How To Succeed On Kickstarter If You Are An Indie (Part 1)

A detailed analysis of the successful Exoplanet: First Contact campaign on Kickstarter

Foreword

In recent years, crowdfunding platforms have become a good help for young developers who have ambitious ideas and limited resources for their implementation. However, do not think that this is an easy way to solve financial problems for your project. Quite the contrary. But the path to success must lie through obstacles, right?

Conclusion of the project on the popular crowdfunding platform has many positive and negative sides. For example, a good campaign will not only allow you to get the necessary amount for the implementation of the idea, but also make yourself known to a large number of people, rally the initial community around the game, collect and analyze the feedback of the players. However, the situation may turn out differently, and the money and time spent will not bring the desired result.

We hope that a detailed analysis of the Exoplanet: First Contact campaign will allow talented developers to learn the necessary lessons and avoid many mistakes on the road to success.

Training

Due to the huge amount of material, we decided to split the article into several parts, the first of which describes in detail the thorough preparation of content for the release on KickStarter. But before you start your journey into the world of crowdfunding, it’s worth briefly telling about us and our project. This is the necessary information to understand the challenges and difficulties that confronted us.



We are a small indie Alersteam team working on a third-person Action RPG in a space western setting where the technology of the future intersects with the mores of the Wild West.



All members of our small international team are professional developers or modders from Russia, Ukraine, Germany and the UK. Such geography makes us interact with each other exclusively through the network, while communicating in two languages.

However, there is a positive point. The first question that many developers face is usually the search for the possibility of launching a campaign from Russia. And here, the presence of a United States citizen in our team played into our hands. Of course, there is another option, but do not forget that the rules of the platform prohibit mediation, that is, "launch a project for a percentage."

Then one of the most difficult moments will come: to understand and accept the fact that the development of the game will have to be postponed indefinitely. It is necessary to focus on the campaign, because otherwise many of the little things that you overlooked will reveal themselves and force you to postpone the time and time again: our naivety and lack of experience cost us almost a year.

Decide what you would like to show to potential backers from your achievements, and bring everything to the final result: make the last changes in the demo version and finish work on the concept art. This is your game in its current state, which you should be interested in players. No more edits - at least large ones.

And the last: most likely, you will need a lot of money to prepare and conduct the campaign, although it was the need for money that brought you to Kickstarter. To consider it a sad remark or funny - everyone decides for himself.

Content

Your main task is to create a good impression with potential backers. For example, a page consisting solely of concept art gives the impression of the absence of the game itself - it can still work if you are Brian Fargo. Otherwise, use everything to demonstrate your project to the buyer as much as possible: screenshots, GIFs, small gameplay videos and much more. Let the player be able to make the most complete impression of your game.

And, most likely, he will begin his acquaintance with a video . If you have several iconic AAA projects in your portfolio, then, of course, three minutes of monotonous “talking heads” of developers, diluted with a couple of seconds of gameplay, will not ruin the campaign. But for unknown indies, this method is unlikely to work.

How to talk about the game and what to show the players is up to you. But do not forget for a minute that the main task is to sell the concept, because crowdfunding is, in fact, a platform for pre-ordering the game.

This task should be done by the pitch video. It is not for nothing called exactly that: it is not a trailer, nor a teaser, nor a demonstration of gameplay. Therefore, do not be surprised if there are “experts” among the Russian audience (well, how else?) Who, not understanding the essence and objectives of the video, will point out the shortcomings of the “dull trailer”.

You have only one chance to get the buyer's attention. Do not forget: if the video does not arouse interest, few people will want to know more about the project - financing and other great games await on the platform. Therefore, use your strengths: it can be graphics and special effects, interesting gameplay, unusual setting or humor.

Creating a video for Exoplanet: First Contact, we came to the conclusion that we need not only a bright, memorable and intriguing start, but also shootings that show the viewer the world and gameplay of the game - this is also a great way to talk about the project without disturbing the atmosphere of the first frames . The result can be seen below, pre-enabling Russian subtitles:



The budget of this video was approximately $ 550: payment for the work of the animator and the voice of the protagonist. It is worth noting that the real cost of these four minutes is much higher - $ 3000-4000 and many sleepless nights for two team members.

The fact is that our limited budget did not allow us to pay for the full animation of the scene, only the necessary movements for a certain camera angle - and all this had already been created on a separate half-empty location before we even got the first storyboard. The result of this unfortunate situation was the work with the finished material: we had to optimize ideas for existing content, find the best shots and come up with a rationale for them. All the difficulties and the scale of the work done could best be revealed by the “making of ...” video, but we did not manage to start it.

And yet, despite the numerous shortcomings, for the correction of which we had neither the strength nor the time, the result - judging by the feedback from the players - turned out to be worthy.

The reason is simple: part of the shooting, special effects, colorizing, matte paiting, screensavers, packshots and even the console at the very beginning - all this was done and became one thanks to our editing director, which also saved the team a huge amount. Nevertheless, if you do not have such a person, do not skimp on the remuneration of competent specialists: a professionally made video will become one of the most important pillars of the campaign. And do not hesitate to hire speakers, for a Russian accent can create a negative impression among native speakers, unless, of course, you are Leonardo DiCaprio .

Note.KickStarter horribly pinches the video, significantly degrading its quality. Therefore, it’s worth duplicating your video on YouTube and, if possible, distributing it, indicating the necessary information in the description and making links at the end of the video using special tools.

By the way, some campaigns ignore the platform and insert the YouTube version of the video right below the banner where the KickStarter video should be located. How this affects the training camp is unknown, but the former Bioware employees who tried to raise money for the MoonCrest project did not succeed - however, it is worth noting that they showed nothing but concepts and a musical theme.

The next, no less important part of the campaign is the text. Its essence is to answer questions that a potential backer had after watching a video. Show the game from all sides, telling in detail about the gameplay, story, innovative ideas, key features and plans for the future - in a word, convince the player that your project is interesting, unique and thought out at least seventy percent.

If we analyze the texts of the campaigns of game projects on KickStarter, we can distinguish the main sections:

• introduction and / or brief description of the game;
• gameplay
• plot;
• command;
• table of awards for different levels of contributions (rewards & pledges);
• list of additional goals (stretch goals);
• infographics justifying the amount you specify;
• project risks.

In other words, you have to not only talk about your game, but also explain many other things: why did you choose KickStarter, for what purposes will the raised funds be spent, what exclusive things will the backer get if he wants to support you, and why you can be trusted.

Of course, this is not a clear guide - you can remove or add sections as desired. For example, we decided to talk in detail about our own written game engine Sahara, on which Exoplanet: First Contact is created, as well as about the living and atmospheric world of the game. In other words, such a division will help emphasize the main advantages that you want to tell backers.



However, here we made a mistake by not telling enough about the people involved in the process. The fact is that during its existence, the KickStarter community, taught by the bitter experience of some unscrupulous campaigns, has become incredulous about game projects and, as a result, less willing to support them, unless it concerns well-known titles such as Shenmue, The Bard's Tale and others.

It is important for potential players to know who is behind the game, who is responsible, from whom you can ask - this increases confidence in you and, accordingly, increases the chances of getting the necessary amount. Therefore, do not forget to place a common photo, separate developer cards under the general description in the "About the team" section, or simply tell about each of them.

Note.Remember the Russian accent in the video? A similar rule exists for the text of the project: native speakers must read everything that you write, because gross errors and too “Russian English” tell the players that they can see similar things in the game itself. Therefore, after agreeing on the Russian version, you will have to give considerable time to the translation.

For example, the text of Exoplanet: First Contact almost completely corresponded several times, and this is about thirteen A4 pages. Then, translating everything into English, we passed the baton to native speakers. However, here you can also find pitfalls: many editors forgot about the sci-fi component of our game (this is the cosmic western, after all), focusing on cowboy slang. One way or another, you need to read everything: from press releases to updates - this is one of the key components of future success.

Note.After the video quality has already been underestimated by the platform, be prepared for the fact that the text editor will spend a lot of your time, creating unnecessary indents, unexpected paragraphs and other unpleasant things. In addition, after the publication of the first update, you will find that you have only half an hour to fix all these problems - after this time they become unavailable for editing.

By the way, about updates. If you want to sleep peacefully at night during the campaign, we strongly recommend that you prepare everything in advance. Otherwise, you will have to frantically try to meet the optimal schedule (one update for two days of the campaign), spending time writing and translating text, processing hastily taken screenshots, shooting a video and creating subtitles for it in several languages, and forget about the fact that life exists outside the computer. The author knows firsthand about these difficulties and asks not to repeat his mistakes.

The next important milestone of the campaign will be the design . A good design not only attracts attention and makes an impression, but also emphasizes the setting of the project: “angular” sci-fi with translucent blue and green honeycombs ,old scrolls and intricate monograms for fantasy, rusty pieces of metal for post-apocalypse. It is also worth mentioning Bedlam, the design of which is perfectly combined with the "drawn" style of the game itself .



Our team was not ready for the fact that the creation of design for the Exoplanet: First Contact campaign would be such an exhausting and complex process. Trying to combine two difficult settings in design - sci-fi and western - we went through a lot of options, but were not completely satisfied with any of them: time was running out, and it was not possible to realize all the ideas - for example, a framework for concepts and screenshots. As a result, we had to dwell on two options: one of them you can see on the campaign page, the other became our design on the forums.




And how many options were rejected for various reasons ... "There is no Western spirit", "excess sci-fi", "too gothic vignettes" ...




Another idea that remains unfulfilled is the expanded section of the backer rewards. Usually this is done in the form of a standard table with checkmarks opposite the shooting gallery, showing what privileges the player will receive for choosing a certain contribution. Nevertheless, we wanted to repeat the same thing that was done in the campaign of the notorious Dreamfall Chapters: The Longest Journey . In our opinion, such detailed pictures with painted awards for each shooting range allow the baker to personally see his own benefit, to evaluate the amount of bonuses that he will receive, prompting him to choose the more expensive option. However, this is only our assumption, and we can only regret that we could not verify it.



Now it remains only to put a beautiful, interesting and readable stub image for the video, which will be displayed as the icon of your project in the general search. She also should not get out of the general style, encouraging people to click and learn more about the game.

Note.Yes, again about the KickStarter editor. There are problems with the pictures. If you want backers to be able to see concept art in good quality, use your own website or, for example, the imgur server, otherwise the platform editor will compress the picture and open its full-size version will be impossible even in a separate window. In addition, if you copy your updates to forums with more or less sane editors - and this is an integral part of the campaign - KickStarter pictures will still have to be reloaded, because some sites refuse to recognize them.

Epilogue

Your project is ready. But success on Kickstarter depends not only on how good your content is - you will first have to declare your existence to the world. We will talk about how to do this and bring the project to as many people as possible in the next part of the article.

Attempts to break into the big press, the most controversial and successful decisions, platforms that made it possible to gain the necessary amount, as well as many schedules - we hope that the analysis of these materials will allow you to learn even more valuable lessons for your project and achieve impressive results.