next »

[matwek]

Just curious to know what people thought about projects on Kickstarter/Indiegogo that involved small targets and simple projects.

Rather than the big fanfare and display of most indie games looking for funding they're right to the point. "I need this much money to make this little game"
- No stretch goals
- No fancy rewards
- No early bird access
- No mail list
- No lenghty development time
- No business plan

Simply. If the project reaches its target I will make this game and you can all play it for free.

I've come across a few in the past and I wondered if people had experienced seeing any decent ones? They're usually looking for money to purchase software rather than pay for the development of the game.

Do people think they're more likely to contibuite to a project if the scope is small? Or are you put off by the usually unambitious nature of the final product.

I've managed to build up a bit of a following in the past through my freelance work and I was thinking about maybe doing one or two smaller projects like this, just to get me through the dry months of the year when clients are on the slim side.

[Grhyll]

I can't speak for everyone, but in my opinion:
- A kickstarter project must sell itself through a big and original dream. Something in the project must be striking, and a very small project isn't likely to do so (although it's not impossible).
- The reward are a big reason why people back projects. Most people may not back a project if in the end they just get the same as everyone else who didn't back it.
- If the money is meant to allow to dev to buy software, it looks a bit like it goes to the dev rather than to the game, and if you're a nobody, I probably won't want to do that.

Those are just thoughts, of course there are always exception, and a failed kickstarter won't blacklist you from all game dev activities for the remaining of your life, so the best thing to do may be to just try it when you feel ready (And then give us a nice post-mortem about how it went, of course ^^ )

[voodoomaster]

For indie developers launching and maintaining a full blown kickstarter campeign is big waste of rare resources which should rather be spent on the actual product. Personally, I couldn't care less about rewards. I want good games.

[readyplaygames]

I would LOVE to do a micro-crowdfunding thing. I don't want to over-promise just to get my game made. I worry that doing a kickstarter campaign of any size would be a huge time commitment anyway, though.

[Morch]

The way I see a Kickstarter project is that it should be used for two things:
- Get (some) money for development
- Prove that your concept is solid enough marketing-wise and that you've built a following strong enough to complete your campaign.

We all know that today, getting people to know about your project is one of the most difficult parts of indie success. I'm not saying that Kickstarter should be used to build your followers from scratch. Rather, I'm saying that once you feel you've got enough people that know about you and/or your project, a Kickstarter campaign can give you more visibility and confirm that there are enough people interested in your project to warrant continuing the game. In that sense, I believe building a crowdfunding project is a great way to practice your PR and should definitely not be seen as a waste of time. Plus, if you fail, I THINK (if someone could confirm) you can do it again later, once you think you are ready again.

That's just my perception (and my plan) for crowdfunding! There might be other opinions out there.

That being said, what is your definition of a small project? If the amount is too small (1000$ ?), then maybe what Grhyll said might apply. People might think the project is underwhelming and not be interested in investing.

Finally, you mentioned you already had a following (as an artist?), have you considered setting up a Patreon?

[Valo]

Nothing wrong with a micro crowdfunding in general. As long as the game looks desirable and enticing enough to get people to part with their money. I view all campaigns under 5000$ micro-campaigns. It's definitely a good PR practise to try crowdfunding. My advice is to plan well ahead so everything is done before the campaign is live.

 • The campaign needs to be professional and show that you can pull the project off.
 • If you are going to give the game away for free, you are less likely to get money.
 • Undertale only asked for 5000$ but was solid enough of a concept to get people excited.
 • You need to promote the campaign even though you're only asking a little bit.

We did a big gaming crowdfunding research just a while ago where we manually gathered all the Kickstarter game projects from 2013-2016 (June). The general thing about the macro-campaigns was that the campaigns and the games themselves were horrible. Little Peter's first try of RPG Maker -level of horrible. Most of the KS projects that were actually serious projects did ok for themselves.

[readyplaygames]

When you say "You need to promote the campaign even though you're only asking a little bit." do you mean a huge marketing push (that can even involve paying someone) or do you mean letting everyone know about it on social media?

[Valo]

Well huge is probably not the right word but a considerable marketing push would be needed. You are not going to get funded with just the organic traffic from KS alone.

Social media alone won't usually be enough either. Unless you are somewhat known on the internet and have a decent follower base. It's best to try to partner up with people and entities that have better reach and influence with your target audience than you. Sometimes it means spending money too, but not always.

If your KS goal is something very small, 500$ for example, then it's obviously best to do as much as you can without using money. If you have a goal in the range of 5000$, then small strategic investments can go a long way. My advice is to only spend a max of 35% of your goal on the campaign so the risk is somewhat worth it.