Bugbear have turned to Kickstarter to fund their pseudo sequel to the Flatout games. This is their second effort to crowdfund the game having originally sold preorders through their website. The new attempt is looking for $350,000 to release a destruction derby racer boasting ridiculously detailed damage models and American muscle cars.
To tease the pledgers’ wallets open, Bugbear are offering a demo to backers.
I had reservations about Bugbear’s original fundraising campaign. They had no set funding goal and they wouldn’t reveal how much money they’d raised. Plus, with no funding goal, there was no guarantee what they’d do if they couldn’t raise the minimum funds to develop the game. Backing was a risky proposition.
Bugbear explain in their site’s FAQ why they avoided using Kickstarter at first because of roadblocks between them and the popular funding platform: “it turned out to be tricky for non-US-citizens, and Finnish law prohibits raising money for commercial purposes”. They must have found a way past them because the campaign’s live and taking money.
$30,000 so far.
That seems a little low considering the quality of the footage they’ve already shown of the game in action. That’s likely down to the fact that they already took money from most of their diehard fans in the first funding drive, money they can’t now use to get them closer to their Kickstarter goal. That lack of early pledges means the campaign is taking longer to snowball, a lot of early pledges would have created the buzz around the project. A buzz which it’s currently lacking.
Bugbear are planning on releasing a demo to backers of the game. Previously they said they’d release a demo of the game in action if they received 10,000 preorders. It’s an odd move, offering a demo to people after they’ve already ordered your game (either by backing on Kickstarter or preordering through the game’s website), you’d think playing a demo would convince folk to back a game in the first place.
Still, in lieu of a demo, they’ve released a video detailing the level of damage that can be applied to each car in the game and it’s extremely impressive:
You can read more about the game over on its Kickstarter page.