Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I've only backed 18 with the following breakdown:

Live: 2
Did not Fund: 1 (Robotech Takeover, this was a joke so I didn't expect it to fund)
Did not Deliver: 1 (Defiance, tossed a few bucks on off chance that they really did kick Tony to the curb like WGF. Shame it wasn't the case)
Partial Delivery: 1 (RRT, thought ND was going to be doing the work/promotion)
In Progress: 3
Late: 4
On Time (or close to it): 6

Of the late ones, 3 were from companies that I have subsequently backed another project for because they delivered and I was happy with what I got. The other one was Heavy Gear Blitz and I'll have to have a long think about whether or not I back the next one.

Of the on time ones, 5 were gaming related with 2 terrain, 2 miniatures and 1 miniatures on a board. Generally what made them successful and on-time was:

1. Limited number of stretch goals.
2. Reasonably spaced stretch goals.
3. 98% done (*) prior to Kickstarting (* more like 70-80% done, but for the miniatures and terrain, the goal was to use KS to help offset the cost for tooling/molds and the companies were also putting their own money in)

Of the ones in progress, I know one will deliver (Reaper CAV II) with the other 2 being video games, but still appear to be on track.

 Talizvar wrote:

 Alpharius wrote:
I've backed 142 (!) campaigns, and all of them have actually (eventually!) delivered or are still well on track to do so.

Egads! You are hard-core.
I had no idea.

I just do not regularly drop a couple hundred dollars on my hobbies in one shot in retail.

My sugar-mama wife may have something nasty to say if I get too costly.

-raises hand- Based on Alphy's posting in practically every KS-related thread, I had an idea that he was throwing a fair bit more money at KS than I was. I just wasn't sure how much more. I certainly hope he's selling off the stuff he's not actively playing!

Until recently, I've not really seen anything that's really gotten me excited to put money on. Then KDM 1.5 and Smog appeared. KDM is going to get a lot of money. Smog, a basic pledge.

My wife had something to say when she saw my KDM pledge appear on the credit card statement...

New PBWU

TWO SECTIONS RELATING TO RRT! Let's see what they have to say...

Meanwhile, all hands are on deck to hammer out one exciting new release after another. We have some very exciting plans for several game lines including Rifts®, Robotech®, Robotech® RPG Tactics™, Palladium Fantasy®, Dead Reign®, Heroes Unlimited™ and just about everything, really. I think our focus will be Rifts®, Palladium Fantasy®, Dead Reign®, and a few other settings the first half of the year, and Robotech® and Robotech® RPG Tactics™ in the second half, though there is a lot of setup going on for Robotech®/RRT happening right now.

So, they're still sticking to the claim that 2017 is the year. And that they're actually progressing. Yeah, not buying it without some visual evidence, or a guarantee (ie, refunds if it doesn't happen).

Welcomed ideas are coming from all over the place – staff, freelancers and fans like you – on ways to support and advance Robotech® RPG Tactics™, from existing product to Wave Two and beyond. We think we have some pretty exciting things in the works. Despite the long delays and what some people believe, Robotech® RPG Tactics™ has always been a passion project for us. We want to redeem ourselves in your eyes with the Wave Two rewards and so much more. We are trying to put together some big and small ideas for product and support, right now, and think we are looking at some exciting possibilities. We try to learn from our mistakes and strive to create a superior product, starting with Wave Two rewards. When we have the hard details, our Kickstarter backers will be the first to know about them.

Passion project, my arse. Sorry, the complete lack of interest by PB is evidence that noone cares about this project except for the millstone around their neck. There's no evidence that anyone at PB plays RRT, and almost everything to come out of it has been through volunteers who have left. Learn from your mistakes? When you keep repeating the same ones over and over? Again, big on promise, small on detail. How about an example of one of those big or small ideas for product and support? Even if it doesn't pan out, you can caveat that drek. But the project has languished under delays and lack of communication, and an obvious disinterest in garnering goodwill.

If Kevin had the ability to drop the project, walk away, all remaining funds and loans to the company forfeit, I think he'd do it in a heartbeat. Again, passion project, my arse.

In other news, it looks like they're still sticking to the "5 books by May" line. Though Arsenal has moved from "March" to "March/April" even though it's in "final production". Kevin also decided to accelerate Sovietski, adding it to Dead Reign Inner City for a "Summer" release. So that's 5 books by May, and another two by what, end of July? Yeah, I can see that happening.

Carmen seems to be on the mend, but Kevin in usual fashion, talks him down. He really does seem to like negging on his friends and staff. The Rifts BG is set for an April date with Kickstarter. at least according to Kevin. Hoping it's the third Thursday. Cause there'd be some twisted humor to it being launched 4 years to the day after RRT.

To build on Morgan's (spot on) commentary, the notion that they have to make the relaunch BIG and AMAZING and THE BEST THING EVAR is so very counterproductive. No, stop, that time has passed. Just make it good. Make it fine. Use wave one as the benchmark to at least hit, and if you get a bit futher (say the Super VT's are even easier to build than VT's, despite having more parts/being bigger, that'd be nice).

Their (and by "they" I obviously mean "Kevin") need to forever be chasing the perfect is to ignore the massive diminishing returns that will be seen by such efforts.

Deliver the fething wave, work on the book(s), look into 'ideas big and small' in the future. They can talk about competitive play or tournaments or events or leagues or whatever they're batting around for hours, but without product in hand very few people are going to give a gak.

Stop adding gak to your plate! When they have failed to deliver in anything remotely resembling a reasonable time frame, adding even more to their efforts is just insane. At best, it does improve things but likely stretches that time line further, at worst it actively further detracts and garners even more ire.

By that stance, it is a misdirection, and a waste of both their time and ours.

If they really want to begin to mend the damage they've done (and boy, it's a lot), drop the 'hopeful dreamers with stars in our eyes' stance, buckle down, and get stuff done. There's a bit under three dozen elements remaining in wave 2, and we've seen prototypes for 5 of them. Show off more of those. Show off some sprue breakdown renders like they did in 2014 and 2015. Can't talk about things being worked on now? Talk about some of these 'quotes' that you got in the past, ones from a year or two back when they were 'getting quotes' and are clearly no longer relevant ("One factory wanted to cut the FPA into a hundred pieces, we politely declined", etc.

In true PB fashion, they continue to make this way harder than it needs to be.

Has PB even released one of their projected Q1 books yet this year? I quit getting that rag and have only been reading the RRT updates reposted here (so nothing for this year...)

As for KSs, I'm at 50% - backed Zombicide 2 & 3 (which went swimmingly), RRT and Defiance's hardshells.

However, I had seriously considered, but ended up not getting involved in Dinorun (failed to fund), All Quiet on the Martian Front (KS partially delivered, company then went bankrupt), AVP (KS partially delivered, still has ongoing issues), and Conan (not sure what happened on it, sounds like it had some serious issues) and 7th Sea (found out about it after the KS ended, not sure if it ever delivered).

Overall, I just don't feel lucky with KS's, and considering what CAN go wrong with them I'd just rather not take the risk and just wait for the results to show up in retail.

Well, it's getting harder for them to talk about working on something that they are not working on. Hence we get repeated, less parts talk, design in motion, getting quotes. It's really hard to talk about nothing and Kevin is finding it hard to write puff pieces cause you can only spin doing nothing for three years so many ways.

The only perfection Kevin is chasing is an editorial he can cut and paste into updates for the rest of his life without having to work his brain in creative writing efforts. I'd like to think Kevster has a grapefruit sized ulcer from this but rather I think he sleeps just fine at night with a pillow stuffed with the remaining funds of the backers. Assuming there's enough left broken down into singles to fill a pillow, there might not even be that.

 Stormonu wrote:
Has PB even released one of their projected Q1 books yet this year? I quit getting that rag and have only been reading the RRT updates reposted here (so nothing for this year...)

You mean from the list for Q1-2 this year? Bwahahahah! Nope.

They got one out last year barely on time (Rifts Coalition States Heroes of Humanity, June 2016), but only after splitting the book with Arsenal due out a month later. That's the one they're working on now.

The reason I bring up last years, is because most of this years are ALSO last year's.

This is the 2016 "Will be done in the first half of the year" list, reordered. Here are the completions,
- Rifts®, The Coalition States: Heroes of Humanity™ Sourcebook– in final production right now. Ships end of February. (Shipped June)
- Dead Reign® Sourcebook: Hell Followed™ – Spring or Summer. (Shipped November)

And here are the outstanding from 2016. EDIT - incorrect date.
- Rifts® The Disavowed™ Sourcebook – in production right now. Ships March, 2016. (Spring, 2016)
- Rifts® Secrets of the Atlanteans™ Sourcebook by Carl Gleba – Spring, 2016.
- Rifts® Haunted Tech™ by Kevin Siembieda sourcebook – Spring or Summer.
- Garden of the Gods™, a Palladium Fantasy RPG® Sourcebook by Kevin Siembieda – Spring.
- Lopan™, a Palladium Fantasy RPG® Adventure Sourcebook – Spring or Summer.
- Chaos Earth® First Responders (more than you may imagine) – Summer.

This is the "First half of 2017" version.
- Rifts® Heroes of Humanity™ ARSENAL – 96 or 128 pages – March/April, in final production right now. It too is laying the groundwork for something big.
- Rifts® The Disavowed™ Sourcebook – by Kevin Siembieda and Matthew Clements – April/May.
- Rifts® Secrets of the Atlanteans™ – 192 pages – March/April, also in production now and looking great.
- Garden of the Gods™, a Palladium Fantasy RPG® Sourcebook – by Kevin Siembieda – March/April.
- Dead Reign® Inner City Survival Sourcebook (tentative title) – Spring.
- Rifts® Sovietski™ – Spring or Summer Release

Note the similarity. Also, the last two from 2016 have been put into the "Coming Later in 2017 and 2018" category. So they've been backburnered.

Seriously, if Kevin hadn't apparently been like this for the majority of his tenure, I'd think he'd slipped into dotage.

 Stormonu wrote:
Has PB even released one of their projected Q1 books yet this year? I quit getting that rag and have only been reading the RRT updates reposted here (so nothing for this year...)

As for KSs, I'm at 50% - backed Zombicide 2 & 3 (which went swimmingly), RRT and Defiance's hardshells.

However, I had seriously considered, but ended up not getting involved in Dinorun (failed to fund), All Quiet on the Martian Front (KS partially delivered, company then went bankrupt), AVP (KS partially delivered, still has ongoing issues), and Conan (not sure what happened on it, sounds like it had some serious issues) and 7th Sea (found out about it after the KS ended, not sure if it ever delivered).

Overall, I just don't feel lucky with KS's, and considering what CAN go wrong with them I'd just rather not take the risk and just wait for the results to show up in retail.

From my experience with them:

- Conan delivered spectacularly well, but had some problems with the rulebook.
- 7th Sea is delivering ahead of time on everything, even though the system has ended up being not too much to my liking.

So......rrt will get your focus in the second half of 2017.....and you talking quotes without any completed renders or print prototypes (cuz lord knows if you actually HAD any you'd show them in hopes of getting praised for it) and you expect us to believe this shyte? God Kevin is a stunned **** .

So, Jaymz, considering they plan to launch the new KS, whether it had a catastrophic effect on someone's health or not...

As someone in the know in general, was this whole Carmen thing a real thing, or was it a cunning plan to garner sympathy and try to save their upcoming KS?

Desperate people do desperate things... That is truly sad if the whole Carmen thing was faked ...

Also he now calls Robotech Tactics a Passion project... Lets see..
Internet definition for passion project is something you work on (often outside of your chosen career path) that gives you satisfaction,
happiness and puts you into a state of flow. It's what you do to escape it all. Its your tiny (or huge) contribution to the world.

Plus.. 1.4 million USD.. you think someone would be a little more than just passionate about the project.. It would be a company goal..

When I think of passion, I think of dating..If I dated a girl then didn't do anything with her for three and a half years.. But I did email her each
week saying that I still wanted a relationship...Would she still think I cared for her??

I going back to my thought that Kevin is in early stages of dementia..He is not thinking like a healthy adult..

I wonder if Kevin rubs his hands together in glee at the thought of all the Palladium fans he's going to disappoint whenever he writes a pbwu.
He knows they look forward to the releases, even going so far as to describe what they tell him in person, yet, year after year, the same routine, announce the years releases, fail to release them all. Any sane person would immediately realise that by the failure to release the product someone told them they were looking forward to, they have dissapointed that person.
And yet he brags about it.

I think the incident is likely true though suspicion is understandable.

I am more of the mind he is obligated to do something or lose ownership up of all the work he is done.

I've known people who've attempted what carmen has and i know people who know people that have. In not one instance did ANY of them attempt to "get back at it" so quickly thus my belief of some other factor essentially forcing him too.

Speaking as a professional who's worked on more than one kickstarted project as a painter:

Without at least a good portion of the models being production-ready and in the hands of a painter already, the chance of a 2017 release is zero.

Ah...remember the people who signed up for a painted pledge? Did they ever get anything?

Perhaps I'm missing something, but I'm not sure why needing to be in the hands of a painter applies here.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't the boxes and advertising material just use artwork as opposed to pictures?

I mean, I don't disagree with your assertion regarding completion, but not for the same reason.

The fact that we're already months behind compared to wave 1 is why I suspect 2017 is a write off as well (as they all are, but again we're playing in the land of hypotheticals) and they just haven't admitted it yet.

But don't worry guys.

2018 will be the year of Robotech!

Totally.

Geez it seems like this is the update that needs to be reported to KS, it's so transparently an excuse to continue doing no work.

So they're getting quotes - no wait they're reducing parts count - no wait they're going to work on it by the end of the year. There's no way you can get quotes while reducing parts count, the parts have to be done so you can get a quote.

Kevin is at a Game Convention in Mississippi this weekend...
Someone needs to swing by and ask him what is going on..

 Genoside07 wrote:
Kevin is at a Game Convention in Mississippi this weekend...
Someone needs to swing by and ask him what is going on..

Unless you are willing to start by asking "How awesome are you?" or "What amazing things are you working on?" or "I (was) a big fan of your work!", the response will be "Gottagobye!"
When you talk to him you can tell he is in a constant state of deciding on "talk normally" until a difficult question is asked: <if guy looks wimpy> then lose it on them or <if guy looks scary> then leave quickly with an excuse.
I have seen all of this play itself out at conventions.
It really is a pointless exercise, if you want to make an impact: just walk past their stand and keep going.

If you must do something: pick a "minion" near Kevin and be all excited about them.
It will get his attention and just pretend you have no idea who Kevin is and show no interest in speaking to him.
Excitement!

Speaking of that, why is RRT suddenly all hyper excitement at the moment?I keep expecting to hear "I have a cunning plan!"
"No Kevin, that is gas from your lunch..."
Do I REALLY have to update my address since I had moved a while back?
Or am I a big fat sucker?
So many questions... possibly best left unanswered.

I used to go to Coastcon (that's the con mentioned), but I think it'd be better for my own health if I stayed away. Being that close to him would only make my blood boil and otherwise ruin an enjoyable weekend/Con of which I have old fond memories.

 Stormonu wrote:
I used to go to Coastcon (that's the con mentioned), but I think it'd be better for my own health if I stayed away. Being that close to him would only make my blood boil and otherwise ruin an enjoyable weekend/Con of which I have old fond memories.

I saw them at "Anime North" and I can say it is pretty easy to get distracted with something shiny there.
The kids go insane over the costumes and the people who made them are very happy to have their work recognized.
Probably one of the happiest venues I have been to with so many people.
Nope, no worries if PB darkened the halls: you would not notice.

 Talizvar wrote:

 Stormonu wrote:
I used to go to Coastcon (that's the con mentioned), but I think it'd be better for my own health if I stayed away. Being that close to him would only make my blood boil and otherwise ruin an enjoyable weekend/Con of which I have old fond memories.

I saw them at "Anime North" and I can say it is pretty easy to get distracted with something shiny there.
The kids go insane over the costumes and the people who made them are very happy to have their work recognized.
Probably one of the happiest venues I have been to with so many people.
Nope, no worries if PB darkened the halls: you would not notice.

That's the thing - I stopped going because there was more to do in my game room at home than at Coastcon (and I had more stock than the anemic dealer's room), especially after the Battletech Pods stopped showing up.

Last great memory from that Con was getting to show off and explain a Zombicide game we were playing to John de Lancie ("Q", from Star Trek TNG).

I guess I'm kinda afraid that something similiar might happen with KS ... and I wouldn't be able to resist giving him a piece of my mind.

You guys pretty much see me at my flaming worst here, so take that as you will.

Ha! I saw "Scotty and Q" at a venue called "The miracle worker's convention.".
My impression was John would not suffer fools lightly.
He was running rings around a guy (verbally) who was trying to interview him last I saw him.

This again points to there is time better spent meeting interesting people.

 Talizvar wrote:

If you must do something: pick a "minion" near Kevin and be all excited about them.
It will get his attention and just pretend you have no idea who Kevin is and show no interest in speaking to him.

This. Bonus points if you can get them fired.

I can confirm Tal's comments. Anime north is where i saw/met kevin....and carmen.

On a different note i will be at anime north again this year....

According to Kickstarter I have backed 13 projects:

3 failed to fund or were cancelled (so I was not billed).

7 have delivered.

2 are currently in production.

1 started delivering a year late, then basically ran out of funding a short way into delivery (I did not receive my rewards), but the creators are supposedly trying to find traditional investors to allow them to finish the project and move forwards as a company.


So basically, out of 8 projects that should have delivered by now only 1 has not. I guess I've been very lucky.

I completely understand delays; things happen and it takes more time..
As with Reaper bones 3; The were to ship in October 2016 and now delayed till
March 2017/April 2017, I have not blinked an eye at this delay..
Couple hundred miniatures produced over seas can be a problem.
But the real trick is they keep updating where the containers are and what is doing on..

Now with Robotech tactics they are over three years late and still saying they are getting
manufacture quotes.. You are still at step one after all this time.. Why do they think this is okay?
What makes it worse is Kevin's resolve there is nothing wrong going on.. He will get to it
when he has time.. The fact is most was under the notion that Ninja Division was running
the project and soon found out that a company with no miniature background was taking the helm.

Yeah, like many others, if I hadn't thought ND was running the show (and PB's only involvement was just in so the rights could be used) I wouldn't have pledged.

The real red flag, though, should have been all the minis they kept adding, but I was holding off pledging until the female PA was added.

Well I can join in that game...

50 KS backed, a nice number. Of the lot:

3 Cancelled (Funding wasn't going to be met, the creator realised and stopped; one went on to self-fund, another repackaged the KS later.)

1 did not fund.

5 Bad cases (RRT, 2 tech cases that went south, Total Extinction and of course Defiance. Interestingly, for the 2 tech cases, one got to prototype phase before running out of money and going under, the other had so much hot air, I bailed early and got a refund.. I should go take a look at the comments to see where that went.)

2 "Technically successful but Bad Taste" case, 1 tech, the other the infamous Dust/ Battlefront idiocy. In the end got the stuff but the trip was so long and stupid that it wasn't worth it.

4 ongoing.

1 Going south case, comms breakdown at delivery stage; might still be salvageable if I can find the bugger.

34 OK cases. Not everything went smooth but eventual reasonable delivery.

So optimistically... ~80+% success rate (better if you remove all the cancelled cases), 10~12% bad. Looks good but some of the 80% were very simple projects, nothing too complex.

Generally speaking tech projects tend to have higher risks due to higher capital outlay, but games projects tend to be more frustrating when newbies take a bad crack at things. The best projects are those I can happily ignore and still maintain good comms back to the backers.