Jack Houston And The Necronauts kickstarter campaign was a success, however after the campaign was over the $10k backer backed down from his pledge leaving the campaign short by 2k from it’s goal.
Luckily they still managed to get most of the money (~54k) from Kickstarter/Amazon – but they still need to reach their goal.

“Why” you ask ?
If they managed to get only $12k more they will be able to upgrade to Unity4 which will allow them to support GNU/Linux !
All kickstarter pledge tiers are still in effect, so if you donate (via Paypal) $15, you will get the game !

Detailed Announcement :

Warbird Games, an indie games studio in Fort Worth, Texas, is asking for direct donations via its website after a $10k Kickstarter pledge fell through, leaving them short of their target amount.

Earlier this month, the studio raised $64,256 via a successful Kickstarter for Jack Houston and the Necronauts, a classic point and click adventure for the PC with stop-motion animation visuals. However, celebration turned to distress when their largest donor failed to honor a $10,000 pledge.

“After the exhilaration of passing our goal by almost $10k, I was expecting to spend the next few days getting ready to start production on the project.” said lead designer, Stacy Davidson. “Instead, I spent them frantically trying to find out what was going on with the donation, whether we’d even get the other funds and glued to email for any news.”

The developer have now opened up direct funding via the Warbird Games website in the hope of filling this gap in funding. The same rewards as Kickstarter will be offered to backers supporting the project through this method.

Additionally, the studio has been able to dramatically lower its stretch targets to bring the game to iPad, Android, Mac and Linux and into FIGS localisation after renegotiating with contractors and receiving offers of help with translation from backers.

 

More details on Jack Houston and the Necronauts:

Join legendary test pilot Jack Houston on the adventure of a lifetime. Set in an alternate universe heavily inspired by classic sci-fi authors and artists, Jack Houston mans a mission to Venus in 1999, only to have a terrible accident leaving him in stasis for 1000 years. When he awakes on the savage world, the life he once knew has long gone, and he heads out into the unknown.

Key features:

Old meets new – combining classic click and point adventure gameplay with amazing HD visuals, the game will feel both familiar and incredibly new to anyone who loved adventure games in the 80’s and 90’s

Rip-roaring story – join captain Jack Houston as he faces the perils of Venus in a journey that will have you travelling through space and time to seek the truth.

Story and art inspired by the masters – enjoy a truly vintage experience with a captivating story and unique art based upon esteemed sci-fi masters such as Chesley Bonestell, Robert E. Howard and Frank Frazetta.

Stop-motion animation – a unique technique that was used to create 1950s sci-fi serials such as Flash Gordon is being used to create a truly authentic experience in-game and a unique visual aesthetic

World-class soundtrack – produced by Iain Kelso, internationally acclaimed for his work on the feature movie Jacob.

 

Development History
Warbird Games is a brand new studio formed by industry veteran Stacy Davidson, who started developing text adventures and RPG prototypes on his Commodore 64.He then spent a year in Quality Assurance at Origin Systems during their last days before stepping out on his own, publishing Shadow of the Lost Citadel via Shareware services.Davidson has spent the last 11 years working in the film industry as a director, producer, cinematographer, editor, sound designer and visual effects supervisor at his own studio, Odyssee Pictures.He returned to the games industry in 2010 after his fan-game project, Han Solo Adventureswas featured in Star Wars: Uncut and The People vs. George Lucas. After gaining serious momentum and a fan-base, Jack Houston and the Necronauts was born.Using a combination of game and film design, the team at Warbird Games are striving to make something that is both visually striking and has a strong story to tell.

CONCEPT ART

 

So if you want to help bring this game to GNU/Linux, feel free to help !

  1. Necroak says:

    This kind of thing is pretty disappointing. Whilst there is a strong argument to be made for allowing pledgers to back out [i.e. if they feel the project is a sham or it won’t work out in the end], jeopardizing great projects from true indie groups that need every penny is not fair.

    If you don’t mean to go through with it, then at least give real backers the chance to up our own pledges, beg our friends/family, or raise even more hype instead of giving us a false sense of security.

  2. Maxim Bardin says:

    Actually this can be a good (for the project) tactics.
    Usually when the project is funded and it’s a “go” more people pledge for it.
    So if you got 1 week left and missing 5k, if someone will pledge(a fake) 5k there is a huge chance that more people will come and pledge to the project and reach the funding goal.
    On the other hand you also need to “back off” on time, 1-2 days before the project ends – but not after it was funded…or…
    In this case it actually worked pretty well, the project got funded (even tough it didn’t reach it’s goal) and Kickstarter/Amazon were outsmarted.
    So I don’t see it as a bad thing.
    It’s tactics and could have saved a few projects that were close to their goal.

  3. We are really excited about being able to support Linux through Unity 4, and we’re doing everything we can to make that happen. Maxim: there may be some out there who play the Kickstarter system in this way, but we would never resort to deception to launch Jack Houston. Our backers are awesome people and closely tuned in to the project, and we are always upfront and honest with them regarding the status of the campaign. This was a first week backer that many of us watching the project saw and were a bit alarmed with throughout the project, as this backer put in more money than we even had a tier for and had a suspiciously generic name.

  4. Maxim Bardin says:

    I didn’t mean to imply that you used that tactics, just wanted to point out that this could actually be good for a project.