[KS] Bolt Riley - A Reggae Adventure (co-designed by Quest for Glory creators)

[SoundGuy]

Hey

My name is Oded Sharon, i'm the CEO of Adventure Mob.
Recently I've been pouring my life into a new game called Bolt Riley that I've worked on since November 2011.

It's a 2D point and click adventure game I designed myself along with legendary game designers Corey and Lori Cole who made Quest for Glory.

It tells the story of the greatest Reggae musician that ever lived and deals with many important subjects like dealing with racism, bullying and oppression, it has themes of peace, love, and friendship.

Please check it out on Kickstarter:
http://bolt-riley.com/ks

Thanks!

Oded

[qptain Nemo]

Sounds swell. May you collect all the monies!

[dactylopus]

Best of luck to you!  I would really love to see this get funded.

[CaptainD]

Watched the trailer a few minutes ago, looks VERY cool!

[Jay Tholen]

Just want to throw in a little bump because this game looks incredible! And the theme/setting is crazy unique for an adventure game. I hope you guys make it!

[Jared]

Don't want to be too negative here, but the names 'Adventure Mob' and 'Oded Sharon' set off a little alarm because I'd heard them before. Nothing especially negative but they had been the initial developers for Leisure Suit Larry: Reloaded but were ditched by Al Lowe and Josh Mandel about halfway through the project after they had made the prototype and the engine.

In Tel Aviv and during the due diligence phase, quite a few red flags were raised about the prospect of working with Adventure Mob. While we adored the demo work they did for LSL1, and while we had no reason to question their commitment to the project, we also had to acknowledge that, with absolutely no track record to look at, AM was going to be a very big risk for us.

My personal feeling was that it was a risk possibly worth taking with our *own* money, if that's how we were funding the game. But we aren't putting our own money into the game, we're putting Kickstarter pledges into it. To me, we should absolutely not take this kind of risk with other people's money. I would love to work with Oran on a future Larry game, but not until AM has a track record, and not with Kickstarter funds.

To this, I'll add: AM has never shipped a game. Not a single one.

Paul was smart to have us all visit the company to confirm that they could actually do what they said they could do. After seeing their operation, we thought they had gathered some talented people for our visit, but the team had never worked together before, had little experience on AAA titles, and no one had managed a large team. We left Tel Aviv with a terrible feeling about the chances of them learning these things with our Kickstarter supporters' money. For the good of the game, we discussed our decision at length and did what we felt was right for ourselves, for the project, and for our fans and their funds.

Now they're fairly diplomatic so it's clear that there wasn't any indication of unprofessional behaviour or anything like that. But I just think it's good for people to know who they're giving money to on Kickstarter. I checked out Adventure Mob's website and they still have not shipped a game aside from a kid-target mobile app, all their other projects are 'coming soon' (And one just links to a failed Kickstarter).

I'll actually pledge to this KS because I like underdogs and would love to see these guys get off the ground with these games they clearly and dearly want to make. But I think people should be aware they have no proven track record and there is perhaps a bit more risk in this KS than average.

[qptain Nemo]

I fail to see their fault there. Judging by the available information, they did what they were asked to do, fair and square. They were ditched because of doubts, estimations and prognoses of the leaders of the project, based on what they did in their own time. Not to mention it was somehow only an issue after they'd done what was asked of them. You can estimate their capabilities all day long, but there is no fault here to be seen. Not finishing a game isn't a crime, every developer has unfinished games. I have no reason to expect them to be particularly successful but I'd hate them to get a shadow cast on them by Al Lowe with his money-milking shitty remake no one needed.

[Dave Gilbert]

Bit of a disclaimer: I've known Oded personally for years. I had dinner with him and his family two months ago!

As for the debacle between Adventure Mob and Replay... the whole thing was horrible and disgusting. At conventions and conferences, there was no one more visible, vocal and enthusiastic about the LSL project than Oded Sharon. He and the Adventure Mob guys worked their tails off trying to get the game hooked up with a publisher, and when they hopped onto Kickstarter they worked doubly-hard to get the word out. Then when they were successful, Replay dropped them. I honestly had no words.

[Babar]

If what you say is true, that's pretty horrible. And I'd say that funding underdogs and un-names should be the major point of kickstarter (rather than the exception), so I don't really see "They don't have a finished product" as a negative. If people like the project, they'll fund it, otherwise, they won't. While many of the projects that it happens with are cool, I'm not sure I'd like to see kickstarter/indiegogo simply turn into "that thing that old famous people use to milk nostalgia money". That isn't the point.

[Jared]

And I'd say that funding underdogs and un-names should be the major point of kickstarter (rather than the exception), so I don't really see "They don't have a finished product" as a negative. If people like the project, they'll fund it, otherwise, they won't.

I'm of a similar view, that's why I backed this KS for $30 shortly after posting - god knows how tough it is to make a career in any creative field. At the same time, a lot of people are wary about giving money to less experienced outfits and I understand that, too. I think they're entitled to know that when AM refer to their previous games they're effectively padding their CV a bit.

As for the debacle between Adventure Mob and Replay... the whole thing was horrible and disgusting. At conventions and conferences, there was no one more visible, vocal and enthusiastic about the LSL project than Oded Sharon. He and the Adventure Mob guys worked their tails off trying to get the game hooked up with a publisher, and when they hopped onto Kickstarter they worked doubly-hard to get the word out. Then when they were successful, Replay dropped them. I honestly had no words.

I have to say, the whole thing was really strange, as an outside observer. It felt even exploitative, because they used Oded and co's enthusiasm during the campaign to help sell it, featured them in videos and the story during the run of the campaign was always "these guys are going to be the development team". Shortly after all the money had come in they were gone, and, frankly, N-Fusion's work seemed pretty sub-par going by the finished product.

Looking back, my comment inadvertently implied a few things - such as that I thought Replay Games made the right decision (I don't have the info to properly judge that, but I suspect they didn't) and that I thought Replay Games were ethical in their behaviour in general. Considering the conduct of their CEO that is definitely not the case but I still have a lot of respect for Mandel and Lowe which is why I sought out their statements on the matter.

That said, Dave, your siding with Oded gives me a lot of faith for the project. I think in your line of work you must be an excellent judge of character.

[gypsysnail]

Hi all, if you missed my last post from a couple weeks back, I am just posting another one about this game at kickstarter that I feel deserves the support to reach his goal lets face it, I'd love to see the game out there http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/soundguy/bolt-riley-a-reggae-adventure-game
And again sorry if I am making a new post on this but I can't seem to find the post I put up not even in my list of posts at my profile so apologies here

[Andail]

Here's your old post:
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=49228.msg636471659#msg636471659

[gypsysnail]

Oh many thanks ;-)

[selmiak]

1/3 of the goal reached with only 2 days left. This is not looking good...

[Sslaxx]

And they're being trolled by a certain someone. Why can't he leave things alone.

[qptain Nemo]

Wow, Trowe has no shame whatsoever.

[Babar]

What with 3(?) threads on this game now, perhaps it'd be less complicated if someone could merge everything into the thread created by the developer himself?
Bolt Riley - A Reggae Adventure (co designed by Quest for GLory creators) (Done! â€"Snarky)

6 hours left, and doesn't look like they're going to make it.

[Andail]

I probably shouldn't speak as I personally conducted the least successful crowdfounding campaign in the history of... crowdfounding. But isn't $120,000 a damn large sum to ask for?

I'm just thinking of the greatness I could have achieved with a budget of $46,000, which is the sum they're at now (and would've got, had they asked for a bit less).

But hey, they can just start a new one, and aim a bit lower I guess.

[David Ostman]

Doesn't seem like he can just start a new one and aim a bit lower judging by the things he said in the google hangout tonight. It seems as though the game is part of the company that he formed that has several investors that want him to close it down by December 31, if I remember correctly, and that would leave the property in a kind of limbo where he doesn't have ownership of it.

$120,000 is a large sum (definitely for me, I could keep working on my game full time for the next 12 years on that kind of money ) but according to what he said he has to pay for the art, for the programming, for voice acting, etc, since he can't do any of that on his own. When you break it down like that I can imagine the money disappearing quickly.

[m0ds]

Eek investors. What exactly did they invest if they left Oded needing to raise 120 thou exactly?

Anyway shame it didn't happen on its current goal, hopefully not the end of it, does look like a good game

10-20k (or less) seems to be a sweet zone for AGS games. And perhaps up to 50k for all individuals making adventures. But beyond that it seems to come with a lot of extra hassle, angst, bureaucracy, headlines, etc. I'm trying to recall AGS game kickstarters/indiegogos? any more than this?

Quest for Infamy: 15k - funded
Nelly 2: 15k - funded
Kinky Island: 2k - funded
Resonance: £91 - funded