Kickstarter Lady stops making card game due to "The Sun"

Ï love Kickstarter, I really do. It's the utopian equivalent of showing that there will never be "a niche" product ever. Whatever you do, crowdfunding will hopefully find that audience and will give you the market to be able to turn your dreams into a reality. Whether it's a watch that can...do things an iPhone can do or a really great sword fighting game with a good story and actually well-made sword fighting physics.

This is the exact kind of guy you want making a sword fighting game.

But then again, Kickstarter can have a darkside too. It only takes a few rotten apples to point out how not so great you are and what you do just as big of a joke as your parents think you are. Maybe you're not meant to have the money to make a studio album about the time your cat ran away, and maybe your video game about the bitter loneliness of that cute waitress not getting your order right, shouldn't be made, but then there are people like Molly Friedrich.

Artist Rendering

Of course, for the uninitated, Kickstarter, is a crowdfunding website where people post projects that people can help fund. Those people, backers, receive gifts and credits depending on how much they pledge. They project is either funded and the project goes into production, or every backer get's their money back if it doesn't reach the goal. Ms. or Mrs., Friedrich was going to make the board game, Katalyka, which from the images and her description look like one hell of a game.

The designs of the cards and the board look incredibly well-done. Something out of an expansion set of Magic The Gathering or even space version of Dominion. She speaks eloquently in her designs for the game and even goes into detail about how to play the game and that the ultimate goal is to have fun. Hell, I would have been sold on that premise alone, let alone her own description of it being a mix between "Risk and Magic: The Gathering."

Seriously, how fucking cool does that look.

Success came on August 18th of last year and the game exceeded it's original goal of seven and a half grand, by just over three-hundred and forty bucks. If I got that bit extra, I'd be more excited, I'd start making that game and power through until Christmas. However, that was almost a year ago and things began to become dire when Molly posted an update on June 3rd of this year.

Ms. Friedrich said that, and I do quote, that she was being "harassed" by a voice that claims to be "the sun." You didn't read that wrong, I didn't meddle with the spell checker, she is being harassed by the great spiteful firey ball in the sky.

Oh wait...

She has stated on the most recent post that The Sun seems to have an opinion on it's appearance in the game. "Besides, there have already been a few different "galactic themed" video games and at least one other board game that have all gotten rather popular, so I really don't understand why "The Sun" is supposedly obsessing over the details in this game, specifically." Neither do we, Molly...neither do we.

I don't really want to get into any pop psychology or any psychology at the moment at all, but I do have to say that this is a bit odd...in the very simplest of terms. Doing a quick search of her Facebook page, Friedrich seems to be a regular U.S. 20-something geek who likes Minecraft, Futurama and Doctor Who and none of those things I'd hold against her, but this does sound a bit odd. Just a tad.

Maybe Ra really wanted to fund the project.

The backers have offered to help and Friedrich does clearly state that she "needs help" with the situation. I humbly suggest moving to Finland during the Winter, when there is little to no sunlight. She also mentions the fact that printing the cards are quite expensive, stating, "...the main problem is the actual printing of the card decks.  I have all the other materials, and I have cardstock to print the cards on but it was too thick for my printer and I can't afford to take it to a second hand printer, so as soon as I can finish it I am determined to see this project done.  I looked into exchanging or returning the cardstock, and it would cost me about $500 to do that (which I don't have, since I am on disability due to an injury, I only get about $200 a month after rent and most of that goes into food.)" 


Okay, so she say's she's on disability and I don't want to pry any further into that and that's not my any of my business, but I doubt stating that The Sun is after you, could be helpful in anyway. The printing thing, definitely, but the fact a star is after you is a bit more dangerous from a financial and investor perspective.

Seriously though, Jim Parsons is after me, alert the authorities. Bazing-

But I get that, I understand what it's like to have little money and it sucks, but still...the sun thing. Commenters on the post, have offered help, like working together on the project and checking out sites like Board Game Geek, but still no response. Meanwhile on the comments page of the project itself, people are threatening to sue and are even questioning about "funding projects in the future."


But hey, I could be completely wrong, and probably a complete asshole about this situation, and Ms. Friedrich has gotten on hard times and maybe she hasn't had time to finish the game for personal or family reasons, but right now this may have been the worst way to go about it. I do hope Katalyka gets made or that it's backers get their money back, but for now, Molly stands out like a sore thumb on a glowing golden hand of internet ingenuity.

Thanks again to Ian Bogost for being awesome. 


After posting this, I made contact with Molly Friedrich on Facebook and Kickstarter to get her side of the story. I will post updates if I hear back from her, with her permission, of course.

Train Conductor 2 Review for Android

The following review was posted on QJ.net on December 28th of 2011. It was originally written during the wee hours of Christmas morning whilst watching Community and waiting for my entire family to wake up and start cracking open presents. I had to wait through a long breakfast of my mother making juice with her new blender and a large amount of toast, bacon and eggs to be made. Between breakfast duties, I got a lot of games of Train Conductor 2 and showed it off to my relatives. 
They were amazed something like that existed, let alone on phones. Those with Smart Phones even bought it with their new iTunes cards they got over Christmas. It was awesome. Firstly, the creators are Australian and secondly, the game is tons of fun. It's hard to criticise something that is so much fun. That's why I rarely complain about sex or Futurama or Community or the works of Christopher Nolan. It's just too much fun and great to look back on, but I think any criticism, no matter how petty, just shows how jaded I really am.

What I've been up to this week - December 23rd

Been a while since I did one of these.

Well I just got a new smartphone and loving the fuck out of it.

Ohhhh yeaaaah.

If you're wondering why I'm so white-ly excited about it, this is my first smartphone ever. I've been without one, like an orphan looking into the shop window of an Apple store whilst everyone is lit up by candlelight and enjoying their "apps" and "iOs'" and smuggly regarding this as the pinnacle of technology while they speak and a cat imitates them in a high pitched voice.

I suddenly don't want a smartphone

I started a new Tumblr about clouds

I LIEK CLOUDZZZZ

And I did an interview with the lead designer of the game Skydrift. It was good discussing the future of games with them and what they're doing. They're doing something with Suda 51's company Grasshopper interactive in 2012 and that just makes me all kinds of excited.

Most of the conversation as VRWWWWWWWWWWOWWWWMMM

Also I discuss the finer points of the current glut of what Ben Croshaw called 'Shooter Season 2011." It all started when I was playing Goldeneye Reloaded and began to notice I wasn't having fun.
Check it out here on QJ.net

Oh and I also made an entire post almost rhyme...was pretty proud of myself for that one.

Also Arcadia has nearly moved in completely. Her friends dropped off a few pieces for a bookcase that she can put together and they arrived just after I slipped on some oil in the driveway so I was half naked with an ice pack on my back and cursy and annoying and not exactly helpful. I'm quite poor at making first impressions and hope they still kinda like me...

Yeah, a bit like that. Sorry, Scott and Rach.

and finally,
HOLY

FUCK
I don't even like the Lord of the Rings films that much, but this! THIS is now on my list with The Avengers, Dark Knight Rises and Cabin in the Woods.