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[IBwWG]

So, I just shared what I have already done on a game I started making.

I would love to be able to work on this with some funding.  However, my sabbatical time has run out, and I need money to live, so I can't spend any more time chasing my dreams, unfortunately: my last venture, which was my first commercial game, was financially a total bust.  I did what I could at the time to market, devlog, etc. myself, but it did not work.

All that to say: do you think that the idea of this game is attractive enough to run a successful kickstarter?  (I know the current lack of art certainly doesn't help, so it'd be running solely on the idea unless I got an artist on board early.)  Or will that just be more forms filled out and time spent thinking of how to market myself, which are maybe my least favourite activities in the game business, for nothing?

I welcome any advice on this.  I kept the idea a secret because I thought it was a good one, but without winning the lottery, I have to choose to either keep it from the world and develop it really slowly whenever I get a moment, or choose to share and ask for help and advice.  So I'm asking for help and advice. 

[ｂ∀ ｋｋｕｓａ]

short answer: no.

If you need money to live and the only thing you've got is a game idea. This will never work.
Your devlog screams insecurity already. And that's something you never have to show if you intend to do kickstarter.
And without any art, people won't even take a look at your project.

Just try to find a single game that has been successfully funded based only on ideas in the past year. (new IP etc)

Ideas do not sell unfortunately.  Get a steady job or something and keep your game dream as a hobby or put it aside until when you have a more stable situation.

[IBwWG]

Thanks for your thoughts, I appreciate your response and honesty.

It's good that you confirmed what I'd mentioned, that without art, a kickstarter won't work.

I'm a bit confused by your other comments, though, since I certainly have more than "only an idea"--I've already spent a few months working on the prototype, including a lot of stuff that is less costly to do from the beginning than to bolt on later.  In my other thread that I linked to, I listed that I already have these things done:

1. the core mechanic
2. testing infrastructure
3. achievements infrastructure
4. localization infrastructure
5. layout infrastructure to hopefully enable the game to play well in any orientation and resolution (making it easy to do both desktop and mobile from the same codebase)
6. prototype working on win, linux, and android
7. a notebook full of ideas

If I just had "a notebook full of ideas," then I would certainly agree.  But maybe I didn't get across that the other six items are all engine requirements that are coded and working.

OK so all that said, I'd love to hear more about screaming insecurity.    I do have my insecurities, it's true.  I wonder how I would have put some preliminary information up and asked whether it was something people would play, without demonstrating some level of insecurity.  Maybe there isn't a way: it's just the nature of the question.  But just barreling ahead and giving it my best wasn't profitable with this other game, so I didn't think it was necessarily wise to repeat that.  So without outright bravado, I wonder how I can present myself honestly but still ask for help, without turning people off of a kickstarter.

Any advice?

Also any other opinions, do other folks agree, disagree, have another nuance or angle to add?  Questions?

(Oh, and as for getting a job, I also mentioned on my devlog that I'm actively looking for one.  I just didn't want to let the idea die a slow death, if enough other people could see the potential in it and get behind it.  E.g., another idea that occurred to me: maybe it's worth finding an artist and a marketing freelancer who would be willing to try for a successful kickstarter together.  We each put in our work as needed for that, and if it works, then we've found ourselves simultaneously a team we can work well enough with, and some funding to work with each other a bit longer.)

[ｂ∀ ｋｋｕｓａ]

I'm a bit confused by your other comments, though, since I certainly have more than "only an idea"--I've already spent a few months working on the prototype, including a lot of stuff that is less costly to do from the beginning than to bolt on later.  In my other thread that I linked to, I listed that I already have these things done:

1. the core mechanic
2. testing infrastructure
3. achievements infrastructure
4. localization infrastructure
5. layout infrastructure to hopefully enable the game to play well in any orientation and resolution (making it easy to do both desktop and mobile from the same codebase)
6. prototype working on win, linux, and android
7. a notebook full of ideas

If I just had "a notebook full of ideas," then I would certainly agree.  But maybe I didn't get across that the other six items are all engine requirements that are coded and working.

All the terms you've quoted (1,2,3,4,5) aren't usual for people who were never subjected to game development , so even thought it's something concrete, they will appear as ideas.
Game prototype usually don't make a good pitch. A kickstarter with only art and no game prototype has a higher chance to succeed than a kickstarter with a full functional engine but no art at all or placeholders.
6. a prototype requires people to download , test it, which takes time. considering that sometimes people don't even watch a video that is longer than 30s.

I really like these two genres and I think this mashup could potentially appeal to the union of their fans

Is this something you'd have fun playing?

this + the fact that you're asking questions about kickstarter is what screams insecurity.

If you're not confident that your game has potential and you need to ask that those questions, then you're probably far from being ready for a successful kickstarter. (not to forget that kickstarter has changed over the past 2 years)
You might find someone willing to work with you, hopefully, but i'd rather not be optimistic about that. The success rate of collaborations with future kickstarter fundings is really low.
And you'll need a following (twitter, facebook etc...) which takes time to grow.

But well it might depend on how much you're asking.

[IBwWG]

All the terms you've quoted (1,2,3,4,5) aren't usual for people who were never subjected to game development , so even thought it's something concrete, they will appear as ideas.

Duly noted.  That's helpful. 

Game prototype usually don't make a good pitch. A kickstarter with only art and no game prototype has a higher chance to succeed than a kickstarter with a full functional engine but no art at all or placeholders.

This is also helpful to know, again confirming the obvious need for an artist.

6. a prototype requires people to download , test it, which takes time. considering that sometimes people don't even watch a video that is longer than 30s.

I'm not sure what you mean here.  I can see it being the case that it "requires" people to download it if that's all that I would put on a kickstarter, but I've never even heard of someone doing that (not that I've shopped around extensively, though.)  I've personally only ever seen kickstarter pitches with a video and a static page as the pitch.  I'm not even sure I would want to include a prototype on the kickstarter, for the very reason you state, that probably nobody will invest the time.

I really like these two genres and I think this mashup could potentially appeal to the union of their fans

Is this something you'd have fun playing?

this + the fact that you're asking questions about kickstarter is what screams insecurity.

OK, so like I said earlier.  I am asking, and I guess there's no way for that not to be true, then.

It doesn't mean that's how I would present myself in a kickstarter pitch, though, if, for example, enough people convinced me the game idea had potential and I thus worked on it more.

If you're not confident that your game has potential and you need to ask that those questions, then you're probably far from being ready for a successful kickstarter. (not to forget that kickstarter has changed over the past 2 years)

I'm interested in your last sentence, as I wasn't aware.  Could you describe a bit how it has changed?

You might find someone willing to work with you, hopefully, but i'd rather not be optimistic about that. The success rate of collaborations with future kickstarter fundings is really low.

That also is helpful to know.  Thank you.

And you'll need a following (twitter, facebook etc...) which takes time to grow.

That's true.  Currently I only have 36 followers, from dev-logging and #screenshotsaturday'ing about the game all last year, and about 50 facebook subs on the game's page, if I remember rightly.

But well it might depend on how much you're asking.

I see.  And I was about to ask your opinion on that, but remembering how art-dependent the pitch is, I guess you wouldn't really have anything to base your opinion on at the moment.  Unless you wanted to give a theoretical range. 

One other thing I hadn't realized, that I read in another thread here on tigsource, is that (in someone's opinion) kickstarter campaigns themselves can take 6-8 weeks to prepare for if they hope to be successful.  That's the kind of time scale that I guess I would hope a marketing freelancer would commit to in exchange for future kickstarter fundings, which, while fair when compared with how much time I've put in already, does perhaps seem unlikely.  I wonder what all that time consists of exactly, but again marketing is my least favourite part of the indie scene. 

Anyway thanks again for your thoughts.  I also welcome anyone else who wants to chime in with indie market and/or kickstarter insights.

[Resonator]

This is a general response and not specific to your game in particular.

Short answer is "no".

Long answer is "maybe".  The bar is high and backers are very skeptical these days especially in the video games category.  It might be worth a try if you can check off most of the following

1. You are a famous game developer or can get one to vouch for you.
2. Your game is already pretty far along and beautiful.
3. You're willing to put in at least a month of full time prep just on the campaign, making materials, developing your campaign strategy, working out backer rewards, market research on pricing, etc.
4. You can spend another month full time of just running the campaign, promoting it, and staying engaged.
5. You've already built up a reasonable social media following.
6. You are willing to have a fairly modest goal relative to your project's appeal, but a goal that people believe will make the project succeed.
7. You have help, including at least one artist.

For reference, my game Anew: The Distant Light is currently running a Kickstarter.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1799572177/anew-the-distant-light

It has been a ton of work for two people.  We're the only developers and the campaign has completely stalled product development.  For our trouble, it looks like we're just barely going to hit our goal. 

We were able to check off most of these items above except the first one.  Some people can skip the second item and just go in with just a concept or prototype, especially if they already hit box 1.  Some people "cheat" for item 2 and show a pre-visualization that appears to be gameplay.  I recommend not doing that unless you're very obvious about the fact that it's only art and not real gameplay.  The nice thing about item 2 is that if you're at this point with the project, you can just show a video of the game itself and you don't need to make a personal appeal (dude talking to the camera), which is worth less and less these days if you're not a celebrity.  The "indie story" is just tired at this point and backers don't care.

Unless you can check off most of these items and even if your cash goal is fairly modest, it's very likely that your time is better spent just working on the game more or finding development partners instead of running a Kickstarter.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

things that work on kickstarter:

- very impressive art/trailer, of a game in a near-finished state, that makes you want to immediately play the game
- well known developer of famous games in the past
- nostalgic IP making a comeback or getting a spiritual sequel

and even with all of those three things, campaigns sometimes fail. i've seen the guy who made eternal darkness (dennis dyack) try to fund a new horror game; he's quite famous, and the idea looked interesting. but it still failed to reach its funding goal. if you don't have *any* of those three things, the chance of success is worse than bad

[Resonator]

Yeah, the "sequel you always wanted but never got" angle can work extremely well.  You either have to own the IP or have enough of a connection to the original to play the "spiritual successor" dance.

[JustinCarroll]

Agreed, the short answer is no. Here's exactly what I would do if I were you... I would (1) find full-time employment, (2) work to build an email list of 1,000 subscribers/fans for your game, and then (3) ask that email list how they felt about funding a KS. If they're really into it, then set a very reasonable funding goal and make it happen.

In any case, KS is not a way to build an audience, it's a way to double-down on one. Always build your audience FIRST or you will fail unless you get lucky. And you probably won't get lucky.

Also, consider Indiegogo simply because if your campaign fails you at least keep the money you did make. With KS, you get nothing.