Unfortunately, that also means the stakes for the game are pretty low compared to other projects. I prefer to just be direct and honest and lay it out there.
And I'd rather not use the PR speak and all the mindless statements people end up giving-and frankly, that I've had to give myself over the years. Everything is on the table for people to see. "The kind of company I want Pixelmage to be is just an open book, completely transparent. It's more transparency than most crowdfunded games offer backers, which is important to Smedley.
Smedley said 100 percent of the Indiegogo money is going toward staff salaries, and it will go that much further considering he's not even taking a salary on the project. The company has already raised $2.8 million for the project from private investors, so at this point the crowdfunding will determine how long the staff gets to work on the game rather than whether or not the game will exist at all. While Pixelmage will get that pledged money regardless of whether or not the goal is reached, it's not relying on it. However, it now has a $200,000 goal, with almost $60,000 raised in the first week. Pixelmage has apparently reached that point, as the studio this month launched an Indiegogo campaign for Hero's Song. Everything is on the table for people to see." So we decided we have the money, we had investors willing to do it, so we just said let's buckle down and get our game to the point we can show it, and see what people think then." "Hindsight gives you that clarity that maybe you should have had then, but the reality is, we always knew people would support it once we could show them what it is. "We didn't have enough to convince people what our game is, why it's cool, and why people should support it," he said.
Speaking with last week, Smedley said it quickly became obvious in that campaign that the studio "didn't have the goods." The campaign set a goal of $800,000, but after making it less than one-fifth of the way there in its first week, Pixelmage pulled the plug. Earlier this year, John Smedley's new studio Pixelmage Games launched a Kickstarter for its 2D action RPG Hero's Song.