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]

​

 

[Dice4Hire]

*Walks away* pretty much sums up my ideas also. What will it add? To my gaming style not much. And the attitude that not funding them, and only them tells the whole industry something. Pretty arrogant.

If I do a dice Ks and you all do not fund me does that mean you hate dice?

 

[rjfTrebor]

maybe they should have focused on getting a polished, viable product into the market before they set out to "revolutionize tabletop gaming". Ed Edd, and Eddy had better planned ventures than this Kickstarter.

 

[MrJamela]

I would LOVE to see high-quality digital products to improve the experience of using the rules and the books at the table.

But as someone who has worked in both software and application development and as a gamer who has been following this since the earliest announcements, and having participated in their unbelievably bad 5e web alpha, I think it is safe to say that Trapdoor Technologies is not going to be the company that gets us there.

I find myself a little perturbed at the hubris exhibited by these folks. If WE don't pledge our money in support of their second effort to produce their product, then clearly we don't value the FUTURE. Um, no. You had your shot with 5e and you blew it. (Side note, we don't really care why it failed -- only that we were promised digital product that has not been delivered). Here's a News Flash for you.....there is already existing product out there to support Pathfinder. And it is pretty good. And it is available now. If I want it, I can go buy it without having to bankroll your operation.

Does it cost $2 million to build an ambitious digital product for an RPG? Maybe. Programmers are not cheap and it's a seller's market. I'm left wondering how they ever thought the margins on this product would cover that expense? Did WotC really authorize a million dollar spend and then kill this product with NOTHING to show for it? Somehow I doubt that. So clearly there was a plan to monetize expansions and content. If I had to hazard a guess it was some variant on the SAAS model and Trapdoor was expecting to get a piece of the subscriptions or transactions.

TT's kickstarter is dead already, but they're clearly not ready to admit that publicly.

So what happens next is that TT quietly vanishes back into obscurity -- blaming us for "being okay with the status quo."

Whatever helps them sleep at night.

Jaime

 

[GMforPowergamers]

This reads to,e of sour grapes...

 

[Mouseferatu]

To echo what others have said...

1) I have no idea what this will do that other programs won't. But of greater importance...

2) I don't need another suite of Pathfinder software right now. I need a suite of 5E software. If I knew it would have that, I might be willing to support it even not knowing exactly what it does.

But they can't promise that. It's not TT's fault that they don't know what the 5E license will look like--but that doesn't change the fact that it's what I need, and the only reason I'd back this.

The situation sucks for all concerned, but it's got nothing to do with the "status quo." When they can offer a suite of 5E tools, I'll consider it. Until then, they simply aren't making a product for me.

 

[GreenTengu]

How exactly is not backing a totally unnecessary Pathfinder app mean that everyone is happy with gaming industry as it is?

This app aims to offer absolutely nothing new or usable. Frankly, the database of this site right here offers more functionality for even that then this app offers.
If a company has spent $1.2 million when they have less than 20 employees and are coding some pretty basic stuff, what the hell is even the point of a Kickstarter?
As far as I have seen, all this is going to amount to is a Pathfinder Character Generator and Pathfinder Adventure Planner-- both of which are already on the market and didn't require anywhere near that price point to develop.

Trapdoor Technology is clearly all bluster and just looking for more money to pocket on empty and failed promises. And of all the times of year to try to fundraise with a ludicrously overblown goal. The whole company is clearly made up of complete idiots.

 

[Morrus]

I have to admit, I feel for them. They keep getting told folks don't know what their product is, but I feel they've explained that over and over again; and people keep saying it's the same as Hero Lab or Roll20 when those two products aren't even the same type of application. And people keep jumping into a thread about a Pathfinder product to say "I don't want Pathfinder; give me 5E", which they can't do a darn thing about. But Pathfinder is the biggest game in the world at last count, so the game system shouldn't be the issue.

The Kickstarter is the issue, not the product. I think they did the exact opposite of most every piece of Kickstarter advice I've ever received. The amount is doable - Pathfinder Online raised over $1,000,000, but it was a very, very well managed Kickstarter. The industry can support Kickstarters of that size. Heck, Monte Cook raised more than half a million for a brand new system - and he really did only need $30K or so, which is about what he asked for.

What the KS needed was:

1) Not being at Xmas.

2) A well-planned start and finish time during high traffic times of the week.

3) Immediate gratification for backers; a demo or something. Most RPG Kickstarters offer a playtest document at least. Even if that means waiting to launch the Kickstarter.

4) A minimal asking goal for a minimal feature set. *Everything* should be stretch goals. The asking goal should be as low as possible for the smallest thing that can be provided. Then the product just gets better for existing backers as stretch goals are met; your backers become your evangelists. If you want to sell a full colour hardback book, your KS goal is for the softcover b/w book. The full colour hardback is a lofty stretch goal - once folks have backed for the b/w softcover, they will want it to be upgraded to hardcover colour and will act to make that happen - in other words, they will promote your KS for you and say nice things about it everywhere.

5) An identified popular backer level which keeps getting better.

6) Not being at Xmas.

With those things, I really do think it could have been successful. A launch in March or so with a demo to offer backers and a goal of a very minimal feature set and I think it would have funded on its first day - it's important that Kickstarters fund early - and the rest of the campaign would have pushed towards stretch goals.

Still, two weeks. Stranger things have happened. I really hope something happens to turn this around, because it is a good product.

 

[Nebulous]

"No. Not pledging might mean you have no interest in Pathfinder. Or can't justify the cost pre-Christmas. Or won't be able to get all your players to invest. Or are just unwilling to invest in a failing project. Plus the details of what you can do with the program are a tad vague."

Right, all of these things. If this does not support 5th edition then I do not 100% care. If it does not have a robust interactive DM toolkit function such as a monster creator or a map maker, then i doubly do not care. And having people staring at an app while we play sounds like a nightmare. 4e, despite what it did well, ultimately bothered me to no end because I never saw the player's eyes, they were always looking down.

Ultimately this project will fail, but then they'll re-evaluate and maybe break it down into smaller chunks. I don't care either way. But i find it interesting to watch how this unfolds, and how it might influence 5e eventually as that is my game of choice right now.

 

[fjw70]

Agreed that they have articulated what the want the product to do. There's the character builder, the ability to share pics and messages among the group, purchase and run Ebook adventures with link to easily go back and forth between area/room descriptions and maps with the ability to bring up monster stats with a click/tap, and the ability to create adventures with the interactive maps mention previously (including tile based mapping).

 

[Mournblade94]

Hero lab is tried and true. With their announcement they are working on 5e tools, it took all desire away to try this.

I know Hero Lab works excellent for Pathfinder. Having it for 5e would be great, and I rather wait and buy their prodect.