Halo Reach designer launches Kickstarter, botches it, tries again

As has been widely reported, a number of developers have enjoyed great success using Kickstarter to crowdfund their pet projects over the last couple of months.

However, it seems the site hasn't proven quite so bountiful for everybody.

Three weeks ago, veteran game developer Christian Allen, whose credits include senior creative roles on Halo Reach and Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, launched a Kickstarter initiative to help get his own dream project, an old school tactical shooter, off the ground.

A week or two duly passed and, unlike Double Fine Adventure and Brian Fargo's Wasteland 2, Allen found that nobody was reaching for their wallets. With seven days to go until deadline, he had only raised $70,000 of his $200,000 target.

So, Allen admitted he had made a hash of it, went back to the drawing board and relaunched the page for a last ditch attempt at reaching his goal.

Writing on Kotaku, Allen conceded that despite his impressive CV, he just doesn't have the same brand recognition that Fargo and Tim Schafer can draw on. Not only that, but he admitted his initial pitch was too vague and the taster video too boring.

Subsequently, he's shot a brand new trailer, which you can see below, and given the project a new name - Takedown.

"In recent years, shooters have become homogenised," he explained on the game's Kickstarter page.

"There used to be a wide range of different games to choose, from run-and-gun action titles to slow-paced tactical shooters focusing on strategy and tactics, but now most shooters follow the same model of big set pieces, regenerating health, linear levels, and 'cinematic experiences'.

"The realistic tactical shooters with in-depth planning have almost entirely disappeared in recent years."

He hopes Takedown - "a thinking person's shooter" - will counterbalance this shift.

"This game, the spiritual successor to games like the original Rainbow Six and SWAT series, will focus on realistic weapons modeling, squad based play, in a close-quarters battle setting," he continued.

"To succeed in this game you need to take things slow, study your plans, and execute flawlessly. If you get shot, there are consequences. You won't be hiding behind a wall waiting for your health to regenerate.

"If a team member goes down, you will have to assess the situation and reallocate team members if necessary to complete the mission. Don't expect all of the tools and plans to be forced fed to you - it is up to the player to ensure their team is equipped and ready for the tasks at hand."

If funded, it will be developed for PC at Allen's Serellan studio, which counts former Red Storm, Monolith, Surreal, Microsoft, Ubisoft and Bungie employees among its staff.

He promised that investors will be included in various aspects of development.

"Based on the pledge level, community members will influence different features and content in the game, as well as being able to submit content for inclusion in the game."

$200k might not sound like a lot for a full AAA shooter, but Allen insisted that reaching that goal will help get the game to alpha and convince more traditional investors to get involved.

"Private investors are lined up, but unsure of the market for an old-school tac shooter. A successful Kickstarter campaign will convince them that this is a viable market.

"Along with their investment, pre-sales of the game (a $15 Kickstarter pledge is a significant discount on the final game price) will also contribute to completion of the project. Kickstarters will have access to a closed Alpha."

At the time of writing, Allen has inched a little closer to his target, but still has a way to go. The current total is $96,477, with five days left on the countdown.