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]

​

 

[LWDLiz]

Incidentally, is that Lone Wolf's Liz Theis posting on Trapdoor's Kickstarter comments page? Does that mean she's backed it? Or am I mistaking that for someone else?

Yep, I backed for $1 so I could respond immediately to avoid misunderstandings about our news post from running rampant. That wouldn't be constructive for anyone.

We're keenly interested in Codename: Morningstar, as it aspires to do much of what we already do and plan to do with Realm Works. However, Realm Works is game system neutral and isn't tied specifically to Pathfinder, 5e, or another game system. Hero Lab is our product that's tied to game systems, and it works in concert with Realm Works.

 

[Grimjack99]

For me, I don't see investing in a company who's prior product was a big miss, and that failed to launch. I wish them all the best, as long as their best doesn't involve my money.

 

[Morrus]

Yep, I backed for $1 so I could respond immediately to avoid misunderstandings about our news post from running rampant. That wouldn't be constructive for anyone.

We're keenly interested in Codename: Morningstar, as it aspires to do much of what we already do and plan to do with Realm Works. However, Realm Works is game system neutral and isn't tied specifically to Pathfinder, 5e, or another game system. Hero Lab is our product that's tied to game systems, and it works in concert with Realm Works.

You're promoting your competing product on their own Kickstarter page? That's audacious, I'll give you that!

 

[LWDLiz]

You're promoting your competing product on their own Kickstarter page? That's audacious, I'll give you that!

That’s not our interpretation. If we had failed to respond and clarify the misunderstanding quickly, I believe both companies would have been worse off. As we’ve all seen over the years, simple misunderstandings can spread like wildfire across the internet and quickly become construed as “fact”. We were in an untenable position, faced with the choice of either posting in their Kickstarter comments or risking an incorrect interpretation being both repeated across the internet and potentially used against Trapdoor with regards to 5E support. We felt that clarifying on the Kickstarter in a minimal manner was the best course of action for everyone involved, including Trapdoor.

To provide context for everyone here, below is the original comment made on the Kickstarter and the one response made to clarify things. Hopefully this will allow everyone to make to their own judgment on the subject.

Commenter: I just read that Lone Wolf has announced they are going to be supporting 5th edition with their Hero Lab. Is there any news you've heard of of being able to support it as well?

Liz T: @Commenter'sName, according to the announcement, there will only be support *IF* an OGL or SRD is both released and allows digital support. If there is, the announcement says support will be available within both Hero Lab and Realm Works. The contingency upon an SRD applies to all digital tools, barring a special license with Wizards.​

 

[Tyranthraxus]

Okay so there is 2 possibilities above

A) Lonewolf gets a special license with WOTC OR
B) WOTC release an OGL/SRD which allows Digital support.

 

[Remus Lupin]

I would be pleased in either case.

 

[Rygar]

I can see where all of their problems lie, they don't understand the market and they don't understand kickstarter.

First, they're starting out with a screenshot of a tablet. To be more specific, they're indicating their primary platform is a product whose sales reportedly tanked this year according to one of the biggest retailers. They had several choices, they could make a web app and have an installed base of billions, they could make a stand alone app and have an installed base of billions, or they could make a tablet app and have a stagnant installed base which may who bought the tablet, played with it for a bit, and then stopped using it. Bad business decision.

Second, their backup plan is apparently mobile. Which studies have shown that the majority of users aren't willing to pay for mobile apps, so they certainly aren't going to kickstart it. Bad business decision.

Third, they went to Kickstarter with a mobile app. A few minutes of study would reveal that there are certain keywords that are generally a kiss of death for a kickstarter. "MMORPG" is a huge one. Just as big, if not bigger due to the volume of failed kickstarters, is "Mobile app", "Tablet app", and "Smartphone app". These things almost never fund, and a number of them that did fund did so because it advertised "PC game". So having a plan to go to Kickstarter to fund a platform that almost never funds is a terrible business decision. It also should've been a huge warning flag about how large a market it really is.

Finally, they asked for $425,000. For a mobile app. That basically consists of file storage, an RNG, and ebook functionality. After having already spent money to try and produce that. $425,000 is enough to produce full games, Dead State was done on $335k. Jagged Alliance Flashback was done on $368k. Grim Dawn is being done on $535k. It's very confusing why pretty substantial full blown video games can be done for less than what they're asking for to finish something that already has had a significant amount of money invested in it. Something is very seriously wrong when full blown video games are produced and released for less than what is being asked for a mobile app.

Trapdoor needs to take a step back and review their business plans and budgeting, the problems aren't with the RPG community here.

 

[mouselim]

Fully agree with almost all the posters - Trapdoor definitely went in thinking that just because (a) they are kicked out by WoTC, (b) they offer an alternative to WoTC and we (the public) have to support them. Just like a small software company appearing on the market and said that unless we support them, then we're lackeys of Microsoft or Apple...sad.

Anyway, the entire morningstar project is too vague and cloud-based sucks (doesn't matter whether its google, microsoft or apple or any other companies). Definitely walking away from this...

 

[was]

They don't understand the market

...I agree with that statement. IME, a significant portion of the gaming community is simply not that tech savvy. They cherish their books, print out pdfs from desktop computers and are more than content with using pencils to update their paper character sheets. Most of the folks that I game with do not even have tablets. And, yes, they are more than happy with the status quo which offers both digital and printed resources.

...Traditionally, many rpgs have prided themselves on the fact that you did not have to spend a lot of money to play. Moving to an all digital format requiring a tablet, and an on-line service, requires an expenditure that many in the gaming community will not be willing, or able, to make. It maybe the future of gaming, and ahead of its time, but it threatens to leave a lot of current gamers out of the experience.

...Given these factors, asking the community for $425,000 seems a bit unrealistic.

 

[doctorhook]

I came for the news, but stayed for the schadenfreude!