"2 High Profile Kickstarter Miniature Projects bite the dust" Topic

Alien Dungeon announces bankruptcy (officially) and Harebrained Schemes is announcing that Golem Arcana will no longer be supported. I wrote a short post on both. Link here: link

There are some great lessons to be learned from the All Quiet on the Martian Front (Alien Dungeons) experience. I'm no prognosticator, but scoping the price of your models correctly before kickstarting would be one, and creating a marketing campaign that ensures enough momentum to create operating revenue for future endeavors would be another. Easy to Monday Morning Quarterback (I realize this), not so easy to do.

It's a sad day, really, both projects had merit. I was much more on board with AQMF than Golem Arcana but I was intrigued by the melding of apps and miniatures. I wanted it to work.

Walt

Before Kickstarter or similar sites existed, companies had to make proper business plans to get their financing set up. Otherwise no bank would have given them a loan to get things started. Products may even have been in a close-to-production stadium and it was only the funding needed for going on the market.
Nowadays anyone can have an idea, make a nice video or presentation and start his own Kickstarter. A lot of projects just show computer graphics of yet to be produced figures / items. I wonder how they did their calculations to get the price right? Still a lot of those projects are funded! And then people start wondering if something like AQMF and Golem Arcana happens?
I am very careful when supporting a KS project – it's not that I totally reject them. But I try to do some research first before jumping on the train.
And getting this early bird pledge – with extra figures, early delivery, best price ever – just does not always pay off as we now can see.

"Harebrained Schemes"? Are they into self-fulling prophecies or something?

The demise of AD is well discussed here: TMP link

Alien Dungeon was a small business that moved too fast and made too many promises without proper business planning--too bad because now the properties are tied up in court--would be a good move for a business that has a better handle on the costs and manufacturing process

Golem Arcana however…..scan and app miniatures have been around for years with Nintendo….maybe this was a great idea to pitch to a company that can make it happen---Golem Arcana exclusive to Xbox and minis that are under $20 USD--that would have been a better business model

28mm Fanatik. Yep, I liked Pardoe's article so much I reposted it on my blog, too: link I think he was spot on in places, especially since the formal press release on KS confirms they were losing money on every release.

It's really too bad. The "spin" I took with this was these projects (from the surface anyway) SEEMED successful. I see so many half-assed KS projects every year, I just shrug and nod, but both AQMF and Golem Arcana seemed like they were well funded, self-supporting business lines.

Oh well, it's always easier to analyze a defeat than plan for a victory. Points for trying something unique.

W.

As a Kickstarter supporter of All Quiet, I'm sorry to see them go but the reason is not cost, planning or Kickstarter but game design.

Good concept, good miniatures (HO scale inspired idea), good support at conventions etc. Dull game. When I read the rules my heart broke for them. My son and his friends played and it didn't interest them for 15 minutes. Pure You go I go, little variation in tactics, MGs more cost effective than cannons at killing Walkers – just bad (except for d10s).

Compare to a great design like X-Wing: order chits, interacvtive sequence of play, troop quality well handled, no d6 (OK All Quiet got that right).

Companies need to spend far less on glossy pictures and far more on design and play test. Not every company has the market muscle that GW does to push mediocre designs on us.

Object lesson. But a sad one. Got lots of their stuff will probably do a version of my Combat Command game using this their miniatures. So all not lost.

TomT

Hey kids lets open a business. We can use Billy's dads computer and get a Kickstarter account, and Franks dad has a 3d printer, and Rick will write rules for anybody.

Eliminate Rick from the equation and you got yourself a deal.

My issue with GA was almost anyone could do the math for it faster than using the tools.

I wish they would have made a 3d Space battle game.

Capital ships, with detailed hits and damages, take something very complex and use the tools to make flow, not a very simple design that is slower.

AD too many lies, no playtesting, and more lies.

Not involved in either but sad that reality has come to pass in these matters.

Better luck next time (lessons learned = luck) for all involved.

Did All Quiet on the Martian Front fail as a Kickstarter or as a product. I saw it on the shelves of game stores. Did the backers get what they were promised?

@DesertScrb, that is a long and tragic tale! The KS was extremely successful, over 6x the original goal.

The first wave of product was delayed from December 2013 to summer 2014. Wave 2, if I remember, arrived in spring 2015, although it was a jumbled mess of pewter in unmarked bags. Wave 3, afaik, hardly anyone got, despite public assurances from Alien Dungeon. Some major units, like the Landship and Overseer tripod, were evidently never produced outside of prototypes. So many backers did not receive everything before the company went dark.

I had heard one issue that is becoming increasingly common for Kickstarters was manufacturing costs were higher than estimated because the company contracted to do the manufacturing knew how much money the Kickstarter made so, as I've heard, they tend to "adjust" their costs accordingly to get more money making it more expensive to produce.

All Quiet was killed by poor planning and poor support from AD, not because there was anything seriously wrong with the game. I love the game and I know a lot of others who do, too. Could it be improved? Sure, but there's not a game out there that couldn't be. There are still plenty of fans of All Quiet out there who are playing and exchanging ideas on fan forums. We are hoping someone will pick up the rights to the game and keep it alive.

@ Thomas Thomas. Sorry AQMF isn't to your liking. My friends and I have had tons of fun with it. It's also a big hit at the local shows I run it at…matter of fact, my games tend to be SRO…so much so that often repeat players will give up there seats to newcomers so that more people can get in on the action.

I've always thought that was a really nice things for people to do…a testament to the players in NW Ohio / SE Michigan.

We are hoping someone will pick up the rights to the game and keep it alive.

I don't understand why someone doesn't take this and run with it. Call it…. The Martian Front, make the Tripods with four legs, etc. I'm not a fan of the game myself but hopefully it'll come back in some form or another.

Well, it would be nice not have to re-invent it from scratch. The molds for the figures and models are in safe hands, I understand. It is, I suppose, in the hands of the bankruptcy court to decide who gets the IP and the molds.