Gas Powered Games CEO Chris Taylor

We’ve been writing about how Gas Powered Games CEO Chris Taylor had to let go of his entire staff due to the struggling Kickstarter campaign for GPG’s new game WIldman.

And even though Taylor seemed pessimistic about the project in a recent video, he told GeekWire Tuesday night that the campaign is doing “much better.”

In his most recent Kickstarter video update, Taylor echoes that optimism and it appears he’s now hopeful that he can raise enough money to fund the $1.1 million for WIldman. With 16 days left, current funding stands $384,021 as of 10:45 a.m. on Wednesday.

We finally got a chance to briefly catch up with Taylor Tuesday night and asked him a few questions to get his thoughts on the ongoing campaign.

Taylor also confirmed with us that he will indeed speak on a “Legends of Games” panel at Thursday’s Power of Play gaming conference in Bellevue.

GeekWire: How are you feeling about the current status of the Kickstarter campaign?

Chris Taylor: “After the last couple of updates, the campaign seems to be doing much better… in fact, we’re pulling together a new intro video to be released in the next day or so.  We’ve collected feedback from the backers, and we’re really operating as giant team now, this is where crowd funding really shines.”

GW: What have you learned so far from this experience?

CT: “I have learned a lot about the Kickstarter process, and dare I say, it’s hard to learn it by listening to others, you kind of have to live it, and learn first hand.  I think the biggest mistake made was not getting feedback on the pitch video before we launched.  The video didn’t do enough to explain the game concept, and because it’s a new approach, the video was more important than ever.”

GW: What’s going to happen with Gas Powered Games?

CT: “I don’t know for sure, but I can say there’s tremendous optimism that we’ll figure it out… I think that optimism comes from the fact that we sort of figured out this past two weeks what we did wrong.  We’ve regrouped and are now focused on winning.  The enthusiasm for Project Mercury alone has been a game changer for us, and combining that with WIldman, has really helped us turn the corner on this campaign.”

Like what you're reading? Subscribe to GeekWire's free newsletters to catch every headline

Job Listings on GeekWork

Find more jobs on GeekWork. Employers, post a job here.