Hello

A few days ago i stumbled across the announcement, that Most Wanted Entertainment is raising funds to make a sequel to, imo, one of the best Space RTS-Games ever: NEXUS - The Jupiter Incident.
Here is the link to the Fundraising-Project: http://www.games-plant.com/nexus2/
Everybody who likes to participate can put his/her money in there and take part in creating a game (in the words of Interplay) "For Gamers, by Gamers"^^. And i think it would be helpful if information about this project is distributed as wide as possible.
And on top of that, it is perfectly safe! You pay with Paypal, just like here on GOG, and there is only a transfer of money, if the Goal of gathering 400.000€ is actually met. If it is not, and the game therefore cannot be made, nobody pays anything. But i hope that wont be the case^^.

Reading about the plans to do a Sequel, i remembered that i had bought the original Game some time ago and wondered, if GOG could add this magnificent Game to their Catalogue of great games. Maybe they are even willing to invest into Nexus 2.

A lot of people disliked that game but I didnt mind it. I dont like the idea of paying towards development then paying again for the game though

Unless the game sells well and you get paid back and then some.

If I had the money, I'd definitely go for the Platinum just to get a ship named after me..

EDIT: No mention of DRM that I can see. Would be happy to contribute to this as I personally think it is a worthy development/financing model to explore. Sort of like commissioning an artist to do a piece of work.

This seems to be a more common model in recent times. Sometimes it works out well, I love my XStylus and I'm sure I'll love my Retrode, and other times it takes forever to get your product, I'm looking at you Pandora.

Ultimately, I think it's a model that's here to stay, at least as long as major corporations play to the lowest common denominator and ignore customer wishes.

slap me silly and call me Nancy (dont actually)


I was getting confuseled I was thinking of Genesis Rising -_-

I'd like to bump this thread to the top, as there is less than a month left to reach the 400.000€-Goal on Games-Plant and only a little over 100.000€ came together.
Maybe if enough people recommend this project to their friends, it can reach at least 200.000€ in the time that is left.
It would really be a shame, if the developers have to go to a big publisher, that dictates them how to make the game and when it has to be done, regardless of its current state.

How's this for an idea: postpone the final date and put the game on GOG for extra revenue, watch money pile up.

As AlKim says they should postpone the date and keep up with drawing revenue. If they can get 100K they should be able to eventually raise the money they need.

Plus try to advertise it or fundraise on other sites to get to the goal faster.

I am actually both happy and sad to see this post. Happy because Nexus is in my opinion THE tactical space battle game and what made the original Ground Control good was then masterfully transposed into space. I've been clamouring for a sequel for many years now (seeing it on GOG would be great, or at least, to know how currently owns the IP. Finding a copy isn't easy).

Yet his also made me sad, as crowdfunding on such a massive scale is close to impossible. I'm currently supporting two games in development (pre-release): Interstellar Marines (For the Love of the Game!) and Guns of Icarus Online. While IM requires much more funds, they have an interesting development concept by releasing slices, or interactive parts of the future product with Open Door Development. Guns of Icarus on the other hand, is only asking for 10k$ on Kickstarter with excellent pledge rewards.

What both games have in common is the "small" amount of money to be paid in order to get the incentives, yet the Nexus 2 projects requires a major investment on the part of the buyer, which is, in this time of crisis and limited fan funds to spread over so many projects, just unable to manifest. It's basic economic theory and consumer surplus. GOG does so well not only due to DRM-free, goodies and worldwide prices, it is because the act of spending a couple of dollars to get the nostalgic emotional burst is considered minimal to an investment of a possibly disappointing new game for 50€ (well, this is at least my look at it). By having to pay 250€ to get any real incentive (today Special Limited Editions with soundtracks are par for the course) is far too much for many a gamer to invest without even the minimal of proof what is going on.

I hope that some company with the gamer's interest at heart will look at this and recognise a gem that many will buy after the disappointing release of Sword of the Stars II, but it has a snowball chance in hell. All the best to the Nexus II team, but my monies are staying with me for this one.

I like the opposite method:

1. Company makes a product that is worth paying for.

2. Customers pay for it if they want to.

It is kind of ridiculous to me to ask people to pay for a product which may or may not come out, which may suck when it does come out, and/or which the person may or may not even like anyway. I can see why developers are pushing this trend since they get paid in advance for a product they haven't even made yet, but consumers shouldn't encourage this behavior or participate in this sort of scheme.

How about this:

1. Company proposes a plan for a product and the amount of money said project needs.
2. People pay a fixed deposit and accept the following:
3. If the product brings in less money than developing it took, the people who paid the deposit will get nothing.
4. However, if the product is a success, the people get their money back. This can easily be expanded: for example, people who paid $5 will get their money back; those who paid $20 will get $21, a 5% profit; those who paid $50 will get the end product and a code to download DLC free of charge and so on.

I have it sitting right next to me now (the first one) as I keep trying to install it on my netbook. It's worked on there in the past. Never played into it much though. Oh well I have Homeworld 2 to play.

They should be able to raise the funds, I think its on a similar fund raising site (might even be the same one) where I've seen several other pet projects and games get enough to start on their development cycle though interested investors.

Despite the economic situation its actually not as bad for hobby interests as people are far less willing to save and far more willing to invest in their hobbies for escapism (many hobbies actually do comparatively well during recessions).

The thing is they need more marketing; a big marketing push to really get the message out. They need to (and very soon) hit the big blogs and news sites for gaming - to really push and push to get attention in order to get in their needed investors. Nexus is a very specialist game - even within the smaller Space Sim RTS market its a smaller market yet again for the tactical gamer - so they need every person they can get.

A big marketing move (and very soon to meet the deadline) might save them. The recent humble bundles and similar projects have shown how the gamer community is very willing to invest large amounts into the developers of titles provided that they become aware of the existence of such projects and games.

What's so bad about financing potentially awesome indie game development? Scheme? seriously? Tin foil hat time now?

This is a standard way of raising funds that many orgs use for various reasons.....scientific research funding, company startup capital, etc.

Also no one is forcing you or anyone to donate/finance their projects....and no one who is helping this project out has to pay a dime if they don't reach their goal anyways.