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I originally pulled my pledge, because I didn't know if I could afford to keep it or not, with an expensive dentist appointment coming up in April and now moving out of my apartment here within the next two weeks (I hope to be signing the new lease tomorrow). It's been depressing to watch this thing keep bleeding out though so I said feth it and went back in to push it up to $39k. Guess I'll be going down with the ship.

Yeah, Reading the comments it sounds pretty pesimistic. Lots of people essentially giving up hope.

And we were so close to $65K at one time.

I don't think it ever got too much over $52K, but still, point taken...

I thought I remembered seeing the numbers get close for the second extended goal.

but it could have been wishful thinking.

Alas;

What's Next?
Update #29 · Mar. 19, 2013 · comment

It is with a heavy heart that I cancel funding on THON. The upside is that we will return bigger and better, with this experience behind us.

I have no exact timeframe but please stay tuned to Facebook and the official page.

https://www.facebook.com/ThonTheGame

http://www.thonthegame.com

Thanks to all that backed us, and especially those that hung in there despite the ups and downs.

The game has changed, and we will change with it. This kickstarter is over, but our Spirit remains.

Endure.

Honestly, I'm very surprised by all of this. The project really seemed to have a lot going for it.

Hmmm....

I really liked the look of the miniatures. Surprised this ended up going south like this.

It's arguably for the best. Many people were excited about the potential of this game, but timing and scale held people back. Conversation also became fatalistic near the end.

Regardless, it's awesome that the creator hasn't given up hope. We'll see Thon again in the future.

I hope they run this after the big Kickstarters but before Warpath. Or maybe after Warpath and Confrontation if too many people are saving up by then.

I want Thon to come back and do well.

Dang. I have to stop backing new sci-fi games. I'm apparently the kiss of death.

I think this is also a victim of posters like Alpharius, and other kicktraq obsessed people.

People get too obsessed with any little stat, that they see every minor thing as a huge setback, then post that everywhere. Intentional or not, it sabotages them.

It wasn't the main reason why funding was eventually canceled, but it was a contributing factor in what is essentially funding through popularity.

It's also a victim of raised expectations. With the professionally funded kickstarters out there with lots of art to show off, it's a bit difficult to compete in terms of showmanship. It also might have helped if they had a better example of the rules since I saw only a basic example in a preview youtube.

 Vertrucio wrote:
I think this is also a victim of posters like Alpharius, and other kicktraq obsessed people.

People get too obsessed with any little stat, that they see every minor thing as a huge setback, then post that everywhere. Intentional or not, it sabotages them.

It wasn't the main reason why funding was eventually canceled, but it was a contributing factor in what is essentially funding through popularity.

It's also a victim of raised expectations. With the professionally funded kickstarters out there with lots of art to show off, it's a bit difficult to compete in terms of showmanship. It also might have helped if they had a better example of the rules since I saw only a basic example in a preview youtube.

Or it could be as basic as fundamental issues with the pricing and scale of the models.

Again, that's a contributing factor, but it's not everything.

Which you sorta ignored when you finger pointed at Kicktraq and "expectations." As the most tangible factor, I'd say it did more than its fair share of contributing.

Well, it's a shame it's being cancelled, but I can't say I'm surprised, honestly. I'm disappointed I won't be getting my Ordhren Fireborn, but hopefully in the near future it'll come back. I look forward to this Kickstarter coming back and I fully intend to back it again when it does.

 cincydooley wrote:
Which you sorta ignored when you finger pointed at Kicktraq and "expectations." As the most tangible factor, I'd say it did more than its fair share of contributing.

You mean, ignored like this?

It wasn't the main reason why funding was eventually canceled, but it was a contributing factor[ in what is essentially funding through popularity.

Considering someone had already mentioned scale, I thought I didn't have to repeat the same thing, but some people don't read the whole conversation.

Anyway, the game will come out in some form. I know first hand how much it costs to produce all the material shown and not shown in the kickstarter previews.

Most likely he can just wait another 4-6 months for competing kickstarters to finish, then relaunch with 4 factions, full rules, and a lot more artwork and finished sculpts. There is really no possible way he would abandon this project.

It's also the reason why I haven't shown too much of my game, and moved the kickstarter muuuuuuch later this year, if not next year. You have to launch with a helluva lot of stuff ready to keep the momentum going.

I feel its for the best, kickstarter is not an easy thing to do, it has its own dynamic, its own expectations and psychology,lets not forget timing, the crucial part is he will try again, hopefully this experience will shape it into a better commercial product.

Why I say this, simple, a product may be great, this does not mean it will be a great commercial product, I think the kickstarter revealed what the biggest ones were and that I believe is a good thing for Thon, waiting for attempt 2.

NOOO.

NOOOOOOO.

...well...here's hoping we'll see Thon 2: Revengeance before too long, I guess.

I hope it comes back I had such glorious plans for my Ord forces.

Wasn't interested because 40mm scale.

Anyone serious goes 28mm unless the gaming system specifically requires something different.

Skirmish games are one hell of a saturated market as well.

AS much as I'd love to have that much POWER, Thon failed due to:

1) Scale issues out of the gate
2) Unclear/confusing front page
3) Pricing issues

So, it is good to see that he'll come back better focused, with the lessons learned from this one.

Hopefully he'll be properly inoculated against the all the evil users and stat obsessed Internet Denizens out there so they won't be able to drag him down next time!

Does anyone thing the long ass time frame the KS was running on had a negative impact as well? If I recall, it was over 30 days, which seems like a solid time frame to me. I'm watching a few projects now that have time frames of 45 days plus, which seems awfully long.

At the risk of sounding overly negative, there does seem to be a new trend towards the 45 day Kickstarter vs. a 30 day campaign, and I'm not so sure that is always a good thing...

I suppose the theory is that a longer KS means more money, but you might be on to something there cincy, and it may just mean more time for a negative pledge situation?

 cincydooley wrote:
Does anyone thing the long ass time frame the KS was running on had a negative impact as well? If I recall, it was over 30 days, which seems like a solid time frame to me. I'm watching a few projects now that have time frames of 45 days plus, which seems awfully long.

Semi agree, I think longer KS creates a bit more of a middle dead zone since people think "hmm +45 days? I guess I'll pledge later" unless theres tantalizing stretch goals/tons of extra add ons

Warzone was a bit like that, though is now picking up some speed. GoA was also quite long (2 months methinks?)

At Game Salute they were toying with the idea of short kickstarters ... 2-3 weeks. The idea being there's less middle-drag and pretty much everyone who's going to back the project is going to know about it within the first week anyway, most just sit on the fence and wait till the end to see what the bonus stuff is... which kinda sucks because if they pledged early there'd be even more bonus stuff sooner...

I think 30 days works very well in terms of generating excitement while avoiding drag and "negative momentum".

You know, IF the campaign is set up correctly, has clear deliverables, good stretch goals,etc.

CMON tried a short project (I think) with Cadwallon, but seem to have come back to the 30 days or so for Zombicide 2 so for them the shorter scale campaigns advantages did not outweigh it's disadvantages

but I certainly agree that anything over 30 days does seem excessive, especially now that (in the mini/games catagory) many people pile in day 1. More time is just more time for them to drift away

 OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote:


but I certainly agree that anything over 30 days does seem excessive, especially now that (in the mini/games catagory) many people pile in day 1. More time is just more time for them to drift away

And more time for newer KS/competition to pop up too

 kenshin620 wrote:

 OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote:


but I certainly agree that anything over 30 days does seem excessive, especially now that (in the mini/games catagory) many people pile in day 1. More time is just more time for them to drift away

And more time for newer KS/competition to pop up too

In a perverse sort of way, it's almost vindicating GW's "secret-release" policy. The time to get into people's wallets after the first "ohhhh shiny" moment is perilously short.

The longer period for campaigns does allow for a small company the luxury of more time for their material to travel by osmosis into the world.

The virtue of a small campaign would seem best suited to a big company that only really wants to gauge interest in a particular offering. For example, suppose Privateer Press wanted to do a Kickstarter to fund resculpting some of their old infantry sculpts: they have the outreach to get a huge initial rush, and don't need to offer stretch goals, since they aren't trying to get a line off the ground. For them a quick, say 2 week campaign, would be perfect.

By contrast, a campaign like Thon or Soda Pop or Dreamforge Games, the longer it goes, the more people hear of it (theoretically), the more of the game can be realized.

This campaign is really quite puzzling, it really looked like it had everything that it would need on the product end...

I think it was less a validation of GW's puzzling "marketing" strategies and more a case of scale, a confusing KS start page and 'projected' retail pricing that scared many people off.