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[oahda]

Well, you got this far. A lot of the game is done, and it seems like it would be ready for primetime quite soon with funding, so it definitely hasn't been a waste. And hey, I know it sucks to hear, but you do learn from your mistakes too. You might know exactly what to do next time.

I hope you'll keep working on it, if you can, since you're so close. There might be another opportunity. You might also be able to receive funding in some other way. You should check out what possibilities there are.

You are also running a company beyond this game, right, if I understood correctly? Is that enough to keep you fed as you keep working on Tidepool?

[teefal]

Yes, I have a software company that makes money doing other things.  As for Tidepool, I can put in six to ten hours a week from now on, which would allow me to finish between January and June 2017.  My first Tidepool year was full time with money we had saved.  Our second year was half Tidepool and half billable.  This year needs to be all billable, or I'm risking divorce

I'm lucky I have options, and that my skills are in demand.  My goal was to fund the remaining three months so I could finish this summer instead of next year. And yeah, I was hoping for a Kickstarter fantasy scenario.  Silly me, nothing comes for free.

[Zizka]

Ah well, what can I say? We tried our best. With 4000 page views and 1600 video plays (20% of them finished), we had ample exposure to raise the needed money.

Just out of curiosity (I'm sorry if you mentioned this already), just how much did you promote your game before launching the KS?

[JobLeonard]

Here's a beautiful example of why Tidepool has no professional drawings or models.



Research in the UK in 2008 showed "young people lost their ability to think in "divergent or non-linear ways", a key component of creativity. Of 1,600 children aged three to five who were tested, 98% showed they could think in divergent ways. By the time they were aged eight to 10, 32% could think divergently. When the same test was applied to 13 to 15-year-olds, only 10% could think in this way. And when the test was used with 200,000 25-year-olds, only 2% could think divergently. . . . Education is driven by the idea of one answer and this idea of divergent thinking becomes stifled."

Taken from this article, which also has tips for art teachers to avoid stereotyping.

Put that in the opening post, somewhere near the end.

Also... YOU WORKED WITH ALAN KAY?!

[teefal]

JobLeonard, yes, for his current group Viewpoints Research. I led the effort to create Squeakland Foundation, a spin off that focused on Alan's Etoys, which Tidepool is inspired by.

Speaking of Alan, I just got followed on Twitter by Nolan Bushnell

[teefal]

Zizka, I started by promoting to friends and colleagues, about a hundred of them. I kept them updated for a little over a year, then went public last year in preparation for ISTE, the biggest ed-tech conference. This is also when I started this devlog. I've been posting to a blog, writing a book about it, and updating social media all along.

After ISTE, my player base tripled by a few hundred, but I didn't do any mainstream press, since it was still very early.  My goal was to find passionate helpers to build the world and test gameplay.

A few months ago I widened my efforts to include the gaming press as I prepared for the Kickstarter and GDC.  I sent four releases/announcements to everywhere, both working off my own list and using three PR services and one promotion company.  All told that netted me about three articles in some very minor web magazines, and a Gamasutra listing.

At GDC I met with a few journalists.  They liked the idea, but not enough to write about it.  I talked to lots of people and increased my list by another hundred .. all from talks.

Oh, and I tried a few days of paid promotion on Facebook and Twitter, just to learn that it's gonna take some serious coin to benefit from that approach. Throughout I've grown my Twitter followers to about 700 and my mailing list to about 1400 (which includes many from earlier years doing ed-tech elsewhere)

From here out, I'll concentrate on making it easy for players to share gameplay to social media, and keep hitting up the press with queries (article ideas) until something hits.

A long answer, but I figured someone might find it interesting.  It should also be said that we're really only halfway through the marketing plan from my biz plan.  (Ed-tech and gamers)   Still to come, schools and parents, which require a more finished product and more moola.

(btw, I love Super Toaster Guy ... was the first devlog I started reading on TIGSource)

[oahda]

I see you have more followers on your personal account than the game's account. Dunno which is better. I'm always confused when there are so many account. My acquaintance runs a company, and has a personal account, a company account and then an account for each game. I personally find that a bit superfluous, but maybe it's good to isolate things like that in case somebody only wants the update on a specific game or whatever... I dunno.

The banner picture on your personal account, with all of the kids with laptops, seems like the perfect type of promotional stuff for Tidepool anyhow!

[teefal]

Prinsessa, I just started promoting @playTidepool a week or two ago, so that's why. It had like 15 followers before that.  Mostly people who look for the #gamedev tag, and the usual marketing vultures.

I really didn't want to split things, but some of my personal tweets are ... personal

[Zizka]

(btw, I love Super Toaster Guy ... was the first devlog I started reading on TIGSource)

What can I say, you have good taste! 

A few months ago I widened my efforts to include the gaming press as I prepared for the Kickstarter and GDC.  I sent four releases/announcements to everywhere, both working off my own list and using three PR services and one promotion company.  All told that netted me about three articles in some very minor web magazines, and a Gamasutra listing.

I was sipping my coffee when I read that paralyzed me for a minute. My first reaction was to blame the PR services. I'm guessing from the way you worded the result is that you weren't fully satisfied with the results. It's a shame that investment didn't pay off in the but on the other hand, your game is certainly more out there now.

Oh, and I tried a few days of paid promotion on Facebook and Twitter, just to learn that it's gonna take some serious coin to benefit from that approach. Throughout I've grown my Twitter followers to about 700 and my mailing list to about 1400 (which includes many from earlier years working with OLPC, Alan Kay, etc.)

Would you say that was worth it?

As for the presentation, I thought it was pretty well-made and I'm surprised it wasn't funded.

I think the "problem" here is the psychology of marketing. It's another beasts on its own which still eludes me (personally).  On one hand, it's targeted at a younger audience from my understanding of things, so the "primitive" (from lack of a better word) but on the other hand I think (this is not based on research) people just want good looking graphics. Which I guess is sort of a difficult position you find yourself in. I'm not too sure I would personally handle this myself.

Here's my suggestion: be concise. Vlambeer talked about that in his speech, you should be able to pitch your game in 3 sentences. The first video is 5 minutes long. That, in my opinion, is too long. I'd say a minute at most. You know how movies always end up editing the final version and really sticking to the crucial bits? I think that's something you might want to consider for yours. That's about the most useful thing to take out from this post  . Just being honest here, hope it helps!

[teefal]

(last kickstarter update)

Well, folks, we tried.  A warm-hearted thank you to the 69 backers who pledged $5031. Because we didn't reach the goal, we'll get none of it. Your cards won't be charged.

In retrospect, I'd make a better "ask" video, with gameplay and bullet points in the beginning before the personal ask. I'd also make it clear the drawings in the game are intentionally done by amateurs, since this encourages young kids to draw. Lastly, I'd pick another category than "video games", since this clearly was not our crowd.

Live and learn. Since we weren't funded, we won't finish Tidepool this summer. Working weekends, I hope to finish by the end of the year.

Please signup to follow my progress and get announcements. You can also follow me on Twitter or like us on Facebook. To really deep dive, chime in on TIGsource.

We're honoring the rewards, so let me know your Tidepool username by messaging me here or through our contact page. You don't need to download to get a username.

Thank you for your faith in Tidepool.

Take care,
Tim

[teefal]

Zizka, thank you for feedback.  About a week in, I shortened the trailer a few minutes and took out the initial "motivation" section, so it started with the gameplay.  We actually went down after that in both video finishes and pledges, so I put back the original.

Were I to start now, I'd do gameplay shots with three big bullets, then the longer stuff.  My press announcements had eight sentences, by the way, which a PR guy told me was optimal when sending to the press.

[teefal]

Here's the wide release announcement the PR company wrote for me.  They've gotten some pretty decent placement in the past, so I trusted them.  Zero hits.

We're working with a new project I think you and your audience would enjoy hearing about.

While most game developers are focused on shoot'em up action, Timothy Falconer decided to take his ten year old daughter (Isabel) out of school to help create a new gaming experience that makes kids smarter!

See at (kickstarter addres)

Tidepool is a 3D multiplayer gaming world, where kids (ages 7-12) collaborate to make interactive stories come to life. Tidepool teaches creative problem solving without bogging players down with complex code. Now children can gain confidence with language, math, and programming by chatting with their characters via the magic of AI (Artificial Intelligence). Play Tidepool with connected users all over the world as you work towards earning cool rewards - plus everything in the game is drawn and built by kids themselves.

Tidepool is FREE to play. An alpha version is currently available for Windows, Mac, and Linux at http://playTidepool.com.

Tim and Isabel are also partnering with the Haiti Ocean Project and others to help spread their educational pilot programs to underdeveloped areas of the world.

[teefal]

I then wrote my own and promoted it myself to gaming sites.  Got half a dozen hits.

This fall, Immuexa will release Tidepool, a storytelling game world with a natural language interface. Players code their characters by chatting with them. Nearly two years in development, Tidepool uses a custom-built game engine and multiplayer server that lets you sketch, animate, and share assets within non-linear, interactive stories.

See our Kickstarter at http://backTidepool.com

"To learn real game development," says Falconer, lead designer, "you need a deep tool that lets you craft complex behavior without bogging you down with syntax and other technical cruft. Tidepool uses AI to make this easier. It also lets you watch players make choices, so you can improve your stories over time.

• essentially a hand-drawn MMO or MUD
• all content is player-made
• simple enough for children to use
• will include a recreation of Colossal Cave Adventure

Screencasts, player guide, and alpha version are available at http://playTidepool.com

[JobLeonard]

That's a good summary (the one you wrote).

Also, it doesn't help that by and large the media is more interested in selling junk-food:

“If you look at feedback loops like likes and retweets, they’ve been very carefully crafted to maximise certain types of behaviours. But if we reward people based on a measurement system where there’s literally no difference between a one-second page view or reading something that brought them value or changed their mind, it’s like – your job is feeding people, but all you’re measuring is maximising calorie delivery. So what you’d learn is that junk food is more efficient than healthy, nourishing food.”

Your creativity example reminded me of something that I heard repeatedly in my first year of art school: "stop drawing what you think you see, and start drawing what you actually see!" Maybe you can rephrase that into a slogan for Tidepool

It kind of similar with games, movies, music: people don't get hyped up over the really novel; they get hyped up over the familiar.

[oahda]

people don't get hyped up over the really novel

I think you accidentally the adjective.

[teefal]

The one surprise in all this was the relative success of my "Tidepool reasons" campaign.  These 15 short sentences got a lot more traction that anything else.  If I ever do promote through Twitter again, I'll do these 15 again (collected here for easy review).

Tidepool reason #1 .. Because we need a kid-made play world on the Internet.
Tidepool reason #2 .. Because most primary schools don't really teach problem solving.
Tidepool reason #3 .. Because adults can't make a kids world because they've forgotten how to play.
Tidepool reason #4 .. Because the jobs of the future won't resemble what we're teaching today.
Tidepool reason #5 .. Because play is a better teacher than discipline.
Tidepool reason #6 .. Because mistakes should be the start of creativity, not the end of it.
Tidepool reason #7 .. Because coding is much more than blocks, loops, and branches.
Tidepool reason #8 .. Because inspiration comes from exploration, not scheduled activities.
Tidepool reason #9 .. Because you need friends to build a dream.
Tidepool reason #10 .. Because coding is a better way to teach problem solving than math.
Tidepool reason #11 .. Because our first priority should be teaching kids to think for themselves.
Tidepool reason #12 .. Because storytelling is the heart of all human endeavor.
Tidepool reason #13 .. Because learning to think is learning to live.
Tidepool reason #14 .. Because thinking takes practice, much like music and art.
Tidepool reason #15 .. Because programming is tons of fun and shouldn't be hard.

I really like #14 and #6 and #5.  Perhaps these nuggets are just enough to get a retweet and some clicks.

[oahda]

#8 is extremely true.

[lithander]

Minecraft and Lego are essentially clipart. They are designs made by adults that kids cobble together. [...] But it wouldn't be Tidepool.

I started to write about it but it turned out too long. And a little offtopic. And it's not my decision or game and you have already stated that the art-style is not up for debate, so I'll leave it at that.

But have we become that much of a consumer society that we *need* professional pieces?   Imagine if visual artists were restricted to using cut out pieces from magazines and never learned to sketch or paint. So much of creative games is on the rails ... color by numbers ... someone else's aesthetic.

From my experience, yes, the exposure to high quality graphics (but also gameplay, usability, accessability etc) has raised the bar of what players find attractive or creators decent enough to be proud of.

Anyway, I'm a big fan of the blank piece of paper.

Can you recreate the experience of real paper and crayon in software? Digital drawing is awkward if you need to use a mouse. And who has a wacom? Maybe if you'd target tablets...
Now, if actual drawings made on a real piece of paper would magically find their way into the game that would be a different story!

For our inhouse prototype maker we were actually considering to integrate google image search into the software. When I'm preparing a presentation I just google up all graphical content. Because making a gameplay prototype or preparing a presentation is not about creating artwork.

Here's the wide release announcement the PR company wrote for me.  They've gotten some pretty decent placement in the past, so I trusted them.  Zero hits.

That's a story I can relate to. It's never before been that hard to get press coverage...

Oh, and I tried a few days of paid promotion on Facebook and Twitter, just to learn that it's gonna take some serious coin to benefit from that approach. Throughout I've grown my Twitter followers to about 700 and my mailing list to about 1400 (which includes many from earlier years doing ed-tech elsewhere)

That on the other hand was worth it for us. We invested a considerable amount of money into Facebook advertisements to boost our last Kickstarter campaign. The previous 2 kickstarters didn't need that but it's still better then failing to hit the target. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kingartgames/the-dwarves-a-new-storydriven-fantasy-rpg

The extra (and real) benefit is that we've got a 16k Likes on our game's Facebook page now. https://www.facebook.com/dwarvesgame
The community is actively participating and sharing updates. In teams where being on steam doesnt guarantee you exposure and news coverage is unreliable a community to back you project (not only with money on KS) is your best bet on getting in touch with new potential players.

[teefal]

And it's not my decision or game and you have already stated that the art-style is not up for debate, so I'll leave it at that.

Actually, the art-style isn't up to me.  Tidepool art is player-drawn, so talented artists could draw better art and the style would be different.

What's up to me is what tools I give players and what I choose to feature in our marketing.  Clearly, I should feature some better art

The color palette is fixed to the standard 120 Crayola colors, which helps give the game a distinct and familiar look.

By the way, we're 3D scanning some Playdoh and Model Magic sculptures to use as avatars in game.  Since these are technically out-of-game assets, we're trying to figure out how to allow them in a fair way.  I'd love for players to be able to upload their scans and we'd add them after review. We're trying to avoid becoming another Second Life.

The playdoh scans look *great* (and awful at the same time)

[teefal]

Can you recreate the experience of real paper and crayon in software? Digital drawing is awkward if you need to use a mouse. And who has a wacom? Maybe if you'd target tablets...

Tablets are in the plan, both Android and iPad.  Some kids are using Surfaces right now to good effect.  

I had a great talk last night with the guy who wrote that article I linked to above, the one with suggestions to art teachers working with young kids. He re-affirmed that it's more important for kids to simply draw what's in their mind than with getting good results.  I know that sounds funny to us, as we spend so much time honing our various crafts to make things constantly better.  It's kind of like freewriting ... better to get *something* on paper than nothing, get the creative juices flowing without worrying about what people will think.

And yes, kids in the age range (7 to 12) respond immediately to the drawings in Tidepool. They see them, recognize that it's their kind of world, and jump in and start their own.  It's only when they get older and have used better tools that they complain.  A teacher in Cambodia said his class couldn't use it because it didn't have bezier

Anyway, thank you again for your feedback.  This dialog is very useful to me.