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[wogan]

Geoff Gibson from diygamer has just launched his new website "8BitFunding"..
He's written on diygamer:
The concept is pretty simple, a developer will create a project with a video, description, and perks. They will then market that project to their fans, friends, and family in an attempt to secure funds for their project. The idea is that people will like the project, see what they can get via perks and then contribute accordingly.

and 8bitfunding is here

Currently it looks like there are 7 projects on there.. they range in scope quite dramatically... and range in $-goal a fair bit also (from $1000 to $20,000... but with Zeboyd Games claiming it'd cost them $3000 to do the 2-3 day job of porting an XNA X360 game to XNA PC, $20,000 for the complete development of a game is almost a bargain!!!)

It's basically "Kickstarter for games".

Opinions? Ideas? Scepticism?

[Peevish]

My game is right here.

The site is still a bit buggy, but the launch announcement just went live an hour or so ago and I've got $20 pledged already, so that's exciting.

Kickstarter uses an invitation-only system, but 8-Bit Funding is open to anyone who can put together a pitch that isn't a scam. I'm curious: if it gets the kind of attention I'd hope it gets, will it devolve into a free-for-all as every indie under the sun tries to crowd-fund a project?

Nevertheless, I'm very excited that it exists right now, and I'll be watching the next 30 days very closely. Best of luck to anyone else who made a project page!

[floatstarpx]

Yeah, we got on-board for the launch too (HERE)... We've got some fun perks including a "Get your face in the game" which I hope will be popular.

To be honest, I know very little about kickstarter or similar sites... but this looked like a good way for us to be able to improve certain areas of our game (and offer pre-orders/cool perks/whatever) - so we thought we'd get involved.

[Booger]

I'd say it must be a requirement to film yourself making the pitch.  That's the surefire way to weed out those who want to make a quick buck -- there's a face we can hunt down if the dev doesn't make good his promise!!!

Even a camera-shy anti-social hermit like myself would force myself in front of a webcam and explain my project in a down-to-earth manner if I had a project I really feel passionately about.

[moi]

I don't know if this will work as well for just videogames, time will tell.
Will people be willing to give $20,000 to a project that might take ages to get finished or peter out like most amateur videogames projects do?
Is it USA only?

[Oddball]

I believe it's anywhere that PayPal operate. Or that's the impression they give in the IndieGamesBlog interview anyway.

[Peevish]

It's international, that's one of the points they stress. You can read a bit more in the IndieGames.com interview: http://www.indiegames.com/blog/2011/01/8bit_funding_a_new_pledge_site.html

[moi]

I say that because kickstarter is for usa projects only, noone outside of USA should donate to kickstarter projects IMO.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

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[Hayden Scott-Baron]

I'd love to see a record of all the projects that have been funded by these initiatives, and their status 6-12 months since receiving funding.

Are there any good examples of pledges being fulfilled?

[bento_smile]

I wish people would post more about who they are or give links to past projects they've completed. If I don't know who people are why should I give them money? I don't know if they've finished a game before, so can I trust them to finish one that's up for funding? A video is all well and good, but it doesn't show me that you can make games.

[Netsu]

I wish people would post more about who they are or give links to past projects they've completed. If I don't know who people are why should I give them money? I don't know if they've finished a game before, so can I trust them to finish one that's up for funding? A video is all well and good, but it doesn't show me that you can make games.

Yep, exactly. This site got me thinking about how I would try to raise funds for my project with this, and I will certainly try to show people my past games, put up a video of myself and other devs talking and release a new screenshot or video once in a while to show the progress.

[bento_smile]

Why is Dreamcasters' Duel asking for funding on both 8bit and Kickstarter?

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1684194740/dreamcasters-duel
http://www.8bitfunding.com/project_details.php?p_id=62

[Netsu]

To get more attention and thus more money I suppose.

[DJ_Link]

I don't know if this will work as well for just videogames, time will tell.
Will people be willing to give $20,000 to a project that might take ages to get finished or peter out like most amateur videogames projects do?
Is it USA only?

It's worldwide. My own project is there http://8bitfunding.com/project_details.php?p_id=64. Altough we are asking for 20k We are estimating 10 months of development, it's not a several years project.

[tametick]

I don't know if this will work as well for just videogames, time will tell.
Will people be willing to give $20,000 to a project that might take ages to get finished or peter out like most amateur videogames projects do?
Is it USA only?

It's worldwide. My own project is there http://8bitfunding.com/project_details.php?p_id=64. Altough we are asking for 20k We are estimating 10 months of development, it's not a several years project.

I'm in Europe as well (Austria) - that was obviously a pretty important reason for picking 8bf rather than kickstarter for my project.

[Dustin Smith]

to put it bluntly, i wouldn't spend a cent on anyone that hasn't already made a game i've enjoyed immensely. i'd throw money at jajitsu, for example, because jables's adventure was a great game with a lot of promise. random person off the internet? not so much.

[ink.inc]

to put it bluntly, i wouldn't spend a cent on anyone that hasn't already made a game i've enjoyed immensely. i'd throw money at jajitsu, for example, because jables's adventure was a great game with a lot of promise. random person off the internet? not so much.

Pretty much, yeah. Unless the developer has already made something near and dear to me (Petri Purho and cactus are the only two that come to mind immediately), my money's just too dear for me to drop it into what could potentially be a never-ending hole.

[tametick]

Pretty much, yeah. Unless the developer has already made something near and dear to me (Petri Purho and cactus are the only two that come to mind immediately), my money's just too dear for me to drop it into what could potentially be a never-ending hole.

I think they are a lot less likely to actually need your money, given their renown.

[ink.inc]

I was speaking in hypothetical terms, but you're right. Still, if the event ever occurred, I'd be there to support em. I've enjoyed far too much of their crap to do otherwise.


Good luck to all of those who've entered, though.