Would HeR consider finishing Ship of Shadows if fans funded it's completion?

[x jane fan x]

I would be more than willing to donate money to this project up on a site such as Kickstarter (HeR once had a KS campaign going for porting the games to portable devices which is why I'm mentioning KS.) I realize the Dossier series wasn't as popular as the Adventure series, but I believe there could be enough fans out there willing to help get this last title in the series completed. Many fans have seen the unused artwork floating around online and of course the teaser trailer at the end of Resorting to Danger. I hate that this title has been shelved for so long. I remember finishing RED and seeing the trailer for the first time. I was so excited for it, but then it never was mentioned again. Even the box art was released at one point on the AmatuerSleuth blog because fans were asking about it.

So the questions are..

1. Would you be willing to fund this title so the Dossier series can be rounded off as a trilogy?

2. Would HeR consider completing SOS if the fans were willing to back the funding?

What do you think? Is it worth pitching the idea to HeR and at least trying?

To be honest, personally I'd rather have SOS then the games I already have ported to my portable devices. I prefer playing these types of games on my desktop computer. More fun that way and way bigger screen. I really think SOS could be a fun game. And it's not like they'd be taking too much time away from the Adventure series. As far as I know most of the work is already done. And they are giving some of their time to port the games we already have which could better serve getting a game completed that we haven't already solved. This game needs to see a release. Let's make it happen!

Supporters (14):
x jane fan x
Royal Payne
AutumnMemories
Rianna
Ndfan1234
GoNancyDrew
Tedbear2
nancyNme
cDRO
sleepiswrong
ComicalCrafty
sassyvicki1231
ClassicND
jbnancydrewfans

[Royal Payne]

I would very much like for this to happen. I would contribute if they did start a kickstarter for this. Count me in.

[AutumnMemories]

Well even if they got the money to fund it, they have a really small team and they're already trying to make 2 games a year...I think they had a special team to make the Dossier games who has now left the company. So I think it's more than just a question of money; they would have to hire more people and it probably wouldn't be all the same people who left so that could be messy. Idk though, I'm just guessing. I would love to see SOS made, but not if it puts a strain on the mere 25 people who are already trying to put out 2 games a years/affects the quality of those games :P

[x jane fan x]

Well even if they got the money to fund it, they have a really small team and they're already trying to make 2 games a year...I think they had a special team to make the Dossier games who has now left the company. So I think it's more than just a question of money; they would have to hire more people and it probably wouldn't be all the same people who left so that could be messy. Idk though, I'm just guessing. I would love to see SOS made, but not if it puts a strain on the mere 25 people who are already trying to put out 2 games a years/affects the quality of those games :P

What I find amusing about them porting the games we currently have to mobile devices is the fact that their one and only kickstarter was to get backup funding for that to happen. They didn't get enough backers and ended up cancelling the project (Funding Canceled (09/04/2012). But a couple years later they're spending their time on porting these games to mobile? I understand they want to grab the mobile market, but I don't see the appeal. Mobile devices are mostly good for games that don't take too much time. Most games in the App store are mindless entertainment. I don't even play games on my mobile anymore because they're not as good as the ones you find on actual consoles and PC. My point is they should work on games we haven't played instead of porting games to mobile to increase profits. If they really wanted to port games to mobile; why not port the mini games to mobile? The VEN version of Scopa would be a short and great game for a mobile device and probably only 99 cents. That's what most games are on mobile - mini games. Nancy is better left to the PC.

I'm sorry I'm really passionate about getting SOS released. Porting the games to mobile is also a distraction from the adventure series if you ask me. I'd rather have a game I haven't solved than a watered down version of a game I already own.

And I quote about their mobile backers:

Thank you so much for your support of our Kickstarter campaign. Unfortunately, we are not going to reach our goal and we feel it is best to pull our campaign and take in what we’ve learned. We’d like to share some of those lessons with you, which we’ve detailed below.

A port of an existing game is not exciting enough for new fans.
We love Tomb of the Lost Queen and we felt that we could reach a new audience on tablets and smartphones with a game that was already recognized by reviewers and fans alike as a great experience. But the reality is that a port of an existing title is just not that exciting for most people. Not only did this mean fewer backers, but more importantly, fewer people spreading the word about our campaign.

Moving to new platforms is not necessarily interesting to current fans.
We heard from our a lot of our current fans who love our games and love Nancy Drew, but aren’t necessarily that excited about playing on a new platform. What we tried to convey was that broadening our reach for our titles would mean more sales and therefore the ability to deepen our investment in each new game. For all platforms. Unfortunately, this scenario did not resonate enough with our current fans.

We continue to believe that we must expand our current games to more platforms. We are looking at other ways to make that happen and will share any news about that as soon as we have finalized our plans. We continue to be excited at the potential of crowd funding through sites like Kickstarter. If we launch a new campaign (for this port or for something else), we will certainly incorporate the lessons learned from this one.

We want to thank you again for your support. We are grateful to each of you for your interest in our campaign and for your pledges.

Stuart and Megan

[Royal Payne]

What I find amusing about them porting the games we currently have to mobile devices is the fact that their one and only kickstarter was to get backup funding for that to happen. They didn't get enough backers and ended up cancelling the project (Funding Canceled (09/04/2012). But a couple years later they're spending their time on porting these games to mobile?

That is EXACTLY how I felt about it.

I understand they want to grab the mobile market, but I don't see the appeal. Mobile devices are mostly good for games that don't take too much time. Most games in the App store are mindless entertainment. I don't even play games on my mobile anymore because they're not as good as the ones you find on actual consoles and PC. My point is they should work on games we haven't played instead of porting games to mobile to increase profits. If they really wanted to port games to mobile; why not port the mini games to mobile? The VEN version of Scopa would be a short and great game for a mobile device and probably only 99 cents. That's what most games are on mobile - mini games. Nancy is better left to the PC.

Not only Scopa, but what about Barnicle Blast (CAR), Swimmer's Itch (CAR), Jane's games like Skull and Bones (CUR), Wiki Tiki (CRE), Monkey games (RAN), Double Take (WAC), Raid and Moster (Both CAP)? And there are probably more that I'm just not remembering at the moment.

I'm sorry I'm really passionate about getting SOS released. Porting the games to mobile is also a distraction from the adventure series if you ask me. I'd rather have a game I haven't solved than a watered down version of a game I already own.

I agree, and I am also passionate about it, so you don't have to appologize to me.

And I quote about their mobile backers:

Wow, haven't read that before. That makes them putting the games on mobile devices even more ironic.

[AutumnMemories]

What I find amusing about them porting the games we currently have to mobile devices is the fact that their one and only kickstarter was to get backup funding for that to happen. They didn't get enough backers and ended up cancelling the project (Funding Canceled (09/04/2012). But a couple years later they're spending their time on porting these games to mobile? I understand they want to grab the mobile market, but I don't see the appeal. Mobile devices are mostly good for games that don't take too much time. Most games in the App store are mindless entertainment. I don't even play games on my mobile anymore because they're not as good as the ones you find on actual consoles and PC. My point is they should work on games we haven't played instead of porting games to mobile to increase profits. If they really wanted to port games to mobile; why not port the mini games to mobile? The VEN version of Scopa would be a short and great game for a mobile device and probably only 99 cents. That's what most games are on mobile - mini games. Nancy is better left to the PC.

I'm sorry I'm really passionate about getting SOS released. Porting the games to mobile is also a distraction from the adventure series if you ask me. I'd rather have a game I haven't solved than a watered down version of a game I already own.

I kind of agree with you about the iOS ports, but from Her's point of view, I think their idea is to expand to other, more relevant platforms so that if PC gaming continues to decline (especially point-and-click gaming, which has essentially been dead for years) and they're not making enough money off of PC sales anymore, they'll have another platform to continue to making ND games on in the future.

If they eventually stop making games for PC (I hope they don't!), they would then be able to continue making them on another platform. But if they take this time to only make minigames on the iOS rather than full games, then if they eventually stop making games for PC, all we would be left with is minigames, which I wouldn't want :/ If that makes sense, haha

That said, I think their thinking is probably misguided. Every other attempt they've made to expand to other platforms has failed and I don't think this will be any different; besides, the kickstarter needed to raise SO much money and I highly doubt they're making that back with iGTH (there are only around 50 ratings of the game on iTunes) so I imagine they're losing money by porting GTH.

I agree with you that the minigames, especially Scopa, would be much more relevant than full games on an iOS platform. I don't game on my iPhone much so I don't know if there are other longer, more in-depth games like GTH available for the iOS platform, but i definitely agree with you, all the games I have seen on iOS are shorter, casual games. Those are much more fit to the iOS platform. Why don't they just port the in-game minigames on Nancy's phone to iOS? I imagine that would be pretty simple to do.

[Rianna]

I'm not going to comment on the mobile ports, as I want to make sure we keep this thread on track.

I suggested the same thing a few years ago in a few posts I'd made. I would absolutely support the completion of SOS (I wasn't interested in mobile games and therefore did not commit to the previous Kickstarter project).

I wonder if the previous Dossier team members would continue to work on the project, whenever they had the time (and hopefully it wouldn't be too much left to do). I've seen a bunch of the artwork that can be found for this game, and it looks like a lot of headway was made. I'd really, really like to see this game released (and I would rather it be a Dossier game than an Adventure one).

So in summary, I would fund the company (I want this so badly that I'd likely give at least $100.00--that's how much I believe in how great a game this could be).

[Ndfan1234]

I love the Dossier games, and I would definitely fund it! I think it would be great to round off the series as a trilogy! And like you said, that is ironic that they did make GTH on mobile devices...

[x jane fan x]

Thank you all for supporting this cause. If you could spread the word I'd really appreciate it. I want to get as many people talking about this idea as possible. Hopefully if enough people encourage it then maybe HeR will give it a try. Whether the Dossier series is your cup of tea or not. It's still the final game in the series and it deserves a release. And who knows this could've been the best Dossier game yet!

Vote for SOS! Spread the word.

[GoNancyDrew]

I actually just bought and finished the dossier games and I loved them. I would absolutely help fund the completion of the next game.

[Tedbear2]

I would definitely give some money to this cause. It really bothers me that the game was never released.

[nancyNme]

I would certainly be interested in funding SOS. I was super disappointed that it was never made and would still love for it to happen. If you're forming a petition, you can definitely put me down.

~HeidiJoy

[x jane fan x]

Thanks everyone. I've updated the first post to include everyone's usernames.

[cDRO]

add me to the list :)
i really enjoyed the dossier series and would love for SOS to be available at some point!!!

[sleepiswrong]

I love the Dossier series and recently replayed both games. I can't even watch the SOS trailer at the end of Resorting to Danger because I'm so upset that it was never released! I would absolutely contribute to KS or some other avenue!