The Game Crowdfunding Thread

[Himu]

"my involvement with #UnsungStory is limited to the original game proposal, world design, and story."

So what's the big deal? That's what I wanted anyways.

[Great Rumbler]

Exactly. Let Matsuno focus on making a cool world and story, have somebody else handle the grind of actually managing a team to realize that world and story.

[Great Rumbler]

I'm probably the only person who ever checks on Kicktraq and there's just nothing particularly exceptional about the way this KS has slowed down. There's an initial surge through the first 24 hours, followed by several weeks of not much at all, and then a frenzy as people put in last-minute pledges in the last 48 hours. If people start pulling their pledges of if there's no final rush, then maybe there was something to those Tweets after all. Otherwise, though, it's following a well-trod road.

[Fifstar]

Drop off percentage wise looks comparable to some other high profile projects.

Project Eternity has 10% off its first day pledge on day 5.
Torment: Tides of Numena has 4% of the inital day on day 5.
Mighty No 9 had its first peak on the second day, day 6 was about 19% of that.
Wasteland 2 11% of its inital day on day 5.
Shadowrun returns 13% of inital day on day 5.

Unsung Story had 12% of its inital day on day 5 (day 5=18th so one day after Matsunos tweets). Its pretty much in line with most of those, only Mighty No. 9 had a significantly stronger sustain of pledges. Masunos Tweets were on the 17th, so it's possible that a possible effect might still happen, but so far I don't think you can make a connection between the tweets and the amount of money pledged. The big fall of pledges was on the 16th, the third day of the kickstarter and one day before the comments of Matsuno.


Didn't look up any specific kickstarters, just some of the top of my head, so they might not be representative but I feel that projects that are connected to some well known properties or developers are actually good cases for a comparison.

[Stoney Mason]

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/scarymostro/to-the-death

Doesn't especially interest me but has some actual game devs behind it.

[mjemirzian]

Matsuno not being heavily involved with game design might be a good thing (if I'm reading that correctly).

No clue what to make of "To the Death". CoD/Titanfall devs making a 2d sidescroller fighter thing? What?

[Stoney Mason]

I think the concept is fine. Like a deeper Nidhogg. And being actual devs I think they would have at least a good chance of doing something decent to good. The problem is their pedigree doesn't match the genre of the game they are kickstarting to fuel media or general public excitement. God Bless em for trying something unexpected but I have a feeling if it was just another shooter they would be doing much better on the money front.

A $20,000 dollar first day doesn't seem promising since its probably going to get almost nothing again until the end. ( I have a feeling they might end up pulling it, if it doesn't pick up in the next couple of days)

[Great Rumbler]

They would have pulled it out through residual inertia and people being unable to resist a major KS that was 75-80%~ towards its goal in the last two days.

[Great Rumbler]

Period-accurate open world medieval warfare thing:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1294225970/kingdom-come-deliverance

Next-gen Cry Engine 3 Mount & Blade

[Rufus]

Want.

[Joe Molotov]

99% of the game is you wallowing in filth and muck and then dying of dysentery.

[Great Rumbler]

Ankama is doing a Kickstarter to release season 1 of French animated series Wakfu on Bluray with English subtitles:


http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1836563008/wakfu-the-animated-series

[magus]

they do wakfu on tv here... you mean there is an italian dub but no english dub? that's pretty fucking weird

[Bebpo]

Period-accurate open world medieval warfare thing:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1294225970/kingdom-come-deliverance

Next-gen Cry Engine 3 Mount & Blade

This looks really cool and would be the first kickstarter I back in a while, but $25 minimum for a game I won't get until mid 2016 probably?  That will retail for $35ish then?  Probably will just hold on to my money and buy it when it's out.

[Great Rumbler]

Yeah, it's not like these guys are going to the Titanic or anything.

[hampster]

There was another gaming-using-cryengine kickstarter today: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1324765189/cradle

Kind of a bad day for them to launch, the game looks nice but not nearly as far along or professional as Kingdom Come.

[Tasty]

I might be launching a Kickstarter this summer. Gimme tips.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I know the basics like "have a video," have a $1 tier, have a lot of physical shit, etc. Also, don't ask for too much and don't plan a trip to the Titanic.

[close]

[Great Rumbler]

I might be launching a Kickstarter this summer. Gimme tips.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I know the basics like "have a video," have a $1 tier, have a lot of physical shit, etc. Also, don't ask for too much and don't plan a trip to the Titanic.

[close]

Let relevant websites know beforehand, go in-depth enough to let people know that you're not just some dummy throwing out a random idea, listen to feedback and respond accordingly.

[Tasty]

All good advice. What's a good update frequency? One a week? I think I read people here were getting pissed off at Mighty #9 updating so often.

[Great Rumbler]

Definitely don't update more than once per day. 2-3 times a week as needed isn't bad, though.

[Tasty]

Hmm, OK, sounds good.

[Stoney Mason]

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/scarymostro/to-the-death

Doesn't especially interest me but has some actual game devs behind it.

Only at $23k. Yep. This will be pulled in about a week I'm guessing. Kickstarter is a cruel mistress.

[Great Rumbler]

Yeah, they're DOA. With a project of that size, they really needed to get some press coverage and interviews BEFORE they put up the Kickstarter.

[Howard Alan Treesong]

All good advice. What's a good update frequency? One a week? I think I read people here were getting pissed off at Mighty #9 updating so often.

I would add, don't list all your stretch goals for 10x your baseline goal up front. Have 2 or 3 and "...?" for anything beyond that. To ask for $200k but plan through $4.1 million reeks of hubris

also, this SHOULD be obvious, but, prioritize your stretch goals according to what people want? more platforms are good. more content is good, but less interesting.

also remember this is about your product, not you. you are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. your game will live or die according to its quality

[Howard Alan Treesong]

Matsuno's just the latest example of a bunch of Kickstarters whose reach exceeds their grasp

[Rufus]

Andy, think very thoroughly about physical rewards. Production, postage, fulfillment services, etc. Then reconsider doing physical rewards.

[Great Rumbler]

Period-accurate open world medieval warfare thing:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1294225970/kingdom-come-deliverance

Next-gen Cry Engine 3 Mount & Blade

This has already met its goal, by the way.

[Tasty]

I would add, don't list all your stretch goals for 10x your baseline goal up front. Have 2 or 3 and "...?" for anything beyond that. To ask for $200k but plan through $4.1 million reeks of hubris

I have a couple stretch goal ideas but nothing too crazy.

also remember this is about your product, not you. you are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. your game will live or die according to its quality

It's not a game, but thanks.

Andy, think very thoroughly about physical rewards. Production, postage, fulfillment services, etc. Then reconsider doing physical rewards.

Yeah, I started looking into the costs for the physical ideas I had last night and it's definitely something I'll have to re-examine.

[Yulwei]

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/scarymostro/to-the-death

Doesn't especially interest me but has some actual game devs behind it.

400k for what looks to be a flash game? haha, what the hell...

[Tasty]

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/scarymostro/to-the-death

Doesn't especially interest me but has some actual game devs behind it.

400k for what looks to be a flash game? haha, what the hell...

It looks cool and I like the animation, but yeah something about the collision detection and the reactions to hits just looks off. But I guess they haven't actually made the whole game yet so it's probably early to judge.

400k sounds like... a lot, though. Also, why does everything have to be as grimdark as possible? I guess make what you know...

[Tasty]

Man Oscar do you have a bone to pick with this one KS or what, lol.

[Howard Alan Treesong]

He's probably mad it's yet another bunch of whiteys looking to stroke their egos via flogging the name of a once-great, barely involved Japanese developer.

[Tasty]

Man Oscar do you have a bone to pick with this one KS or what, lol.

Nah, I root for all of them to fail, but this one is actually *is*, so that's pretty fun right there.

You root for them all to fail? That's so... harsh.

I'm pretty cynical about most KS's these days but every so often you do get one that at least comes off as pretty earnest from a scrappy team. I guess those ones don't really get the big press though.

[Tasty]

Get some sunshine, sometime man.

[Tasty]

Is... is that right...

[Great Rumbler]

Man Oscar do you have a bone to pick with this one KS or what, lol.

Nah, I root for all of them to fail, but this one is actually *is*, so that's pretty fun right there.

It would literally have to break every rule of Kickstarters at this point to actually fail.

[Rufus]

Failure has been redefined. The sun's going to shine in his trashcan, dog, it will.

[Great Rumbler]

Unsung Story talked about adding Akihiko Yoshida to their team in a new update today.

[Great Rumbler]

Yoshida is not part of a stretch goal.

[D3RANG3D]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=98788625

For Oscar's amusement.

 

[Rufus]

As an investor in this project,

Oh boy.

This guy gets it:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=98788067&postcount=31

[Great Rumbler]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=98788625

For Oscar's amusement.

 

The title of this thread proves apt once again.

Seriously, though, I don't put any money into a Kickstarter project that I'm not willing to lose. You're not an investor. You're not a customer. KS is a gamble where you hope for a good outcome, but sometimes [maybe even more often than not] it's not a good outcome. Or just an okay outcome. Too many people are treating Kickstarter like it's Gamestop or something.

[benjipwns]

This is why you don't invest in Kickstarter, there's never any return and you have no say, it's all one big pyramid scam! One of these days the whole thing is going to collapse and the lawsuits will be amazing. Plus I could draw those characters in a weekend in my bedroom.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Now sandwich shops on the other hand...

[close]

[Great Rumbler]

I don't think Kickstarter is going away anytime soon, but I think people are going to become more wary of backing projects that aren't being made by people with previous experience. The Soul Saga guy apparently had no prior development experience [maybe he was a Microsoft tester or something?], but people gave him $200k to make an RPG. That's pretty crazy when you think about it. But as it is right now, Kickstarter has proven that it can be successful for bigger games and for smaller games, just don't count on the game you get 100% matching all of you expectations.

[benjipwns]

A lot of the Kickstarter/IndieGoGo/etc. whining seems tied to just out of whack expectations. On the one hand you have people throwing fits over $150k for a Skullgirls character and then others expecting a single dude to make a multiplatform full-fledged RPG for $60k. (That's not to say this guy didn't also seem to have money management and general judgment issues.)

There's also this weird sense of ownership, but not real ownership, where they're willing to pledge $20 but then act like that places the project people in debt to them personally. So you have that odd kind of non-investment where if there's a problem people are just like "I ALREADY DID MY PART THEY SHOULD DO THEIRS" rather than seeing if there's some non-monetary way to help out or being patient.

It's one of those things where you can tell that some people just can't under any circumstances really wrap their head around the concept or relationship. And in many cases, it's sadly probably because they don't really want to. Then they blame the "tool" for it. But I'm not saying anything new here. Just be sure to back my upcoming book "How To Get Funded On Kickstarter" when that project goes up.

[Tasty]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/disastercake/soul-saga-a-j-rpg-inspired-by-playstation-classics

A HUNDRED AND NINETY FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS

And the GAF thread said he's running out of money and went on a vacation to Japan? WUT

Man sometimes I look at campaigns like that and just... don't know how to feel... Jealousy, I guess? I'm so jelly.

I wanna know his secret for getting a shitton of overfunding as a no-name. That would be really useful...

[benjipwns]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/disastercake/soul-saga-a-j-rpg-inspired-by-playstation-classics

A HUNDRED AND NINETY FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS

And the GAF thread said he's running out of money and went on a vacation to Japan? WUT

Man sometimes I look at campaigns like that and just... don't know how to feel... Jealousy, I guess? I'm so jelly.

I wanna know his secret for getting a shitton of overfunding as a no-name. That would be really useful...

Just imagine how the people behind Nibris feel.

[benjipwns]

I don't think it's wrong for people to have this sense of ownership or feeling like a debt is owed, though.

Oh, I agree that there's a form of expected performance, I guess I'm talking more about how some people are thinking of it or feeling as if it's an investment, but aren't acting like it's an investment. Either from before they put the money in, nor after. There are people who seem to treat it more like they're hiring whoever (or being their customer) rather than becoming a partner. Which isn't really a problem if you're treating it as a donation, or, as Rumbler put it, a gamble.

[benjipwns]

I don't know if I entirely agree, where else would you find an artist for a J-RPG except Japan? It's like expecting to do a documentary on the Titanic without actually going down to the wreck.

[Tasty]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/disastercake/soul-saga-a-j-rpg-inspired-by-playstation-classics

A HUNDRED AND NINETY FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS

And the GAF thread said he's running out of money and went on a vacation to Japan? WUT

Man sometimes I look at campaigns like that and just... don't know how to feel... Jealousy, I guess? I'm so jelly.

I wanna know his secret for getting a shitton of overfunding as a no-name. That would be really useful...

his secret mostly comes down to:

1) timing
2) promising the goddam moon
3) not making any obvious mistakes in his presentation that outed him as incompetent

I mean I know Nintendo and Sony are indie friendly but potential backers REALLY saw it was just one dude supposedly making Wii U/PS4/fucking VITA versions and said, "Yep! This guy knows how to manage projects!"

Not even in the world

What was the timing aspect? I guess if the timing was good enough he might have gotten a flood of derps basically doing this pic:



...without reading the fricking thing. Just... ugh...

[Great Rumbler]

The timing was that it came before any actual JRPGs started to crop up. That, along with appealing to 32-bit RPG nostalgia, which has since been abandoned along the wayside.

If he's already spent most of that money by now [that is, just 6 months after the close of his money raising campaign], there's almost no way this is going to end with people actually getting their hands on anything that looks remotely like a videogame.

[magus]

and the sanctity of FF7 is protected once again,truly a happy ending for all the final asperger fans like me

[Great Rumbler]

Magoose....what in the blue hell does any of this have to do with Final Fantasy 7?

[magus]

Magoose....what in the blue hell does any of this have to do with Final Fantasy 7?

what? we already went through this

- final fantasy "inspired"
- moguri wannabe's
- stretch goal list made to look like final fantasy menu
- main character looking like a bad cloud ripoff



the whole thing was dicksurfing on final fantasy fans

[Tasty]

The timing was that it came before any actual JRPGs started to crop up. That, along with appealing to 32-bit RPG nostalgia, which has since been abandoned along the wayside.

If he's already spent most of that money by now [that is, just 6 months after the close of his money raising campaign], there's almost no way this is going to end with people actually getting their hands on anything that looks remotely like a videogame.

What JRPGs have since cropped up? I didn't realize there was a dearth exactly six months ago.

[Great Rumbler]

Unsung Story and Project Phoenix, specifically.

[Fifstar]

Seems like both Unsung Story and La Mulana 2 are crawling towards their minimum goals, Unsung Story with hands tied to the back at that.

[Tasty]

Unsung Story and Project Phoenix, specifically.

Ah, on Kickstarter.

[Bebpo]

One thing I'm kind of worried about with Kickstarter are these games that split into 2 parts.

Now it'd be one thing if they were selling part 1 and part 2 separately at half price each, then they'd have an incentive to get both parts out in a timely fashion and make sure both are quality products so that the games sell and bring in money.  But with Broken Sword and Broken Age they're selling the game at full price with part 1 on Steam and then part 2 is a "free update later".  Maybe it's because generally when it comes to game development I'm pretty cynical and pessimistic but if the team isn't going to get more money for part 2, I would think the 2nd half of these games would be a lower priority project vs other projects in development by the studios.  Something like "oh yeah, we gotta finish that someday and get it out for the backers and people who paid us for part 1 already";  I know with Broken Sword 5 the 2nd half was supposed to be out just a month or two after the first half and it was like "yeah, game was almost done but we wanted to get something out by 2013 so we split it", and Part 1 came out on December 5 almost 2 months ago already and every update from the developer is "hey, we're currently finishing touches on part 1 iOS! or here's the part 1 soundtrack!  or here's some part 1 marketing!" with not a single mention about part 2 of the game yet besides that it's in development.  Makes me feel like it's still pretty far away and I"m assuming Broken Age is at least a year away for the conclusion half.

Also it's super dick that these kickstarters are changing their game design to two half games after everyone have given them money on kickstarter for a single complete game.


At least Banner Saga turned out well and fingers crossed that Jane Jenson's Mobieus will be a complete finished adventure game when it release soon (latest backer e-mails said game was pretty much done but waiting until February for release due to marketing timing).

[Rufus]

Planning the scope of a project is apparently a futile endeavour.