Thanks again for the incredibly detailed critique! I'll begin adjusting the Kickstarter page taking this feedback into account.
I like the bulging CRT effect and scanlines, but I was introduced to console gaming on an Atari 2600 with Yar's Revenge and Missile Command. Some people may want the ability to toggle the effect off (It depends how much more work that will create).
This is already an option in the game's engine (along with adjusting the strength of the scanlines/border curvature), I just like the way this looks a lot more compared to regular upscaling so I've recorded all of the footage this way.
About the project thumbnail. [...]
Good points. I'll zoom in the art a little, and the 3 vertical strips thing is a really good idea.
Some backers want to see the project creators faces. [...]
Unfortunately I don't think footage of us is really viable, since I'm in America and Daniel's in Spain, so it'd be hard to coordinate. Do backers really care that much about the creators' faces? I always get instantly turned off when I start a Kickstarter video and the first thing that pops up is a dude next to his computer in his living room.
The "Design" and "Location" ones are a bit plain looking. They could have enemy sprites from the game pasted into them for more decoration. [...]
They're a bit plainer because they're "subheaders" rather than full section headers. But pasting in enemy sprites or other art is a good idea!
Will look into compressing the style guide image.
Focussing on difficulty may have been a good decision for a niche. [...]
Yeah, I'm thinking about having different endings based on difficulty mode. Or even slightly different scenarios altogether (like lower difficulties are just a "virtual simulation" to prepare for the real thing, which is also cool in that it gives a neat narrative explanation for things like infinite lives and checkpoints).
Main project page text makes good use of highlighting key information with bold text. It helps with skimming the page. I did find it strange that some text switched to first-person and I had to check which team member the section was written by. I would suggest being very clear who is talking with using first-person.
I'll change the music section to be in third-person. I think bios should be kept first-person, since they feel more "personal" that way (which is probably more important given the lack of creator footage in the video).
The game is for PC. That could have been mention in the project description for convenience since the description, thumbnail and reward text are some of the first places backers look for the platform information. [..]
Good point, I'll mention this in the project description. I think I had hit the character limit, but I'm sure I can rewrite my way out of it.
I would relocate the team member bio section below the "Art Style" section, but above the "Music Style" section. This way the page flows into examples of Sri's work right after his bio.
Hmm, that would help the flow in one direction, but on the other hand I also like the flow of the "Our Philosophy" into "Wait... Who's 'We'"? I'll think about it.
Metro test #1 footage has a very football player style player sprite. The Washington D.C. Test #2 has a more feminine
Bubblegum Crisis armour looking sprite that I assume could be a female version. The line "[E]nding when he/she either dies or defeats the last boss" sounds like players can pick the gender of the main character.
The "Washington D.C. Test #2 vid" is old footage, the Metro footage is up to date and uses the new final sprite. The gender of the main character isn't decided, but it could really go either male or female since they're inside a robot suit. I've been thinking about having a female main char for a little bit, actually.
There is a FAQ section provide by Kickstarter. Having another FAQ section in the main body of the project page may lead to unnecessary duplication. The standard FAQ section also has the advantage that each question is collapsible. When the project launches that section would just be copied over into the FAQ area Kickstarter provides.
Good idea, I'll probably just move the reward-related info into its own Rewards section (maybe between the creator bio section and the art style section?) and keep the other miscellaneous questions in the Kickstarter FAQ section.
The space just below the project description appears to still be in-progress.
What do you mean? If you mean how it's a GIF of the title screen with no text under it, that's just because I wanted to start out with a GIF of the title screen hahah (rather than immediately asking people to vote Yes on our Greenlight, follow us on Twitter, do this, do that, etc.). Should I add something else there too?
People may argue about the short planned length. A potential response is recreating the hardcore NES experience. Simple stage branching, modifiers such as enemies that only get stunned instead of disappearing or brief alternate routes could be stretch goals to increase re-playability. If you do decide to have an early-bird tier, there are calculations that can be done to help decide how many slots.
This actually is my planned response, and that's actually a planned stretch goal, haha!
About preview's rewards. This is where the most improvements can be made.
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Very salient points that I hadn't considered. I didn't realize price jumps like that were such a huge deal! I'll figure out more tiers between the $1 and $100 range, and add more up to the $500 range. Would this be a good progression: $1, $10, $15, $25, $39, $59, $100, $199, $299, $399, $499? That seems like too many tiers, though...
And you're right regarding the song/ROM rewards. Maybe I can move the personalized ROM up to $499, song cover to $399, design-a-miniboss to $299, design-an-enemy to $199, and then insert a bunch of stuff for $100 and lower. I'm thinking maybe a ROM where the digitized portraits + names of all the backers flash by could be a cool addition for a lower tier.
My main concern with this is that the game could end up having way too many minibosses or enemies, which could
really screw with the pacing; that's why I had placed the design-a-boss tier highest originally. Maybe it can be an excuse to turn it into an
Alien Soldier style boss rush lol (or a boss rush level with all the backer enemies/bosses?)
Wow! that paralax sky... And those moving train wagons. This is loooking extremely cool. Will play on day one for sure. Keep it up!
Thanks man! :D