
Alpha Colony fails to meet Kickstarter funding goal by $28 - aaronbrethorst
http://www.polygon.com/2012/12/2/3719780/alpha-colony-fails-to-meet-kickstarter-funding-goal-by-28
======
thedz
From a comment on the Kickstarter page, it looks like someone was trolling by
donating _almost_ enough at the last second:

My wife continued watching, as I went off to bed, and I heard a loud gasp...
(her hands were up on her face as I walked back in). The final bump that put
it up to $49972 appeared to come from one backer's pledge raise in the final
seconds, when nobody could do anything at all (like single digits of seconds).
That person raised by over $800 at once, but chose (WHY?!) not to go in
another $28. My perspective is that it was on purpose, they did not have the
funds available, and they wanted to make a point. Otherwise that pledge (and a
corresponding comment!) could have come with a minute to go, and a chance for
me (or others watching) to kick in the final dollars.

~~~
goldfeld
Or they were really trying to make a point and/or help a cause they knew, by
then, that was failing. In which case it seems to have worked. I think this
wouldn't be as newsworthy had it fallen short by a thousand dollars. And the
publicity the project owner will be getting could still be channelled into a
happy ending.

------
goldfeld
I bet this guy would have amassed far more funds if his pledge texts hadn't
been so uninvitingly big. Kickstarter should really offer a best practices on
this: 1) make it simple and easy to understand each level--make your levels
cumulative best as you can and then simply say "plus all previous tiers." 2)
don't waste your first level on a $1 "get mentioned" reward--you're just
sacrificing your above-the-fold real state with something that, from most
projects I've seen, doesn't amount to a single decent level pledge (i.e. all
those $1 added together make up something like twenty bucks).

Drumming up interest is as much about marketing as it is about content.

------
nostromo
Pony up $28 yourself, get $50,000. What were they thinking?

~~~
byoung2
Amazon has strict rules about sending yourself money through Amazon payments.
Visa/Mastercard see it as an illegal cash advance, or money laundering. They
could step into the gray area and pay someone cash to back their project, or
promise to repay them later. If I were in this situation, I feel confident
that I could call someone and ask for a $28 pledge. A post on Reddit or HN
would have done the trick most likely.

~~~
Moto7451
I think the simple way around that mess is to give $28 to your friend,
brother, aunt, uncle, girlfriend, or anyone else you know with a pulse that
will follow through.

I'm a little confused as to why they wouldn't have done exactly that.

~~~
byoung2
It's been pointed out in other comments that they were $828 down in the final
seconds, and someone pledged $800. It could be that they did reach out to
someone for that pledge. Though if that were the case, why didn't that person
pledge $828?

This was a rare feat to come so close to the goal and fall short
(<http://www.kickstarter.com/help/stats>). 81% of projects that reach 20% are
ultimately successful, and only 0.005% of failed projects reach 81%-99% of
their goal.

I think the real failure was not making a stronger final push in the last few
days of the campaign instead of the last few seconds. They also should have
timed the ending better. Saturday night is when people go out. Sunday evening
people are online, and Monday morning after the first of the month is good
because a lot of people will be online at work right after payday.

------
njharman
Funding goals for (all KS I've contributed to) are bare, bare minimums. Better
to miss by $28, than make it by $28.

~~~
goldfeld
Actually, I've read somewhere that a really low percentage of projects are
substantially overfunded.

~~~
rdl
Most kickstarters are someone's small art project or something, though. The
only ones "we" really care about are the big ones like Pebble. (I've also
funded small art projects of my friends, but I wouldn't expect the greater
community to really care about them.)

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byoung2
There is an "ending soon" filter on Kickstarter, but no "almost funded"
option. They should consider adding that in the future.

------
richforrester
Looks like in the final second, they were still $828 short, but someone
chipped in $800... Weird.

~~~
mylittlepony
That's some high level troll right there.

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xanadohnt
How can you not get yourself (OK, maybe there are validation checks) or a
single friend to cover the last $28?

~~~
codewright
>Looks like in the final second, they were still $828 short, but someone
chipped in $800... Weird.

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zachinglis
Project gets $49,972 out of $50,000 goal. Creator says "clearly there simply
isn't that much interest in building the kind of game I envisioned."

o.O;

~~~
johnpmayer
Well, that is only enough money for a single programmer to work 9-5 for
somewhere between 6-12 months.

~~~
taytus
Yeah, but that's the money they were asking for.

~~~
eropple
The thing is, that's all you _can_ ask for or you look like a scam artist or
an idiot because you're over-asking. People, for better or worse, take into
account how much you're asking for relative to what you promise, and fund or
don't fund based on that.

The unfortunate thing about game development Kickstarters is that the worst
thing that can happen is that you make _exactly_ your goal.

~~~
zachinglis
You also get relative too though.

If you ask for $5000. Chances are you're going to get closer to that, than
$50,000. If you ask for $500,000. Chances are you're going to get higher than
the $5,000.

Plenty of people have gone for the big dollars.
[http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/obsidian/project-
eternit...](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/obsidian/project-eternity)
Granted it's Obsidian, but people still blew it out the water.

~~~
eropple
The overwhelming majority of game projects that ask for $500,000 would get $0.
That's the core of the problem.

------
georgeorwell
My feeling is that more than anything, better artwork would have helped here.
I just personally don't like looking at those screenshots with the bright
colours and drab hex-grid landscape, never mind what the gameplay is about.

Maybe it would help if Kickstarter had a kind of pledge that said, "Only if
this project would not otherwise be funded."

------
cmaggard
This is also the second time they've tried to do this[1]- their first goal
was, shall we say, ambitious.

[1] [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1547218311/alpha-
colony-...](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1547218311/alpha-colony-a-
tribute-to-mule?ref=users)

------
Moto7451
Aside from the already asked question of why didn't they pony up the $28, the
second thought that hits me is perhaps Kickstarter should have a margin where
they will allow the project to continue at the digression of the project
management? I.e. if you're within 1% of your stated goal ($500 in this case)
you can choose to continue.

I could see projects that perhaps really had loftier goals and set a low
number to try to encourage people to commit bow out it they were within the 1%
threshold. Meanwhile being less than a tenth of a percent from your goal and
not making it really sucks and likely isn't beneficial for anyone involved.

edit: Another thought: If KS still wants a hard cutoff, give the project
another 6 hours or something to make that 1%.

~~~
connortomas
From the stats Kickstarter have released previously, situations like this (in
which a project just barely doesn't reach its target) seem extremely rare.
Kickstarter works because the model is simple: a hard deadline, a hard target,
and go. It sucks that they were so close, but I don't think it would be in
Kickstarter's interests to tweak the system to assist almost-made-it edge
cases like this.

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petercooper
Aw, if I'd known about this I would have kicked in. I guess publicity and
outreach is a problem with Kickstarter campaigns as much as anything else.

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Axsuul
Look at this way. If there was enough interest out there, this wouldn't have
been a problem.

------
meric
If you are interested in a sequel of M.U.L.E:
<http://www.planetmule.com/about>

------
lamestergame
Games are such a waste of capital & neurons.

Make something that actually helps humanity not just lines your pockets, and
wastes other humans neuron potential.

~~~
eropple
I realize that you're really just a troll and that I shouldn't give you the
satisfaction, but I am just _compelled_ to play word substitution with what
you've said:

 _Painting_ is such a waste of capital & neurons.

 _Sculpture_ is such a waste of capital & neurons.

 _Fiction_ is such a waste of capital & neurons.

 _Music_ is such a waste of capital & neurons.

The ugliest part is that you know, not very deep down, that it's a dickish,
indefensible statement, and that's why you made a sock-puppet account to make
a shitty comment that implicitly devalues _all_ art. It might be nonsensical
and vile, but hey--you can feel good about yourself.

Go to hell.

