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Kickstarter, how and what to do?


Sjonsson

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Hello there Mapcorians!

Me and four other developers are starting up a company named Frogsong Studios here in Malmö Sweden. We have currently two ongoing project where one of them, Spellsworn, is aimed to end up on Kickstarter within a forseeable future.

The thing with Kickstarter is that noone in our crew have any experience nor knows someone in person who has it.

As there are pitfalls to tread into we are trying to figure out the dos' and donts' beforehand. Is there anyone of you here who have personal experience or know somene who is willing to share knowledge about Kickstarter?

Here are some of the questions that needs to be answered:
- Since we are going to have a bank account in any of the following countries: U.S, U.K, Canada, Australia, Netherlands and New Zealand, which country should we pick and what bank?

- What's the biggest mistake Kickstarter creators do?

- Do you have any good reads on Kickstarter and crowdfunding?

There are probably a lot more questions that will pop up on our way to launching it but I will start with these and see if a discussion leads us somewhere.

Very happy for any responses!

/ Stefan

 

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I think kickstarter games live and die with their pitch video if your pacing is off the sound is low quality or the people talking don't have that "voice" people will close the video immediately ... and obviously your game idea needs to be good too but i assume you have that covered!

 

maybe team up with some guys who know shit about video production have any student/university friends that know their way around a cam and a mic ? 

 

edit: oh and make sure you include some ingame footage!!! pitches that only have concept art or motion comics with somebody talking over i never pledge to 

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Hey Sjonsson,

 

That's good news man. I wish you guys the best of luck. I'm not someone who has or knows anyone that has run a Kickstarter for their project. However, I am an avid follower and I've seen a lot of projects come by. Here are some observations:

  • Don't sell the idea but sell the project. Show people your progress. Also, the project has to look good enough to convince people it's likely to succeed. Posting concepts won't get you there.
  • Expect nothing but prepare for everything. In other words, have funding goals ready beforehand. 
  • Include Kickstarter rewards (pledges) and keep them realistic.
  • UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE. I can't stress this enough.
  • Add a convincing pitch video narrated by someone who speaks proper English and has a pleasant voice. 
  • Be realistic in what you want to achieve. This goes for the pitch but also for the goals and rewards (as stated above).
  • Don't make promises you can't keep.

Regarding banks, if you choose The Netherlands I would go for ABN Amro. I've been a customer at most banks here but for me ABN Amro is really the best. Excellent service, low cost and never any issues.

 

Good luck!

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Why do you have two projects with 5 devs btw?

One of them is on its way out, a pretty simple mobile game we have been developing for some time. We need something that could hopefully amass any kind of money to at least cover some license costs and what not. The second project on the other hand is still in its infancy.

 

Warby and Sprony, thanks a lot! Will take everything you said into account.

Now I just need to go and find that million-dollar voice, heh!

Do you guys have any idea what kind of stretch goals people want? Is it merchandise, that kinda stuff? Extra in-game content? Premium in-game content?

Any clues?

 

Edited by SpronyvanJohnson
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That really depends on the game but having your name in the credits, a character named after you, get your own quest, using your face, special forum access, development input, alpha and beta access, etc are always popular.

 

Also, those are pledge rewards. Stretch goals could be: ports to other platforms, multiplayer, extra quests, larger world, more dialogue, recorded dialogue, VR support, etc.

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Does this studio involve mr.remar? 

 

edit : dont put the bank account in the US. they have some crazy tax laws other countries dont that relate to charging tax on money made by people even if they aren't currently living there. It might not apply to you but to be safe choose any other country.

Edited by AlexM
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I see many kickstarters turn into having so many stupid rewards, too much focus on t-shirts, posters, plush toys etc. You should be a game developer making games, not a chinese sweatshop. People don't concider how much time physical rewards eat up, time that should be spent on the game. Same thing with dozens of stretch goals that overscopes the project, doubling the amount of work needed to be done just to get a few more bucks.

 

Now these thing might help get some more pledges, but it makes my bullshit meter explode.

Edited by Pampers
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Actually one thing I've always wondered about those physical rewards. Say you pay 50$ and get a tshirt. I bet the amortized cost of getting the tshirt to every backer is around 30$ so you're already blowing 60% of your budget on these tiers just getting the items out to the backers. 

 

Seems quite counter-productive.

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Sorry about the dump, but all of these would be good material. If you have access to the whole of GDC Vault, I believe there are a few premium-only lectures on the subject too.

 

http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1018050/Kickstarter-Lessons-for-Indie-Game

 

http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1020613/SCALE-and-the-Ethics-of

 

http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1015671/A-Strategic-Approach-to

 

http://robotloveskitty.tumblr.com/post/40318117461/tips-from-our-successful-kickstarter-on-a-0-budget

 

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/StephenDick/20110504/89436/10_Tips_For_Raising_Funds_With_Kickstarter_For_Indie_Game_Developers.php

 

http://www.indiegamegirl.com/no-budget-marketing/

 

http://gamasutra.com/blogs/KeeWonHong/20140819/223737/Inspiration_over_Manipulation_Why_Loyalty_Matters.php

 

http://gamasutra.com/blogs/SamFarmer/20140820/223751/LAST_LIFE_Kickstarter_Postmortem.php

 

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/ZacharyStrebeck/20140818/223545/3_VITAL_GameDev_lessons_from_the_YogVentures_Kickstarter.php

 

http://gamasutra.com/blogs/WilliamDube/20140814/223358/How_An_Indie_Nobody_Raised_40000_On_Kickstarter.php

 

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/DavidDAngelo/20140805/222585/Digging_down_to_business_Shovel_Knight_Planning_and_Sales.php

 

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/BenjaminGifford/20140811/223131/Kickstarter_Tips_Your_Video.php

 

http://gamasutra.com/blogs/BenTristem/20140806/222757/Why_early_feedback_is_so_valuable_and_not_just_the_money.php

 

http://crowdfundinghelp.com/

Edited by Corwin
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