Silent Voices [Psychological][Romance][Sci-fi][Kickstarter]

[Zelan]

Okay, is making a kickstarter for a free game bad? I'm honestly curious. Since this is my first game I thought that more people would play it if I made it free and the KS is only really there so I can get back the money I spent on commissions. I was planning to give away rewards like wallpapers, keychains and OST, but if that's still a really bad idea, then I wouldn't mind charging a little bit I guess.

Generally, people back Kickstarters to get something out of it. Since the tier that usually gets the most traffic is the tier that would get you the game itself, this is immediately sort of nullified by the fact that the game will be free anyway. HOWEVER, it's not impossible to get a free game backed.

I'm going to use Cinderella Phenomenon as an example. (I do apologize for linking another project in your thread, but these guys are pretty much a perfect example of Kickstarting a free VN done right.) It seems like there are two key things to their very successful campaign.

1. They had a previous following. Not necessarily a huge one, but their previous free game, Locked Heart, was pretty well received. This meant that they hadn't just come up out of the blue - they had a reputation for good products already and people who would be willing to support them financially.

2. They had desirable rewards. The most popular reward was similar to what would normally be the "game" tier - the $15 (12 pounds) tier gave each backer the fandisk, which will be sold for $10, in addition to HD wallpapers, their names in the credits, and a digital thank-you card. This tier had a total of 75 backers. Some of their higher tiers also included things like a digital art book, early game access, and a key chain set.

In the end, it all comes down to your marketing and planning your rewards. Even if your game isn't going to be free, a good Kickstarter needs lot of exposure and good incentives. The problem with Kickstarting a free game is that the second point is a little tougher to do.

I hope that was helpful! ^_^

[marionettas]

@Zelan:
Thanks for the information! Actually, I used CP as a basis for my kickstarter planning since they did it so well. I'll give this some more thought then since the KS will take awhile and see if I can do it or not.

On another note: the sprite artist has been busy today so we have another character reveal!
His name is Theo and he is a nerd. He also really sucks at physical activity.

[Zelan]

Oh, so you are familiar with CP! That's good, using that was a basis will probably really help your KS campaign if you decide to do one.

Theo seems like a cool character, I'll be interested to play his KN route. c:

[RedOwl]

I love the revised description!! Awesome job. It's right to the point and puts the most interesting elements of your story right up front. ^_^

no, I don't really have any explanation

If there is no reason for it, If I were you, I would at least consider whether it would make more sense in your world for their ages to be a little more diverse. When there's not a good reason for something, and potential downsides (i.e.a diminished sense of realism), it's time to consider whether it should be changed.

Okay, is making a kickstarter for a free game bad?

Well, for the reasons that Zelan mentioned, it's definitely more difficult to succeed with a free product. Although in theory Kickstarter is for supporting developers, backers always like to think they are getting something of value out of their pledge. And as Zelan said, the reward that is often most popular, and viewed as most valuable, is the game itself. So making highly interesting rewards is going to be really important for you.

It seems telling to me that with Cinderella Phenomenon, their most popular reward tier offered a product that would be sold commercially, even if the game itself was free. I've also noticed that Dicesuki is quite active/well known on Tumblr, so they're obviously doing something right, marketing wise (having a good track record is probably helping a lot).

It also depends how high your goal is. If you only need a little bit of funding, reaching your goal with a more limited set of rewards will be easier.

I don't want to dash your hopes - by all means, there are definitely successfully crowdfunded free products. But, I say all this as someone who ran a kickstarter for a free product which failed. But, part of that failure was a lack of proper planning and audience-building beforehand. So, I'd just recommend putting extra time and effort into those two critical things which Zelan listed (building an audience and good rewards).

Honestly, you have a great looking game, nice art, and a fun writing style, so I think you have a good chance!

You also want to think carefully about where you set your price-point if you actually decide to make your game commercial. Set it too low, and you could de-value your game.

(also thanks for following my project and for the good wishes!)

[noeinan]

I don't have time just now to go through all the questions, but this looks really cool and I wanted to comment so I can follow your progress!

[chronicle-visuals]

Hi! About kickstarting a free-to-play product... have you considered Patreon? Everyone here has said "the most important reward is the game," and I agree. However, doesn't the game also include the steps it takes to make it? With Patreon, they're more-so supporting you and future games, rather than the success of one project. (Not to mention, Kickstarter is also for when you absolutely cannot afford anything else, but I don't think you've reached that point yet) If you used Patreon, you could offer people who are interested in the game sneak-peaks before anyone else, release Patron-only demos, exclusive content such as early character designs, and request Patron feedback. This is also better than physical rewards because they're inexpensive, especially if you aren't getting a studio budget.

I hope this helped at all. I don't know much about creating visual novels using Patreon funding, but I think there have been threads about this before. Of course, talk to your team about this. If you're getting money over the course of creating this game, it's a grey-line whether or not it's considered commercial, and so communication is essential when your team has different commission rates for commercial products.

[marionettas]

Thank you for all of your suggestions!
So I guess if I do end up making a free kickstarter, I'll back the $15 tier with more exclusive stuff since apparently that's what a standard game price is. I also don't think the goal will be too high (though I'm not really sure what constitutes as high ks-wise) but I'll see as it gets closer to ks if making it commercial would help.

Also I'll definitely look into Patreon! I'm a little busy at the moment, but I want to fix up a tumblr blog and gauge interest level before I start thinking about funding medium. There's promotional art being made for the intro video as well so I'll see how those turn out and see if I can use those for advertising.

[marionettas]

We have the title screen image!

[Zelan]

WOW, that looks fantastic. I love all of the different colors.

[marionettas]

@Zelan,

Thanks! I really love the colors as well. Shame that it has to be covered by words, but here's the final title screen:


And we have our first chibi! Five of them will be bundled as keychains for a kickstarter reward.

[marionettas]

New character alert!

Aries:


1. Loves to compete and hates losing
2. Comes up with new insults every day (that don't make sense most of the time)
3. Childhood friends with Autumn
4. Tends to get irritated easily

3 more sprites left! And then all that's left is promo art for the opening intro so hopefully we can get the demo out asap.

[marionettas]

And here's Jayce!
He's a bit of a flirt, but generally a carefree guy. Has grown up with Autumn and Aries and tends to be overly dramatic.

[Albert Fernandez]

1. Does the premise interest you?
Yes, I like a lot the art direction, you paint very well
And the plot seems interesting

2. Who is your favorite character so far, based on appearances and Emmeline’s (probably) unreliable descriptions?
Nick, I always like this type of characters in a game hahaha

3. Would you support a kickstarter?
Depend on the rewards, but probably yes, I see a lot of good work here.

4. Any other questions or comments?
In which platforms will you release it?

Keep up the good work, ye.


P.D: The Title Screen picture is astonishing.

[marionettas]

1. Does the premise interest you?
Yes, I like a lot the art direction, you paint very well
And the plot seems interesting

2. Who is your favorite character so far, based on appearances and Emmeline’s (probably) unreliable descriptions?
Nick, I always like this type of characters in a game hahaha

3. Would you support a kickstarter?
Depend on the rewards, but probably yes, I see a lot of good work here.

4. Any other questions or comments?
In which platforms will you release it?

Keep up the good work, ye.


P.D: The Title Screen picture is astonishing.

Hey, thanks! Unfortunately I'm not the artist (can't draw at all) but I'll be sure to let them know that you said that.
Just planned for PC right now. Will probably try to get it up on Steam though I heard that's not very fun to do so yeah lol.

[Albert Fernandez]

Hey, thanks! Unfortunately I'm not the artist (can't draw at all) but I'll be sure to let them know that you said that.
Just planned for PC right now. Will probably try to get it up on Steam though I heard that's not very fun to do so yeah lol.

Nice... and for curiosity, you have a composer in the team?