown to potential investors, and only the stretch goal 1 for the full game without additional funding. Both sums are fixed and not flexible at all.

I find it abusive when developers (including so-called industrie-veterans) go on Kickstarter with a goal they know will never be enough to make the game, hoping to get enough overfunding, donations via paypal button or a publisher deal afterwards.

But that´s not what we are doing. We say what each sum is meant for.

 

[GothicGothicness]

Good morning!

Honestly. I haven´t seen it from this perspectice, but I can get a grip on why you might think so. However, we state in the text clearly that the base goal (the campaiign) is for the next version shown to potential investors, and only the stretch goal 1 for the full game without additional funding. Both sums are fixed and not flexible at all.

I find it abusive when developers (including so-called industrie-veterans) go on Kickstarter with a goal they know will never be enough to make the game, hoping to get enough overfunding, donations via paypal button or a publisher deal afterwards.

But that´s not what we are doing. We say what each sum is meant for.

Well, first of all, I don't think it is clear that the money you are asking for is only for a potential concept. Then you should have named the kickstarter that, and made it clear in the very first paragraph, now it is hard to find even if I visited the page specifically looking for it.

Second of all looking at the rewards you are saying backers can get the game, in the spirit of kickstarter all you could offer them is a demo of the prototype, because that is what you would complete if your goal is reached.

Thirdly, I don't think this approach benefits either you or your fans, or your chance of getting the game published. If you barely reach a goal of €1,085 goal for your game, it is not going to look impressive to a publisher. Also there is no way you'll reach a goal 80 times that, so IMHO your stretch goal is unrealistic and ridicules, and also hurting your purpose. Instead you could have had a realistic stretch-goal of €2,000 which would give off more of a concept.

Anyhow as I said I wish all game developers good luck and especially guys like you who actually try to make something new and innovative. I just don't think an approach like this is very good for your purpose, and you might even get in trouble with kickstarter because of it, I can assure you that I would not report it to them though.

 

[Wisdom]

you might even get in trouble with kickstarter because of it, I can assure you that I would not report it to them though.

I agree with everything you said except this line. You'd have to literally burn down the kickstarter offices and imprison their children in a third world country to get in trouble with kickstarter. They are the epitome of the 3 Wise Monkeys. See no evil, Hear no evil, Do no evil.

 

[GothicGothicness]

I agree with everything you said except this line. You'd have to literally burn down the kickstarter offices and imprison their children in a third world country to get in trouble with kickstarter. They are the epitome of the 3 Wise Monkeys. See no evil, Hear no evil, Do no evil.

Or try to fund the Skarp Razor ?

 

[Carnifex]

Damn, that pesky razor always comes back to haunt us =p. I'm a big fan of projects like this, I hope it all works out well. (for games, not for razors!)

 

[Ripper]

Second of all looking at the rewards you are saying backers can get the game, in the spirit of kickstarter all you could offer them is a demo of the prototype, because that is what you would complete if your goal is reached.

This. I don't think this is really an acceptable arrangement, and I doubt KS would like it very much, if they bothered to look. It is not possible to deliver the promised reward of the finished game based on the funding target.

 

[IvanErtlov]

This. I don't think this is really an acceptable arrangement, and I doubt KS would like it very much, if they bothered to look. It is not possible to deliver the promised reward of the finished game based on the funding target.

You got it perhaps wrong. The game will be finished no matter what happens, and I have the cards up my sleeves to guarantee that.

From the Kickstarter:

What happens if this gets funded with less than 80.000 €, but you can´t get additional funds afterwards?

Various parties with a solid background have pledged their support and are willing to jump in as soon as we have the pre-alpha on the table. For the unlikely worst-case scenario that all of them bail out, we have defined a MVP version of the game we can and will develop in our spare time with money earned from our other projects. Basically, it will be a PC single player version with the entire storyline incorporated and some side quests / features cut out, but the game will be completed no matter what happens.


This has always been on the KS page, right above the riscs and challenges:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/586092941/antinomy-0


Succeeding in the Kickstarter with the base goal gives us a slight edge on upcoming negotiations and the confidence to push on.

Getting 80k+ allows us to fund the project without a 3rd party involved and / or cannibalizing ourselves with additional work.

But all pledges go into the development of the game towards its final state, and no matter what happens, every backer with 14€ or more pledged will have at least a PC version of the game at the end of 2017.

 

[Ripper]

I think you misunderstand what I said. I'm not saying you won't or can't find the funds to complete the game (I've no way of knowing that), I'm saying that the funding target you've set is not, in itself, sufficient to deliver the game people pay for.

My point is that this is not the deal that KS offers. One of the major protections that KS provides backers, that distinguishes it from other platforms, is that the funding goal must be sufficient to complete the project, and deliver the rewards. If that funding is not secured, the backers money is returned, and not risked.

I think that what you're doing is not what people understand and expect from KS. There are other platforms, like Indiegogo, where these riskier arrangements are understood and accepted. I think if you specifically asked KS if the arrangement of your project is acceptable, they would say not.

For people that prefer the safer deal on KS, and are sensibly skeptical when asked to hand over money, I think the assurance that you have more funding "up your sleeve", is not really sufficient.

 

[IvanErtlov]

My point is that this is not the deal that KS offers. One of the major protections that KS provides backers, that distinguishes it from other platforms, is that the funding goal must be sufficient to complete the project, and deliver the rewards. If that funding is not secured, the backers money is returned, and not risked.

Yeah, I understand that. However, "the funding goal must be sufficient to complete the project, and deliver the rewards" - this is actually the case here. The stretch goal is then basically "complete the project and deliver the rewards without working ourselves to death". Perhaps this was written poorly? Shall we rephrase it?