KickstarterForum.org

Umdlalo was a real tongue-twister (I still catch myself saying it over-and-over and biting my tongue each time I do (try saying that really fast) They cancelled their fundraiser after some backers did some deep digging and came up eyebrow-raising questions. I'd love to have perspectives from anyone who saw their campaign and backed it or steered clear. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wicked/umdlalo

I just looked at their budget- https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B15UQ1 ... RSTGc/edit
Looks more like something for an already operating business or something for VC/Angels.... very strange budget for a video game project, initial start up, and let alone a KickStarter project. . While they included a bunch of bizarre stuff- They also left out some critical costs for game development. Are they hiring everybody full time? Sound/music guy? No contract workers? No license fees for engine etc..?

You hit the nail on the head. They got defensive when invited by the backers to clarify some of the issues you identified. At best they were like "trust us, we know what we're doing. We're old hands at this." So, backers dug deeper and uncovered a morass. And that was the end of that. The concept was interesting, and so I hope they spend a year working on it, offer perhaps alpha stage (minimally) demos, prune their astronomical budget, and relaunch on Kickstarter. SoftStorms would be there to back them again.