Precinct Kickstarter canceled, 'staged funding campaign' begins

The developers behind the Kickstarter project for Precinct, the proposed spiritual successor to Police Quest from series creator Jim Walls, canceled the project today but began a new "staged funding campaign" in its absence, according to a post on Precinct's Kickstarter blog.

In its place, the developers launched an open-ended crowdfunding campaign, with "no deadline for funding," Robert Lindsley wrote on the Precinct Kickstarter blog.

"Throughout the project we've had a ton of great feedback from the community," Lindsley wrote. "It's clear you love Police Quest and Jim Walls, but there are questions about the project. One of the things we've heard is that you want to see more. You want to understand what the game is going to be like. How is it going to play? How is the first-person perspective going to work? What will the balance of action and adventure be?

Lindsley explained that the developer's new funding campaign is directly tied to that feedback.

"Our goal is to create a staged funding campaign that lets you see the vision in as little time as possible," he wrote.

In the new campaign, all donations will net backers a DRM-free copy of the game. The developers will "build each part of the game" as they reach their crowdfunding milestones — one each at $25,000, $90,000, $250,000 and $400,000. The developers have also removed all rewards because "the current project rewards are so costly (taking up nearly $200K of the total amount we were trying to raise)."

Backers will be charged for their pledges through PayPal or WePay "only if each stage of the project is successfully funded," according to the legal notice that appears on the donation page.

According to the new crowdfunding website, this model will also allow backers "to weigh in heavily during the entire development cycle."

The pledge page's notice also obligates Jim Walls Reloaded, Inc. to ship a product as the funding goals are met.

"If a stage of funding is met, Jim Walls Reloaded, Inc. is obligated to ship a single digital copy of the resulting product for such stage to each Precinct Backer. Precinct Backers are subject to a minimum donation of $1 but have no limits on pledge amounts above $1," a section called "Percent Pledges and Downloads" reads.

The Precinct Kickstarter campaign collected $85,756 of its $500,000 goal with 10 days remaining when the developers admitted that "it's clear that we're not going to hit our goal" and pulled the plug. For more on the proposed game, be sure to read our recent interview with Walls and Lindsley.