Nega-Mike

I was hesitant for some time to begin writing this particular blog post because it vilifies a specific person.  Rather than omit my feelings purely to help one anonymous person on the internet save face, I decided to instead just let them remain anonymous.

As some who read either of my blogs may know, I've begun considering independent game design.  This was a very difficult thing to do because, truth be told, beyond crafting story, I have very little to offer to a traditional game design team.  What I can do is try my best at bringing together other talented individuals to make a game that I envision.  At this point, I'm designing the game by taking assets from multiple sources and trying to make something coherent, and, ultimately, enjoyable out of it.

It's also been revealed (I think) at some point, that when the time comes, I am going to reach out to the Kickstarter community to try and help the game with some final phase funding.  This includes making sure that the game is present with magnificent art and sound.  By that point in time, the game is going to be completely done on the programming front (at least in it's base form - I'm still toying with the idea of making secondary modes to add replay value).

Over the course of my time with various communities on the web, I came across another indie developer who is much like me.  He's a designer, first and foremost, and he has very little skill to speak of, besides a very, very silver tongue.

The big difference is, this developer... this Nega-Mike... has already finished and released his first game.  It was a wonderfully received game too.  Most people who have played it have nothing but good things to say about it.

Of course, this doesn't absolve him of a tremendous amount of douche-baggery.  Let me explain.

On Kickstarter, your main focus is creating a product or a service, showcasing it to that community, and offering rewards in exchange for funding.  Typically, the campaign consists of a video that displays your appeal to the intended audience.  They want to see you, reaching out to them, knowing full well that you need their help to make your product or service a reality.  If you're developing a product, it's highly recommended that you have a prototype ready to display in that video, or at the very least, through screenshots.  Screenshots can be concept art, however, so it's more beneficial to see a video in motion.

Every project is a story as well.  Your primary goals are to explain why the product has to be made, and, perhaps more importantly, why it has to be made by you.  Beyond that, it's also very important to tell people where there money will go.  You can't just pick an arbitrary monetary amount and hope that the Kickstarter community is going to side with you based on your desire to see your project succeed.  Furthermore, a little humility goes a long way.

Nega-Mike missed all three of these primal Kickstarter virtues:

First, when describing what made the game tick, the closest Nega-Mike could get was mentioning that hey, this is a charming game with original ideas.  In his original campaign on Kickstarter, he didn't have a prototype ready, and the video didn't show him at all.  It was only a mock-up of what the idea was eventually going to be.

In his second pitch to the community, he straightened a few things out.  His video was altered to focus on the request for support, though it looked even less professional than the first time.  In it, Nega-Mike looks like he just rolled out of bed and is struggling to explain the project (until it moves forward into an overlay, where he can read from a script).  The sound quality of the video is terrible.  However, his plea seems genuine in this iteration of the campaign, though he defends it vehemently when others begin to poke holes in the pitch.  He put very little thought into this Kickstarter campaign, and shockingly, the community, which is very wary, did go to bat for him.  I continue to be offended by how little he researched his own project's needs, and the terrible level of communication he still has with his backers.

Next, when he originally came to Kickstarter with his idea, Nega-Mike aimed incredibly high.  He asked for well over $10,000 for a project that, as far as people could tell, hadn't even made it past the brainstorming stage.  While it would have been a struggle to justify that amount as is, where the money was going was never distinctly revealed.  In fact, he never even asks for money beyond jotting down a goal in the first place.  He asks for people's support, but that's a very ambiguous request.

The second time he campaigned his game, he cut his request in half.  The price was much more reasonable, but he still was very vague about where his money was going.  He mentioned that he had a three person team, and that with the money available to them from Kickstarter, they would be able to cease performing freelance work for other developers and focus entirely on their personal project.  There was no distinction between whether that money was going to art, music, programming or anything of the like.

Finally, his lack of humility was his downfall.  I was so offended by how he was presenting his idea and his campaign that I actually began actively stalking this guy around the internet.  He heaps mountains of praise on himself, and throws away good advice because he's too proud to accept it.  His narcissistic self-entitlement obstructed his path forward for every single step of the way.  Beyond that, though, he aggressively insults anyone who tries to give him a golden nugget of wisdom.  Someone told him, "you need proper accounting" so that the funding goes to the right place.  Rather than say "thanks," and move on with it, Nega-Mike sarcastically insisted that the person who gave him the advice go to every person on Kickstarter with a campaign and offer them the same wisdom (he never did heed that advice - not entirely anyway).

It wasn't until I dug deeper that I realized Nega-Mike was actually a disingenuous assplug at his very nature.  You see, in his Kickstarter, he claims that he has a three person team: a designer, an artist, and a programmer.  It wasn't until after the Kickstarter closed that he went looking for a programmer to replace the one that had already decided to step out (during the campaign, no less). 

In his "for-hire" topic, he tells potential candidates various needs for the project.  Originally, he asks for 6-12 months of commitment of full-time, high priority work.  Keep in mind, this project ended in June, and Nega-Mike told all of his backers that he would have the game shipped to backers in October or December, depending on where you're looking on the project page.  Not only is his work ethic here questionable at best, but it shows just how he preys on the naivete of the people who are willing to support him.  Further, he offers his programmer a paltry 200 per week for what he describes as work that would have to be top priority.  He later changes his stance, saying that the work would be 4-6 months of part time work, but at this point, he is either revealed to be a liar at worst, or entirely unreliable at best.

Nega-Mike absolutely offends me, to a degree that I've never been while searching on the internet.  He misrepresents his project every step of the way, and when called out for his transgressions, he   does everything he can to hide the truth.  He doesn't meet his deadlines, he tries to rob his audience blind, and he's a gigantic douche about it to top everything off.

I feel torn regarding his project.  I know that over 800 people backed his game.  Part of me wants Nega-Mike's game to collapse, so that he realizes that he can't get away with this kind of treatment of people.  But I don't think it's fair for those people who supported him to be robbed blind of their money based on promises that he's still unable to fulfill at this point in time.

What it all comes down to, is that Nega-Mike is what's worse for the independent gaming industry right now, and he should be ashamed of himself.