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"Spiritual Successor" = dead project - Dark Jaguar - 8th February 2016
It has steadily become clear for all too many kickstarter games that if you've got a developer shorn from the original company and team working on their own promising an unrelated "spiritual successor", you'll get something about as real as a spirit.
This isn't a physical law I'm claiming here. There's some games that actually DO see the light of day, such as Wasteland 2 and Pillars of Eternity. Yet for every project that actually comes out (and those last two to mixed reviews, deserved or not), there's a bunch more that seem to be in "fund us forever" limbo. Think of the sheer number that, frankly, should be DONE by now. We know from experience just how long it takes to make a 2D Megaman (6 on the NES alone) game, but here we are. Some just keep expanding in scope, and as much as I can respect their goals, one wonders if they're ever going to be able to merge all those otherwise completely separate games into one in a seamless way.
Now, I'm not saying none of these games are ever going to come out. I personally am really looking forward to a few. It's just worrying just how many have out and out been cancelled. Unsung Story, for example, is just plain GONE, with everyone's money. Considering that the person responsible for so many extremely good strategy games with amazing stories was behind it, it just makes you wonder. Perhaps we're all just a pack of idiots for ever believing the lie that a single person is responsible for ANY of our favorite games, even if they are the writer/director. Heck, the FF7 creators have said repeatedly they didn't want to even try to remake FF7 unless they could get the whole original creative team together on the project. Now they're doing it anyway, clearly without the whole team, and right out the gate the direction of the project is worrisome.
Some projects just look shady, such as Shenmu 3: Rise of Papyrus. Now, it could have just been an utter lack of a marketting team to advice them on what actually looks "good", but you see the numbers the original two games needed just to get made, and contrast it with what they're actually trying to make the game ON, and you have to wonder just what to expect.
As an aside, as glad as I am when I see some kickstarter promising the same "gameplay style" as a previous series, but not IN that series, there is a part of me that's disappointed. Here you've got a vast series of games spanning decades with a steadily built-up storyline and overall mythos, and bam, you get final confirmation it'll never be "finished", the story is dead in the water, but here's this brand new nearly identical copycat story. I'm not claiming Castlevania or Megaman have the most meaningful stories tackling important issues in the world today, but dangit, I've been with those stories since I was a kid and got kinda caught up in the twists and turns. I wanted to see how it all ended. I wanted to finally get to the final battle against Dracula in 1999 AD. I wanted to see what happened between Megaman and Megaman X. There is a reason Mighty Number 9 wasn't the character they added to Smash Bros. It was Megaman. Even with no future prospects for the series at the moment, people are more invested in Megaman as a character than Mighty Number 9. So, sure, I plan on buying these reinvented series, but it's a shame that we're basically sliding into some alternate reality version of the story, but starting from the beginning. This is a DC reboot, basically.
"Kickstarter", as a concept is really losing a lot of credibility these days. That sucks, because being able to bypass the normal investor method is a powerful tool. And heck, maybe this is just the calm before the storm and we'll see hit after hit come flying out of the flood gates, but until that time, I'm a bit worried.
"Spiritual Successor" = dead project - A Black Falcon - 8th February 2016
I've backed a fair number of kickstarters, but none have been cancelled yet. Admittedly most have been delayed, some multiple times, but as far as I know all the unfinished ones are still in development... and I think that's true for kickstarter as a whole. I think you're focusing too much of failures like Unsung Story; most don't end that way. I will admit, though, that I backed a lot more kickstarter games in 2012-2013 than since then; either the craze has died down, or I just haven't seen as many that look interesting, or I've been waiting for games to release first... it's some of all of those. I haven't backed a kickstarter since August 2015, actually... maybe I should look for something. :)
Kickstarter games I've backed (oldest to newest)
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Double Fine Adventure (Broken Age) - This was finished and is pretty good. It was delayed, but ended up good.
Wasteland 2 - Released close to on time and is a quite good game.
Two Guys SpaceVenture - This is long-delayed and STILL isn't done, but the relatively regular updates give me confidence that they'll get it done eventually.
Project Giana (Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams) - Released on time and is a good game.
Project Eternity (Pillars of Eternity) - Released last year or so. It's one of the best RPGs in a long time!
Distance: A Next Generation Arcade Racer - The sequel to Nitronic Rush, this game is sort of finished -- it's been in Early Access for a long time now -- and is great.
Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption - I've backed both kickstarters for this game, since Quest for Glory is one of my favorite '90s PC game series. It's supposed to finally be finished this year after several years of delays. I'm hoping it's good.
Shadowgate - Released close to on time, and is a solidly good modern take on the original Shadowgate.
Dreamfall Chapters - Released episodically, some episodes are done but not all of them if I remember right. I haven't played as much of this as I should, but it seems to be pretty good. I'm sure it'll be finished.
Torment: Tides of Numanera - This and Hero-U are the two kickstarters I've put the most money into (a bit over $100 total for each), and while the game isn't finished yet, considering how good Wasteland 2 was and that this has always looked to be even better, I'm very hopeful. I think it's on track now, even if it didn't meet the original release date... but I never expect that, that almost never happens with kickstarters.
Megatokyo Visual Novel - This has been delayed for years now, and I'm not hoping it'll be done anytime soon either. As a fan of the webcomic though I had to back this, and whenever it gets done I'm sure it'll be good. Fred's always over-ambitous and very slow, but does good work...
A Hat in Time - Retro-ish 3d platformer. Also long-delayed, and we'll see how it turns out; I don't know yet. Promising but we'll see.
Legend of Iya - Pixel-art Metroidvania game. This is also unfinished and delayed multiple times, but the guy gave all backers free copies of the two other smaller games he did while delaying this one, Ultionus and Mystik Belle, so I don't mind. Giving away both of those games to the backers is quite generous, and they're fun.
Mighty No. 9 - This one has gone pretty badly wrong in a lot of ways, perhaps more so than anything else I've backed. Maybe backing it was a mistake, but the game will finally release in a few months and we'll see then. I'm hoping it'll be at least decent.
Shantae: Half-Genie Hero - It's a good platformer series from a good developer, so why not?
The Mandate - Big space rpg/strategy game. This is another game that's been delayed, but the final product looked very interesting, and here's hoping it ends up being as good as the promise. Haven't read up on it in some time, but they do have regular updates.
The Red Solstice - RTS-ish game where you just control a single character, a marine guy. This game released and is decent to good. It's a team-based 'players versus aliens' game, and you need to try to survive as a team of space marines, reach objectives, and such. It was inspired by some Starcraft maps I believe. The game is by a small eastern European team and sounded interesting, and it is. It's not great, but worth backing... sure.
Red Goddess: Inner World - Another indie platformer. This one isn't finished yet, so we'll see. Yes, it's delayed, but only a few games on this list haven't been.
Dieselstormers (Rogue Stormers, now) - Sidescrolling action game from the team behind Giana Sisters:Twisted Dreams. It runs badly on my computer, which is disappointing; it oculd be good if it ran better. After quite a while in Early Access with a really hard, level-based design, they redesigned the game into a more roguelike direction, I believe. Haven't played the redesign much, because of performance, but I should try it again. There is a good game here, I think.
Descent: Underground - Backed because I like the lead developer and the series. This game isn't done, and I have doubts about my computer running it, but hopefully I upgrade before it finishes... and it's good of course, but we'll see.
Yooka-Laylee - The ex-Rare people's 3d platformer, of course. Still in development.
For things which are not games, but are related, I have backed three kickstarters
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The Untold Story of Japanese Game Developers - Book. The guy who wrote it has issues, and you can look up the messy court case between him and his translators if you want (it makes both of them look really bad), but ignoring that mess, the actual book is great. There's now also a second volume, but you have to buy it separately because the kickstarter only promised one book, and the one volume we got was thicker than the original promise, so yeah. I haven't bought volume 2 yet, but I will eventually. There will probably also be a third volume. These books have lots of interesting info in them, and it's important to do considering how rarely Japanese developers talk about their works from decades past. It seems to happen much less often there than here... so yeah, I like the work a lot even if the creator has issues.
Blinking Light Win - Hardware replacement for the NES pin connector, to fix my broken one for good. It has a death-grip but otherwise works great, and apparently eventually they'll have an optional return set up to replace them with ones that don't have as bad a death grip on the carts. They had some long gaps with no communication, and were slow to get them out there, but the final product IS good so I can't complain much.
Insert Coin: Inside Midway's '90s Revolution - This is a documentary film about a developer I liked a lot, Midway. Not finished yet; they set a completion date of 2017, so it's still got a ways to go, but it's great that someone is doing this, ever since they declined in the '00s Midway has been overlooked.
So in conclusion, the most important thing with kickstarter is to be careful about what you back. Look at the team, look at the goal. Is that game realistic at that budget? If it's a person or two asking for a small amount of money for some indie game, it might be, but someone massively overpromising shouldn't get your money. And for teams asking for more money, look into who the team is. This doesn't guarantee no issues -- see Mighty No. 9 -- but something like Untold Story? I didn't back that in part because the team was promising too much from a team without enough experience. Most of the big-goal games I've backed have had major, known developers actually on the dev team, which that game doesn't have.
As for delays, I expect them. If a game releases a year after the promised date, that's probably about average sadly enough... but if the final game was what was promised, I don't mind too much; people often set too-early deadlines. That happens with games from publishers too, you just often don't hear about it because the game probably isn't at a state ready to show when the delay happens... but sure, some games do try to expand their scope too much, or other such things. And that can lead to trouble, either financially or just from a loss of interest. There is a balance there, and sure, random indie teams may not get that balance down... but I'm not going to not back something just because it might be delayed.