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[LucasMaxBros]

So after doing a lot of research I'm heavily considering doing a Kickstarter for my game, "Quad Knight". I plan on releasing the 3.0 Demo soon for testing. The game is sort of like a cross between Yoshi's Island, Kirby, and Castlevania (Oldschool).

1080p Demo Game play: 



I've been developing it for seven months now, my only other help is four other composers who are only doing the music. The rest of this was created by me. And it's been quite the work. I really want to make it look better, with better animations and effects. I also want an animated trailer and voice acting, but I'm not exactly rich.

I have been doing the estimates and thinking long and hard EXACTLY what I need to do what I want to make this game look its best.

So, who here has experience with Kickstarter projects who can give me some pointers? After my first month of development, I considered Kickstarter, but I believe that's around when the whole Fez 2 thing happened... Which sort of scared me. I kinda thought that perhaps games being Kickstarted was beginning to become unpopular and that I had blown my chance.

But I'm not a bad person nor one who would ever dare deny people a promise I made, so perhaps I'll have a shot. Currently, the amount of money I would need is around $3500 USD. Is that a good goal? Lower or Higher, what are some good rewards to set up, etc?

[rj]

woah woah woah chill out with the giant letters i got spooked

also i've never done a kickstarter so i have no idea. i'd say you gotta get better art assets before you could do that but that's just me, maybe

[LucasMaxBros]

woah woah woah chill out with the giant letters i got spooked

also i've never done a kickstarter so i have no idea. i'd say you gotta get better art assets before you could do that but that's just me, maybe

Uh yeah, sorry about that. Looked real hard to see on the preview of it (This is the first thread I've made on here).

I'd like to do digital art more to build a portfolio up, but it's hard with limited money and when the best tablet you have has really little space. I manage, but I can't draw freely with it. If I could draw on something the size of a paper or bigger, I could make things SO much faster and more fluid. Yup.

[AndrewCampbell]

 Wow... I have to say I like what I see!!

 To be honest I wasn't sure what to think about your video before clicking it but the more of it I saw the more I liked it!! I'm sure I don't understand every aspect of your game just by watching one video, but I really liked the game mechanics I saw!
 I'm in the middle of a Kickstarter campaign right now and I know that for me personally there are two things I would change if I could go back in time two/three months ago. Please learn from my regret.
 1. Be more active on social media.
 - Although my current project is on Steam Greenlight (and the Yes/No vote ratio is doing well, and we have a good reception in the comments section) I'm finding it very hard to get donations. A part of this is the fact that although me and my partner made a trailer that gamers like (not ALL gamers, but enough to get Greenlit if the ratio stays consistent) we did not put the forethought into reaching out and establishing a community that would be heavily interested in the Kickstarter before we launched. By far my worst mistake. Due to not being a part of a larger community or developing a larger audience, I find myself trying to promote my Kickstarter to too few to get it funded. I'm making changes now to set that right but it is an uphill battle if you wait till after your Kickstarter launches.

 2. Have a working build of my game I'm proud of to send to media outlets.
 - Basically I was working on my game and had a working AI that was "ok" but I wanted to improve for better gameplay. While in the middle of working on it, my partner and I switched to working on the Trailer and Kickcktarter/Greenlight campaigns among other things. Once I went back to working on the AI I realized that I had somehow lost the build with the AI I had built. Oops.
 I'm finding out that, not all, but quite a few gaming sites like to be able to play a demo of your game to get a better feel for it and write an as accurate article as possible about your game. They like to write about your game as a player not an advertiser. It's also worth noting that you should contact the media sites before your Kickstarter launches so that the articles can be written and released during the beginning of the Kickstarter campaign.

 Anyways, I really liked your video and hope to see it on Steam soon! Based on the description, it looks like that should be rather soon indeed! Once it's up, you will definitely get a "Yes" vote from me! :-)

[LucasMaxBros]

:-)

Thanks for liking it! And I've experienced the same things before with Greenlight. I had actually put this game up on Greenlight quite a few months ago, and it was an interesting experience(Such as at first there were so many NO votes, but then doing some research, I realized it wasn't THAT bad, but could definitely be better). I ultimately decided to not promote it because I realized that it was too early in its development, and from the criticism I got, I had more work to do. I reworked on a lot of stuff for about 3 more months trying to get the art style right and add as many new things that I thought were fitting.

This time, I have a superior Demo and have had people Beta test the game and its mechanics several times. I also have some very encouraging supporters who plan on showcasing the Demo - Lucahjin, to name one. And I agree, getting social is key, you need people to like your game, and people are social. I'll try taking your advice on giving some good sites a description of my game before Kickstarting it, so there reports happen around the same time.

And I've had a similar problem when developing the game. Not losing AI, but rather keeping the art consistent over the course of several months(Which is why I want to kickstart and get a bigger Tablet, that way my art is ALWAYS consistent). This is 3.0 version, and it's where I finally hit a consistent point with my art. The previous 6 months was garbage, and some of the sprites still disgust me a little, but there not in the Demo thankfully.

[The Great Emoticon]

I have done a lot of research around Kickstarter and here is what I found came up the most:

• Good rewards. Pick things that are worth what you are asking for in exchange for their pledge)
• Video, a good video, a great video lol. The video will be probably your most critical asset when you make your kickstarter its probably the single most important aspect of if someone will pledge or not
• Try and build a community before you start. If you cant then that's ok, lots of games hit their target that started with just a few people knowing about their game but it defiantly doen't hurt to have some people that are already ready to back you.
• Marketing. Don't ever stop promoting.
• Don't set to long of a duration. People wont pledge just because they will wait until the very end to see how close you are. If you have a short campaign then the sense of urgency is immediate

Those are just my thoughts. Good luck!

[LucasMaxBros]

Thanks for the advice! I've especially been trying to be social and trying to grab peoples attention with twitter or on some of my more popular youtube videos.

[EdFarage]

Even though the game mechanics are pretty good, i don't think you'll get a very good kickstarter out of those assets, i agree with rj, you need better assets before trying kickstarter.

[Müsta Klaki]

It seems these days people are very afraid of Kickstarter when it comes to games. If you don't have good art assets people just won't back it. I say get a few things done, enough to make one screen-shot. Then say "We need the money to make the whole game look like this!" It will give them a general idea of the style.

Most of the games I've seen get Kickstarted are ones that are nearly finished already, or at least look like it.

They're like, "we need 80k", but then they show you tons of art assets and music and everything works great, it looks feature complete. I think Kickstarter is more of a way to

1: Advertise your game
2: Secure pre-orders before the game releases (as most of the rewards just come with the game)

I'm not sure if the devs are bullshitting most of the time, but kind of seems that way. Maybe they want to hit stretch goals or add more to the game, but most I've seen look complete already.

[LucasMaxBros]

It seems these days people are very afraid of Kickstarter when it comes to games. If you don't have good art assets people just won't back it. I say get a few things done, enough to make one screen-shot. Then say "We need the money to make the whole game look like this!" It will give them a general idea of the style.

Most of the games I've seen get Kickstarted are ones that are nearly finished already, or at least look like it.

They're like, "we need 80k", but then they show you tons of art assets and music and everything works great, it looks feature complete. I think Kickstarter is more of a way to

1: Advertise your game
2: Secure pre-orders before the game releases (as most of the rewards just come with the game)

I'm not sure if the devs are bullshitting most of the time, but kind of seems that way. Maybe they want to hit stretch goals or add more to the game, but most I've seen look complete already.

Well at the moment, after getting some more people to test the game AND that I've been doing nothing but focusing on it for seven months straight...I'm taking a break from it and doing a new project that's a lot more simple with a clear path in mind. Had I done this Kickstarter, I probably would have asked for 3000 USD and not much more. It's just to help with my first project, I don't think it's gonna be the next best thing, I just wanted to know what it's like to actually make and sell a game; bad or not (Though always leaning towards the good).

[Müsta Klaki]

3k? I think a lot of people would "donate" to something that small regardless.

[joe_eyemobi]

This might help:

http://gamasutra.com/blogs/JoeChang/20141117/230163/Postmortem_for_a_Kickstarter_Project_that_just_made_it_over_the_line.php

I just finished a KS, and it was ok - we just made it.

From a brief look at your vid two things stand out:
- The games graphics don't grab me - you can either make them super cool, or the other direction: super retro with a unique look
- The music seems a little out of place, e.g. rock and orchestral that seems like at times it would fit a tactical FPS

KS does seem to be getting harder and harder to do now, but it is still do-able if you're smart about it, e.g. do things like have immaculate presentation, appropriate asking amounts, planning etc...

[LucasMaxBros]

This might help:

http://gamasutra.com/blogs/JoeChang/20141117/230163/Postmortem_for_a_Kickstarter_Project_that_just_made_it_over_the_line.php

I just finished a KS, and it was ok - we just made it.

From a brief look at your vid two things stand out:
- The games graphics don't grab me - you can either make them super cool, or the other direction: super retro with a unique look
- The music seems a little out of place, e.g. rock and orchestral that seems like at times it would fit a tactical FPS

KS does seem to be getting harder and harder to do now, but it is still do-able if you're smart about it, e.g. do things like have immaculate presentation, appropriate asking amounts, planning etc...

Thanks for the advice and such, but I'd just like to tell anyone who replies to this thread about my game; it's currently being postponed. I realized there were many mistakes, and I believe I know what they are but I'd have to start from scratch. The art direction wasn't coherent since I made the art at different times and redid only some of them later on (I was originally going for a crayon type look like Yoshi's Island, but I don't know what went wrong). It's actually kinda depressing hearing people say they don't like the graphics when I've had some notable art feats in my state, but I'm hoping it's just because I lacked focus rather than skill.

Anyways I'm taking a break and working on a different game now with a better mind set and trying to get ideas from the public and trying stuff out before I really try making a game around it. The game I postponed, I just started out of nowhere, had some focus, but it escalated and I had too much going on. It's sloppy, but hopefully I'll rework it someday.