An indie developer was left devastated after a troll ruined its Kickstarter - right at the death.
The people behind Dutch developer 2Awesome Studio were celebrating after they received a €7000 pledge to the Kickstarter for comic book-styled shoot-'em-up Dimension Drive just hours before its was due to end.
The pledge pushed the Kicktarter just shy of its €30,000 target, causing the studio to tweet its thanks to their mysterious saviour, known only as "Jonathan".
Who is Jonathan, Jonathan is our hero! We love you and we want to meet you in person!
— 2Awesome Studio (@2AwesomeStudio) May 13, 2015
THANK YOU
7000k in a single pledge! #DimensionDrive
It then only took another €200 for Dimension Drive to be funded. The money came in and the party started - live on Twitch.
Help us reach our goal only 200 euro! #DimensionDrive #Kickstarter can't believe this happened!https://t.co/2V6UAaEAVs#gamedev #indiedev
— 2Awesome Studio (@2AwesomeStudio) May 13, 2015
But jubilation quickly turned to devastation when late last night Kickstarter told the developers the €7000 pledge was fraudulent, the money had been pulled and Dimension Drive went from dramatic Kickstarter success to dramatic Kickstarter failure in the blink of an eye.
We've just been informed by Kickstarter that the 7K euro pledge was fraudulent. Somebody played with our dreams. Sorry for the confussion :(
— 2Awesome Studio (@2AwesomeStudio) May 13, 2015
As you would expect, the developers were heartbroken. The entire episode was streamed live on Twitch (there's a VOD below).
Don't know what to do now, mentally devastated :( Don't know what to do now#gamedev #indiedev https://t.co/b9lROaQQvz
— 2Awesome Studio (@2AwesomeStudio) May 13, 2015
Kickstarter has since banned the user's account, but there isn't much more to be done. As it stands, the Kickstarter for Dimension Drive has failed, with €23,481 pledged of its €30,000 goal from 490 backers.
Some have called on Kickstarter to grant the developer an extension - and a number of high profile developers have already promised to pledge money if this is done.
If an extension happens I'll personally pledge K and be nostalgic while eating duck noodles for a full month once again.
— Rami Ismail (@tha_rami) May 14, 2015
2Awesome Studio received an outpouring of support on social media, and it left matters in the early hours of this morning with a positive tweet.
Guys, we can't keep up with all your messages. Thanks for all the love and support to #DimensionDrive checking if we can find a solution.
— 2Awesome Studio (@2AwesomeStudio) May 14, 2015
