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Hi biz,
Sorry if this is a common question here. I'm making a video game and it's maybe a third done. I need money to finish it, but not all that much, really. So I've been looking at the possibility of a Kickstarter campaign. At first glance, it seems almost too good to be true... Show your game to the world and watch everyone line up to give you their money. But really looking at their stats and what others have said about the experience raises a few red flags.
First off, the fact that these giant studios use it is discouraging. A project like "Shenmue" (which looks like absolute shit, imo) is already funded and backed by Sony, yet they run a campaign on KS and raise another six million dollars. Kind of goes against the whole concept of "crowdfunding," doesn't it? There are lots of projects like that. They're just using KS as free advertising because it's a hot topic right now... oh, and, why not pocket an extra six million bucks while we're at it.
Second, it's said in a lot of places that you need to go to your friends and family for support because that's how most campaigns reach their goal. WTF is the point of that? If I had friends and family rich enough and willing enough to fund my project, why would I need to go to Kickstarter? And why would I want KS to take a cut of my friends' and family's money?
Third, there's apparently no longer an approval process... So any horrible project can just jump on Kickstarter. So a project that's actually decent has a lot smaller chance of being noticed in the 1000 other game projects that now flood the site.
tl;dr -- is Kickstarter a legitimate way to fund a project or has its time come and gone?
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>>966666
also check em
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>>966666
Knowing that it's Sony, they probably needed the $6,000,000 because their company is in shambles right now. This isn't my area of knowledge, but why not just try Steam Greenlight?
Nice quints by the way.
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KS are still good, assuming you have some type of fanbase. Like, do you have a blog where youre posting updates and people actually want to see this game get done? Would people want this game to get done so badly that theyd share it with their friends and suggest they donate too etc?
You cant just start up a KS without any prior fanbase and hope people will take a look at it and donate.
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>>966671
>You cant just start up a KS without any prior fanbase
Yeah and I think that's what bugs me about KS. That actually *is* the way it's supposed to work. They're supposed to "Kickstart" your project because you're paying them a lot of money if you succeed.
If I already have a huge fanbase, why not just do some kind of pre-sale thing? Like "Hey donate $10 on paypal and I'll send you the game for free when it comes out."
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>>966684
With KS its usually get funded or no game. If youre asking for pre-sale money, people might not want to donate because they figure the game is coming out anyways so they can wait to buy it. Also, people seem to enjoy the tier "rewards".
Plus, some fans might b rich and you can get someone who donates $1k instead of just $10 for a pre-sale.
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>>966688
Yeah, there are still some perks to raising money through KS, I guess. Just feels like the ship has sailed. Just a few years ago, you could put a project that was little more than an idea and still have a pretty good chance of raising some money. Now, the only "indie" things actually being funded look like they're already completely finished. And even then, I see good projects failing just because it's just too hard to get noticed on KS now.
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>>966670
Greenlight doesn't raise any money. It's just a voting system that gets your game into the Steam store.
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>>966698
Well, yeah. People have smarted up and want to make sure the shit they back actually gets finished.
Btw, do you have any info on the game youre trying to make? Like, a website or something we could check it out at?
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>>966666
You can try to look at Incubation instead of crowd funding.
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Do drugs.
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What are your expenses for this game?
Do you have income other than the game?
What is your estimated finish time?
How much do you need, rough dollar estimate?
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>>966718
>Like, a website or something
Sure do, but I made the decision a year ago (when I started) to never show the project on 4chan, even on /v/ or /3/ or related boards. This isn't the place to build your "community," lol.
>>968063
>What are your expenses for this game?
3D models (lots), 2D artwork (minimal), sound (minimal), music (lots), and advertising (extremely minimal). I have artists in all those categories, and I'm fairly sure that advertising doesn't work at all for indie game projects, so I'll be buying like one Facebook banner ad, if that.
>Do you have income other than the game?
Yes and no. I have money saved up (~$50K) that's committed to the project. But as the project gets serious, I don't want it to be a part time commitment. In other words, I don't want to work a job while finishing the game and I don't want my artists doing that, either.
>What is your estimated finish time?
I'd like to have funding secured by Spring and have the game finished by late Summer or early Fall.
>How much do you need, rough dollar estimate?
Somewhere between $50K and $100K, but most likely towards the lower end. It's very easy to underestimate, though, and I don't want to have to go for a second round because that's a bad look.
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I need $30k to start my project within the video game industry. Anyone interested with resources, reply.
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>>968242
How do you need $30K just to get started? Indie game Kickstarters are lucky to raise $30K even when they have working code and art to show and just need money to finish the job.
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>>968231
>advertisement doesn't work at all for indie game projects
It does, but in different ways. Not so much in terms of banner ads and timeslots as demos, promotional artwork and community outreach do. The most important thing is to listen to your community and talk to them.
Look at other successful indie games that are similar to your game's style and try to do some of what made them so successful. Soundtrack is huge in indie games, so I can understand if that takes up a lot of your expenses, just make sure you're paying a lot of attention there.
Ultimately, attention to detail is what makes or breaks indie games. Make sure it shows in any demos, promotional art and even your website.
Do all of these things, and it sets your project aside from others, making it what people want to Kickstart. Kickstarter isn't a bad way to go, by the way. I'd say its led to the financing of a lot of great games.
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>>968231
>3D models (lots), 2D artwork (minimal), sound (minimal), music (lots), and advertising (extremely minimal). I have artists in all those categories
Then leverage those artists. If your project has any hope of success they should be willing to work for a cut of the sales, or at least be willing to accept a very very low wage for a cut of the sales. Artists tend not to be wealthy folks, if they aren't willing to bite then your project probably doesn't have as good of chances as you think it does.
>I have money saved up (~$50K)
>Somewhere between $50K and $100K, but most likely towards the lower end.
Video games are a pop or flop market. If your game is a smash success it might gross $500k over its lifetime so at very best you're looking at 5x your investment over a couple years, pretty good, but not retirement good. On the other hand if your game flops (unable to get on Steam, mobile port is a flop, etc) you will never ever make back 100k. You might not make back 10k. There is a middle ground though. If you manage to make it into a big market with good visibility like steam or an app store you can make back a respectable amount, probably around 50-100k over the game's lifetime.
I would recommend severely cutting your budget. Figure out exactly what 3D development you can live without and substitute home made 2D art wherever possible. If your game is fun to play it likely won't hurt you much, especially if you keep iterating and improving it as you have time/funds. Bring your expenses in line with your expected revenue you can probably pull this off.
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