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[render]

Hey guys,

First of all, I hope this is the right section (I did look!).

Today, I am happy to announce that GamePledge.com, a new crowdfunding platform for games, has launched. Over the past few weeks, we have received tons of feedback from testers and potential users, and we are really happy with the finished product. We consider this to be a soft-launch, as we are fully aware that it will take some time for project creators to take interest and choose us for their crowdfunding needs opposed to other platforms (like Kickstarter). Which brings us into some of the features that make GamePledge unique.

To get things started, I will address the most commonly asked question. At GamePledge, we not only believe in your project - but we take it a step further; we believe in your game! Because of this, we will not be charging any project fees. Yes really, 0% fees with no strings attached (you do still pay transaction fees).

Second, aside from the 0% fees, we have a few things unique to GamePledge. The first, being the most obvious, is that we are a niche crowdfunding platform. Unlike other crowdfunding sites, we do not have 15 categories in which our website is dedicated to. Naturally, this will create a more targeted audience that will cross-shop between games. This creates a better ratio of interested visitors to game projects, which directly benefits you.

Next, we offer a better variety of protection for project creators that currently is lacking with Kickstarter. We are really going to emphasize quality control, that way projects that are serious and deserve to share a space with your game, do. On top of that, we have pledge protection, meaning if someone pledges to your project, the only way they can withdraw from that pledge is to submit a dispute ticket and have it investigated by our team.

In addition to that, we have a ton of features such as Mailchimp integration, downloadable rewards, pay-what-you-want functionality, and more (with more on the way).

We also have a handful of perks that are in the works, including strong integration with Steam, better and more detailed analytics for your projects, project consulting, etc.





We are really excited to give both gamers and game creators a distinctive edge that continues to promote indie development. Even if you do not have a game or not looking for funding, if you believe in what we are doing, we would certainly appreciate your support!

Visit GamePledge | Like Us On Facebook

Thanks,
Alex

[wisetaner]

Interesting. However, how does Gamepledge plan on growing as a business, if the company doesn't charge any fees? On another topic I looked at your site and want to suggest making your Support Center and especially your F.A.Q's section available to the general public. Because if a potential customer clicks on those and sees a page that says "You must log in to get support", that would make a lot of people very weary about the company model.

You might have the best of intentions for that, but consider this: if you were a potential customer and had the choice between a very transparent and rather highly respected site such as Kickstarter which charged 5% (I think). Versus a site that said it didn't charge anything, yet was very mysterious as it required you to register before learning about how the site could benefit you. Which would you choose?

Lastly, it's good that you're excited and want to promote your business, but it seems premature considering some of your pages actually say, "Under Construction" and other pages are entirely void of anything useful. Considering your site is late to the crowdfunding game, it seems odd that the site does not have any information readily available on any of its pages. Information to show step by step walk-through or even a video on how Gamepledge is more viable and helpful to Indie developers than sites such as kickstarter.

No offense intended, but right now Gamepledge appears to need several more months of development, before it is ready to compete as a Crowdfunding site. I say all of this with Gamepledge's best interest in mind, because in the near future I will be in the market and choosing a crowdfunding site to use myself.

[render]

Hi wisetaner, thanks for your feedback!

To address your first question, we have a few different revenue models available to us that will allow us to maintain 0% fees. Regardless, our initial investment will ensure regular maintenance while we work toward establishing proof of concept.

Next, great suggestion. While we do intend to keep the Support Center available for members only, we will definitely look into making the FAQ portal public. Either way, I don't know why that would make 'a lot' of people weary about the company model. We do not collect any personally identifiable information at registration.

We will be adding more and more content of 'Why GamePledge' as time goes on. You are absolutely correct in that we are not an established brand like Kickstarter. We do realize that it will take time before people start looking our way for their game projects. However, on the flip side, it only takes a few successful projects to start snowballing into something greater which will help us establish our brand and integrity.

And for your last point, you are right. We chose to do a soft launch of GamePledge so people can be hands-on, create projects, save drafts, check it out, etc. While it is not a 100% finished product, it is fully functional. If someone wanted to fund their project on GP today, they are fully capable of doing so. We are continuously working on developing new improvements and adding new content.

[wisetaner]

It's good to see that you're open to suggestions. As for why having information such as the FAQ section available publicly versus only to members, it's all about transparency. The information you make available to visitors, the more people can learn about a company and how specifically that company will benefit each user, the longer a visitor stays at your site learning about that company, the more likely they are to be a buyer and the more potential of having a loyal member quicker. (run-on sentence, I know)

Just look at crowd funding sites (your competitors) such as kickstarter, they make an abundance of wealth of knowledge freely available to all visitors. Without the need for registering or signing up for anything.

At any rate I've gone on long enough about that.

As for your soft launch, best of success with that, however having people beta test the site might have been a more effective approach.

I'll be interested to see how the site has progressed, once it is fully launched and operational and has all the information readily available.

Hi wisetaner, thanks for your feedback!

To address your first question, we have a few different revenue models available to us that will allow us to maintain 0% fees. Regardless, our initial investment will ensure regular maintenance while we work toward establishing proof of concept.

Next, great suggestion. While we do intend to keep the Support Center available for members only, we will definitely look into making the FAQ portal public. Either way, I don't know why that would make 'a lot' of people weary about the company model. We do not collect any personally identifiable information at registration.

We will be adding more and more content of 'Why GamePledge' as time goes on. You are absolutely correct in that we are not an established brand like Kickstarter. We do realize that it will take time before people start looking our way for their game projects. However, on the flip side, it only takes a few successful projects to start snowballing into something greater which will help us establish our brand and integrity.

And for your last point, you are right. We chose to do a soft launch of GamePledge so people can be hands-on, create projects, save drafts, check it out, etc. While it is not a 100% finished product, it is fully functional. If someone wanted to fund their project on GP today, they are fully capable of doing so. We are continuously working on developing new improvements and adding new content.