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What Happens If CODENAME: MORNINGSTAR Doesn't Fund?

With 2 weeks to go, and only 13% of the $425,000 raised, and those two weeks being Christmas, the odds are that Codename: Morningstar won't fund. There might be a last-minute turnaround, of course, but the prognosis right now does not look hopeful. Trapdoor Technologies leader Chris Matney addressed the possibility, saying that "not pledging is telling the industry that you are happy with the status quo."

With 2 weeks to go, and only 13% of the $425,000 raised, and those two weeks being Christmas, the odds are that Codename: Morningstar won't fund. There might be a last-minute turnaround, of course, but the prognosis right now does not look hopeful. Trapdoor Technologies leader Chris Matney addressed the possibility, saying that "not pledging is telling the industry that you are happy with the status quo."
[lq]...if there does not appear to be a sufficient market interest our continued investment in the gaming industry is not assured.[/lq]

Below is what Chris Matney said on the subject. You can find the Kickstarter here.

What If We Don't Fund?

Yesterday, I addressed the question about why Trapdoor needs $425,000 to fund the completion of Morningstar. Today, I want to chat briefly about what happens if we don't fund via our Kickstarter campaign. The answer is somewhat more complex than you might imagine, so please bear with me.

First, we need to assess whether the gaming community has a real interest in our technology. The response to our Kickstarter is part of that answer - and I won't deny that the role player in me will be disappointed if we don't fund.

Our decision to jump into the gaming market was not made lightly. Trapdoor is a software company that builds interactive publishing applications. This technology is at work in commerce, education, and other fields. Role-playing games are complex and thus a perfect showcase for our interactive technology which simplifies prep and play. This is a greenfield opportunity for us and the industry. No other gaming company provides digital distribution beyond PDFs.

Your pledge to our Kickstarter campaign is the best way to express interest in bringing a remarkable, captivating and new experience to our hobby. It is the only way to 100% guarantee the success of Morningstar.

If we don't fund (and assuming there is demonstrable interest in the technology), we will need to reevaluate the current gaming ecosystem: looking for publishers who are interested in leveraging Morningstar into their gaming system, assessing the OGL for D&D 5e (if any), combing the feature set in Morningstar to see what can be pushed back, etc. With $1.2M invested in the project to date, we would obviously like to see Morningstar launch. However, as with any business if there does not appear to be a sufficient market interest our continued investment in the gaming industry is not assured.

The community and you have some decisions to make in the next two weeks. If you share our vision, pledge. Even if you don't think we will fund - throw your support behind our cause. Kickstarter collects pledges only if the funding is successful. It's a no risk proposition - at worst, you will show your support. Not pledging is telling the industry that you are happy with the status quo. Hopefully, you elect to be on the ground floor of a truly remarkable journey.

Respectfully submitted.
Chris Matney
Managing Director
Trapdoor Technologies


[lq]...not pledging is telling the industry that you are happy with the status quo.[/lq]


morningstar.jpg
 

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DaveMage

Slumbering in Tsar
For my part, there are oodles of holes in this situation :
1 - I don't know (I honestly have no concrete idea) what they are making/selling
2 - the entry point (after funding) seems high
3 - that the creation aspect of the tool, around which the whole thing seems to hinge is the highest price point is... baffling to me
4 - it is geared towards a rules set that I do not use (and will not use in the foreseeable future)
5- I don't know what they are making/selling!

I've watched the videos and read all I could, but all I can find are lines that read "revolutionary system of creation, etc." Everything that I can figure out, I have to read them between the lines - and I've been burned by WotC enough about the "between the lines" : never again am I trusting to "half-promises" or "implied" or anything not directly and clearly spelled out. If it's not clearly written down in a public place, and the whole of the community agree on its meaning, it does not exist.

Lastly - about that whole "if you don't back us, you're voting for the status quo" :
1 - No, that is not true, ever - we do not live in a bipolar world : !A =/= B
2 - I don't know what you're offering, so my vote means nothing.
3 - It is poorly phrased : it seems petulant.
4 - I like to make lists of things tonight.*

*That last one doesn't really apply.

Yes! All this! Exactly! (Well, except that I do play Pathfinder and the "lists of things"part. ;) )
 
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maimonidesvii

First Post
Honestly, even a poorly run kickstarter I could see backing if I had any faith in the product.

The problem is, I am a software developer, and I participated in the beta. Don't get me wrong; unlike most people, I didn't care how buggy it was. I expect that. My issue, which I asked about in the developer Q&A, is that a beta is designed to test functionality and to push out changes at a rapid pace. Who cares if you push out code that breaks something? It's a beta, and it' already broken. So you should be building and deploying once a day. And then we can see that our feedback is taken into account and things are getting better.

They waited weeks without a new build being released. Their answer when I asked them was that they are a small company and can't get the code changes done fast enough. That would be crap in general, as even one person writing code should be getting things done, but now they claim the team is HUGE?

Sorry, but as someone who does this kind of thing for a living, you have shown unbelievable ineptitude in software development, as well as in kickstarter management and public relations. So... Why would I give your company money again?
 

Hollow Man

Explorer
The Kickstarter is the issue, not the product.

I slightly disagree with this. The main problem is the company and the perception they have that they can't pull this product off. Paizo has a proven track record, so even though they're not the ones developing the Pathfinder Online video game (and hell, I can't exactly figure out WHO Goblinworks is!), with their name behind it, there's some sort of "seal of quality" that is naturally (although perhaps prematurely) stamped on it. With WotC out of the Trapdoor picture, a lot of mental good people had for the product (which already handicapped them to some extent, considering people's problems with WotC) vanished.

I really hope something happens to turn this around, because it is a good product.

The IDEA of the product is good, but I feel that many of us have yet to be convinced that they can actually successfully develop what they say they can.

-HM
 

Queer Venger

Dungeon Master is my Daddy
Perhaps we are now seeing why Wizards pulled the plug. Im wanting to believe that they have the capacity to deliver a great product, but if all you can show is the beta you delivered us, then no, you can't deliver what you are promising.
 

Remus Lupin

Adventurer
I've been thinking a lot about this, probably too much for a Kickstarter for a product that I'm not even backing, but I've backed a number of Kickstarters and I've become fascinated with how they work as a kind of sociology.

I think Morrus hits most of the highlights of what the problem here is. Though I would note that saying "people are complaining that it's for PF" is probably because a) there are already a raft of products out there for PF, and b) this was originally supposed to be a 5e product. If it were still a 5e product, I might even back it, but I'm satisfied with the market for PF products right now.

But what I'm seeing in a lot of the response is that people are a bit gobsmacked at the funding level more than anything else. I went back to look, and by comparison, inXile's "Tides of Numenera," which I backed, was asking for about double what these guys are asking for ($900,000), but that was for a full-on video game, with fairly intensive graphics features, a massive story, lots of art, etc., etc., etc. And for my measly $45, I felt like I got a bargain right out of the gate for a game that I wanted to play if the project funded. Even cutting inXile's ask in half, it's hard to see how Morningstar's budget is reasonable (and it's not helped knowing they've already plowed over $1 million into it).

I just wish that someone would develop a software project for 5e, that does much of what Morningstar seems to be advertising (though I need much less than their maximum promise), at a reasonable level of entry. Heck, I've already given chunks of cash to Herolab to suit my Pathfinder needs. Thus I'm exactly the kind of customer Morningstar should be pitching to, but I can't justify it with all of the problems they're having up to this point.
 

jhhoffmann

Villager
I think they need to be a bit more like Steve Jobs about it. Don't ask people what they want (or in this case if they want it). Build it and show us we need it.
 

Hollow Man

Explorer
I think they need to be a bit more like Steve Jobs about it. Don't ask people what they want (or in this case if they want it). Build it and show us we need it.

If they were as skilled as Woz and Jobs they wouldn't be going to their customers, asking for money. They'd have something to show already (because that's what entrepreneurs do: work like crazy on their own dime), and if it was as awesome as they say, people would be kicking doors down to get to it.

-HM
 

Honestly, what I think I'd like to see is a PDF reader optimized for RPGs. When I run an adventure, I generally keep two copies of the module open, one for where they are and one on the map. And then the rule book open (just in case). And then a notepad with character information, and another for notes. That's easy enough on a computer, but my tablet can't handle that...

[shakes cane] Back in my day they produced REAL MODULES with adventure info in a booklet and maps printed conveniently on separate card stock covers so you could reference the map and keep turned to the page you needed. We wouldn't need all this fancy claptrap and electronic whatziz if publishers would remember how to produce a decent module that is actually user friendly at the table.

/rant off. [you can wheel me back to the retirement home now] :p
 

Hand of Evil

Hero
Epic
I am a backer and in the words of Frank Zappa: "Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.”

This is something I have been looking for a long time, a one-stop game builder. Is this the Holy Grail, I don't know, I liked what I saw in InKarnate RPG Toolset more but this is something I think we need for our hobby, I will support for that reason but as I said before, I just think this becoming an impossible dream.
 

Grimstaff

Explorer
How do you overcome:
1. A disappointing beta
2. Losing the game (5E) that everyone knew you because of
3. Standing out in an oversaturated (d20/PF) market

I don't know the answer myself, but Trapdoor apparently doesn't either.
 

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