Wildman: pledge because you like the game, not because you feel sorry for the studio, Taylor says

Gas Powered Games CEO Chris Taylor would much prefer people pledge funds to Wildman's Kickstarter campaign because they like the game and not because they feel sorry for the studio, he revealed in a Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) thread today.

The studio, best known for its work on Dungeon Siege and Supreme Commander, laid off the majority of its staff last week days after launching a Kickstarter campaign for its strategy action role-playing game, Wildman.

Funding for the game, which has a goal of $1.1. million, started off slow and has picked up since the announcement of the studio-wide layoffs, but Taylor continues to hold reservations about whether the game will meet its funding goal. When asked in the Reddit thread why he seemed so negative about the Kickstarter campaign's prospects, he said: "I know it came across as negative to believe that the project would not be funded, when instead I wanted folks to know I was trying to be realistic.

"If you compare Wildman against Project Eternity, Star Citizen, Wasteland 2, etc, we weren't even in the same ballpark. And I really want to explain some things ... first off, the Kicktraq.com graphs are completely misleading, instead you have to look at the actual values.

"Second, I'm really not happy that too many people are pledging not because they like the game, but because they feel sorry for us. That's not what making games is about!! I feel terrible about that. I want people to support it because they like the idea. Otherwise it's not a true process. If it's the wrong game at the wrong time, then we need to be sent packing."

The complete AMA thread, which touches on subjects like the game's art style, what the studio has been like since the layoffs and the progress of Wildman can be read here. Wildman has raised $286,747 at the time of writing.