Car News

This came to my attention today, and I thought is was important to share.

Vilified Canadian game designer Mark MacKinnon, owner and founder of the now bankrupt company Guardians of Order, has resurfaced with a new company. He is currently running a Kickstarter campaign for the game "Upon a Fable."

Mr. MacKinnon has been to focus of many bad feelings over the last decade, since his company abruptly closed up shop. The issue was that MacKinnon, who seems to have been the sole owner of his company, Guardians of Order, failed to make good on a number of debts when he closed his company. His online store was left open for months after many believe that the company had already dissolved, taking monies from customers with little intent or hope of releasing the promised products. There are also freelancers who were not paid for their work.

Among the usual problems of such a bankruptcy was the company's Magnum Opus program. Set up towards the end of "the d20 incident," the program was an opportunity for small publishers to license the company's well regarded and profitable Big Eyes, Small Mouth game system (and resulting game Tri Stat DX) as a means of entering the gaming industry. The company would work with Guardians of Order to finish a product, then GoG would market and distribute the product. When Guardians of Order's financial problems were dragged public (partially as a result of an announcement about the Game of Thrones license), Magnum Opus publishers were told that everything was fine and their products were unaffected. Mr. MacKinnon then disappeared, disregarding emails and calls to his personal phone.

Nearly a decade later, this still seems to be a hot button for those left with debts. One company, Misfit Studios, has come forward saying that their company was nearly ruined by Guardians of Order's collapse and Mr. MacKinnon's disappearance. Though the company is bankrupt, many still hold Mr. MacKinnon personally responsible, since he essentially was the entire company. Misfit's comments can be read here:

Mr. MacKinnon has now resurfaced on Kickstarter with a new company and a new game. Concern has been expressed on the forums of RPG.net, where posters are discussing the company's shady past and what responsibilities Mr. MacKinnon holds. More apparently, concern was quickly brought forward. As you all likely know, Kickstarter uses a popular "crowd-funding" model, where creators go public and ask for donations in order to support their works. They offer products and services to their backers as an incentive to raise more money. In the case of game designers, the offer their completed game with some amount of financial support. Kickstarter is somewhat low risk, since no money changes hands until a project reaches its financial goals. However, the site has a history of projects that take the money and run (at worst), or have long delays and production problems (at best). Concern has raised that MacKinnon, who has a history of taking money and running, as well as closing off all lines of communication once things get tough, is putting the project's backers at risk.

There is also debate on RPG.net as to whether MacKinnon deserves a second chance while failing to address his past. In his pitch video for Kickstarter, he talks about his long history in the gaming industry, and uses Big Eyes, Small Mouth (an edition of the game he failed to release, and was later printed by White Wolf/ArtHaus) and the licensed Game of Thrones as leverage for his credentials.

A personal concern of mine is that the company Mr. MacKinnon is representing is working through another company for the Kickstarter campaign. Although this may bring a certain level of accountability, it also brings more risk, since MacKinnon can be seen as essentially hiding himself among a string of companies. It is unclear what relationship MacKinnon has with this new company, Dyskami Publishing, as is what the relationship is with the Kickstarter lead Kickin' It Games. Although the project states that the bulk of the work is already completed and states that the project is a low risk venture, it does not properly address accountability measures for the project's $25 000 goal, especially given the creator's known and very public history. As of this writing, the project has raised nearly $14 000 of their goal.

On the bright side, the game appears very polished and high quality, and the project states that the game is basically read to print (a situation not mirrored at the end of Guardians of Order's days)

I'll try and keep an eye on this. In the meantime, here are a few links.

Bryan Campbell