Alpha Colony misses Kickstarter goal by $28

Dream Quest games has failed to meet its $50,000 Kickstarter goal by a mere $28.

The rules for the biggest crowdfunding site are necessarily strict, and Kickstarter is set apart by its "all-or-nothing" funding policy the only pays out if the target goal is met.

This also means that developers don’t owe Kickstarter any cash, and backers aren’t charged for their promised contribution.

Other crowdfunding sites offer different funding schemes, but none of them offer the visibility and traffic that the more established Kickstarter affords.

"Obviously, we are very disappointed," said an official Alpha Colony Facebook entry.

"We have invested 10 months and over $60,000 of our own money into this project. It is so frustrating to come so close, but clearly there simply isn’t that much interest in building the kind of game I envisioned."

The problem of interest has been growing for developers seeking funding on the crowdfunding platform of late.

While Kostas Zarifis places heavy blame on gamer’s "hatred" of motion control for the poor reception to Kung-Fu superstar, he has also pointed out that Kickstarter backers seem more interested in nostalgia than innovation.

He has a point.

Alpha Colony isn’t exactly cutting-edge, but as an attempt at family friendly gaming it might have expected to see support of a new generation of tech-savvy parents.

Johan Sebastian Joust has been one of the most talked about indie games of the past few years, but the "Sportsfriends" Kickstarter has been suprisingly slow to make progress.

As fans grow weary and more skeptical of Kickstarter and crowdfunding in general, there may also be a greater hesitation to back projects from developers who are trying something risky.

If that’s not irony, it’s the darkest form of coincidence imaginable.