Everyone Kickstart Yo!

[PyTom]

What people don't know (and Kickstarter doesn't show) is that for 1 successfully funded project, at least 10 aren't (or more). And I'm not talking about $50-100k projects but even smaller $5k ones. So it's not like is an instant win as Lemma says

http://www.kickstarter.com/help/stats

has stats, broken down by category. It's not as bad as 1/10, but for games only 1/3 successfully fund.

[jack_norton]

Ah ok interesting, I don't think last year when I checked was there, good to know

[Blue Lemma]

@Obscura: I think I see your point. A lot can be done before the KS pitch. Hearing these stories is very interesting and informative.

People who aren't confident they can complete their project shouldn't Kickstart, but I think people who are (especially those who've demonstrated the ability to do so in the past) should seriously consider it.

Someone touched on this before, but the biggest thing you give up if you Kickstart is the ability to pack it in and cancel the project... with a clear conscience, anyway. I think we all want a good clear guilt-free conscience

[Gear]

I kickstarted for my current game (actually IndieGoGo) and it was a huge help. The project is still coming along even though I didn't meet my goal, and I was able to pay my two artists and my composer some well-earned cash. I definitely think it was worth it, despite it being my first project, because I know I'm going to finish (barring death or a sudden infestation of cockroaches).

[Fox Lee]

has stats, broken down by category. It's not as bad as 1/10, but for games only 1/3 successfully fund.

That seems like a good thing to me (I don't now how many here will agree or disagree). I'm not able to support many projects, but I've looked around a lot in the gaming category, and 1/3 seems an optimistic figure for how many would deserve funding. There are lots of good ideas, but if you rule out all the unrealistically big ones, and all the "just another RPGMaker game with two nice commissioned drawings on the KS page", you'd probably be left with about 1/3.

I LOVE Kickstarter, incidentally, except for that US-or-UK-only rubbish. But I have never found it difficult to be realistic about what is likely to get finished or not, and what is trying to buy your attention with pretty pictures versus what has actual substance. If there is a Kickstarter crash, I think it will be more like people just learning to be sensible sceptics about such marketing.

To an earlier post I forgot to quote - Kickstarter is actually fine for "kick-finishing" projects you have almost completed. I've seen it happen numerous times. I actually prefer them; I'd rather pay to complete a project into which the creator has already put a serious effort investment, and needs a final push to complete, than a spectacular idea with no real progress behind it. Especially with personal artistic works, it's not necessarily true that the creator couldn't afford to make the thing without a KS; often these projects don't take actual money so much as huge amounts of time investment, and it seems perfectly reasonable to me to fund that virtual cost. If they had to hire an artist instead of doing it themselves, then they would certainly require the funding to make the idea possible - should the same amount of effort going in directly from the creator reduce the funding needed? That seems rather unfair to me, especially when one of my goals is to encourage artists.

Basically, sometimes a KS doesn't make a release possible, so much as it rewards the sacrifices and effort put into the release with something more than just personal pride. I think that's perfectly sensible.

...Hmm, I still can't help but feel I expressed that badly >3>; Well, I hope the idea got across, anyway. This thread is really interesting, with lots of genuinely good points on both sides.