Thursday, November 5, 2015

Bad Kickstarter: The Metamorphosis Alpha Situation

I didn't back this Kickstarter, but I did make what appears to be an error in good judgement by purchasing a pre-order print plus PDF copy of the game when it was announced as available a few months ago. The PDF copy remains mostly unread (I really don't enjoy reading PDFs) and after mentioning the game on my blog was directed by others to the history of this title as a Kickstarter. You can read all about the dissatisfaction of the Kickstarter backers here. It says a lot: little to no communication from Jamie Chambers, a product finally in PDF which feels sort of like the end of the road to most, and the possibility that it may never get released in print form. Apparently Jamie Chambers is important to the GAMA trade show group, too.

I don't have a Kickstarter stake in this, but I do have a pre-order. In going to the website I couldn't help but notice that there's no way to communicate with Signal Fire Studios/Jamie Chambers this way. Hmmmm.

The release date on the SF web page says "Fall 2015." The Kickstarter backers appear to have shed all hope for good reason (this one goes back to 2012), but in theory I suppose I need to give him the benefit of the doubt on my regular preorder to the end of fall. After that....and assuming no further updates....then I suppose it's time to inquire with the credit card company.

2 comments:

  1. Yeah, Chambers got me for $100 on this disaster. He was lackidaisical about it at the beginning when the delays began to pile up because -- hey! -- it's Met Alpha! Then Goodman Games came along (nearly 1.5 years later) and crushed it with their Met Alpha re-release with new content and support and con-run games and everything. And Chambers knows he's saddled with an "also ran" (although he could've knocked it out of the park by being first out of the gate, but too late now). So, in appears he limped through with a PDF years later to get the backers to shut up, but we'll never see it in print because he's developed a "Why bother now?" attitude about the entire thing. Plus, I doubt the money's there for the print run anymore.

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    1. Very good point about Goodman Games upstaging them completely on this. I wonder if the release in PDF with a preorder option was an attempt to drum up some income to actually afford printing (which, regardless of intentions, may have turned in to a cash grab).

      Ultimately the part that's so damning for this (and any Kickstarter) is when the creator stops communicating. Silence speaks volumes and only generates the negative speculation. I didn't know much about Jamie Chambers before, but I sure do now. It's like Ken Whitman...these names build their own infamy through Kickstarter.

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