A hypothetical kickstarter scenario: What would make you donate and how much?

[Thrakkar]

Ok, now that's completely hypothetical. That's probably not even a suggestion. But it came to my mind and i was starting to think about it.

What if the devs would decide to put up a project at Kickstarter to hire additional manpower and get things done. Big things, which would be out of reach otherwise.

I came up with two big chunks I'd like to see done:

1. A real state of the art, polished 3D client.
Just keep the style of the original art of the classic client, but make everything 3D. Floor, Trees, Houses, Characters, Items, Monsters. And it has to be a modern, state of the art client. Approprite Lightings etc. And of course run smootly. Just like Diablo 3 or Torchlight 2 (just tech-wise, not art-wise).

2. Rewrite client- & server-code to support smooth, non-tile-based movement.
This is something, that reminds me every time, that UO is old. Really old. At least the EC smoothly scrolls when moving from one tile to another. Thats one reason, I would never go back to the CC again. But if we would have true free movement without being restricted to tiles, that would be awesome!

I think these two things would be worth to me at least €500. Sure, these are mostly cosmetic issues, but I think with a new face, this old lady could experience a second renaissance.

 

[goldenpower]

Electronic Arts is worth billions of dollars, and makes 100's of millions in profit every year. No one is going to donate money to them.

 

[Goodmann]

I will donate $14 per month per account I own

 

[Thrakkar]

Electronic Arts is worth billions of dollars, and makes 100's of millions in profit every year. No one is going to donate money to them.

To EA? Yeah me too...

But imagine this:
Dev 1: "Hey, EA, we need money and manpower to get things done"
EA: "Screw you, UO keeps going for 15 years now, why should it need additional features?"
Dev 1: " Bad news guys, no money from EA"
Dev 2: "Well, lets put up a kickstarter project and fund the changes on our own..."

Legal issues aside, this is just theorycrafting. But still interesting to think about it, at least for me...

 

[Aurelius]

Kickstarter, for me, is to get things that can't be funded any other way off the ground. EA is plenty rich enough to do all the things UO requires, but chooses not to. The concept of paying more to EA when they choose not to support the game from what they already have is utterly wrong at every level possible, so no matter who tried the Kickstarter you mention, or their reasoning, it would be a resounding NO from me.

Now if someone had a Kickstarter to buy UO off EA, and have it led by people who understand the game, and have a sound business plan for it's future ....

 

[Uvtha]

Ok, now that's completely hypothetical. That's probably not even a suggestion. But it came to my mind and i was starting to think about it.

What if the devs would decide to put up a project at Kickstarter to hire additional manpower and get things done. Big things, which would be out of reach otherwise.

I came up with two big chunks I'd like to see done:

1. A real state of the art, polished 3D client.
Just keep the style of the original art of the classic client, but make everything 3D. Floor, Trees, Houses, Characters, Items, Monsters. And it has to be a modern, state of the art client. Approprite Lightings etc. And of course run smootly. Just like Diablo 3 or Torchlight 2 (just tech-wise, not art-wise).

2. Rewrite client- & server-code to support smooth, non-tile-based movement.
This is something, that reminds me every time, that UO is old. Really old. At least the EC smoothly scrolls when moving from one tile to another. Thats one reason, I would never go back to the CC again. But if we would have true free movement without being restricted to tiles, that would be awesome!

I think these two things would be worth to me at least €500. Sure, these are mostly cosmetic issues, but I think with a new face, this old lady could experience a second renaissance.

I would rather spend my kickstarter money on things like...oh... Project Eternity by Obsidian Entertainment — Kickstarter



But honestly if they wanted to build up UO the money is not the issue.

 

[Woodsman]

But honestly if they wanted to build up UO the money is not the issue.

I have given my money to Obsidian, or will, or however that works.

But yeah, if EA has millions to toss at Ultima Forever, they have millions to toss at UO, especially since it's been profitable for most/all of its 15 years.