CODENAME: MORNINGSTAR Kickstarter Launched - and it's for PATHFINDER!

Trapdoor Technologies has launched its Kickstarter for Codename: Morningstar. As expected, the software is for the Pathfinder RPG, with other systems being supported later. It has a number of modules - home, character, adventure, campaign, party, library, and forge - and is designed for mobile devices and laptops. They're looking for a whopping $425,000 - one of the largest RPG Kickstarters I've ever seen! - and are looking at an April 2015 release date. Of course, this software was originally designed for D&D 5th Edition before the relationship between Trapdoor and WotC came to an end, so many folks will have seen beta versions of the software when it was configured for that game. It's more than a character generator, though -- "Players will be able to quickly create and manage characters, track the progress of their adventures, send secret messages, roll virtual dice and more. GM’s will be able to manage adventures, track encounters, share maps and notes as well as organize large scale campaigns all through a cleverly designed mobile interface." And later comes the "sharing" part -- "Through the Forge, Game Designers can create adventures and campaigns, share them with their friends or publish them in our Library for the entire world to enjoy." You can already sort of see how some of that sharing will work, as some pledge levels for the Kickstarter include additional content (in this case an adventure). Click here for the Kickstarter!

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[pickin_grinnin]

They're asking for far, far too much. It will never make it.

 

[Hollow Man]

They finally put a post about it on Paizo's forums (http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2rrll?Codename-Morningstar). It'll be interesting to see what the community there thinks.

-HM

 

[casterblaster]

So far about the same climate as here. Not looking good.

 

[Newtonian]

All, we put together a little UI Overview to show you what it looks like. Check it out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fz6fpyPhxQ

 

[Hollow Man]

Every time someone points out the difficulty of the amount they want to raise, they just keep saying, "That's what it costs."

We're smart people...we get that it costs a lot of money to develop software. We're just trying to indicate that the community has so many options available to them, the cheapest being to simply use paper and pencils, that you're going to have to really prove to people this is worth it for them to part with that amount of money...at holiday time no less!

This isn't the video game industry, which took DECADES before it was popular enough with buyers to sustain development of gaming projects that cost millions of dollars to complete.

Simply put, Trapdoor appears to seriously underestimate, no matter what the cost is to develop this, the value the community places on it. To make this work they're most likely going to have to limit their scope, or continue, as many startups do, to develop for free.

-HM

 

[pickin_grinnin]

As someone on the Paizo forums said, it's like a Shark Tank episode - great idea, ridiculous valuation.

 

[pickin_grinnin]

We're smart people...we get that it costs a lot of money to develop software. We're just trying to indicate that the community has so many options available to them, the cheapest being to simply use paper and pencils, that you're going to have to really prove to people this is worth it for them to part with that amount of money...at holiday time no less!

Yep, exactly.

There are a lot of people who play rpgs who aren't particularly fond of using electronics at the table. Of those who like it, though, only a certain number are going to have tablets. Of those with tablets who like the idea, it is going to have to be priced low enough for them to want to buy it. Of those, many will balk at paying for a monthly subscription after already paying for the software.

Add to that the fact that there is already competition (from Lone Wolf) that is trying to do something similar and is further along, so they have already captured part of the market. People who are happy with Lone Wolf's product are already invested in it, and those who feel burned by it may be less likely to invest in something similar that isn't already done.

The likely audience is a relatively small percentage of what is already a niche hobby. That's going to be problematic when it comes to raising such a big amount of initial capital.

 

[Hollow Man]

Look Trapdoor, many of us want this product as it has been explained to us, but as consumers, who in today's day and age have so many awesome things we can spend out money on, we want to be confident that we will get good value if we give you our money for a product that, dare I say, doesn't exist yet.

I was really interested when this was originally announced by WotC, and then when I saw it at Gen Con, but there are so many things that have happened (see all my posts here on EN World for the details) that indicate to me that this project is being poorly managed on many fronts. And if I can't trust the company to deliver on what is still just a lot of promises, then I can't give you my money before the product is done.

-HM

 

[pickin_grinnin]

And if I can't trust the company to deliver on what is still just a lot of promises, then I can't give you my money before the product is done.

A lot of people feel that way about Realm Works. Lots of promises, poor delivery.

These days I don't even think about supporting Kickstarter projects that aren't already essentially completed. I've been burned one too many times.

 

[pickin_grinnin]

Does this actually bother anyone? I usually don't even look at the total the project is trying to raise - to me I'm much more interested in the pledge levels and associated rewards.

I always look at that, because it tells you how realistic the developers are.