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

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

#1 Post by dkly037 »

Update 2:
Kickstarter project is up, just saying. I will honor the rules, and will not post the link.

==========
Update:
I added a trailer to the kickstarter page. I plan to cut it down to 3 minutes, but I won't be working on it this week, so you have the chance to provide feedback, go crazy, who knows, I may add it in the trailer.
==========
Original

Hello all,

I am about to kickstart my project, waiting for approval from Kickstarter. The game is based around how people live after the space elevator has been built. There will be branching storylines, and probably some light romance.

Try out a tech demo: (don't worry about spoilers, story in demo is unrelated)
http://creversely.com/se

Here is a a preview link to the Kickstarter:
[ Link elided to to lack of a game demo or completed game. ]

Feedback is appreciated, I will consider them, before making the Kickstarter live.
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Last edited by dkly037 on Mon Oct 27, 2014 2:42 pm, edited 4 times in total.

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Re: Space Elevators - 20xx [si fi]

#2 Post by Googaboga »

If you want my honest feedback, I'd say your project is just fine but the Kickstarter itself needs a lot of work.

I believe it's in your best interest to either decrease your funding goal or release a few smaller projects first. It is extremely rare for a first time VN maker to make more than 10,000$ through crowd funding. And when they do they almost always asked for less than 10,000 and simply had funding go past the original goal. So I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but your current goal seems too optimistic. A quick way to reduce your goal would be to move voice acting from a required feature to a stretch goal. I'd also recommend cutting out the money desired for living expenses, or at least decreasing it. Many people are not willing to pay for that kind of thing unless the person is well-known or has released games in the past. If that's what a large chunk of the costs are allocated to it could discourage people from pledging, especially since the episode they could be funding sounds like it will be relatively short (30-60 minutes).

Another issue are the rewards. If you want to make that much money you'll need to have more tier options and more expensive tiers. Think of it this way, even if all 100 of the 64$ tiers sell out you'll still be barely more than half way to the goal. Which means, you'll have to make over 5,000$ on pledges of $16 or less. VNs are a niche markets so it is unwise count on many people pledging small amounts. And I don't see that many people taking the $16 option. A name in the credits isn't normally considered that big of a perk so I don't think too many people will pay twice as much as the last perk just for that.

And lastly the video doesn't really catch a person's attention. It doesn't show much of the actual game and the explanation of how the game works goes on for longer than it seems to need to. If there isn't more of the game to show maybe you should wait until there is before launching the kickstarter.

Good luck on your project :3.
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Re: Space Elevators - 20xx [si fi]

#3 Post by gekiganwing »

I'm not sure what sort of story you'll tell that revolves around a space elevator, but I'm intrigued. Also, even though I'm not sure how to describe your art so far, I like it.

First, carefully consider whether your project needs voice acting. Keep in mind that the people who wrote the TVTropes article So You Want to Make a Visual Novel advise against it... unless you're already a professional who's completed several projects.

Second, are you confident in your writing abilities? Can you say for sure that you can finish writing in a month? You might benefit by taking the time to create at least a couple drafts. Give yourself deadlines, but do not let the deadlines put too much pressure on you. After writing, please consider asking for comments and criticism. Not every person's response will be helpful or relevant. However, they might be able to assist you.

Third, having dealt with unreliable computers that barely run old / freeware programs, I can understand why you might want a better computer. However, I believe you might benefit by not including that in your budget. Strive to finish your project with the equipment that you already have.

Finally, make sure to double check your Kickstarter for grammar and typos.

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Re: Space Elevators - 20xx [si fi]

#4 Post by sasquatchii »

I think it's cool that you are creating an ambitious project & giving a lot of power to the player right off the bat!

That being said, I did have a few problems with the demo.

1. It didn't work (for me) in Opera. Ok, that's not really a big deal, since hardly anyone uses Opera, but it did take me a few minutes to get around to opening chrome & getting back to the demo site. And I couldn't get it working in explorer. But it did work in Chrome (sort of)
2. The demo in Chrome seemed wonky, for me anyways. I wasn't really sure what I was supposed to be doing to play through the game, since I'd click at the start and nothing seemed to happen. Are the first few images (the main character standing there looking at the woman, standing in the airport, etc) video that you're supposed to sit and watch? Or actually click through? I couldn't tell. And when I got to the conversation between the two pilots, sometimes I'd click and then I wouldn't be able to see text anymore. So I'd click again (picking a random choice, because I couldn't see them) and then I'd see the text again.
3. (and this is my biggest problem overall) I didn't even finish the demo. Why? I didn't care. We're just sort of randomly thrown in to this guy's story, with no hook to pull us along. What's this guy's deal? What does he want? What's this story about? Sure, you don't want to give everything away up front, but players are going to need a reason to keep playing. You need to pique our curiosity. And there are a thousand different ways you can do this. Here are some examples that might inspire you.

For the kickstarter, $12,000 is waaay too much. To be completely blunt, I don't think the writing & art are polished enough to be asking for $12k. A lot of insanely awesome VN's that have been kickstarted asked for a lot less. Take a look at Queen at Arms, for example. They asked for almost next to nothing (2.5K), and this in spite of having a decent sized team. They've also got people with experience making other visual novels, had a really awesome demo, and have members that are active here on the forums. They also have been completely transparent with their funds, and even have a spreadsheet showing which team members get what, and all their expenses. Your kickstarter funds, on the other hand, are a little vague. Why should we have to pay for your living expenses? And $2000 "business costs" to buy you a new computer and some books? Really? After reading that I'm wary of your project.
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Re: Space Elevators - 20xx [si fi]

#5 Post by Coldreaver »

Sup. I really like Science Fiction and the space elevator - theme. I read a book from Frank Schätzing called "Limit". There was also the concept of a space elevator and I enjoyed it a lot. So I hope you can make something good due to the complex topic of space elevators has a huge potential in my opinion. I have a bad cold at the moment, so my English is kinda gross.

I have some troubles for ya:

1. The demo actually runs in my two operabrowsers, (opera 24.0.1558.64 and 12.17) but it feels really weird. I can't click forward the text I already read and have to wait hours for the next line. I don't know if clicking does something at all. It feels buggy and does not make a good, fluent impression. Consider people often don't have the mood for changing the browser just to play a demo or are generous at accepting long waiting times for the next line of text. They often might just close it.

2. I wasn't able to bond with the protagonists. I did not care about 'em at all, so I closed it after 10 minutes. I couldn't get a grasp what it was really about. I really tried.
It's important to give the reader a reason to move on. Take Dr. House for example. You see a random guy holding a speech and suddenly he collapses and blood comes out of his ears/eyes/nose/whatever. This is a dramatic crisis with climax. The watcher wants the resolution, wants to know what happened and so on. Try to get a grasp of how to accomplish this kind of uhm entry into your story. It doesn't have to be dramatic of course. It was just an example.

3. I don't want to pay you or crowdfund you so you can buy some books and start to learn how to do it. It's part of your hobby (I hope). You pay it yourself. If you don't want to pay it from your private money, a potential crowdfunder would think you don't have the necessary interest in VNs from the start. You get some basic skills before starting a Kickstarter. Books aren't that expensive at all. I paid 40 Euro for two nice books about storytelling from my own money because I was interested in it. If you are interested in storytelling you should just buy the books from your own private money. Seriously.
This book is in my opinion really good and not that expensive: http://www.amazon.com/Character-Develop ... 435461045/

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Re: Space Elevators - 20xx [si fi]

#6 Post by PyTom »

Please take careful account of our crowdfunding rule:
Do not link to crowdfunding campaigns (including kickstarter or indiegogo campaigns) for visual novels or games unless those campaigns include a link to a nontrivial playable demo or a completed game by substantially the same team.
I'm not convinced this demo qualifies, as it's not a demo of the game in question. So we'd probably have to strip the links to your campaign when it went live.
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Re: Space Elevators - 20xx [si fi]

#7 Post by dkly037 »

Wow, very good info. From what I see, I will have to delay the project to work on it some more.

====================
Miko-Class

I am the only "employee", I have to do art, programming, writing, web server management, video editing, etc. I would of thought $4k over 3 months was low, but now I see the light, lol. Do you think the term living expenses devalues the $4,000? What if I were to change it to paying for an artist, programmer, writer, internet, food, etc. Even though it would still be me, would it make it sound better?

I will cut 2 k from voice actors and myself, but not the business expenses.

Right now, I can't think of any rewards worth more than $64, but I will put some more thought into it.

====================
gekiganwing

Checked out the link, I see how voice acting would be risky. Now that I think about it some more, maybe I was just using the voice actors to mask my bad writing.

I am not confident in my writing skills, but I am confident in my learning skills. Some background, I started to learn how to draw, web design, web program, and manage web servers, last year. Personally, I think a month should do, writing and learning 10 hours a day Monday - Sunday for 4 weeks is about 280 hours. I could be underestimating the hours, in reality, 500 or 1000 hours would be needed to write a decent story. If that is the case, then a month is not enough time.


====================
sasquatchii

1.) Opera, I didn't know people still used it and I dislike IE. Still, I will go back and make sure it works on both. I have only tested the game on the most up to date browsers of Firefox and Chrome.

"Are the first few images (the main character standing there looking at the woman, standing in the airport, etc) video that you're supposed to sit and watch? Or actually click through? I couldn't tell."

That is the loading screen, there is text above that says so. I will make it bigger so it stands out. However, I would guess, your internet is so fast, that that the loading screen loads too quickly and you did not notice the text on top.

2.) That is unusal, try updating Chrome, the game uses the newest web browser technology that are not available in older web browsers. Did you at least hear audio? Also when your character speaks, I remove all the below text, there is no option to skip his voice.

3.) I rushed development of the tech demo, (2 month development) mainly to prove I am capable to handling the technology and that I can indeed complete the game by myself. I spent a few hours on the writing for the demo, the purpose, is not to showcase my writing, but to show people I am capable of completing the game. I do not want to spend more time on the demo, because I rather work on the full game instead. However, I see your point, people expect a polished demo upfront and that I have to prove I am capable of delivering the full experience (including writing).

4.) Do you have a link to the speadsheet for the Queen of Arms cost break down? In my opinion or ignorance, I would be more suspicous of the $2.5k. I see 9 people working on the kickstarter page, this sort of implies many of the people are working for about 6 months (sept. 2014 - march 2015); using their final amount, $9,800/6 months = the team is being paid $1.6k each month. How do they pay basic bills like housing, food, and internet? They are also more experienced, and maybe had the opportunity to buy better equipement from previous earnings. In comparison, I am in my 20's and don't have much experience. I use the word computer as a general statement, it includes other equipment: better drawing tablet, audio equipment, etc. I will be more fine grain in the costs, and list each item, including taxes + shipping.

====================
Coldreaver
1.) By hours, you mean just not instantly right? Not actual hours? There is no skip button when the main character speaks, and you are foced to listen to him (me, voice actor problems) finish his line. Other have expressed this problem, I will add continue button to skip his dialogue.

2.) See my response to sasquatchii in #3

3.) I am doing most of the work for the game: art, wrting, programming, server management, music, audio mixing, etc. I am not making excuses, but it is alot of skills to juggle, sorry I am not proficient in these skills yet. The point still stands, the demo has no impact. Everyone seems to agree the space elevator idea cannot stand on its own, I need to polish the demo to prove I can make quality work.

Thanks again everyone. I will start working on the issues.
Last edited by dkly037 on Tue Oct 07, 2014 7:09 pm, edited 5 times in total.

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Re: Space Elevators - 20xx [si fi]

#8 Post by SLASH-7 »

WHAT WILL I BE DOING?

month 1, writing - polish script, reading some novels, learning how to write better scripts
month 2, drawing - concept art and illustrations, learning how to draw better
This kind of bothered me when I read it, if I read this when looking for a project to back I would be thrown off immediately. Bad writing in a visual novel is obviously a death sentence, opening a kickstarter with no confidence in your writing ability and openly stating this would more than likely cause many not to back. Maybe I just interpreted what you were saying incorrectly, but I would advise not to show any weakness in your pitch.

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Re: Space Elevators - 20xx [si fi]

#9 Post by dkly037 »

==========
PyTom

After considering everyone's feedback, I am considering delaying the Kickstarter for about 2 - 3 more weeks to do another demo. Right now, I'm thinking a 5 minute prelude to the first episode, so it is related to the first episode.

I am some what weary about this potential pitfall: feedback -> polish -> feedback polish -> repeat -> never release game.

==========
SLASH-7

My mindset was the idea of "space elevators in your web browser or mobile phone, pick up and play" was enough to sell the game, and that people will give me a chance to improve my ideas. The minimum pledge is $1 for the game, so the risk is not high. I expected something like, "The demo is not polished, but I see potential, $1 isn't so much to give the game a chance". I see this not the case and am considering working on another demo.

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Re: Space Elevators - 20xx [si fi]

#10 Post by dkly037 »

Googaboga suggested I do more rewards. Reward Ideas:
--- $16, credits + 1 low definition gif of main character
--- $32, high definitions gifs of characters making strange faces
--- $128, not sure yet
--- $256, limit 4. you get to describe the character's physical features, and I will do mock ups, you approve, then I put them in the game

Got any ideas? More reward suggestions are welcomed. I do not want to do an art book, often times my concept art and story boards are simply sketches; I do not want to stress out on making them pretty/ presentable.

I also did a quick search on kickstarter for visual novel:
https://www.kickstarter.com/discover/ad ... sort=magic

Here is some data I have gathered, https://www.kickstarter.com/help/stats:
--- 53 visual novels on kickstarter
--- 33/53 success = 60% success rate
--- success rate for all Kickstarter projects, 40%
--- success rate for games projects, 33%
--- visual novels in my range ($0-$10,000) have around 50 - 500 backers

Due to feedback, I plan on fixing these issues this week:
--- skip cutscene button
--- skip main character voice
--- fix ie and opera compatability

Some people have suggested my page lacks focus. I am trying to find the right blend of information to present on my page. There are several competing ideas I had to weigh:
--- development speed, I can develop a game very quickly, but have decided not to focus on it
--- push parallel universe idea to build intrigue instead of using branching storyline. The term parallel universe also matches up with the sifi setting.
--- spend more time on the intro cutscene.
--- make it clearer that the game uses cutting edge browser technologies, users need to update their browsers, possibly mention it in the intro video.
--- in the second half of the intro video on Kickstarter, add some images to help the story telling

More suggestions are welcomed.

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Re: Space Elevators - 20xx [si fi]

#11 Post by Ammeh »

dkly037 wrote:Googaboga suggested I do more rewards. Reward Ideas:
--- $16, credits + 1 low definition gif of main character
--- $32, high definitions gifs of characters making strange faces
--- $128, not sure yet
--- $256, limit 4. you get to describe the character's physical features, and I will do mock ups, you approve, then I put them in the game

Got any ideas? More reward suggestions are welcomed. I do not want to do an art book, often times my concept art and story boards are simply sketches; I do not want to stress out on making them pretty/ presentable.
I think that restricting your reward tiers to powers of two is a fairly large handicap... Giving away the game at the $1 tier is probably also something you want to avoid. Lots of people who back a game just want the game and no additional rewards, so if you give it away at $1 you'd get a lot of backers pledging $1 who might have pledged $5 or $10 instead if that had been the game tier.
My mindset was the idea of "space elevators in your web browser or mobile phone, pick up and play" was enough to sell the game, and that people will give me a chance to improve my ideas. The minimum pledge is $1 for the game, so the risk is not high. I expected something like, "The demo is not polished, but I see potential, $1 isn't so much to give the game a chance". I see this not the case and am considering working on another demo.
Your current goal seems too high for this approach. If you're expecting most people to pledge low (say $1-$10), you'd need thousands of backers to make a $12000 goal. Either you need to really wow people and make them desperately want to play your game, or you need a funding goal that's achievable on "eh, might be cool" pledges.


Regarding your expense allotments:
The fact that your KS page doesn't have any details on how the $1500 "New Computer" expense is necessary to complete the project makes that expense look shady. The $1200 allotted for "Various Fees" with no explanation on what sort of fees you're expecting has the same problem.

Personally, I'd advise working on your general script-writing skills in advance rather than slotting it as part of your project period. I shared the same issue several people in the thread have mentioned--I couldn't muster up enough interest in the characters or their conversation to make it through the demo. If most of your potential backers have the same issue, they're not going to give you money to work on improving your writing--they're just not going to back it.

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Re: Space Elevators - 20xx [si fi]

#12 Post by sasquatchii »

dkly037 wrote:I am not confident in my writing skills, but I am confident in my learning skills. Some background, I started to learn how to draw, web design, web program, and manage web servers, last year. Personally, I think a month should do, writing and learning 10 hours a day Monday - Sunday for 4 weeks is about 280 hours. I could be underestimating the hours, in reality, 500 or 1000 hours would be needed to write a decent story. If that is the case, then a month is not enough time.
If you are just learning how to write, it's really hard to put a time limit on things. Writing is hard, there are so many levels of complexity that make for a good story. That's why some writers spend years learning how to write- people even go to school for it- and even then it's really hard to make money off of it, even if you're very good, because it's so competitive and cutthroat, as everyone wants to do it.

I think you are being unfair to yourself and your story by saying you're only going to spend a month trying to learn how to write. Why the rush?
dkly037 wrote:I will cut 2 k from voice actors and myself, but not the business expenses.
Even if you do that, you are still asking for $8k. That is still too much based on the quality of your current demo & writing, and even if you took a month to improve things, it might still be too high.
dkly037 wrote:That is the loading screen, there is text above that says so. I will make it bigger so it stands out. However, I would guess, your internet is so fast, that that the loading screen loads too quickly and you did not notice the text on top. That is unusal, try updating Chrome, the game uses the newest web browser technology that are not available in older web browsers. Did you at least hear audio?
I heard the audio! I guess I didn't see the text above that said it was a loading screen. Why not use Ren'Py to create your games? I feel like a lot of your problems (especially with the browsers) would go away if you gave it a shot. It's pretty easy to use (even a goofball like me has had a pretty good time figuring things out) and I'd take a Ren'Py game over a browser game any day.
dkly037 wrote:Do you have a link to the speadsheet for the Queen of Arms cost break down?
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc ... _web#gid=0
dkly037 wrote:In my opinion or ignorance, I would be more suspicous of the $2.5k.

It might be suspicious if they had never made a game before, but again, I believe most/all of them have all created and finished a few visual novels already. They are all pretty active here on the forums, and they've been working on their project for almost an entire year, maybe more than that, so it's obvious that they all have a passion for this.
dkly037 wrote: I see 9 people working on the kickstarter page, this sort of implies many of the people are working for about 6 months (sept. 2014 - march 2015); using their final amount, $9,800/6 months = the team is being paid $1.6k each month. How do they pay basic bills like housing, food, and internet? They are also more experienced, and maybe had the opportunity to buy better equipement from previous earnings. In comparison, I am in my 20's and don't have much experience. I use the word computer as a general statement, it includes other equipment: better drawing tablet, audio equipment, etc. I will be more fine grain in the costs, and list each item, including taxes + shipping.
You are correct in assuming that they as individuals are not making a ton of money from this. The reason their campaign is so successful is because they're not in it for the money. Each team member brings something new to the table, and as a result they've got a very solid, and awesome project in the works.

None of them are doing it for the money. They've said that they're going to finish the project no matter what, successful kickstarter or no. Why? Because they all love creating visual novels. None of them are using these funds to pay for their bills or living expenses. Honestly, they have not been compensated for all the work they've pumped into it. I really hope that when they finish the game they can turn a profit from it, but that is a big maybe.

If you're doing this just to make money, you're going to be very disappointed.
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Re: Space Elevators - 20xx [si fi]

#13 Post by dkly037 »

==========
Ammeh
Giving away the game at the $1 tier is probably also something you want to avoid
What! Power's of 2's are awesome, how can it fail me now! I'm going to try it for fun, see what kind of data I get. I do not mind the kickstarter failing
The $1200 allotted for "Various Fees" with no explanation
--- 5% amazon payment fee + 5% kickstarter fee = 10%
--- 10% of 12000 = 1,2k
--- I haven't been able to update the Kickstarter page because it is in review

==========
sasquatchii
you are being unfair to yourself and your story by saying you're only going to spend a month trying to learn how to write. Why the rush?
I get the impression, you believe the game should solely rely on the writing. In novels, the writing has to be very good because that is all the reader has. This game is composed of other arts or skills: drawing and voice acting.

I think because there are more elements, you can get away if one area is weaker than the other, but that is just my opinion. For example, some movies are full of explosions and action, therefore the writing and acting can take less of an important role. Games are this way too, some games rely heavily on mechanics, but sacrifice other areas.

The point is, of course I would want awesome writing, graphics, voice actors, etc, but you have to pay people for their time and skill. I don't have money, so I am doing it my own.
It's pretty easy to use (even a goofball like me has had a pretty good time figuring things out) and I'd take a Ren'Py game over a browser game any day.
A software developer can chose to develop a native application or web application. A native application is normal software you download onto your physical device (PC, Mac, smart phone, really they are all computers). Either path you take, it is going to take a while to develop your skills.
--- I decided to focus on web applications, for now.
--- why I picked web development first? There are many reason, but I wont get into it
It might be suspicious if they had never made a game before
It seems you are implying they got most of their backers from this forum. It is good to have many perspectives on one idea. For example, from your view, you see the work they did behind the scenes, therefore can understand the $2.5 k. From an outside view, random people are viewing the kickstarter page. What do they think? What is their impression? Do random people know they worked on another game?
None of them are using these funds to pay for their bills or living expenses. . .If you're doing this just to make money, you're going to be very disappointed.
Paying for basic living costs is doing it for money? Someone has to pay for it, If they don't pay for it someone else is, you could argue they are losing money.

==========
I am not afraid of failure or taking risks. The only way to improve is to get feedback. Failing is a kind of feedback. Therefore, the faster and more often you fail, the faster you improve. If the kickstarter fails, learn from it and move on.Ultimately, random people only see the kickstarter page. You have to curate it or balance it in such a way that the information you give makes the most impact.

I don't know what people are thinking, however I am not completely blind, and can act on some data. According to Kickstarter, pages with videos have a 50% success rate vs 30% with no video. Breaking it down, 50% - 30%, then a good video can improve your chances by 20% on average. With that said, I have decided not to redo the demo; I believe with my limited resources, my efforts are best spent on polishing the kickstarter page. You only live once, let's see what happens

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Re: Space Elevators - 20xx [si fi]

#14 Post by Googaboga »

Got any ideas? More reward suggestions are welcomed. I do not want to do an art book, often times my concept art and story boards are simply sketches; I do not want to stress out on making them pretty/ presentable.
-A special thank you message, maybe written as though it is from one of the characters in the game
-Mentioning the name of the backer somewhere in the game itself (like naming a company in the game after them, or naming a minor character after them, or even just having them mentioned in a random conversation)
-Access to beta versions of the game/early access to the full version
-Creating a new branching option
What do they think? What is their impression? Do random people know they worked on another game?
They can know because there are links on their kickstarter to information on the people working on the project. So, the people who do care about who the people working on the project are will learn that they have worked on previous games.
Paying for basic living costs is doing it for money? Someone has to pay for it, If they don't pay for it someone else is, you could argue they are losing money.
That's true, someone has to pay for it. But that is the price you pay when you are just starting out. You have to continue to support yourself while trying to create a product that you can sell for (hopefully) a profit later. It seems to me that you are trying to skip steps. What I mean is that you want to jump into the VN business despite never previously releasing a game or even having very much of this game done, and still be supported by your VN work. If you cannot currently support yourself I would suggest working on the game less and finding a more efficient way of making money. Yes, it will take longer to complete the game but you'll have a higher chance of having the game funded that way.
I don't know what people are thinking, however I am not completely blind, and can act on some data. According to Kickstarter, pages with videos have a 50% success rate vs 30% with no video. Breaking it down, 50% - 30%, then a good video can improve your chances by 20% on average. With that said, I have decided not to redo the demo; I believe with my limited resources, my efforts are best spent on polishing the kickstarter page. You only live once, let's see what happens
Often times the reason people don't have videos is because they don't have much of the game to show and/or are pretty obviously not ready for the game to be Kickstarted. That's where many of the real problems come from, it isn't simply because they didn't have a video. So that percentage is pretty skewed.

You're free to do as you like but as PyTom mentioned earlier, if you don't redo the demo you will most likely not be allowed to link to your Kickstarter here when it is live. That will be a red flag to the members of this site and you could lose sizable group of potential backers. Of course, Lemma Soft members aren't the only people who back VNs but when you're asking for several thousand dollars you need every potential backer you can get.

Remember, the people here are just trying to give you information that they think is important you know because they don't want you to fail. If you want to push ahead anyways no one is going to stop you. But you are starting to sound a little dismissive and that's pretty uncalled for since you asked for feedback.
In-Progress:
Floret Bond, XOXO Blood Droplets, Our Life
Released:
A Foretold Affair, My Magical Divorce Bureau, XOXO Droplets, Lake of Voices

dkly037
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Re: Space Elevators - 20xx [si fi]

#15 Post by dkly037 »

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.

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.

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.
They can know because there are links on their kickstarter to information on the people working on the project.
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.

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