Dead ADW Ice Age Miniatures Kickstarter

[Sirithiliel]

Potentially good news! They have announced they're dropping the 3D models and renders and having all the minis hand sculpted. I think that will greatly improve the quality. The lion and mammoth that are done already look pretty good, so I'm hopeful the rest will look fine too. I'm tentatively in, to keep an eye on it =3

[Darsc Zacal]

Potentially good news! They have announced they're dropping the 3D models and renders and having all the minis hand sculpted. I think that will greatly improve the quality. The lion and mammoth that are done already look pretty good, so I'm hopeful the rest will look fine too. I'm tentatively in, to keep an eye on it =3

That's only good news if they plan on killing the current kickstarter and recalculate the time, costs, and logistics required for designing and manufacturing these by hand.

Otherwise I'd be very leery of the project creators knowing what they're in for and being able to make enough to cover their costs or to make their shipping estimates.

 

Yellow flag lowered. Red flag raised.

[Sirithiliel]

Ahhh i'm still very inexperienced with Kickstarter good to know

[Trodax]

So they are just like that switching from 3D sculpting to traditional sculpting, not re-booting their campaign, just deciding this is what the backers want? Like Darsc, I'd be extremely leery of that too.

 

Who are these people anyway? I checked out their website and they talk about having this whole big creative team in place, which will create a skirmish game, for both 15mm and 28mm I think, with already 40 expansions in the pipeline, they're making terrain, they're planning on an RPG etc etc. Anyway, big plans. Has anything actually been produced yet?

[Darsc Zacal]

This is beginning to sound a lot like the Torn Armour kickstarter...

 

I wonder how many kickstarter projects Reaper can white knight?

[TGP]

Looking at that uintathere more closely, it is disturbingly perfectly symmetrical.

 

Are quadruped beasties just slightly asymmetrical left-to-right the way human faces are just a hair different left vs. right?

 

Edit: If that uintathere was digitally sculpted it would be easy mirror one side to create the other.

Edited June 8, 2014 by TGP

[Trodax]

I noticed that they on their website have previews of a couple of hexagonal battle maps (for their skirmish game, I presume), which are perfectly symmetrical, both north-to-south and east-to-west (to me, this makes the maps look pretty ridiculous). So maybe they have a general thing for doing half the work, or actually just a fourth when it comes to the maps, and then creating a mirror copy?

[Darsc Zacal]

Just a word of caution to potential backers. Do your homework on this one.

I like the concepts, but I have enough concerns like the fact they're asking their backers what the base sizes and shapes should be... Despite the fact that a game is being designed around these minis. Shouldn't the game needs dictate that?

Plus they're making two boxed sets of the same game. One in 28mm and one in 15mm... Why?

That is reason enough for me to stay away from backing this myself.

 

Plus, the people behind these miniatures and upcoming game appear to have no board/miniature game or miniature industry experience. Lots of merchandising, marketing, and branding experience for film and videogames. As appears to be the case with the artists involved. This Quoted from the kickstarter page:

 

The ADW Games' Doggerland Team is comprised of six 2D Artists, two 3D Designers, a Research Assistant, Writers, Copy Editors, Rendering Editor, Director of Merchandising and Brand Development, and an Operations Manager.

 

The art department has a combined 111 years of experience behind them, enhancing the project of Doggerland in front of them. Past projects include independent film, tentpole video games, MegaDeath Holiday Cards, and the David Letterman graphic novel. The Doggerland team is committed to creating a memorable game and imaginative world.

 

And also:

 

Our Core Team has worked in Publishing, Art Direction and Video Game Production Design for over 25 years. The only foreseeable delay would be in manufacturing. As this is done by a third-party, there may be short delays.

 

The other thing that bothers me is that presentation video wasn't very good. I've seen much more entertaining, informative and professional ones made for mini kickstarters, yet you'd think that with the background the project creators have, a presentation video should have been their strongpoint.

 

I'm not telling people not to back, but make sure you go into this kickstarter with your eyes wide open.

[Slendertroll]

Eh, the mammoth looks pretty neat, but I have no real need for these, the others look pretty weird, and Darsc's outlined a bunch of red flags. I won't be backing this one.

[Darsc Zacal]

Hopefully a backer thinks to ask them just who is manufacturing the minis for this project. Hopefully it's a recognizable and reputable company but if not then if, for example, the answer is Defiance Games then grab your money and run, don't walk RUN, away from this kickstarter and don't look back.

[Dr.Bedlam]

Mmm. Yeah, their willingness to make promises on the fly and change horses in midstream very much makes me think, "Either these people don't know what they're doing, or they're looking forward to simply defaulting on their obligations." I certainly don't KNOW that for sure... BUT...

[Trodax]

Yeah, I honestly find nothing here that inspires confidence. I think their webpage is pretty odd, the first impression I get is that this 'Doggerland' project is just one line created by ADW Games, but I can't see that ADW Games seem to have done anything else (or am I missing something?). I don't even know what ADW stands for, is it some kind of acronym for the project creator Dina Andrews Walker? They say they have an RPG in editing, but there's almost no info about this other than that it's supposed to be 240 pages. And the 40 upcoming expansions for the skirmish game have evidently been playtested over the course of 25 years ("so that's almost two years playtesting per expansion!")... well, yeah, that to me really, really just sounds like someone's homebrew, heartbreaker fantasy game.

 

I briefly checked out their previous (cancelled) KS, and I think it looks like an odd duck too. They have an image of an archer labelled as 'example of painted mini' which I think looks like a computer render, in color. Since those minis were supposed to be 15mm scale, I really don't think having a sculpted bowstring like that would work at all.

 

In terms of backing, I personally wouldn't touch this with a 10-foot pole. It's probably not outright fraud (although it might be), but I'm guessing the chances of it ending well are pretty slim.

[Sirithiliel]

I canceled my pledge, you all make good points

[Pingo]

I briefly checked out their previous (cancelled) KS, and I think it looks like an odd duck too. They have an image of an archer labelled as 'example of painted mini' which I think looks like a computer render, in color. Since those minis were supposed to be 15mm scale, I really don't think having a sculpted bowstring like that would work at all.

 

In my professional opinion none of those are physical minis. All of them, even the "painted" ones, are 3-D renderings. Have a look at the basing; it's the giveaway. The dim lighting and gloomy background are old techniques used in computer animation and games to camouflage weak modeling.

 

The only physical mini they seem to have in hand is the mammoth.

 

I think they may have bitten off more than they can chew.

[Slendertroll]

They do also seem to have a physical cave lion, who is not mirrored the way the others are.