Hearts Under Blades [BxG, BxB][Samurai][Kickstarter][Demo]

[Ammeh]

This looks super-shiny and I'm really excited about it--I love intrigue, and the idea of being able to build both romantic and political relationships has me absolutely giddy. I backed the Kickstarter, but I'm extremely surprised that there are only 37 backers after 10 days. (It looks like you'll make the main goal, but I'm very invested in the female PC stretch goal. ) The Kickstarter page looks polished and at the very least gets me excited about the game, so I'm wondering if there just aren't many people finding out about it. Have you been doing much to advertise the Kickstarter specifically?

Thanks so much for your support! I have been advertising as much as I know how, through facebook, twitter, deviantart, and tumblr, and we even had a booth at a con for our launch weekend, but I have just about exhausted my outlets. If you have any suggestions, I would certainly be open to them!

It seems like most of those outlets would only get people who were already following you. Maybe reach out to other communities (forums, imageboards, etc) where people who might be interested in aspects of the game congregate? (I assume you've already hit the major VN communities, but what about Japan-focused or BxB-focused ones?)

Also, it's minor, but you could edit the topic of this thread to put Kickstarter in the title so it's visible without opening the thread, like some of the other threads have.

[try10]

I've just finished the demo and I was really impressed. I have waited for a long time to find a good game with Samurai and supernatural. Everything looks professional and the art is stunning. I wish we could choose to play as a female in the future too, if you have the time and resources. I wish you the best of luck with this project!

[ArtistMeli]

Thanks so much for your support! I have been advertising as much as I know how, through facebook, twitter, deviantart, and tumblr, and we even had a booth at a con for our launch weekend, but I have just about exhausted my outlets. If you have any suggestions, I would certainly be open to them!

It seems like most of those outlets would only get people who were already following you. Maybe reach out to other communities (forums, imageboards, etc) where people who might be interested in aspects of the game congregate? (I assume you've already hit the major VN communities, but what about Japan-focused or BxB-focused ones?)

Also, it's minor, but you could edit the topic of this thread to put Kickstarter in the title so it's visible without opening the thread, like some of the other threads have. [/quote]

That's true, and that's been part of the difficulty for me. I did reach out on DeviantArt to the different game developer and VN groups, and that seems to have helped, but it's still a fairly limited venue. I'm actually the person on the team who's played the least number of VNs, so marketing has been pretty tough for me. ^_^; I'll start doing some looking now, but in the meantime, are there specific communities you would recommend going to?

I will try to get our OP to add Kickstarter in the topic asap, as well.

[ArtistMeli]

I've just finished the demo and I was really impressed. I have waited for a long time to find a good game with Samurai and supernatural. Everything looks professional and the art is stunning. I wish we could choose to play as a female in the future too, if you have the time and resources. I wish you the best of luck with this project!

Thanks so much! Even if we don't reach the stretch goal for the female character in the Kickstarter, we plan to continue fundraising through other venues, so hopefully we will be able to include her eventually!

[Fungii]

Would I be allowed to liveblog the demo on my when I play it? Usually when I blog about something long enough I get a few people asking what game it is and I could hopefully throw a few people your KS's way.

[ArtistMeli]

Would I be allowed to liveblog the demo on my when I play it? Usually when I blog about something long enough I get a few people asking what game it is and I could hopefully throw a few people your KS's way.

Absolutely, I would love it if you did! Thanks so much. ^_^ Anyone can feel free to post up reviews, live blogs, let's plays, or whatever you like about our demo.

[Ammeh]

I'll start doing some looking now, but in the meantime, are there specific communities you would recommend going to?

If you can get a banner ad together in the next few days, Project Wonderful might be a good option. As I understand it, they're a 3rd party site that does banner ads for a variety of websites (mostly webcomics), and you can put up a banner ad on a specific site directly through them by bidding on a slot. I can PM you some suggestions for specific sites.

[Fungii]

I'd suggest making an even jazzier promotion post for your tumblr as well.
Basically like a mini version of what you have up on the KS, but as a photoset with screencaps and the character lineup. That'll get a lot more attention than just a link post to your KS.

[Mad Harlequin]

I'm finally almost finished writing up my comments! It's taken ages, but I hope you can forgive me! I've worked on this while juggling my everyday responsibilities.

If all goes well, you can expect the link to Google Docs to appear in this post within the next hour or two. (Google Docs keeps crashing on me, though. I guess it's because the document is so full of comments . . .)

EDIT 09/14: Almost there! Please stop crashing, Google Docs.

[philip]

Just downloaded the demo, and went through it. I like the story, the characters, the artwork . . . everything about it. I saved all the choices as I went through the first time, and when I had finished, went back several times, making different choices, to further explore the direction that the story might go. I have no specific criticisms, and will eagerly await further progress!

Excuse me now, I'm off to the Kickstarter to make my contribution. I do hope that there will be a lot of others that will contribute generously to help this effort reach your goals!

philip

[Mad Harlequin]

I finally did it . . .

I finished with my feedback---or at least as much of it as I could successfully extract. The scene just before the end of the demo wasn't within the script included with the game files. I can go back and mess with that later if you'd like, but I hope that the comments and suggestions I've provided are enough to help you with the rest. For now, I need a break!

Note: There are extra spaces between sentences for some reason. I didn't notice them when I started, but later on they came to my attention. I don't know if they're intentional, but I've tried to correct as many as possible. I will gladly go back to the script later and hunt for more if it helps you.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/12W8 ... BxNHk/edit

[maricon]

How's the progress?
I played the demo, and it was very fun So I'm interested in how things are going for you guys.

[Mad Harlequin]

Well, I've just thrown some money at you guys.

It's not much, but I wish you the best!

[Flowers from Nowhere]

I finished the demo and love what I see of your game! I do have one question however.

Your kickstarter declares that it exists to fund "the first chapter." To me this implies that the finished game will not contain a complete story but will only have the first part. Is this accurate?

[Mad Harlequin]

Your Kickstarter declares that it exists to fund "the first chapter." To me this implies that the finished game will not contain a complete story but will only have the first part. Is this accurate?

That's a very good point! I don't know how I missed this. I need to read more carefully next time.