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."
[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]

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[FitzTheRuke]

It's really too bad. I was pulling for Trapdoor to make an awesome useful tool, but what I've seen of it was so far away from done that I can't even imagine what done might look like. They've done a terrible job of showing us what we'd be looking at, I don't know why they're surprised people aren't forking over the cash.

 

[TrippyHippy]

On the evidence of Kickstarter, and other attempts to reach out, I’d suggest that there really isn’t as much market for these things as Codename Morningstar thinks. For me, some legal pdf’s of the corerulebooks and maybe an online magazine is about all that’s needed.

 

[TrickyUK]

I agree with some many comments and I'm not wanting to simply repeat them all. For me the initial goal was too big. It does sound like a great concept and I could see me using it, but I would much preferred a lower initial goal with great stretch goals.

 

[I'm A Banana]

For me, it's a lot of money for what they're doing and what they're doing seems really nebulous and indistinct (especially as it compares to their cheap-to-free competitors). Tabletops, character builders, campaign managers, none of this is fresh territory. The freshest was their ebook/adventure marketplace plan, which, while interesting, wasn't half-a-million-dollars interesting. There wasn't a lot of factual information on any of these elements, so the case couldn't be made. And being tethered to one ruleset wasn't ideal.

Now, the NEXT team to propose a campaign suite and target it at maybe $100k or so...that might work.

 

[Blackbrrd]

I tried the 5e character builder, and it had some pretty big design flaws in my opinion. Like not being able to change parts of your build (for instance background) after selecting other options. This doesn't work for me since I go back and forth as I try to create the character that works. If I knew everything up front, I wouldn't really need a character builder. The response I got regarding this issue was that it would require a relatively big refactoring to fix. Not promising.

Regarding the rest of their product, I think they spent too little time showing what their software can do, and how to do it - or at least how they intend it to work, with some good examples. As it is, it looked to be doing relatively little extra compared to traditional module publishing.

The pricing is also something that put me off. As I see it, their main features that aren't in other products is the module publishing bit, but that requires 3rd party publishers to use it, and the normal way to handle this is to take a cut, not have the end user pay up front.

I would like to see this project funded, it might be awesome with awful marketing, but as it looks now it won't fund and they will have wasted time and effort, not being unable to complete the project. Which is a bit sad.

 

[Gnarl45]

I'm interested in many of the tools they are offering but I have no need for Pathfinder-specific stuff, I have no interest in paying for the development of a tablet or smartphone application that I'm not going to use, and I have no interest in a subscription-based web application.

I do share their vision. I don't share their technological, commerial, and marketing choices.

 

[turkeygiant]

I tried the 5e character builder, and it had some pretty big design flaws in my opinion. Like not being able to change parts of your build (for instance background) after selecting other options. This doesn't work for me since I go back and forth as I try to create the character that works. If I knew everything up front, I wouldn't really need a character builder. The response I got regarding this issue was that it would require a relatively big refactoring to fix. Not promising.

That was something that dumbfounded me too in the Beta, the character editor that didn't let you edit parts of your character, that's a issue. I actually never though to look and see if they have solved that issue for their proposed kickstarter release.

 

[Blackwarder]

I just want to say that having played with this at gencon the iOS version was much further along than the web version.

My main problem is that it doesn't support 5e and I have no intrest in PF.

Just my 2 cents.

Warder

 

[Wulfang]

Here are my reasons for not backing the Kickstarter:

A. I signed up for the DEMO but never got to see it, even after emailing them twice. Other then a couple of screenshots I have NO CLUE what the app looks like or how it functions.

B. The app is designed to support Pathfinder, an RPG I do not play. And as much as people are saying that PF is the 'most popular RPG out there", from my personal experience of all the gamers I know in person, D&D is the the most popular RPG, not PF.

C. I do not and many players do not care for a player-based app. But I do see allot of demand for a DM app (especially for myself as a DM). So I am not happy with the status quo. However, other then vague references, there have been very little CONCRETE references as to what the DM side of the application can do.

Can it open multiple pdfs at once?
Can it flip easily between NPCs?
Can it generate monsters and NPCs?
Does it have a search function?
Does it have an initiative tracker?
Does it have a name generator?
Does it have a music app (similar to Syrinscape)?
etc.

All the kickstarter video says "This app will allow you to share stories" well I don't care about sharing my stories, I want an app that will help the efficiency of me DMing my story.

D. Its the holidays, I have no money left lol, especially for a kickstarter of a project I am not sure will be useful to me.

 

[Morrus]

And as much as people are saying that PF is the 'most popular RPG out there", from my personal experience of all the gamers I know in person, D&D is the the most popular RPG, not PF.

I think you're misunderstanding why people are saying that.

They're not saying "it is the most popular RPG with you and your friends and therefore you personally must back the Kickstarter"; they're saying "it's the most popular RPG in the world, so there should theoretically be enough Pathfinder fans to replace the lost 5E fans with the correct marketing".