Terminator 2 Kickstarter BEGINNING NOW!!!

[Mark W**a]

What's to say Farsight haven't already donated around $40k to make the kickstarter only $59k?

That's true I never really thought of it that way, there's probably more to the licensing than we realize.

Well since we're throwing out hypotheticals and out there logic: Microsoft recently rescinded it's 45K fee for patch approval. Meaning they just saved Farsight basically the rest of the kickstarter, Just now, and for the end of the product life. Overall their new policy saves Farsight anywhere from 100 thousand bucks to upwards of half a million (depending on how many updates and how much longer than plan on supporting the game).

Just saying, that savings could be considered for this and future kickstarters... if they feel like being nice, they aren't obligated in any way to share that savings with us really.

 

[Belgarion]

Just increased my pledge by 10$, not much but i don't want to see them fail here. It's a big step for FS, if they can manage this kind of license we'll be able to wait for the best tables next.
Hoping to hear a Merlin's " You did it!" in 24 days

 

[shutyertrap]

Unfortunately I think it'd set a bad precedent if the kickstarter failed and FarSight said, ah we'll make it anyway. The same way people are expecting some whale to come in and drop a big donation now, they'd think a failed kickstarter could be greenlit too.

Now then, a suggestion?

It's less than a week in and already people are wildly pessimistic. You wanna drum up business? Start doing the math of how many people it'd take per day for at the $10 donation price to get there. Post those figs here and on Facebook, because that is truly where your main source of revenue is gonna come from. Show people how easy it is to get there, instead of the daunting task at hand, and wallets might loosen up. For instance, using the roughly $49,000 that is left, it works out to 204 donors per day at $10. That's a lot of people per day, but I think a more positive way of looking at it rather than "we're doomed" 6 days in.

What FarSight needs to do is tap into the mobile market, where a message could maybe be planted in the game itself, like they'd do for a tournament, that would promote the kickstarter. 7 million downloads, even if you figure half those are duplicate accounts, leaves you with 3.5 million users. That's 2 cents per user to fund this. Would a mobile user really blink over dropping 2 cents extra for this game?

 

[Ark Malmeida]

Here's the way I see this Kickstarter - If you come to these forums strictly because you dislike the product and want to complain to anyone who will listen (read) your complaints, then that's your right and you shouldn't back this kickstarter.

Otherwise, it would seem you come to these forums because you like the product and want to see it succeed. If these kickstarters succeed, it means that we, as consumers of the Pinball Arcade want to see premium tables get made, and are willing to chip in and help get the licenses required. You can argue that they shouldn't be asking and should handle the licensing costs themselves, or that the fulfillment for the last kickstarters wasn't exactly smooth (I'm still patiently waiting for the 360 tables to get released so I can get them as my reward), but the fact of the matter is that they are claiming that getting licenses for premium tables isn't viable for them financially and that this is the only way we will see these premium tables.

So if you come here because you play and enjoy The Pinball Arcade, and are hoping to see more premium tables in the future, I would urge you to support this kickstarter.

 

[Clawhammer]

Farsight still hasn't fixed ps3 leaderboards or even acknowledged the problem and they want me to give them more money?

lol

I wish TPAF had that sarcastic clapping emoticon that pinside uses because I'd finally have a perfect place to use it.

 

[Clawhammer]

I agree that FS should put some sort of advertising for this in TPA itself. The patch tomorrow (hopefully) would be a perfect place to implement it, but I doubt that will happen. Really hoping this succeeds.

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

I wish TPAF had that sarcastic clapping emoticon that pinside uses because I'd finally have a perfect place to use it.

Yeah, our emoticon selection is pretty sparse. Pinside's also got the head-banging-against-wall one that I really miss here as well.

 

[Lord Boron]

Usually the newsletter comes out on the same day as the iOS release. (Hopefully tomorrow). I'm sure the kickstarter will get a mention in that.

 

[AKrumbach]

What FarSight needs to do is tap into the mobile market, where a message could maybe be planted in the game itself, like they'd do for a tournament, that would promote the kickstarter.

I'm going to "spoil" my own experiment* and state that my personal belief was that FS had chosen the timing of the kickstarter in part so that the monthly uppdate would help with the initial push. I fully expect the June update to have a note regarding the T2 funding campaign.

*: My roommate and I have differing opinions on how effective this might be; I have made rather specific predictions regarding how the trendlines would be shaped and providing any details could bias the observations.

 

[Biff]

(..) make a special exception to this one; if full funding isn't reached, but it's reached 80%+, then make it anyway. (...)

Well if they don't reach the 59k, then they will get zero bucks and no credit cards will be charged. KS guidelines.
They would have to come up with another KS campaign.

 

[shutyertrap]

I just emailed the guys at Penny Arcade, pointing them to the kickstarter to see if maybe they could do a shout out on their site. They've done it many a time, and the blog they have up today even talks about kickstarters. Just figured with their readership being what it is, the mere mention of it might bring in a ton of other people.

Put yourself out there people. You may have contributed all you can, or maybe can't contribute at all. Sending emails to influential individuals costs precisely nothing. So as an example, here's what I wrote to them...

Hey guys.

Reader of your sight for many years now, and for that I thank you. I miss the joy of looking forward to reading a fave comic strip daily (as if I'm gonna subscribe to a paper!) and yours fills that niche. Now that the ass kissing is out of the way...

You guys familiar with The Pinball Arcade? I've never seen mention of pinball on your site, good or bad. Well, I'm a pinball fanatic and an active member of the Pinball Arcade fan forum. The makers of the game, FarSight studios, have been for the past year and a half pumping out amazing recreations of pinball machines from the past. They've had to run kickstarters for a 2 tables due to the insane licensing fees, those being Twilight Zone and Star Trek: The Next Generation, but have cranked out 26 other tables which either didn't have a license or were fairly cheap. While those kickstarters were successful, and rather easily so, the one they have going now for Terminator 2 is struggling hard and could use some outside influence.

I know how much you boys love Kickstarter, or at least the idea of it. Perhaps you could take a look at this one, http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1067367405/pinball-arcade-terminator-2-judgment-day?ref=live , maybe give a shout out on your site if you like what you see. As much of a fan I am of pinball, I'm even more so of Terminator which is why I'm even bothering to pester you guys with this. I feel like the little 7 year old writing a letter to the President saying "please help my kitten". Insignificant, yes, but full of hope.

Speaking of 7 year olds, I have one and particularly like the comics featuring the father son interactions. Yeah, they hit me there. As I type this my boy is frantically trying to collect puzzle pieces and KONG letters in DK Returns on his 3DS. It's all he's talked about for the last 3 weeks, and while as a parent it drives me nuts, as a gamer I can't help but smile. There's been many times I've been reminded of that with your comics, and I can't wait for him to be old enough to read them for himself. No, I'll not be exposing my son to the Fruit ****er anytime soon and having to explain THAT! Sheesh.



Take the appropriate tone with whom you are addressing, spit the info out in a clear and concise manner, and try not to sound like some company shill! Now go forth and spam some email inboxes.

 

[Clawhammer]

Nick work shutyertrap, great to get the word out.

 

[Kevlar]

Would be nice to see FS do some promotion.

 

[Biff]

Would be nice to see FS do some promotion.

Here is their "do or die" promotion:

The Season 2 Pack includes T2. But it won't be in any season if we don't reach our goal. *fingers crossed*

 

[xNiCeGuYx]

Good work shutyertrap!

 

[Dutch Pinball ball]

I never said i hate papa. You guys need to read. The gameplay videos of papa are bpring, to me, yes.

Its the gameplay in the instructionvideos am talking about, shoot, stop hold ball and tell what next to do. Shoot, stop, shoot stop, shoot stop. Etc etc.

I find that boring. The instruction videos i mean. The rest i like too, and i think its a nice organisation.

 

[sotie]

Here is their "do or die" promotion:

Yeah, I read that. It was a response to a question in the kickstarter comments.

 

[Biff]

I know, it was a response to Mr. "Okurkaaaargh". You know him?

 

[Jeff Strong]

Just curious: Did Farsight ever say what exactly they did with the extra money from the other campaigns?

 

[Rudy]

I'm pretty sure the money left over from Twilight Zone went into Star Trek, and the money left over from Star Trek went into T2.

Just lemme find the quote:

Here’s where you come in! The licenses for Star Trek: The Next Generation will cost $60,000 (and that’s just for the licenses- we’ll cover all of the development expenses ourselves). Our previous Kickstarter project for the Twilight Zone pinball table raised just under $70,000 thanks to the amazing generosity of pinball fans throughout the world. That was $15,000 more than we needed for the Twilight Zone licenses, and we're applying this towards the license costs of Star Trek: The Next Generation. If we can raise the remaining $45,000 we’ll be able to digitize Star Trek: The Next Generation and preserve one of the greatest pinball tables of all time. If we don't reach our goal no credit cards will be charged, but if we raise more then the goal we’ll be able to digitize other licensed tables as well.