Is this the first case of something getting significantly funded on KickStart with nothing to show other than a promise?
As others have mentioned... Tim Schafer (and Ron Gilbert) have a hell of a track record. They have an incredibly loyal fan base, and a series of past successes. The reason why Tim Schafer was able to raise $1M in less than 24 hours was because A) he's Tim of Legend and B) there is a market hungry for adventure games like the ones Tim and Ron made.
Markus Perrson (Notch) had something tangible to show and for people to play before he started accepting payments for Minecraft. He was effectively a nobody in the industry, but he had something playable.
Even Tarn Adams (Toady One) had releases of Dwarf Fortress before he accepted and attempted to live off of donations. Again, a nobody in the industry, but he had something playable.
No Time to Explain? Had a flash game before they did a KickStarter project.
Project Zomboid? They had demo videos to show.
It's something I used to tell my boss -- quit trying to sell stuff to customers you refuse to let any of us developers start actual work on. Let us build a good prototype then let's go sell it.
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Is this a first? Can anyone show an example where there was funding behind something that didn't even have anything to show?
But in seriousness, I threw my money into the ring because I have really craved a solid adventure game. I know these guys will take a solid crack at it, and at the very least, I will get to watch the game development process unfold on a very personal and intimate level.
$15 seems like a low price to watch an adventure game's development process, AND get the end result.
Well, the only real promise here is documentary (as it's been made clear that the game may fail)—and promo video can be counted as a pretty good demo for that.
As others have mentioned... Tim Schafer (and Ron Gilbert) have a hell of a track record. They have an incredibly loyal fan base, and a series of past successes. The reason why Tim Schafer was able to raise $1M in less than 24 hours was because A) he's Tim of Legend and B) there is a market hungry for adventure games like the ones Tim and Ron made.
Markus Perrson (Notch) had something tangible to show and for people to play before he started accepting payments for Minecraft. He was effectively a nobody in the industry, but he had something playable.
Even Tarn Adams (Toady One) had releases of Dwarf Fortress before he accepted and attempted to live off of donations. Again, a nobody in the industry, but he had something playable.
No Time to Explain? Had a flash game before they did a KickStarter project.
Project Zomboid? They had demo videos to show.
It's something I used to tell my boss -- quit trying to sell stuff to customers you refuse to let any of us developers start actual work on. Let us build a good prototype then let's go sell it.
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Is this a first? Can anyone show an example where there was funding behind something that didn't even have anything to show?