I’m seriously thinking about doing a Kickstarter (or something similar) for Planitia.
One of the best things I ever did when working on Inaria was to put the game up on 8-Bit Funding.
I’d provide a link to 8-Bit Funding but it’s gone now. Sad face.
Even though I only got about $500 in funding, knowing that people had paid me money in advance for the game was an incredible motivator and I don’t think Inaria would have ever been commercially available without it.
(The fact that it’s not really commercially successful is all on me, of course.)
I think I need something similar for Planitia.
But…
A successful Kickstarter needs at least one of the following things:
* Name Recognition: Tim Schafer, Brian Fargo, Keiji Inafune
* An incredible gameplay video (even if the gameplay is mockup): Planetary Annihilation, Star Command, Hyper Light Drifter
* “Spritual Successor” Recognition: Star Citizen, Satellite Reign, Godus
Having a video that’s funny or includes some biting satire on traditional game publishing helps too.
And I don’t really have any of that. (Neither did the Conquest 2 Kickstarter, unfortunately.)
I could have tried to get some “spiritual successor” recognition going (though I wouldn’t have been able to mention either of the games I’m successing) before Godus came out.
But I’m still trying to think of a way to get it done, and I might have an answer in that I actually have a working version of the game right now. If I could put together a clever trailer and couple that with a good demo and scream about the Kickstarter at the top of my lungs every second of every day (basically following Dan “Buy Gibbage!” Marshall‘s formula) then I might be able to make it succeed. People will be able to say, “Hey, the game is there. It works. He just wants to buff it up before it goes on sale, so I’m not as worried about being taken for a ride.”
Maybe.
Thoughts?
I would be glad to contribute to the campaign for Planitia!
Great! Now we just need to clone you about ten thousand times. Hold still, I’m sure this won’t hurt a bit.
You should absolutely do it. The worst thing that can happen is… (wait for it)… you don’t get extra money for Planitia. Sounds rather low-risk to me.
You are pretty good with voices, so I am sure you can do a decent “In a world…” announcer voice for a nice video. Put some humor in there (you are good at that) and things should be good.
Well at least you have:
*A good track record of finishing projects you get funds for (Inaria).
*An early version of the game. Better than just a video, even if it’s not awesome.
I never thought of Kickstarter as a source of motivation. I’m working on a game right now, a market simulation, and I sure would need some more motivation to get it done.