Awww: Dreadline Hits Kickstarter Deadline, Falls Short
Well, here's a big, fat downer. You remember Dreadline, right? I mean, of course you do. Given that you're an RPS reader of scholarly disposition and handsome taste, you probably donated all of your worldly possessions to the ex-Irrational/Harmonix debut's cause. I mean, it's about a team of time-traveling monsters mucking up major historical moments, and it's got heaping chunks of Freedom Force nestled within its pile of Frankensteinian limbs. So I guess the bright side here is that you get to keep all your things. But really, that's pitiable consolation for the fact that Dreadline missed funding by a wide margin. It asked for a relatively tame $167,000, but only managed $23,408. Sigh. But there is, at least, some hope for the future.
In the wake of Dreadline's poor performance on Kickstarter, developer Eerie Canal discussed the long road that lies ahead:
"Thank you so much for the support. After working so long in the dark it's exciting to see the number of people that are excited about Dreadline. Unfortunately we fell far short of our fundraising goal. Rather than dwell on what went wrong, we're working to find alternate ways to fund the Dreadline's development. We've invested a huge amount of time and energy, and aren't quite ready to let go."
"Thank you again to all of our supporters. We'll do our best to find a way to get this game out into the world."
So unlike a good many crowdfunding hopefuls that have fallen short, Dreadline's not flatlining just yet. It may have to take a more traditional route into history's most precious moments, but hopefully, we'll get to play it one day.
In the meantime, though, this whole situation really is quite a shame. I mean, we have another instance of developers with potential name power (Irrational! Harmonix!) breaking new ground instead of relying on old properties, but getting the cold shoulder from potential buyers nonetheless. Granted, it also wasn't the best updated or publicized Kickstarter ever, so there's that to consider as well.
Still though, 2013 seems to be the year in which Kickstarter fever is finally starting to cool - or at least mutate into a new, more demanding strain. Odds are, that'll be better for future hopefuls in the long run - they'll have to start really fleshing out their ideas and coming up with working prototypes, after all - but it'll definitely raise the barrier to entry. For now, though, does anyone have a spare $167,000 lying around? Because I can think of some people who'd really appreciate it, and most of them aren't even me (this time).