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TIGSource ForumsDeveloperBusinessIndiegogo suggestion need / and sharing our campaign statistics
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Author Topic: Indiegogo suggestion need / and sharing our campaign statistics  (Read 2726 times)
Wei
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« on: April 15, 2014, 11:36:52 PM »

The campaign failed, but just want to feedback to this great community.
To view the statistics, please go to http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=40115.msg1021992#msg1021992

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As titled, Link to the campaign preview page

I've been working on this project Forward to the Sky for quite a while and working hard to build up a little community from sketch.

I am planning to start an Indiegogo funding campaign this weekend. After reading all of recent posts regarding crowd funding, trying to learn everything I could from them, I came out my campaign page.
But I still feel like I might be missing some important factors on that page.

I am here to ask how you feel about this page? Does it appeals you?
Or could you give me any suggestion where I should improve it.

Thanks in advance!
« Last Edit: May 14, 2014, 01:58:48 AM by Wei » Logged

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Christian Knudsen
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« Reply #1 on: April 16, 2014, 04:47:53 AM »

You might consider adding higher pledge tiers. Though you'd of course need some bigger rewards for that, and you seem to be (wisely) sticking to digital rewards. Maybe just something like $50: Get a special thank you in the credits? Low pledge tiers might deter some people that were otherwise willing to pledge more than $15.

Also:

Quote
Wei ( Game design and programming ) ( Responsible for your pledge and the failure of this project )

Change 'failure' to 'success'. I guess you're trying to say that if the project fails, you'll be responsible for that failure. But your role in the project isn't being responsible for its failure -- you're responsible for its success.
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Wei
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« Reply #2 on: April 16, 2014, 06:27:29 AM »

You might consider adding higher pledge tiers.
I totally agree with it, however it is really difficult for me to provide physical rewards. The oversea shipping cost is too high ( something like $30 USD ).
A special thank you in the credits is a good idea, I will consider it ( but not sure if it could appeal backers since they really take back nothing. )


Regarding my role, another good point. I think I should make it clear I am the project lead, so I will be responsible for the failure of the project. Making it "responsible for its success" sounds to me like I want to credit the success to only myself which wasn't what I mean.

Thanks for the suggestions!
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Christian Knudsen
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« Reply #3 on: April 16, 2014, 07:02:20 AM »

Regarding my role, another good point. I think I should make it clear I am the project lead, so I will be responsible for the failure of the project. Making it "responsible for its success" sounds to me like I want to credit the success to only myself which wasn't what I mean.

It's just a language thing. The lead on a project would never describe himself as being "responsible for the project failing". His job is to make sure that the project succeeds, so he's "responsible for the project succeeding". If the project fails, then that's his responsibility, but that's different.

But just write that you're the Project Lead. It's inferred that you'll be responsible if the project fails. Stating it outright like that just makes it feel like you're anticipating a very high risk of it failing.
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« Reply #4 on: April 16, 2014, 07:07:34 AM »

It's just a language thing. The lead on a project would never describe himself as being "responsible for the project failing". His job is to make sure that the project succeeds, so he's "responsible for the project succeeding". If the project fails, then that's his responsibility, but that's different.

But just write that you're the Project Lead. It's inferred that you'll be responsible if the project fails. Stating it outright like that just makes it feel like you're anticipating a very high risk of it failing.

Many appreciate, I didn't notice that. My country's culture goes opposite from that way, very interesting.
Anyway, I fix it to "Wei ( Project lead and programming )", thank you. Beer!
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Chris Koźmik
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« Reply #5 on: April 16, 2014, 07:20:55 AM »

The description is confusing, I have no clue what this game is about (mechanics wise). For example you wrote "A 3D action adventure game" and "The game is going to focused on puzzle solving". How action and puzzle solving is compatible (you mean like arcade style jumping on platforms while solving some intellectual puzzles)? And this whole "adventure" it could mean anything Smiley

The "Funding, where your hard earned money go?" is too wordy, simple "All of the funding are going to be used in improving art." would be sufficient. Don't forget, fewer words = better Smiley

BTW, the art is nice.


Rewards:
- to my observation anything below "A DRM-free digital copy of the game" is meaningless (almost no one go for these)
- add more high tiers, invent some crazy titles for those people in credits
- consider making a "limited deluxe version - with a cute ribbon on the princess head! - available to $100 founders only and only during crowdfunding"
- to my observation, "making you an NPC" tier always has fans Smiley
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« Reply #6 on: April 16, 2014, 08:09:46 AM »

I'd recommend raising your prices honestly. The majority of people will go for the $7 option meaning you need a minimum of ~430 participants for funding. At $10 you'll only need 300 preorders.

Other thoughts:
-Your game has a great art style, but the first couple screenshots of the game are not flattering at all. The three at the bottom of the page are far nicer and would leave a better first impression imo.
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« Reply #7 on: April 16, 2014, 08:51:39 AM »

Yeah, you could do with some higher prices. Remove the $1 one... nobody's going to use donate money for nothing. Replace it with something like $2 or $3 for in game credit mention. Put the top tier somewhere at $100 and offer a physical version of the book with free shipping anywhere. Process book and soundtrack should be around $15. "Everything above" should be around $20.

It seems a bit weird to raise prices to get more people, but with crowdfunding, part of the appeal of some things is how rare the rewards are. If you're like me and want people to get stuff for cheap, just charge them something like $5 for the full game.

If you want to pull a dirty trick, put the process book and soundtrack at $18 and shift the everything above price to $20 Tongue


Pricing aside, I have no idea what the game is really about. The art is actually very good, why would you spend money on that? But there's nothing really engaging me about the game. The screenshots have a lot of jumbled up blocks. The trailer has her pushing around blocks for no reason and flipping easy levers.

What's the story? What makes the game different from any other games? What would make the player excited about it?

If the focus is on puzzles, show some interesting puzzles that are being solved. If the focus is on story, show some of the narration. Still needs a lot of work before a crowdfunding launch, IMO.
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ImagineMartin
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« Reply #8 on: April 16, 2014, 11:08:26 AM »

I would definitely go with adding higher perks. For example rewards that allow yur supportes to become part of the game (e.g. naming things/areas/characters in the game world).

Our crowdfunding is currently running and it's really hard to get noticed by a huge audience - especially on IndieGoGo - although we had some good reviews and playtesting sessions of our demo by some youtubers.
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« Reply #9 on: April 16, 2014, 05:28:51 PM »

This isn't necessarily related to the information about the game, but think very hard about your funding goal and how you decide to set it up.

Remember, funding can go over 100%, but your campaign ending under 100% is the worst of fates. If you haven't given the goal a lot of thought, you should spend a day or so really mulling it over; ask what the minimum amount of money is that you would be able to work with in order to get the game out the door.

I can also offer you an anecdote. Whether it helps or not, I leave up to you, but this is our experience with crowd funding.

Over a year ago we tried to Kickstart Blasted Fortress; the campaign failed for two reasons, one being that the art at the time was terrible (we later redesigned it all from the ground up in a free patch), but also because we were almost completely "undiscoverable." Nobody could find the Kickstarter, and no matter how loud we were on Twitter and Facebook, there was nobody already following along with us to hear our calls. When the campaign failed, it was at about 3% of a $2,500 goal.

If you have any apprehension about what you're showing off, that it might not be the best you can do, take some more time to refine what little of your game does exist. Many people say they want something that "works" before they back a project, but I've personally studied Kickstarters and I find that whether a project is "working" has very little if anything to do with getting funded, and more about how professional the visuals of the page are, and what few visuals are that you can present of the game itself.

As for discoverability, after all this time I've still not found a solid way over that hurdle. Being discovered will be your hardest fight by far; it has taken us a year to gain the 600-700 followers we currently have on Twitter.
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Wei
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« Reply #10 on: April 16, 2014, 06:53:27 PM »

Hey guys, that's a bunch of nice points.
Just want to let you know I am working on it and gonna get back to you as soon as I got it modified!
Thanks!
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Wei
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« Reply #11 on: April 17, 2014, 12:58:38 AM »

I fixed it!

2 more perks, a $50 for supporter credits and a $100 for a special build of the game.
The game is going to be priced at $10, so it doesn't make sense to put the pre-order at higher price ( I guess ).

The description is confusing, I have no clue what this game is about
I rewrote it a bit to make it more clear, hopefully. "The game is Zelda-like, features a mixture of puzzles, action and adventure gameplay but focused more on puzzles."

Pricing aside, I have no idea what the game is really about. The art is actually very good, why would you spend money on that?
Good points, I didn't make it clear enough why I need funding on art. I added this "There are still 30% of the must-have environment arts to be done." to make it more reasonable.
It is actually hard for me to show the gameplay, especially puzzle solving. I don't want to show people how to solve the puzzle before they start the game, but there are a lot to do with puzzling in this game. And that's the main reason I am only showing some picture irrelevant.

Being discovered will be your hardest fight by far;
I believe that, how professional the visuals of the page makes a lots difference to the campaign.
And getting noticed/discovered is probably the hardest part of marketing an indie game.

I am going to update the pictures and video later to explain the gameplay better. If you got any more thoughts please feel free to speak out, this thread is helping me a lot! Thanks!
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« Reply #12 on: April 17, 2014, 02:56:03 AM »

Hi Wei,

How soon are yo looking to launch this Indiegogo?

My own biggest concern is that the communication is not very clear because English is a second language to you.  There are some sentences that sound a little awkward or out of place, for example:

Apupu and CONE are doing the professional character art with no paid and never complain about it because they like what they do.

I can understand exactly what you are saying here, but an average reader might translate "with no paid and never complain about it because they like what they do." as "oh, you're using slave labor to make your games?

I'm a big believer in good communication and so I think you should really consider finding a translator that can better express your ideas in English.

I understand that expressing yourself in a different language can be very difficult, so if you want I can go over your campaign page and do my best to fix the biggest grammar issues for free.  Just PM and lets see if we can make this happen.
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Wei
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« Reply #13 on: April 17, 2014, 04:11:40 AM »

Thanks for that! It would be very nice if someone in English can help! I've pm you, thanks again.
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Chris Koźmik
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« Reply #14 on: April 17, 2014, 06:31:54 AM »

The game is going to be priced at $10, so it doesn't make sense to put the pre-order at higher price ( I guess ).
Make the regular price at $20 and after a few months make a discount to $10.

The description is confusing, I have no clue what this game is about
I rewrote it a bit to make it more clear, hopefully. "The game is Zelda-like, features a mixture of puzzles, action and adventure gameplay but focused more on puzzles."
[/quote]Much better.

Turning a player mode on: Does it mean I will be saving some "prince boy" then? Wouldn't it be more thematic if the main character was a boy/warrior? What's the main storyline in one sentence (for example Zelda has it "Link goes to rescue princess Zelda"). At the first glance I can't find any *strong* theme for the game, just some baloon and random/boring going around for some unexciting adventures... Generally, the word "adventures" is much weaker than "slaying a dragon", "rescuing a princess", "hunt for pirates treasure". Maybe be more specific in the description?

I feel the pictures are quite nice, but the story of the game might lack (which is strange because the story is the easiest/cheapest to fix).
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Wei
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« Reply #15 on: April 17, 2014, 10:04:36 PM »

What's the main storyline in one sentence (for example Zelda has it "Link goes to rescue princess Zelda"). At the first glance I can't find any *strong* theme for the game

Ah, ok, that makes sense. I added "Reveal the story of the sky tower." to the description. It is the goal of the game. I should have mention it in the very beginning.
You are going to collect all the fresco pieces to connect the story and everything will be revealed once Princess reaches the top level.

I think this will be the last fix of the page, thank you everyone. And I've also put a special thanks section to you on TIGForums.

I will continue to post the campaign update if any of you are interest in the rest part! Thanks!

Edit: "Reveal the story of the sky tower" was "Link up the story of the sky tower".
« Last Edit: April 18, 2014, 01:27:35 AM by Wei » Logged

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Wei
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« Reply #16 on: May 14, 2014, 01:57:48 AM »

So, this campaign https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/forward-to-the-sky failed.

And here's data collected from the campaign, I didn't find many data on the web and decide to share this, hope it helps.

You can link to http://www.magic-nology.com/ftts/indiegogo-campaign-experience/ for full information.

Or just have a quick look at the following images:


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« Reply #17 on: May 15, 2014, 07:31:07 PM »

Thanks for sharing Wei, and sorry to hear it didn't get funded.  It's still good to know that you have people around the world excited enough to give you money for the game, and I'm hopeful you can take the stuff you learned and launch a better campaign in the future!
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Wei
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« Reply #18 on: May 15, 2014, 07:35:01 PM »

Thank you Ryan, and for your help during the campaign!
Although this campaign failed, it's still good to see some people are looking forward to the game. We are going to work on marketing and promotion harder to push it :p
I hope this data helps. And good luck to your game as well. Beer!
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« Reply #19 on: June 19, 2014, 04:48:44 AM »

I think the funding failed because of the tiers. 95 backers is above average. According to kickstarter stats 85 is the average, and with 85 backers you could raise USD 4500 or something similar with the right tiers.

Good luck with the project.
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