Hey Gamedev.net

I've been a long time lurker, can't seem to find any other post resembling this.

The kickstarter project for Shroud of the Avatar, has a pledge for $400, which sounds as follows:

Want to be a part of the Development process? This is the level for you! Gain access to the private Developer Chat/Forums and help participate in guiding the game (estimated Developer Chat/Forums access in April 2013). You also get to help create a character in the game as well as name them. When everything’s said and done, we’ll put together a PDF document of various concepts and design documents.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/portalarium/shroud-of-the-avatar-forsaken-virtues-0?ref=live

I've never really developed a game, but it is my dream to become one at a point, and currently working on an education towards it.

What would your assessment be of this "developer" position be?

Pros:

I like the overall concept of the game, and have a lot of experience with Ultima Online and feel like it has been one of strongest MMORPG's ever, and therefore think I can add something to the game

I have played almost all MMORPG's to ever launch on the western market(Including some korean/japanese that never made it to the west)

Cons:

No idea how much I will get heard, or how they will take in critique/new ideas.

$400 (It's not that I can't afford it, and it is something I would like to do, so I could add it to my CV or something silly like that,or I could look at it as an investment of some sort)

Thanks for the link!

That looks awesome, and is the first MMORPG I've seen in a while that actually looks exciting, with all the hundreds of WoW-clones going around. I played Ultima 3 back in the day and loved it.

Good thing the game won't be out for a while, might distract me from my own development

In terms of the dev package, it does sound pretty interesting. I don't think it would replace the more in-depth process of joining a hobbyist/indie team, but as a supplemental project hopefully you could pick up some nice gamedev tips from their talented team. I'm tempted to try it myself, good find!

It doesn't sound like you'll actually be designing a game. What follows is my interpretation, and may not necessarily be accurate:

"Want to be a part of the Development process?" -> Want to see how things work behind the scenes?

"Gain access to the private Developer Chat/Forums" -> You can read and comment on what the actual developers are doing.

"and help participate in guiding the game" -> Very intentionally and ambiguously wording. You can 'help' to 'participate' in 'guiding' the game. Huh?

"You also get to help create a character in the game as well as name them." -> You'll get to contribute ideas towards the backplot, personality, and appearance of one specific character in the game, and get to name him.

"When everything’s said and done, we’ll put together a PDF document of various concepts and design documents." -> When everyone (the real developers and the $400 donaters) is done discussing things in the forums, then the real developers will make the decisions and create the design documents.

I agree, you definitely won't be in the "real" developer forums, or have access to their internal ticketing system, feature lists etc.

But even so, it sounds like there will be some opportunity to talk directly with their dev team, at least to a limited degree.

2,460 developers (assuming all Developer ranks and above are pledged). 206 currently at developer rank or above are pledged.

In my opinion this is what will happen (this is subjective and without having done more than skimmed the kickstarter project).

You will have access to the forums. You will make suggestions. Somewhere in all of this you might possibly make a suggestion that will be incorporated into the game. You will not have any rights to claim a part of the game earning despite having contributed, as you will have signed your rights away to your contributions when accessing the forums. You will not be accredited with the title Game Designer (or similar industry role) along with the other 2,459 pledgers but will rather be given a minor nonsensical title or more likely listed in the credits as a pledge with the rank of pledge you purchased. You will not really be able to use it on your resume and the only thing of real value that you may gain out of it (bar the ingame perks if you play) will be the information re: game design etc in the forums...which you will probably have signed an NDA for or alternatively the information in the forums will be limited to that which the developers don't mind becoming public.

If you want the game to be created and believe in it etc etc. then by all means pledge, but if you are looking for some substantive value with regard the development side...I would be asking questions through the comment sections as well reading all of the 1,494 (current) comments on the kickstarter looking at people's questions and most importantly - Whether these questions are answered and whether they are answered appropriately and not whitewashed under the PR and marketing hype.

Either way I wish you the best of luck with regard your decision.

Here is a reply from their own forum:

You will have direct access to the Developers through a Developer only Forum, and be a part of the development process through discussion and feedback not available to other pledge levels.

https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/?topic=question-about-developer-pledge

Still seems a lot ambigious. But atleast they said that you are able to give direct feedback on their forum.

This is from their FAQ:

And if you contribute to our Kickstarter at the Developer level or above, we will bring you into the inner design circle. In addition to getting general design ideas from you, you will have the chance to lend a voice on even the more contentious issues involved in game design. Some examples would be: PVP – Where, when and under what conditions? Persistent Housing – How can we make a housing market that creates opportunity and engaging gameplay? These are just a few of the design ideas we will be discussing in our Developer Roundtable discussions.

Is that really different from most games? It seems like most companies have a forum you can post on before the game is released. Developers usually read the forums, to some degree.

It's fairly unique in that it costs $400 instead of being free, making it a more exclusive group where your access to the dev team is greater. Maybe that is a common practice and I just haven't heard about it before.

It's fairly unique in that it costs $400 instead of being free, making it a more exclusive group where your access to the dev team is greater.

While this statement is technically true in every word...does it not seem wrong somehow to you?

These are just a few of the design ideas we will be discussing in our Developer Roundtable discussions.

In addition to getting general design ideas from you, you will have the chance to lend a voice on even the more contentious issues involved in game design.

None of these points suggest you gain more power than simply the ability to express an opinion or an idea, and as Kylotan points out.

It seems like most companies have a forum you can post on before the game is released. Developers usually read the forums, to some degree.

But if this level of access as suggested/implied is sufficient to a person's wants then by all means invest. But I will be honest, I would personally prefer $400 to go into helping one of the indie game's being developed by one of our members for example gnoblins or ruinvalor (examples used without permission :P) where such an amount while still small would be a hell of a lot more helpful, as well probably depending on the project give you access to an alpha/beta and the chance to make a suggestion that is more likely to be heeded.