KickStarter Tortured Hearts - successor to NWN module series

[SubBassman]

Interesting development in the meantime:
If you google the keywords RPG and Kickstarter, suddenly our project is the 5th entry.
How strange... it wasn't there for almost 30 days.

 

[mindx2]

felipepepe

Your points are valid, but...

Here's a comment from one of the backers: (he's not my friend, rest assured)

Only found out about the project today - pity it is so hard to find, would else have received more backing for sure. Looks great and I would love to sink my teeth into it.

As for the Banner Saga, it's just episode one, not the full game. We are offering a full game.

That's ONE PERSON!
Word of mouth will NOT get you $300k. You seem to think that your project will miraculously generate a huge following just based on your promises. IT WILL NOT. You just don't seem to get that no one wants to give you that much money since you have a lousy presentation, no "star power", no action plan, and a whole lot of "but it will be great because I've put in x-amount of time writing this thing!"

Also, The Banner Saga part one IS a whole game. Parts 2 & 3 will be complete games themselves.

 

[SubBassman]

mindx2

I know it's just one person and it won't help much.
We'd like to address these guys.
Just a question: if you worked this much on the same aspects of a game and you didn't have money to push on,
what would you do?

 

[SubBassman]

mindx2

Due to the size of our game it would have been immoral to ask less hoping we'll get more.

 

[Kz3r0]

mindx2

I know it's just one person and it won't help much.
We'd like to address these guys.
Just a question: if you worked this much on the same aspects of a game and you didn't have money to push on,
what would you do?

Do what even professional studios did, ask for 5K or 10K for putting something together and get more funds in another fund raising.

 

[SubBassman]

Kz3r0

My next question: would you make a pledge to support the making of a demo?

And you guys? Just curious.

Also, what kind of rewards would you expect from a kickstarter project like this?
What would be a reasonable pledge amount to ask for?

 

[felipepepe]

Just a question: if you worked this much on the same aspects of a game and you didn't have money to push on,
what would you do?

Look for partners, investors or loan to help you make a demo or gameplay footage and try to kickstart it again? Or just do like some indie developers and do part of the game while working on another job to later have something to show...like you already did with the story.

Just what was your plan in those 2 years you worked on the game, before Kickstarter started all this?

 

[SubBassman]

felipepepe


Why do you think we can persuade a moneymonger investor? It's not working. (see Brian's video and he is a celeb!)

We had several plans, but things are constantly changing. Our first concept artist died,
others are trying to make money from freelancing. This isn't that easy.

 

[Kz3r0]

Kz3r0

My next question: would you make a pledge to support the making of a demo?

And you guys? Just curious.

Also, what kind of rewards would you expect from a kickstarter project like this?
What would be a reasonable pledge amount to ask for?

I will pledge one or two dollars for making a demo.
You already made mods that people played, just ask for 1$ to show appreciation, the upper tiers should be on the order of 5$ for naming a NPC or something trivial in the game, 10$ promising a digital copy if the game will ever be released , 20$ for a boxed copy, making clear that this is just a possibility and that you are offering the eventual boxed and digital copy to reward people giving you money only on trust.

 

[SubBassman]

This was the first concept of the game. (by Csaba "Max" Zsilvölgyi, R.I.P.)
The game would have been even more expensive with this kind of graphics.

 

[SubBassman]

Kz3r0


A boxed version wasn't in the plan in the first place. It's quite expensive to produce.

 

[Kz3r0]

Scrap that then.

 

[The Yawning Dragon]

This was the first concept of the game. (by Csaba "Max" Zsilvölgyi, R.I.P.)
The game would have been even more expensive with this kind of graphics.

I think that you miss the point. You are far, far away from the point when you need to worry about pretty graphics. Getting Unity to fill your requirements is a hell lot of work, and it's only a beginning. Getting a playable prototype is much more important to attract interest (and ultimately the funding you want), than any promises about tons of written dialogue and quests. Simply, writing is an important aspect of the game, but still represents a small part of the actual production. OK, you demonstrated your skill with NWN modules in that department, and now you need to convince people that you can deliver in other areas. Constantly talking about pretty graphics without having the underlying systems sorted out doesn't add to your credibility in this regard.

 

[SubBassman]

The Yawning Dragon


Actually, what we have done is the 1.5-2 years of work for a design team, so it's not a small part of the actual production.
It's not just written, but scripted and tested too, questwise.
What has been done is really at least half of the game. And also, it defines what comes next. The rest of the team doesn't need to speculate about what happens and where.

 

[The Yawning Dragon]

@SubBassman
I admire your work done so far, but sadly I don't think that will be enough to sell the idea. Even if it a half of the work is completed, which I doubt (but again, I'm hardly qualified to claim that, so let's leave it at that) - a lot of people would like to see at least something from the other half. Mostly because it's easy to underestimate how much work has needed to make something comparable to Aurora engine, even if you are not starting from scratch. For example, just look at Age of Decadence and how much time it takes only to balance the combat. Either way, I wish you luck with the project.

 

[SubBassman]

The Yawning Dragon

This is Catch 22 and only trust can build a bridge between us and potential players.

Why don't you guys give it a shot? It's still doable.

I'll upload another GUI mockup soon with inventory and whatnot.

 

[SubBassman]

If you guys help us, I'll make an RPGCodex shrine in the game, mentioning all the pledgers' name.

 

[Berekän]

No amount of shrines can save this project now, you're asking too much and lack online presence, trying to convince every person one-by-one in a forum won't get you anywhere. You're better off starting from scratch, with a more humble budget and taking care of all the gripes people have with your project.

 

[SubBassman]

Berekän


The game cannot be done from less money. I could lie about it, I could lure people into a trap, but I won't.

We are working on online presence.

Some nice pledgers are helping us too.

 

[mindx2]

Berekän


The game cannot be done from less money. I could lie about it, I could lure people into a trap, but I won't.

We are working on online presence.

Some nice pledgers are helping us too.

Delusions of Granger M:

You can't even raise $10,000 in an environment where it seems people are throwing money at every Kickstarter project that is coming along. You need to reevaluate your goals and come up with something more realistic. Stamping your foot on the ground and going "I want to make THIS game and only this version no matter what!" is getting you nowhere. Take the criticism and suggestions you have received from all different discussion boards and see how you can scale back your project to something more manageable. You have no track record (a mod to NWN does NOT count) or name recognition so you can't shoot for the stars your first time out. Come back to earth and pitch something on a smaller scale and smaller budget and people will respond more positively.

 

[SubBassman]

We have invested enough work in this project to say: we are sticking to it even if it's delayed.

I'm pretty sure you would do the same if you were in our shoes.

We could probably raise more money if we lied and showed off delusional eyecandy.

 

[Zed]

If the game can't be made for less and crowdfunding that sum of money is like the only option, I don't think this game will see the light of day.
As I understand it's a pretty huge game. Even AAA-developers cut down on content to ease budget. Maybe cut away on some of the optional content and lower the standards in less significant areas of the game (e.g. use some free sound libraries).
300k is a reasonable amount of money to develop a big game (I'm not arguing that). But it's not a reasonable sum of money to seek via crowdfunding.

 

[SubBassman]

Zed
Well, the monthly budget of the game company I worked for was more than 600 k
The missing amount for WL 2 is by and large 200 k (to have the modding tools) and this is via crowdfunding.

My favorite post from the WL 2 page:
"Take my $250; I don’t need a new TV anyway"

Money is a strange thing...

 

[Berekän]

Instead of complaining people are throwing more money at other projects that aren't yours, you should check what those projects offer that make people willing to back them.

 

[mindx2]

Zed
Well, the monthly budget of the game company I worked for was more than 600 k
The missing amount for WL 2 is by and large 200 k (to have the modding tools) and this is via crowdfunding.

My favorite post from the WL 2 page:
"Take my $250; I don’t need a new TV anyway"

Money is a strange thing...

It's like talking to a brick wall o_O
That's what you are failing to understand... you are NOT going to get Wasteland 2 type interest, support, media coverage or funding! You have got to be realistic about your goals. Make something smaller that establishes you as a "good" game maker than go up from there.