Space Elevators - 20xx [si fi] (kickstarter live)

[JackalAndromeda]

Speaking from my personal experience as an occasional kickstarter backer, I think you are approaching the video issue from perhaps the wrong angle. You're very focused on the numbers but, correlation isn't causation, as the saying goes.

Most of the projects I've backed have indeed had a video, and they did get funded. However, the last project I backed, I didn't even watch the video for, because the previous comic projects the team had completed gave me all the confidence I needed in their ability to see it through. Your 'job' making a kickstarter page is to convince me you are capable of producing a game I might enjoy. That you have a reasonable chance of finishing. If you can't make an enjoyable game demo, you haven't proven your potential to make an enjoyable game to me.

You also want money to support you while you learn art, and you want to buy art books with kickstarter money. You are admiting that as it currently stands, you don't have the skills to make this game. People are going to judge this game on its real, current assets, not hypothetical future assets that might look better.

If you are going to make a game to test out whether or not you are capable of making a game I think you should do it on your own time, and sell it after you finish. I'm sorry if that sounds rude.

You keep saying you don't care if the kickstarter fails, but you almost seem to be setting yourself up to fail and I'm curious about your motivation here.

[Googaboga]

Thanks for the reward ideas, I like idea #2 a lot, and will be working it in. Not sure about the beta thing, how do you beta test a story driven game? Doesn't that spoil the game? Creating a branching option sounds more like a stretch goal, in addition I cannot add more branches. The more branches you add the more difficult the game becomes to manage by a very large margin.

Yes, beta testing can spoil the whole game and there are some people who prefer people not to play their project until it is truly finished. But other people don't care if players play it in it an earlier form if they're willing to pay for that right. It's up to you which way you want to go.

I'm sure adding a new branch would be a lot of work, but it could be a very expensive tier and if someone does buy it that would be a sizable boost to reaching your goal. In my opinion it's better to rely on people to buying pricier tiers rather than many people buying less expensive tiers. But if there is no amount of money worth adding a new branch than feel free to exclude that option.

I don't mind the kickstarter not getting linked. I don't know why you think I sound dismissive. Besides not redoing the demo, If you look at the Kickstarter page, I have incorporated everyone's feedback or am in the process of doing so. Failure is not bad; I would argue it is as important as success. You learn an incredible amount from failure.

It's great that you are applying the advice, but it is what you've said that was beginning to sound dismissive. Like one example would be this comment-

I don't know what people are thinking, however I am not completely blind, and can act on some data.

How is that meant to be interpreted? Because it gives me the impression that you either think we're doing something other than just trying to give good feedback or that you aren't really happy with the feedback.

As for failure, you can certainly learn from it. But I agree with Jackal in that some of the choices seem to be setting the Kickstarter up for an avoidable failure.

Many have commented that the demo is lacking, but lets look at the trade off.
--- spend 1 month to do another demo, which people may not even play.
--- spend a few weeks learning about how to make a better intro trailer, which we know will lead to a 20% increase in success.

The value is clear, it would be foolish to ignore it. Of course having an awesome trailer and demo would be ideal, but I got to work with what I got. Weigh my options and pick the best path.

I mentioned this before, but people without videos generally have other problems with their Kickstarter. Basically there are very few wonderful projects with a great demo, a good amount of progress, and plenty of things to show who don't have a video for some reason. But there are many projects with little progress, a small/no demo, and or almost nothing to show who don't have videos. So the video is just one part of having a game that's really ready to be Kickstarted. If that is what you've decided matters most to you, feel free to spend your time on that. But don't focus on the video if the only reason you're doing so is because you believe it is a 20% increase in success. I'm sure having a good video increases your chances by some percent, but it is unlikely that it is truly 20%.

I wonder, what is the click through rate is though? 10%, 5%, 1%, 0.5%, 0.1% of all viewers? From those who clicked on the link, did it influence their decision or did they already make up there mind to fund the game? From previous experience, people tend not to click to external links. They see what is on the page, make a judgement and decide whether to fund the game or not.

One could argue that Kickstarters who mention that they have other completed games in an external link will miss out on some of the benefits since not everyone will click, but in the end the people who care the most about it can hear about it. And there are still very obvious benefits to having a past game released. That's the main point. If you had completed another game you could simply include that info directly into your Kickstarter and reap the benefits. Such as people knowing the last game and being interested in the new project because of it, people who didn't know the other game before but found out about it through the Kickstarter, then tried it and liked it so they wanted more of your work, and people who are wary of first time project makers would be relieved because this wasn't a first time project.

[dkly037]

sorry for the late reply, the font for page 2 is so small I did not notice.

I respect everyones feedback, they are logical and valid. Still, how do I know your standards are inline with the kickstarter's community standards? Where is the data to back that up? People are different, rational, irrational, etc. It is not until I put the project up that I know what the majority are thinking.

Why am I so nitpicky? Just make a good demo, draw better, squash the bugs, write a better story, right? Don't we all want quality? The reality is resources are always scarce: I dont have money, there are time constraints, etc.

There can be countless of reasons a kickstarter fails. Why should I spend time working on something I THINK is important? Why should I assume anything, when I can quickly put the project up on kickstarter to find out what the reality is? Go straight to the source, get the kickstarters community feedback, get large data, and focus my limited resource on what people really want. In my sceneario, have nothing to lose from failure, and everything to gain.

The big issue is uncertainty. Why spend my limited time assuming, working on areas I think peole will like, when I can easily find out. I am trading failure for time. Who knows, I may found out something completely ridiculous that no one could of predicited.

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JackalAndromeda

I expect people to judge it on its current assets, does that mean I cannot learn in the meantime?

You are free to your opinion, I am not offended, but consider that there are many paths in life, there is no one right way to achieve a goal.

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Googaboga

it gives me the impression that you either think we're doing something other than just trying to give good feedback or that you aren't really happy with the feedback

I literally mean, I do not know what people are thinking. Everyone thinks differently and has differnt tastes. What one person hates, could be enjoyable for countless others. What I do know for certain is Kickstarter has data on thousands of projects.

You are free to assume that I do not appreciate the feedback, but the reality is, I have applied most of everyone's feedback. If you are unsure about my wording, feel free to ask for clarificaiton, I don't bite, that way you don't have to make judgements on assumptions.

[dkly037]

Kickstarter project is live. To make this bump less boring, here are some jokes:

Joke 1
What happens to a frog's car when it breaks down?
It gets toad away.

Joke 2
An elderly couple are in church. The wife leans over and whispers to her husband, "I just let out a long, silent fart. What should I do?" The husband replies, "First off, replace the batteries in your hearing aid!"

Joke 3
There is a senior citizen driving on the highway. His wife calls him on his cell phone and in a worried voice says, ''Herman, be careful! I just heard on the radio that there is a madman driving the wrong way on Route 280!'' Herman says, ''I know, but there isn't just one, there are hundreds!''