Digital Knights studio not giving up despite failed Sienna Storm Kickstarter

Singapore’s Digital Knights has cancelled its Kickstarter for the game Sienna Storm, following negative feedback about the [in]frequency of its updates as well as an apparent lack of development. Project director and founder of Digital Knights, Sergei Filippov shared that the campaign was cancelled since it was evidently not going to meet its funding goal. The team had kept it going even after a disappointing first week, as it wanted to “receive valuable feedback” from supporters.

In an email interview, Filippov told us that minimizing updates for Sienna Storm was a decision made based on feedback from current backers; these ones preferred not to be spammed with updates. However, he also explained how he felt public perception of Kickstarter had shifted from crowdfunding to preorder.

It just means that the public expects a game to have not just gameplay concepts, but actual screenshots, gameplay video footage, et cetera. It seems at least 50 or 60 percent of the game needs to be completed before one launches a campaign on Kickstarter.

He added that many video game projects presently on Kickstarter found funding elsewhere first, then looked to crowdsource additional funds. “We need to consider that,” he said. However Filippov also added that though the first Kickstarter campaign for Sienna Storm was unsuccessful, it doesn’t mean the team is giving up on the game.

(See: The Asian developer’s dilemma: Kickstarter or Indiegogo?)

On the contrary, Digital Knights and Filippov are open to “any business discussions an investor or strategic partner would like to have,” with Filippov adding that there might be good proposals that could let the company both grow and stay independent.

At present, Digital Knights is self-funded, with Filippov being its main resource. It hasn’t reached out to publishers because its priority is to keep the IP rights for Sienna Storm within the company, and to build a strong brand it can evolve further with books, for example, and new games.

Personally, Filippov has been building partnerships in the telecommunications and digital entertainment fields of ASEAN countries for seven years. He feels that Singapore “truly is a region of great potential”, and that it’s undoubtedly a “vital business hub” for the entire Southeast Asian region. “I spent a fair amount of time in Singapore before,” he adds, “and fell in love with the country.”

Filippov shared that Digital Knights set up shop in Singapore with the intention to build a game design and production management studio while outsourcing common development tasks like programming and art. “I feel that will give us enough flexibility and the opportunity to be competitive,” he said.

A lifelong gamer, Filippov established Digital Knights with a primary goal of creating “a strong, competitive game design and production management studio that will be able to produce memorable non-linear games not requiring AAA budgets.”

(See: How a bunch of students turned their game jam entry into a world-class mobile game)