While the growth and popularity of crowdfunding services like Kickstarter and the recently launched Fig have helped make many dream video game projects a reality, they are not without their pitfalls. As one Star Wars fan quickly learned, sometimes launching a Kickstarter may seem like a good idea, but any perceived flaws in the campaign will soon turn it from a promising project to an utter failure.

Read the full Kickstarter update here.

The fan in question, a self-professed game designer, was hoping to use Kickstarter to fund a Star Wars open world RPG. He was seeking $200,000 in funding for the project and hoped that fans would agree with him that there has yet to be a good Star Wars open world RPG. We say all this in the past tense because the project has since been cancelled after receiving only $18,000 in the first few days.

Clearly, the developer’s eyes were much bigger than his stomach, as fans did not flock to the project like he’d hoped. Admittedly, the creator took to the crowdfunding campaign with an admission that he was not a “very good programmer,” which we are sure put up a lot of red flags.

Moreover, commenters on the project said that $200,000 was on the extreme low side as far as what it would take to make a good Star Wars open world RPG. Not to mention the fact that the developer would need to secure the rights to Star Wars from Disney in order to make the game, which cannot be cheap or easy. In truth, most gamers seemed more interested in killing the project on their own, rather than let a misguided developer take anyone's money.

To be honest, this project had the makings of a Kickstarter horror story written all over it. We’ve seen time and time again where a developer (either a single individual or a full team) comes forward with a promising project, only to realize that they bit off more then they could chew. In some cases, that means turning to publishers or Steam Early Access to get more money, or releasing a game that’s half-baked at best. Even worse than that, though, are projects that simply vanish without the promise of refund or compensation.

So, rather than see this Star Wars open world RPG project go that route, the fans voted with their wallets…by not using them. And rather than let watch his project get slapped with the “Not Funded” label, the developer decided to cancel it.

While the prospect of a Star Wars open world RPG is no doubt intriguing, it’s clear this is not what the fans were looking for. In order to do right by the property and by the genre, a development team would need a ton of money and a full staff of accomplished programmers/designers/etc. And say what you will about Electronic Arts and Visceral Games, but the two have access to the money and the team, and they just so happen to be working on a new Star Wars game – one that is rumored to be open world.

Source: Kotaku, Kickstarter