Speaking of which, Kinetic Void's has 12 hours left and just needs 19k. Any other takers? :D

Lowyhong,

Thanks for the update and feedback.

Re Fleetcomm - I don't see anything strictly wrong with them using other crowdfunding sources, but the author's attitude comes across as "we'll grab any low-hanging fruit we can" which seems short-termist.

Kinetic Void certainly seems to be getting a burst of funding - over a quarter of their requested amount over the last 2 days (according to their Kicktraq graphs. With them so close (now at $48K, target $60K), it would be a pity if they didn't pull through.

It looks like Al Lowe isn't busy enough with Leisure Suit Larry:

Sam Suede™ in Undercover Exposure

Did you see this?

http://venturebeat.com/2012/05/30/leisure-suit-larry-creator-wants-infringing-kickstarter-campaign-taken-down-exclusive/

Leisure Suit Larry creator Al Lowe and his company Replay Games say they plan to sue Wisecrack Games today to shut down its $500,000 Kickstarter crowdfunding project because it infringes on their copyright and misrepresents Lowe’s participation in the project.

[...]

“I think the blatant misuse of the Leisure Suit Larry name and copyrighted material shows clear disregard for copyright law,” Trowe said. “To piggyback on someone else’s success is not only rude but also illegal. Those who continue with this will be pursued to the fullest extent of the law. We are suing today.”

Jumped up $6K since my previous post 5 minutes ago - WTF? Skyjacker's just given them a plug in their first update - so kudos to them too...

That's some prime-time drama in the making.

I have now, but it only has Trowe's comments - until Al Lowe himself confirms or denies involvement, it seems up in the air. He's heavily involved in the top-level "Al Lowe" pledge - it would seem utter insanity for Wisecrack to offer that without his consent from the get-go.

@ptrowe what does Al have to say on the matter?
@smappy Al is PISSED!!!!!!

That's Trowe's Twitter. If Al genuinely *is* pissed, he's given no sign yet on his Twitter feed.

BTW Kinetic Void made its funding target (now at $61K) and stretch goals have been announced (1 per $20K, feature to be decided by poll).

Who knows, maybe we could convince them to support DRM-free initiative before release.
It will require a lot of debate though.

That was an EPIC last day for them. 25K in 22 hours, wow.
3 hours to go for a stretch goal, why not. They've already made it against all odds...

/michaeljacksonpopcorn

Slade Villena (their lead engineer) doesn't seem interested in debate - as far as he's concerned, a DRM-free release would mean being swamped with "cloners" (despite the numerous counter-examples I gave him of GOG, HumbleBundle, etc).

He asked me to cancel my pledge and, given his increasing hostility, I was happy to oblige. I can only suggest that others exercise caution in dealing with him.

It's a shame this isn't going to be settled before the KS campaign is over.

Anyone else all kickstartered out? :P

Yeah, but all the recent ones I've done other than Spate haven't met their goal so I'm not too worried. But I'm definitely going to stop putting more money into them this time.

KS is definitely addictive though.

Al Lowe has posted a clarification on this - see Al Lowe and Sam Suede. To quote:

"I have no intention of suing Wisecrack, which has my permission to use my name and likeness regarding my involvement with Sam Suede....when I left the project the game’s design was nearly complete but the text, where the humor lies, was barely started. I [am] not involved in any way with Wisecrack’s current production of Sam Suede."

Steve Ince (one of the writers involved with the Sam Suede project) has done an article on how he sees the situation here.

I'm not backing this project myself (it's not to my taste, just as the LSL project wasn't - so go burn me at the stake...) but looks as if Paul Trowe has jumped the gun and is trying to backpedal. Al's lack of involvement needs to be highlighted by Wisecrack (almost typed Widecrack there...) and they're going to have to change that $10,000 pledge reward, but there doesn't appear to be grounds for a project takedown based on the info currently available.