Search Results for: kickstart this

Kickstart This! Guide to Getting Your Game Funded (Part 4)

Before we even dive into this final chapter of the “Kickstart This! Guide to Getting Your Game Funded,” I would suggest reading the Kickstarter Handbook on rewards, as well as the Kickstarter Blog post detailing 96 ideas for rewards if you are struggling to think of any. (more…)

Posted in Features |

Kickstart This! Guide to Getting Your Game Funded (Part 3)

Launching a crowdfunding campaign without a video is like climbing Mount Everest in a mankini. Video helps tell your story to those who would prefer not to read lots of text, and if someone is hooked by the video, then you are halfway to getting them to back you.

Crowdfunding projects that do not feature a video not only appear unprepared, but also untrustworthy. Kickstarter and Indiegogo have not been without their share of crooks trying to shill people out of money. However, industry veterans have also used the platform with lofty goals, only to fail to deliver on what was promised. And because of their position, these fails were heavily publicised. (more…)

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Kickstart This! Guide to Getting Your Game Funded (Part 2)

Last time on the Kickstart This! Guide to Getting Your Game Funded, we talked about how to whip up a community around your project and keep them engaged through social media and other channels. Now we’re going to look at what they see, hear, and feel when they land on your crowdfunding page.

When I write Warp Zoned’s Kickstart This! spot, I usually focus on the Kickstarter crowdfunding platform rather than Indiegogo or the handful of other options available. I find it more intuitive, although recently Indiegogo has changed its page design to mirror its rival. As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. All the aspects I’m going to touch on can apply across all platforms, so try both and see which one suits you best.

When I talk about design, don’t confuse this with the design of the game. This is all about how you design and lay out your Kickstarter page, although the aesthetics of your game should influence your Kickstarter page to make it connected for a smoother audience journey. (more…)

Posted in Features, Top Story |

Kickstart This! Guide to Getting Your Game Funded (Part 1)

It has been five long years since I crafted Kickstart This! How To Get More Coin For Your Game, my first guide to crowdfunding for game developers. Since then, we have seen a smorgasbord of game projects launch into the crowdfunding seas, some reaching the legendary Land of the Funded, while most turned back. Those who went in without a map were suddenly lost at sea or smashed against the rocks of failure.

During this period, I launched two film projects on Kickstarter. The first, The Illuminant Midnight Project, crashed and burned, raising a paltry £874 against a target of £15,000. It was a trio of short films that were, in retrospect, far too ambitious, with a lofty goal on a project that I had I not put enough work into (and I had put in a lot of work).

Several years later, I took what I learned from those first mistakes and launched The Water Rat, a short film with a single location and only three actors. The constraints allowed a much smaller initial target of £500. We passed this in three days, ending our 30 day run at the start of April with a total of £1750, enough to make two short films.

With that in mind, it seemed like an ideal time to revisit my original guide, as well as its sequel (Kickstart This! 10 Pointers To Get More Gold For Your Game). I’m going to address new features that Kickstarter has launched, and look at old ideas in a new light, especially in developing an audience or community before launch. (more…)

Posted in Features, Top Story |

Kickstart This! Grood

It’s been an exciting time in the world of Kickstarter. In addition to prepping a campaign for a short film I am working on, a game that I backed ages ago, Inner Space, was finally released. It is only when you have tried to raise your own funds that you realise the near-impossible task of creating a crowdfunding project, and the endless hard work that goes in to making it succeed.

But some projects make it look effortless by doing a lot of the groundwork before they open their campaigns for donations. And with video games, it is easier to sell something that looks spectacular, or something that is a labour of love, rather than a product to attach microtransactions to. Which brings us to the frantic shooting extravaganza that is Grood(more…)

Posted in Features, Mobile, PC, Top Story |

Kickstart This! The French Are Coming!

A little while ago in a string of Kickstart This! posts, I teased that I would cover a French game in the future. That future is now. There are not one but two two brilliant games currently seeking donations on Kickstarter from the country that gave us cafetiere coffee and the Etch A Sketch. So let’s give these hard-working developers the kindness and support that this holiday season is meant to be about.

What have you got, France? (more…)

Posted in Features, Mobile, PC, Top Story |

Kickstart This! Ara of the Wanderers

After a trip to Amsterdam and an absence due to tonsillitis, Kickstart This is back with a bang…

OK, so I wrote this on Guy Fawkes Night, and that opener might just be funny to me. I blame the medication. I’ll shut up now…

Due to games being cancelled, there have been a few stalled attempts to write a new installment, and the one I finally chose has not even reached the 10% mark yet, but I’m hoping we can change that. So let’s go meet Ara of the Wanderers. (more…)

Posted in Features, PC, PS4, Top Story, Xbox One |

Kickstart This! The Devil’s Eight and Village Monsters

Games are like any form of art or entertainment… you need to be in theright mood to play them (or at least to enjoy them).

Sometimes I want a game that totally surprises me, bringing me something completely unusual and off the rails that makes me sit up and say “WOW” in big shiny letters. Other times, I want something familiar, a genre that I can soak in like a warm color-bombed bath and a game that just does everything perfectly. This game will usually offer an experience I find familiar, but with something slightly different to keep it fresh, and with lots of little touches that let me know the game designer cared enough to include them.

Thankfully, in the Kickstarter realm, the world is your oyster, and you can usually find both. There are now over 200 games on Steam that started life as a Kickstarter project… some that are wacky and way out there, while others deliver the essentials with a smile.

Which brings us nicely to The Devil’s Eight and Village Monsters(more…)

Posted in Features, PC, Top Story |