The Vigilantes devs didn’t say anything like that. They never said that they didn’t have enough money to finish Vigilantes, but an additional $5451 would save the project. They said that €5,000 “will provide a very welcome boost to our funding, helping with upcoming costs, artwork, voice acting and music, and allow development to continue full time, resulting in a better game, delivered more quickly.” They then did a break down of how that money would be divided and spent, so you can see how much they plan to use for additional music, how much for additional art, etc.
Gus, you seem to not be placing much value on money, or the difficulty in obtaining it. Not everyone can just magically pull $5000 out of their pocket whenever they feel like it. Even businesses can’t just magically make money appear without consequences.
But your arguments pretty much rely on just that, as if people and small businesses could just find a ‘small sum’ like $5000 by searching the couch cushions for lost change. You don’t want to seem to address that such Kickstarter devs may already be performing various money saving and savings-diverting acts for self-funding. (The Vigilantes devs did say that they’d self-funded the game for years, and were continuing to put money into the title.)
You’ve also ignored that a successful Kickstarter campaign can mean more money than you asked for. A Kickstarter campaign gives them an idea of just how much more work they can afford to put into development, rather than throwing money into a money pit. A successful Kickstarter might see them more willing to put more of their own funds into the title, while a failed Kickstarter implies that there just isn’t interest and that costly extra polish might be throwing good money after bad. They also had stretch goals. I’m sure they have a list of small things they’d like to add to the game, but you have to draw a line, and a Kickstarter gives you an idea where to draw it.
