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[Darkmill]

Hello everyone!

After lurking around the forums for some time now I've decided to create an account to ask a question that's been bugging me for a while now.
Let me start

I am THE sole developer of this little game :

  http://www.indiedb.com/games/blackmoor-bay

I am currently developing it using Unity Free and I handle everything except most of the 3D ( Most of the models are bought from the asset store and some edited to suit my needs) and music.
The thing is that while Unity Free is ok and allows me to finish the game , Unity Pro would really help in making it look nicer/more atmospheric.

So I've been thinking of having an Indiegogo(Cannot use kickstarter due to country) campaign in the future( when I have the trailer out and the game is nearing release). The campaign will focus on getting enough money for 2 things : Unity Pro and voice acting.

For this I plan to have a campaign for about 5000 dollars max.

Based on your experiences with both your games and based on what you can see about my game, any estimates on the chances of it getting funded?

Because making an Indiegogo campaign will take some time and if it'd more likely to fail those resources are better invested in finishing the game faster .

Also any feedback is appreciated.

Thanks!

[Panurge]

I can't help much with estimating your chances of getting funding but I'd like to think enough people would be interested once you have a trailer and a bit more information. I certainly like the setting and the atmosphere and would be more tempted to help fund something tight and story-driven like this than a sprawling and ambitious game which is bound to promise more than it delivers.

Good luck!

[Darkmill]

Thanks for the reply. To be honest I like to think I have a high chance on delivering. I'm working as a full time Game Designer for 4 years now and I have good estimates on how long a project will take and the chances of accomplishing it. That's one of the reasons I chose this type of game.  It was the BEST genre for a 1 man team with some experience to accomplish in a realistic time frame ( About a year of working in my spare time is my current estimate and so far things are progressing well enough).

Anyway I await even more feedback !

[Pandara_RA!]

I looked at the indie db for like 15mins and have no clue what the game is still...so I cant judge

[Darkmill]

It's a first person adventure game/interactive story. It's similar to games like : Gone Home, Dear Esther, Lifeless Planet.

You basically walk around, explore the island. Find notes/ clues / solve puzzles and gradually uncover the events that brought you there.

[dqhendricks]

I looked at the indie db for like 15mins and have no clue what the game is still...so I cant judge

This right here. It's going to be a hard sell if people can't tell anything about the game play by looking at it. A video might help a lot.

[RudyTheDev]

Hate to be that guy, but get your spelling, grammar, and formatting proper. I read "adventure game( i nthe vein of Lifeless Planet, Gone Home,Dear Esther) ,set set on a small remote lighthouse island" and that's as far as I would get if I was to judge the developer's professionalism and seriously consider spending money on the (promise of a) game.

It does look decent for an indie game, so get a video going ASAP.

[Knives]

I don't know, but it looks really good to me . Catchy title too. And any game inspired by Gone Home and Dear Esther is intriguing to me. Just make sure your presentation is solid when you start your campaign (your story writing skills and attention to detail will subconsciously show through the way you present your game).

And be sure to bust ass on the PR side during your campaign. Plenty of information out there on that, as you probably already know.

Also, I have no idea what I'm talking about so don't listen to me lol. But I don't think what I'm saying is too off base (unless it is).

But yea, I think it's worth it, dude. $5000 doesn't seem too hard of a goal, especially for a nice looking realistic 3d game like yours. I've seen horrendous looking games get at least a few thousand in crowdfunding, so I'd say you have a high chance of reaching your goal if you've read up on crowdfunding stuff and are well-informed and prepared going into it. I can tell you're proud of this game, so keep believing in it. Or don't. I'm not the boss of you.

[Whiteclaws]

Your game looks too gray in my opinion, i never saw a sky that gray, i think it removes from the realism you are going for, otherwise, it's pretty good, also, lighting looks a bit off, you should refine that, because that's one of the main selling points, I even think that you should try and find an artist to refine it up and go for atleast 10000$ or 20000$, it looks like a game that is worth it,

Edit: Some environments are lowpoly with a highres texture, looks off to me, my tip, get an artist, a sculpter or somebody that knows realism, and shoot him your game, he'll fix up the assets you bought and you'll have a better chance at kickstarter

Edit2: (I just repeated what i said earlier)

Edit3: How about you show us your game in motion, will help us evaluate better

[Vallar]

Well, while I don't have hands-on experience with crowd funding there are a lot of points that has been said in talks, articles and conferences regarding whether and when to start your crowdfunding campaign.

1- When you start a crowd funding, make sure that you have a following or a fan base. While not set in stone, it is better to have 400 people following you and a chance of 4% of them backing you up than none (or 10 for example) and 4% those might back you up.

2- Show don't tell. Similar to the rules of writing a story. Don't tell me it is an adventure game set in 1930s. Put a video out, screen shots of what you want to do, mock ups, little tiny bits of your design, etc... 

3- Divide the amount you are asking for if you can. For example, I am asking for $10 which is $5 for bus fare and $5 for Indiegogo's fee.

4- Check out all the crowd funding campaigns you can find (both the failure and the success).

All said and done, here are a few links that might interest you:
http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/19982-petulas-kickstarter-journey-path-to-90k-finished-1-11-14/

http://nakedgameplay.com/video/view/37

Not successful unfortunately: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1913131173/courier-rpg-adventure-explore-solve

http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=36176.0

I used to have more links, but these are the ones that I could find now, if I find more, I'll post if you are still interested in more.

Hope that helps in anyway.

[Darkmill]

      Wow, thanks for all the replies. I'm in a hurry now so i'll keep it short. I made a trailer for the game, and after sharing it with a few people I know ( working in the games industry) we all agree the lightning and environments need more work before I should make a trailer.

      So I'm doing just that . I'm going through all the environments that will be used in the trailer and polishing everything up. It should take about a month or so , but then I'll hopefully have a much better trailer to show off!

 Then we will continue this discussion as well to see what comes next

[Whiteclaws]

      Wow, thanks for all the replies. I'm in a hurry now so i'll keep it short. I made a trailer for the game, and after sharing it with a few people I know ( working in the games industry) we all agree the lightning and environments need more work before I should make a trailer.

      So I'm doing just that . I'm going through all the environments that will be used in the trailer and polishing everything up. It should take about a month or so , but then I'll hopefully have a much better trailer to show off!

 Then we will continue this discussion as well to see what comes next

how about you go to the collab section and ask for an artist?
this has a lot of potential and is in a pretty good state, im sure somebody would be interested polishing it up

[Darkmill]

      Wow, thanks for all the replies. I'm in a hurry now so i'll keep it short. I made a trailer for the game, and after sharing it with a few people I know ( working in the games industry) we all agree the lightning and environments need more work before I should make a trailer.

      So I'm doing just that . I'm going through all the environments that will be used in the trailer and polishing everything up. It should take about a month or so , but then I'll hopefully have a much better trailer to show off!

 Then we will continue this discussion as well to see what comes next

how about you go to the collab section and ask for an artist?
this has a lot of potential and is in a pretty good state, im sure somebody would be interested polishing it up

Well because I don't have the money to pay someone and I'm really reticent in promising a share of the revenue. It might ptobably come to that but I'd rather just raise the money to pay him/her a fixed sum royalty free.