I don't see what the big deal is ? People getting this tier are paying more, so it makes sense they are getting a littlie more. And I doubt the bonus items will make a big difference in the end. They'll probably make things a little bit easier in the beginning which, personnaly, I wouldn't want anyway (it's supposed to be a survival game after, no need to hold the player's hand).

Please reconsider ? (I know I shouldn't ask you this, but I really want to play this game!)

I'm with PraetorianWolfie, I've vented about it before and like others before, it cost Darkwood my pledge. We saw it a lot early on when the crowdfunding craze first caught on that a lot of people had issues with these in-game exclusive bonuses, made it known either through comments or e-mails and in some cases the project creators relented. Most recently I think we saw it with Larian deciding to give the Zandalor's Epic Trunks to everyone.

Backed. I actually played last year's prototype demo, and found it surprisingly fun. And the technology is very impressive.

Same here.

I have to admit I really don't understand what the big deal is. Care to explain ? I'm serious here, not judging or anything, I just don't get why does it make you guys not want to pledge just because some people pay more and thus will, rightfully, get more. I would understand if it was an online game, where bonus items might give an edge over people who do not have these items, but this is not the case here, Darkwood being an single player game. If they were to make a stupidly expensive tier with an exclusive item, would you again not pledge because the $10 tier won't grant you this item ?

Some people have an issue with exclusives at higher tiers (in KS projects in general). I actually don't understand why.If someone chooses to back something at a higher tier and receive x reward, why cant they?. Its not as if people on lower tiers are being locked out of the base game. And to be honest people get rewarded for getting in early and giving support to the project.

There's a couple of issues here - pledge-level exclusives (where those who pay more get an "extra") and KS-exclusives (made available to KS - or Indiegogo here - backers only).

KS-exclusives seem to be the bigger issue - if you are backing a project in order to make it publicly available, having it released in a "lesser" form (without the extras) may be a betrayal of principle (rather like the non-backer DRM imposed on Shadowrun Returns) and it does come across as non-egalitarian as not everyone can participate in KS.

Pledge-level stuff seems to raise fewer objections, perhaps because it is a money issue rather than an accessibility one (and those who pay more usually, thanks to stretch goals, help make the product better for everyone else).

For myself, I would prefer to see KS-exclusives time-limited when it comes to PC games (i.e. everyone gets them after say, 6 months). For boardgames, a time-limited item may be harder to do so I'm happier to cut some slack there.

Don't like the practice, won't support it. What's there not to understand?

In broad strokes this is how I feel, too. I don't agree with the approach and I don't agree with the reasoning that "makes it right" for them to use it. It's a practice to solicit new high-tier pedges by promising a different/special version of their game exclusively for (a subset of) backers (and ultimately of buyers of their game). From their perspective, it probably looks like a smart and justified practice (I suppose a good number of people would go for the "complete version" of the game, even if "complete" means having some extra pointless or game breaking items -someone in the comments already requested an option to disable the extra items in the special version).

From mine point of view, it sucks that what works essentially as a first day silly exclusive DLC addon (in the "best" case) or a different game version of limited-copies (in the worst case) is used to promote support for a crowd funding campaign. Where a pledge is not mainly put to buy the game (it's not supposed to be a preorder albeit most campaigns end up using all their tiers like that), but to support its team and their practices, to enable them release their (full and complete) game to the public.

Anyway, AstralWanderer, explains it quite better than I do probably.

Also, what AstralWanderer suggests (time limited extras) is a compromise that has been suggested before in most (all?) of such situations where this controversy arose. It still doesn't make the practice go away (which is a main issue for me), and in this case, it automatically creates the defence "but now we have to ask confirmation of all those who pledged higher than X", but I do like this game's design very much, so I would at least seriously re-think pledging should they promise something like that.

In any case, this discussion seems to be going the same path every time I've encountered it. The ones who don't mind (and sometimes the dev team too) are on the side of "why do you care, it's stupid extra stuff, the base game experience is completely unaltered" and the other "side" is of the mind "I don't support the release of slightly different versions of the same game one of which is offered exclusively to some, while excluding all others" .

Overcharging for nonscarce goods is evil.

One for the "Tech Toys" section:

Blue Laser Lamp- with passive cooling technology (Jun 2)

The Lions of Valletta Graphic Novel, a graphic novel with cats

Not sure if this has been mentioned already:

Deus Ex Machina 2
Reimagination of the classic 1984 Game: Deus Ex Machina (the first multimedia video game ever made, i.e. interactive movie and rock music album) by Mel Croucher (creator of the original).

It's about the development of a test-tube baby from conception to death, loosely based on Shakespeare's Seven Ages of Man, and most of the work has already been done.

Sir Christopher Lee voices The Narrator and they'll use remixes of the late Ian Dury from the original game.

It's not doing so well, inspite the publicity it has gotten - probably too niche for the masses.

Never played the original, but it certainly looks and sounds a lot different from any other video games.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, it ends on July 7.

Armikrog
"Pencil Test Studios presents a new Adventure Game made of Clay. From Doug TenNapel and the creators of The Neverhood."

Here's a thread to boot.

Woah, 900k? That's a fairly optimistic goal.