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[30/30]

Hey dudes, I just launched my kickstarter campaign a day and a half ago and it's doing really well so far. Over 25% of the asking goal ($10,000) in the first day, which im really proud of, but there's lots of work to be done. I want to give a quick update on things I think i've done right for this, as it might help anyone who is in my shoes with a live campaign or thinking of putting one together. Some of it is probably common knowledge, etc but Im just dumping my mind here..

Campaign Page is Key.

The number one thing i think i did right was the campaign page. Tonnes of graphics / art/ animated gifs / SHITLOADS of info, personal insight / personal credentials & a very clear message of what I need to make the game a reality. I spent so many hours building the campaign page.. like almost 50-60 hours working on JUST the page (graphics, text, video, etc). It was a shitload of work, but I wanted that initial impression from a random stranger to be positive, that gets my 'random encounter' success rate to go up.. just someone who stumbles across the page, has no idea about video games, i want to convince them that I really mean business. and I think that the campaign page has succeeded there.

Commmunity is Key.

I've got an account on NeoGAF and those guys & girls on there are an amazing support community, I have really put effort into keeping them in the loop on the game as well as the kickstarter. Actually Cosmochoria was posted up to the Indie Game (March) thread, so I really had a whole months worth of chances to get the game a little attention through that, as well as answer people's questions, and generally just interact with people who might be interested in the game. Toma and More_Badass on that forum have particularly been helpful with advice, shouting the game out to others, and even starting an OT thread for the game to get some additonal NeoGAF peeps looking at it. As far as "External" backers go, the majority of them come from NeoGAF, they have my back, and in turn I am doing anything I can to make sure they know they are appreciated and I can help them in return where/when needed.

Also spent most of the day interacting / communicating with peeps on twitter / facebook / email just trying to spread the word. I want to keep that momentum going but I also want to make sure im starting to keep good contact with the NEW community im building - the backers!

Communication is key.

You cant just start a kickstarter and hope peeps stumble upon it. I mean that happens, but it wont save a dying campaign. I have been talking personally with the backers as best as I could to thank them for their support and let them know Im available for questions, etc. Overall I want them to know they can trust me, and that i'm not interested in their money, I'm interested in them & having them on board for the project. Treating everyone with respect & attention goes a long way - these amazing people aren't customers, they are strangers, friends, family -- people who actually believe in you & your dream. So much that they will put their money into seeing it happen. Ive had backers increase their pledge, and join my fight in spreading the word on twitter, etc. It may be because they just like the game, but I think it also has to do with the fact that I feel like i made an honest connection with them. They're not a backer to me, but truly and fully a friend, and they want to help.

Leadup is key.

I admit i could have done a way better job of this, but im one guy and i truly did what I could. You have to build relationships before the campaign even launches. You have to have people interested in the game and writing about it or at least wanting to write about it so that when the campaign launches, you feel comfortable asking them for help to get the word out.. not as a begging pleading developer trying to spam everyone to help, but as a friend, starting a relationship and showing that their assistance truly means a lot to you. I worked really hard to find writers / magazines who might be interested in Cosmochoria and was very deliberate and careful in my initial approach so that I didnt come across as just another spammer. I contacted them with personal emails, short and to the point, explaining my needs and expressing my gratitude for support. Sometimes I didn't even ask for help off the bat, but truly found like minded people via twitter who also happened to write, etc, and through the process of talking with them, i felt more comfortable asking for assistance getting the word of my game out. Regardless, its probably the #1 thing you have to keep in mind ALWAYS if you want to spread the word of your game. Unless you have the cash for a PR company to do this for you, or a game amazing enough that a PR team wants to work with you specifically, then you have to be on your game.

Now that Cosmochoria is up on kickstarter Im going to be working tirelessly day after day to ensure at least a handful of new people know about the project and even if they don't pledge, they share with their friends.

And with that said. Check out my project, Cosmochoria. It would genuinely mean the world to me to have your support.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nateschmold/cosmochoria

[Julien]

Thanks a lot for sharing your experience, it might be very helpful to me :p
And by the way, your game seem to be a nice project !

[30/30]

Thanks a Tonne, JulienBe. I realize im so new to this, so Im half worried what Im posting is just silly common sense to you guys, but i figured, its the kinda thing I would like to read, so that's why I threw it up here. Thanks for your kind words on the game.

[gambrinous]

Thanks for sharing - similar in scope to a KS I'm considering, so always good to see what's working for you.

How have you found getting press for the KS campaign? Did you already have some previous coverage?

[RealityShifter]

Campaign page is beautiful O.O

[30/30]

Thx RealityShifter!

@gambrinous - i have been trying to get some press for the past couple months, and I did make some decent connections at IndieGames.com, IndieStatik, IndieGameMag and a few others which have all been amazingly supportive in helping me spread the word not only before the kickstarter campaign, but once the campaign actually launched as well. I've been really lucky making those great connections and I look forward to finding ways to make them mutually beneficial. Even if just keeping in touch with the writers who helped me out, checking out their newer stories (unrelated to me) and sharing the ones that interest me to my social channels, etc. It's the least I can do to show support back to them, as they are also in a position where they're trying to build careers for themselves and if their work is getting shared / spread around, that can only help.

Ive still been sending out a lot of press requests and it seems like only 10% of them really stick, but a friend of mine who is deeper in the industry told me to just keep at it. Keep it polite / professional / short and sweet with links to the deeper info, and one of these days something will get snagged.

Also - be sure to, at the very very very least, write a proper press release and send it to gamespress.com after signing up for a free account. They do an amazing job of getting your news out to some of the 'branching' sites around the net, but at the very least it's at least 'possible' for someone to happen across it. Its free, so its stupid not to. :D

[Konidias]

I'm always curious about having low initial goals and then having stretch goals that are like 30x more than the initial goal. What made you decide to set up your funding this way?

Does this typically work well for KS? I haven't really seen any examples of it working well. Usually the KS ends up getting slightly over or maybe double their initial goal, but it's a long way off from 30x the initial goal.

I figured it would make more sense to start somewhere more realistic for a full game... like at least 30k. It feels more like you're going to make "Game: Lite" instead of "Game", unless you hit a bunch of stretch goals. Is it the fear of not hitting higher goals?

It kind of worries me seeing kickstarters like this, or especially kickstarters that are like "help us reach $5k to fund our tileset, and then help us reach $2k more to fund some sprites, and then $3k more in another KS to hit our music funding", etc.

To me I feel like if your initial game isn't the "full" thing, then it shouldn't really be kickstarted. "Stretch goals" should literally be adding more polish or maybe for advertisement or something. I see you've listed "polish the game" but it's at the 100k stretch goal... Which means... basically unless your game reaches $100k funding then we'd be getting a "lite" unpolished version of the game?

Also just curious as to what would happen if you actually hit $300k. Would the game still be released by October 2014? That's an absolute ton of features and work to add on to the game by that point in time. So I would assume you'd probably have to delay the full release of the game for many more months... which isn't really being fair to people who were expecting it in October. Especially because in order to reach that goal, you'd have to get a TON of people donating, and that just means a TON of disappointed people when the inevitable release delay occurs.

Sorry if this seems really negative but I'm genuinely curious as to why people set up their Kickstarters like this. Is it just generally a fear of not getting funded by asking for "too much"?

[30/30]

@Konidias,

No probs man - i dont see your comments as negative at all, it's actually a really valid concern/thought process.

Im swamped atm but ill do my best to answer some of your primary questions.

Reasons for lower funding amount with 'functionality' built into the stretch goals. Essentially my development plan was already "release the core game, built and polished and fully functional, bug free, and fun" with the whole idea that I would then be building on the game while it is available. Think of it sort of like how so many ios apps handle dev.. Initial game gets released, but then over the lifespan of the game (2-3 years!) i would continue to build the product, both providing value to the amazing customers who purchased the game in the first place, as well as giving additional opportunities throughout the products life cycle to continually promote / spread buzz every time new major features become introduced. Essentially the game that is released on release date is complete, but over the course of X it becomes even more feature rich, even more valuable. If I can help it, (i feel very strongly about this) I plan on providing these future updates at no additional cost. They would just become built into the core game, not added on via DLC etc.

So with that said, my kickstarter is essentially a development roadmap with those future updates planned and outlined ahead of time for any backers to see. I mean, realistically if i only reach $10,000, those additional updates would still be in the plan for a future release, yet without the financing to implement them it could literally take years to get them implemented. If I reach the stretch goals in the Kickstarter though, it increases the likelyhood that those changes can get implemented in months, instead of years.

Which brings me to your question about Development time. Absolutely if i hit $300,000 stretch goal, the work involved has become vast multitudes what it was originally. Absolutely 100% the delivery date would be increased, there's simply no way around that. That being said, I would offset that by first being 100% open and upfront about that very thing right from the start - meaning the kickstarter. Meaning before it even ends. If im a week away from the end date and the kickstarter is closing in on $30,000+ i will explain in a clear confident and respectful manner that "listen stretch goals mean more work, deadline must be moved back within reason" and especially "You still have a chance to retract your pledge"

That all said, I see no reason why I still can't release the $10,000 version of the game on the planned due date and continue development for the following months, releasing a major update that contains the stretch goal functionality at a planned and CLEARLY communicated release date further down. I think thats a very reasonable solution, one that satisfies essentially all criteria for the original expectations as well.

I think the primary concern is that for $10,000 people would be getting a 'half-assed' game.. but the truth is, i am confident in the quality and value i can deliver at that $10,000. Its just a simple matter of 'if i had more money, i can make a bigger game'. Super Mario Bros 1 could have had a racoon suit and yoshi and multiple mini-bosses, but they didnt have the opportunity to gauge their actual development on how much support they would receive for the game. With models like kickstarter, you are basically setting up a project with a 'floating budget'...

Which is your final point, why not just include all the functionality I had in the stretch goals into the main game and run a kickstarter for $400,000. Because there's no way I'd reach that. Not even close. I literally mapped out the functionality that i thought crucial to the core game and determined how much money it would require for me to build that functionality because at the end of the day, ANY support is still better than no support, and being on kickstarter, succeeding on kickstarter is not just about getting that money, but it's about building the awareness for the potential of a project while still being realistic about it's success based on criteria like how niche the game is, the relative 'fame' (or lack thereof in my case) of teh development team, etc. I was terribly worried (and now Im only mostly worried) that I would not even reach $10,000. But I felt like any lower than that and I cant confidently deliver an 'initial' product that meets my own vision of what that 'core' game could be.

I hope that makes sense and answers your questions. Definitely willing to discuss it more, i've been preparing for the campaign mentally for over a year and and in practice for many months leading up to the launch. All this stuff was given a LOT of thought and planning, so if I can explain / justify things in a way that makes sense, i would love to have the chance.

[Konidias]

Thanks for the well thought out and lengthy reply.

[RealityShifter]

Thanks for posting this, I'm about to do just this.

Thx RealityShifter!

@gambrinous - i have been trying to get some press for the past couple months, and I did make some decent connections at IndieGames.com, IndieStatik, IndieGameMag and a few others which have all been amazingly supportive in helping me spread the word not only before the kickstarter campaign, but once the campaign actually launched as well. I've been really lucky making those great connections and I look forward to finding ways to make them mutually beneficial. Even if just keeping in touch with the writers who helped me out, checking out their newer stories (unrelated to me) and sharing the ones that interest me to my social channels, etc. It's the least I can do to show support back to them, as they are also in a position where they're trying to build careers for themselves and if their work is getting shared / spread around, that can only help.

Ive still been sending out a lot of press requests and it seems like only 10% of them really stick, but a friend of mine who is deeper in the industry told me to just keep at it. Keep it polite / professional / short and sweet with links to the deeper info, and one of these days something will get snagged.

Also - be sure to, at the very very very least, write a proper press release and send it to gamespress.com after signing up for a free account. They do an amazing job of getting your news out to some of the 'branching' sites around the net, but at the very least it's at least 'possible' for someone to happen across it. Its free, so its stupid not to. :D

[Aloft]

looks like the KS campaign is coming along nicely! I hope you pull in enough to meet your development goals

[ryansumo]

Awesome post and really glad your KS is doing well.  I've also been thinking of a $10,000 crowdfunding venture on Indiegogo (coz I live in the 3rd world, which KS don't trust)so this is encouraging.

" Ive had backers increase their pledge, and join my fight in spreading the word on twitter, etc. It may be because they just like the game, but I think it also has to do with the fact that I feel like i made an honest connection with them. "

This is absolutely true and is something every developer should do.  There's an economic principle behind this I'm sure.  It even happened to me just recently.  I donated a measly buck to the New Books Network, one of my favorite podcasts.  When their founder emailed me to say thanks, I felt like a total shithead for donating a buck to a podcast network that's given me hours of entertainment.  So I went back and donated some more.

When people feel you're real they will want to reach out to you, especially now that the internet makes everything seem nebulous and unreal, someone saying thank you goes a really long way.

[30/30]

Just an update on the campaign - it has gone really well especially in the past couple days because a popular youtube duo (simon & lewis @ yogscast) did a couple preview videos for the game and the views/pledges spiked huge. There has been a trickle down effect from that in that now there are a bunch more videos being made, more awareness, and more community / backer involvement, which I am finding it very very hard to keep up with but will try my best. I wish i knew some way to leverage the exposure to lead to something bigger again, but really im just stabbing in the dark hoping to hit a zombie. It helps that the goal for the campaign is now met, so anything over and above is just a better initial game.

[ryansumo]

Congrats on getting funded!

[joe_eyemobi]

Hey 30/30!  As a game dev who will go on my own KS journey in a couple of months, I wish you the best of luck!  Congrats by the way, on getting your initial milestone - you're an inspiration to those of us who hope to have a successful KS campaign.  Here is my pledge - all the best! 

[30/30]

Thanks a million for your support man - sorry for the 10 day delay - shit's been crazy busy & hard to keep up with.

respect & keep me posted of your project when it launches!

[joe_eyemobi]

All good my man, you've already replied directly via email 
Anyway hope things are going well - can't wait to hear more about your success! 

[Catghost]

That is a really nice looking KS page. Even though there's a lot of information, you managed to balance everything out really well.

your experience is very insightful though. I like your approach, treating each person as more than just a backer. I think that really helped out your campaign, which looks to be going quite well so far.

Good luck during these last few days. I can't personally back it, but I did share it.

[30/30]

Thanks so much Catghost - sharing it is huge to me! It has the potential of so much more, even just spreading the awareness of the game. I appreciate the support.