Kickstarter.... Would you.

http://www.kickstarter.com/

Kickstarter is a fund riser site where you can post for people to help fund a project. You can submit a project and if excepted they will post it. You have to set a money goal and a time deadline to raise it. If you do not meet both you get nothing (as I understand it). Your "backers" do not own any part of your project and get no money from it. They are funding to get you start not inventing in the project. (The site say something about offering then gifts or prizes.) The site also doesn't own any part of your project and is not involved in any form with the creation of your project. An Overview here - http://www.kickstarter.com/hello?ref=nav

I first heard about it a year or so back when a mid-sized comicbook company used it to rise the cash to relaunch a popular comic series and give the first 5 issue to the public for free. I've never really give it a good look. There is a push of well-known and connected people trying to use this site to their advantage. But in recent months(or more) a backlash has been risen, calling for the need to keep Kickstarter the place for the small guys,fire-timers, and hopeful dreamers.

I've been thinking about trying to use this to get the money I would need for a project. In the end I will always have to hire outside help for art and coding above my skills and other things.
http://www.kickstarter.com/discover/categories/games?ref=sidebar

I was wondering if anyone would try this or already has tried this to fund their project.
Please +1 if you would try it.
Please tell the rests of us what we need to know if you've already done it.
Please also give any info you think I person should have on-hand before submitting a project - Budgets - GDocs - Team member signed contract - prototype - whatever you think.

Something like this is my only real shot at pulling something out off my "Where project go to sleep the deep sleep, till zombie day -NOTEBOOKS " and turning it into a reality.

http://www.kickstarter.com/start?ref=nav
http://www.kickstarter.com/help/guidelines
Feedback - if just for fun.
Mal

just don't forget: you have to be based in the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, or New Zealand...

for me UK is the closest actually London can be called the 2nd largest Hungarian city, due to the fact about 300 thousands of us live out there... feels like home

Well I am US based and could form a small company with very little funding. I hadn't read anything saying that company couldn't have foreign partners. I think a proper way to be set up for any of you to be able to use Kickstarter.com through my development company. One US company team owned. Any way it just an idea for the oversea users to have excess as well.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1126778555/cats-vs-aliens-war-in-space

I tried it but it was not successful. The biggest problem was, I think, to spread the word outside of Kickstarter. Cause if you don't do this not many people will see your project.
Only if the Kickstarter staff finds your project interesting enough they will present it at their "staff picks" site which brings you more supporter.

So, I guess a good marketing strategy is everything!

@preacherX: and what happens if you are unsuccessful, money goes back to who offered it? and how did you enter from Germany?

@Malice: the same in the UK, a friend lives there, and told me how simple to make a little company, making everything online.

Well, your credit card will only be charged if the project is successful, so I wouldn't say that the money goes back, but the pledge the supporter made will be canceled.

I entered with help of a friend who lives in UK. You also don't need to have a company as you can see at my project. You can also enter as indiviual.

ahh I see. thanks. maybe once it can worth a trial...

@preacherX I can see what you mean just looking over kickstarter it's hard to find anything that isn't pushed at you.
But I think every dev team needs a mouth piece. Someone who is out there (possibly solely) working on spreading the word about your project. Facebook, social media and there are tons of ways to get people talking about it if you work at it.
But a service like kickstarter opens a door that has always been closed to me. It lets me ask for help from people in a public space under a good window of validity. I could put up my own site and ask for money, but with KS in the middle people can feel a bit safer about giving it(whether they are or not is another subject). If I did my own site - I feel people may not fund, because I have no validity. People will not hand me a CC number, they don't know if I am a scam or if I will take money right away and if I don't reach the goal just keep the money.
Well I start the thread to get people talking and get feedback for when I try to KS a project and I'm starting to sound like a KS ad-spokesmen. So let me stop.
Maybe with all the people selling models and sound and music here, we need someone offering a marketing/public image service for our project. It's My two cents (or 0.01 euro).

I think about it off and on quite regularly and all the info, including how to go about it, is there to read and follow.

Make promo pieces like vids, website etc...
Have a reward tier for the levels of funding sought...
Build up your case and test it amongst your networks then submit if it seems like it would garner interest.

Then update regularly and keep in touch with all your supporters as this engenders 'word of mouth' advertising and promotion.

BUT above all, make comparisons with successful tenders and design along their briefs.

A big advantage is if you can get your own local media outlets interested enough to run an article about a local initiative (yours)...this is a key element as all western media travel trough the one route to get to your desktop or kitchen table as then global access could follow...

As mentioned above, a promo person is pre requisite.

or determine a very low target amount of money to be successful

Does anyone stop you from starting another kickstarter with a lower, equal or higher pledge goal for the very same project when one kickstarter funding has already been successful?

Whatch out for PayPal transfers when using Kickstarter or similar plattforms:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/r...evelopers-Money
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/vie...-Skullgirls-Dev

@Superku - KS says on there page that you are allowed to 'repost' if you fail. It's in one of the links I posted - I think the rules one or it's in the FAQ that I didn't post.

EDIT - Old_Bill very helpful thank you.

Yes, even years later, Pay Pal is still the Bogie in 'trust' payments.
"I trust you to provide the service you offer and you betray that trust...repeatedly' is what I could garner from many years of following Pay Pals antics.

Luckily I myself haven't had an issue with the service but I use it only when I have to, e.g. when a provider of a software uses them exclusively and I want the software or product.

But still, if a company wants to cut its own throat, that's their business isn't it?

There are a few other Crowd Funding sites around and quite frankly, your own country may have something similar going on that may not be touted as readily as KickStarter.

A Google search for 'Crowd Finding' should bring back a few results.

As to

I did like Nems said and grabbed this for Forbes because I figure they are reputable in there way and do focus on business news.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/chancebarnett/2013/05/08/top-10-crowdfunding-sites-for-fundraising/

I didn't check the globe/local restriction for the listed sites, sorry. I know there are a lot of people here that would like this sort of funding in there local area but good old google tends only to find me US sites and news.

The crowd investment thing sound really promising also.

Edit - http://www.indiegogo.com/ indiegogo.com calls itself international and its front page says

Thanks Malice, but I asked if they forbid me to post it again if it not fails/ is successful? Otherwise I could simply try to collect more and more money in smaller steps.

I guess that is why they added "if unsuccessful/failed" to the conditions...

Then show me where it's stated that multiple Kickstarters for the same project are not allowed. Just checked the FAQ, does not look like it.

Ok, "not allowed" indeed is not stated, they use "rarely permitted" instead.



http://www.kickstarter.com/help/faq/creator+questions#faq_41837

(Assuming that each single Kickstarter entry is considered being a "project").

Actually that doesn't rule out what Superku is saying. @Superku I'm going to guess for a example that you would like to split a project into smaller pieces and fund raise for each piece.

Like
Run a kickstarter to raise money to make x-game's first 5 levels -> if successful -> run a new one to get the money for the next 5 levels. -> repeat till finished.
[I assume ->
This seems fine as long as they are done in consecutively not concurrently. But I would say to make the pieces as large as possible. Or just keep re-launching the campaign. <- ]

EDIT-> I'm going to email them for a clear answer. I very much would like to know this as well.
EDIT2-> An email has been sent to support and an answer is expected within the next week(or 2 business days as-per volume of current support emails in cue)

But you might have meant for example Sukerku World game and Superku RPG game. In which case these are 2 different projects but like Firoball says you can only raise for one at a time.

Yes indeed, what I thought was for example but not limited to the following:

You could create your first Kickstarter for a new project where you add higher tiers (above the initial pledge goal) for more content, features and the like. Now, when you for example reach the pledge goal but not the higher tiers, you can create the basic game first and meanwhile ask once or multiple times for additional money again, showing your progress of the game so far and maybe even release it already to the initial backers (which may then back your game again too).

I haven't got an email back but when I do I will post and also fallow up with them with the newest version of the question.(Though my email is very close to this)

[My understanding] I believe the idea is to ask for all you think you will need to complete one project in one post, then repost if you fail to meet. The segmented method you propose is open to exploitation, because there is never a real stated goal -> one could ask for money forever and never release a product. As a backer I would invest in a game but not part of one that may never get funding for the rest of the parts. But this is not unlike what game publisher do with 'mile stone funding' - meet a milestone to get the next chuck of funding.

...I wonder how much investment is required to fulfill a successfull kickstarter campaign... what target amount to select, when to start it (game completeness percent), and how to make your project widely known as an indie developer... maybe there are suggestions somewhere...

From what I understand the goal you set is totally up to you. For a game project I would take the time you need to sit down and do a real budget. Maybe connect any for-hire artist and specialist and get soft-contracts and a good idea of a price point for services in their field. You might want to think about ask for enough money for a conservative build of the game but also over ask as you might fail and because fees for things can shift. At the heart kickstarter(like the name suggest) is a get-you-started point. If you raise $100,000 USD (but need $5000,000) even for a big game project, you should be able to create a build with it that you can shop to publishers. As for getting the word out and keeping the the word going - for this I can think of no reason why you should have a professional publicist handling. If after all a lot of you fund for the game are going to come from kickstarter then maybe raise so in-home money for a mouth-piece before posting a campaign is the best idea.

I will spend some time looking at services that do marketing for KS campaigns and see if I can get some links posted and maybe some price quotes.

What people generally do is, after reaching initial goal, and setting higher tier goals in project description, if you successfully get the initial goal and do not reach the other tiers, things generally move out of kickstarter. Successful funding means you probably already built a fan-base, and put a donation/pledge button to your site from that point on, and if you reach the goals you deliver.

So @Superku and others Yes tier fund raise is ok.

That's interesting, thank you for sharing!

I'm trying it again: KICK IT!

preacherX, you do realize that your new kickstarter most probably won´t do much better than the first?
I believe that just opening a kickstarter and posting on a couple of forums, doesn´t really work, instead the right way to be successfull is to get lots of press coverage on the internet, which won´t just take lots of work by finding the correct contacts and writing them, but also a project those people consider worth writing about. But that is probably not enough, so a better way to get started should be building up a community around your project, as those people discussing your project will also be interested in the kickstarter and help you spread the word. Then if you reach some more people, the press will be more interested in covering your project which will then hopefully result in a successfull kickstarter in the end.

Edit: Also if I consider backing a project, I usually don´t do it just because I like the project, but because of a really cool reward that I really want. But the only interesting reward you offer is the game itself as a digital copy, as I don´t really care about physical copies, especially if they are so much more expensive. So there is no reason to back with more than 5. I also don´t like those close backing levels up to 8, with 1 pound steps. So what I´d consider more interesting would be the level at 5 then maybe another one at 15 maybe including a poster and the next one at 20 or 25 including a t-shirt as that is something everyone has a use for, if well designed. On the higher levels one could add things like an art book, a physical soundtrack cd, ...
But your rewards seriously just suck.

What Slin said. Additionally, jesus christ, that video... 2 minutes in and I still have no idea what the hell is going on there. No idea what happens in the next 6 minutes, I'm not going to watch them.

What's really bothering me though is that you seem to have no real grasp on money whatsoever. 3000 pound(!) for achievements? 10k for music (who the hell do you intend to hire for that? Fucking Hans Zimmer himself?)? 20k for translations? I mean, come on, those price tags are so out of the world for an indie developer, and I really don't understand where you got them from.

And yeah, that kickstarter campaign is, again, pretty much non-telling whatsoever. A game for true gamers that looks like it's made for my mom? Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying your game sucks, but looking at the kickstarter campaign, I don't even want to find out wether it does or not. You don't describe the gameplay in any meaningful way, your video doesn't make me want to throw money at the screen (luckily, because I only have some change left here)... The story is one giant plot hole... Apparently there is intergalactic travel but you have to save the earth? What for? Sentimental value? The dolphins?

Seriously, the game might be the best thing on earth, but you sell it astonishingly bad. That's okay, you are a programmer and not a salesmen, no harm done. But please, for the love of god, find someone to sell your shit for you. And I mean, actually find someone, not hope that someone finds you.

I guess you have a point there. But I'm really no marketing pro and my english is also not the best, so... I'm trying to make the best of it and find someone who can.

With the old Starlaxis it worked that way too:
After some time a publisher saw it, contacted me and released it.

Beside that I think it's worth a try!


Okay, so why don't you start with that?

What about you? Do you have some free time left?

I wish, but I'm busy being grumpy (and selling out myself. Did you know that buying a Rayne license will make you more successful at Kickstarter campaigns? $100% verified)

@JustSid - LOL sign me up for 2 Rayne licenses. Take my money, damn it.

@PreacherX - Hey first you should add the Kick-It link to your signature, I've already had to dig for it twice. Like they are saying to you, you'll need to find another team member for managing this side of your project. I might be able to help with English but I don't know any other languages(German). If you send me your base translation I might be able to dress them up and fix bad form. All the advice here is good, sell your game and your websites. There are 1000 ways to do it, from guerrilla marketing to flat out paying for press. Do a little looking at how the 'brown coats' sold the movie "Serenity" before it was ever planned...true! But team members are key to a project. Find people to do the roles you do not have the skills or time for.

Exactly, what Sid said. Scrap the campaign and find/hire someone who can actually do it for you.
(Also i announce myself as the biggest Rayne3d fan in existance.)

firstly, I would cut off the non-in-game parts of the video, it is a bit... insane? maybe not, but it's simply not cool. the game looks cool, and a campaign should look cool if you want fans.
secondly, the amounts of money defined for certain tasks in case of only a game upgrade, seems to be a bit high for me, but maybe you know better your expenses.
thidrly, good luck anyway