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Haunts: Anatomy of a Kickstarter collapse

Richard Mitchell — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 15:00:00 EST

"I'm the new poster boy for Kickstarter cautionary tales," says Rick Dakan, unabashedly jumping right into the reason for our interview. Dakan is the head of Sarasota, Florida's Mob Rules Games, which was, until recently, developing Haunts, a competitive haunted house game funded via Kickstarter. Last week, Dakan announced on the Haunts Kickstarter page that the project has halted production and that Mob Rules' two hired programmers have left.

All of this despite the fact that Mob Rules raised $28,000 on Kickstarter, $3,000 more than studio's goal. So what happened?

Continue reading Haunts: Anatomy of a Kickstarter collapse

Haunts: Anatomy of a Kickstarter collapse originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 24 Oct 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Kickstarter game Haunts development halted, programmers quit

Richard Mitchell — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 11:00:00 EST

Bad news for Kickstarted turn-based haunted house project, Haunts, as the game has ceased production. According to Mob Rules Games head Rick Dakan, both of Haunts' programmers have left the project, with the lead programmer moving on to Google, and the other taking a new job as well. Neither programmer is able to work on the project in their spare time.

"The game as it stands has all the systems in place, but there are a lot of bugs," writes Dakan on Kickstarter. Neither he nor the game's lead artist are programmers, leaving the project in dire straits. Implementing online play "took three times longer than estimated" and, unfortunately, will require additional programming to make existing levels work, even when played offline. Dakan is currently shopping Haunts around, specifically to a studio "owned by some old friends and coworkers," in hopes of eventually seeing the project finished. Dakan admits that, even should the studio agree, it would still be "months before anything came out."

Dakan elaborates that "bets" were made in developing Haunts, but they "haven't paid off like we needed them to," and that "things were constantly going from bad to worse." The $28,000 raised on Kickstarter has been spent, he writes, "but I will personally refund out of my own pocket anyone who wants to withdraw their support, no questions asked." Backers seeking refunds may contact Mob Rules through Dakan's Kickstarter email. Dakan concludes by reaching out to anyone willing and able to help complete the game, though he's hopeful the current partnership that Mob Rules is pursuing will work out. Thus far, the majority of those commenting on Kickstarter are not asking for a refund.

The video above showcases some of Haunts' gameplay as it currently stands. Mob Rules has also put together a summary of the game's ten chapters, along with associated screens.

Kickstarter game Haunts development halted, programmers quit originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 19 Oct 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mob Rules Games launches Kickstarter for Haunts: The Manse Macabre

Richard Mitchell — Wed, 09 May 2012 13:45:00 EST

There are plenty of horror-themed video games out there, but not many can claim to be a turn-based haunted house. Enter Haunts: The Manse Macabre, the first game from Mob Rules Games, a studio founded by Cryptic Studios vets. Voted by fans to be the studio's first project, Haunts has one team investigating a haunted mansion, while the other team tries to put an end to those who would invade their home.

Haunts features a single-player campaign and online multiplayer for Mac, PC and Linux. The visuals are inspired by the work of Harry Clark and Edward Gorey, artists known for their iconic, creepy illustrations. The intruders choose a goal - recovering a specific artifact from the mansion, for example - which is unknown to the opposing team. Each team also selects its units in secret, making every game different.

Having raised over $40,000 from other sources, Mob Rules Games is running a Kickstarter for an additional $25,000 to finish the project. As expected, there are various rewards for different donation levels, but perhaps the most interesting is that every $5 donated nets donors an additional copy of the game, which they are free to keep, sell, give to a friend or just hoard.

Mob Rules Games launches Kickstarter for Haunts: The Manse Macabre originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 09 May 2012 13:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mob Rules Games wants you to vote on its next game, for free this time

Jessica Conditt — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 17:00:00 EST

Mob Rules Games had high hopes for its innovative, user-oriented Kickstarter campaign, where investors would get to choose one of three concepts for the developers to turn into a real game -- Haunts, The Last Second or Guerrilla Gorilla. They believed in this approach so strongly that they allotted just 30 days to raise $20,000. It's more than a month later, and now Mob Rules has just one thing to say about their entire Kickstarter venture:

"Well, that didn't work."

Mob Rules Games didn't reach their goal, but they have a backup plan. The Lewis Charitable Foundation has offered to invest in Mob Rules' first game as part of its Open Game Labs program, but Rick Dakan, Jonathan Wills and Austin McKinley still want users to choose which game they should make. Enter: Free voting.

Anyone can enter to vote for free on one of Mob Rules' three potential games, from now until Nov. 30 at 5 p.m. EST. Whichever game has the most audience support, Mob Rules will make. Entertainment is a wholly subjective experience, so we don't want to tell you which game we think sounds like the most fun, but we'll give you a hint: It isn't the First and it rhymes with "meckond." Happy voting.

Mob Rules Games wants you to vote on its next game, for free this time originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 27 Nov 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ex-Cryptic employees' indie studio, Mob Rules Games, has no idea what it's doing

Jessica Conditt — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 19:15:00 EST

Three former Cryptic Studios employees have founded an independent, open and honest game-development studio titled Mob Rules Games -- and they have no idea what they're doing. Literally. Rick Dakan (Cryptic Studios founder, original lead designer for City of Heroes and former Joystiq freelancer), programmer Jonathan Wills and artiste Austin McKinley have three game ideas that are all apparently so awesome that they can't decide which one to make first, so they're having the players choose for them, via the trusty old fundraising platform, Kickstarter.

The three games up for development are Guerilla Gorilla, Haunts and The Last Second, all of which are detailed in the above video. For every $1 you pledge on Kickstarter, you get 10 votes that are good for the life of the company, meaning you can provide input to Mob Rules for more than just this one round. Mob Rules plans to make all of its content open under Creative Commons, and will release the source codes for every game after its release.

But don't trust us -- hear more about the philosophy behind Mob Rules from Dakan himself in the brief interview below:

Continue reading Ex-Cryptic employees' indie studio, Mob Rules Games, has no idea what it's doing

Ex-Cryptic employees' indie studio, Mob Rules Games, has no idea what it's doing originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 18 Nov 2011 19:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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