KickStarter Vampire Syndicate: Gangs of MoonFall

[Endemic]

Definitely seeing an uptick on the kickstarter. Might've timed it well, seeing how there's currently a mainstream turn-based cRPG, people might want a scifi vampire version.

Will have to see if it gets more traction.

Average pledge is currently ~£53, so you need another ~410 backers if it holds.

 

[Ismaul]

I expect late backers to not go the same lengths as fans, so it'll need even more.

954 if they all go for the basic game pledge and none of the current backers upgrade or cancel their pledges.

 

[RaggleFraggle]

Yeah, the PC Gamer article definitely exposed this to a lot more people. Today’s uptick in pledge money and backers is significantly higher than it was after the initial burst. Though we’ll probably have to wait another week before seeing the full effect.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

The lore videos are quite good imho, but I’m no expert judge. I mean, I played Hydlide, Deadly Towers, Sword of Kadash, etc.

The campaign isn't do or die for me. If it fails, I will reform the pitch, lower the scope of the game, further polish the demo, and relaunch again sometime in the future with a lower funding goal.

Lower the scope in what way?

 

[Tyranicon]

Lower the scope in what way?

Will probably reduce the length of the game to adjust for a shorter development cycle. I might break the game into two episodes and reduce the price accordingly.

Either way, I intend for the first Vampire Syndicate to be part of a larger series (within a series) anyways. I plan to allow for saves to be imported so it plays like one large, continuous game.

I should probably be less ambitious with my plans but why even be in game dev if you aren't overly ambitious?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Can you advertise on pornhub or such? Or maybe some poster could send some ks links around?

 

[Caim]

Can you advertise on pornhub or such? Or maybe some poster could send some ks links around?

Maybe try buying ads on 4chan? Or slip a few bucks towards that woman who reviews porn games on youtube?

 

[Lord_Potato]

Or slip a few bucks towards that woman who reviews porn games on youtube?

Well, she made a glowing review of Memoirs of a Battle Brothel.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

What woman is that?

 

[Caim]

What woman is that?

This one:



Verdict: "not quite Arcanum good"

 

[Lord_Potato]

What woman is that?

This one:



Verdict: "not quite Arcanum good"

But still good. A one man project can hardly compete with Arcanum, so the fact they're already mentioned in one sentence is a victory

 

[santino27]

I'm guessing the kickstarter would need to be around 30k at the very minimum before the final 3-5 day push starts if it wants to be successful? If so, things aren't looking great. I know you're busy and hoping that other people/sites will spread the word, but if you want this one to succeed, it might need some more updates/legwork to attract additional backers.

 

[Tyranicon]

I'm guessing the kickstarter would need to be around 30k at the very minimum before the final 3-5 day push starts if it wants to be successful? If so, things aren't looking great. I know you're busy and hoping that other people/sites will spread the word, but if you want this one to succeed, it might need some more updates/legwork to attract additional backers.

I think I will put out some updates soon. 42% funded at 12 days left is not exactly ideal, but honestly sort of exceeded my expectations. Most kickstarters either succeed within 48 hours or fizzle out, so this is interesting.

My original plan was (if the campaign was doing well) to introduce stretch goals such as the Slayer campaign and expanding some of the minor lineages/werewolf factions.

 

[JamesDixon]

I'm sorry to hear that you're not meeting your goals. I hope you do and you sell a lot of copies.

 

[Ismaul]

Tyranicon I'm going to be frank here. Take it as you want.

It seems that if you want a successful Kickstarter, since like you say most succeed or fail within the first 48h, then you need to be firing on all cylinders before the Kickstarter even begins. Contact your fanbase of previous games to inform them about it coming, if you have a way (if not, plan for a way to do that with Vampire Syndicate, for the next game/expansion). I think you did inform users of different lewd games forum, but like announce at least a week beforehand. Contact every public person that can give visibility to the game, and setup some features, editorials, interviews, showcases, with them that will launch right about when you launch the Kickstarter or a bit later.

The thing is, people are sheep. They follow if they see everyone following. But if only some lone dudes support your stuff, then people will think this is not something I want to risk. They get cold feet even if they'd support you if your Kickstarter was going well. That's why you need people to see a clear direction at the beginning, in other words a lot of support right out the gate, and people to lead them on. And updates at the start, it doesn't need to be much, but people need to know someone's behind the wheel, if only to say, "hey look at this piece of art". Or, if you made your prep well, "hey, this article came out about the game", "I made this video chat with X".

You can't just start a funding drive and see it pick up momentum over time. For that you need word of mouth, and with a small base of 250 horny dudes likely not at ease with their hobby, it's hard and slow. 30 days isn't enough. Word of mouth kinda needs to happen beforehand.

Not sure that's of any help for this Kickstarter, unless you redo, but hopefully it is of some help.

 

[gaussgunner]

Definitely seeing an uptick on the kickstarter. Might've timed it well, seeing how there's currently a mainstream turn-based cRPG, people might want a scifi vampire version.

Will have to see if it gets more traction.

No, it's a horny RPG, lol. First PC Gamer ran the article on the bear buttsex horny RPG of the year, now they're lumping yours in with it.

 

[Tyranicon]

Reposting the kickstarter update:

Hi everyone!

With less than 9 days left in the campaign, we are firmly in the home stretch. Currently we have reached 43% of the campaign goal, which is not the most confidence-inspiring number, but we still have more than a week to go.

In this update I have a new short lore video, and also I'll discuss my plans if this campaign fails.

So if the campaign does fall short, I will continue to work on Vampire Syndicate and development of a more polished playable demo. As usual with my projects, the failure of crowdfunding does not mean the end of this game, but it will likely mean changes in scope to adjust for the shorter runway.

Regardless, I'm very glad that so many of you loved what you saw, and you can follow the game's progress on Steam.

Anyways, here's a short video on the Traveler's Mandate, an important organization in the setting that's been a key player in the previous games.

 

[Technomancer]

Spoiler

AI voice (11 labs) in the vid?

 

[Technomancer]

Gonna outline what happens next? You already did before but I guess I expected to see something more official, vague roadmap I dunno. Or what will be downscaled or cut back.

 

[Tyranicon]

Copied from steam.

Hi everyone!

So, the crowdfunding campaign for this project failed, which is a not entirely unexpected outcome. Some of you may already know that my last project, Memoirs of a Battle Brothel, required two campaigns.

I launched the Kickstarter for Vampire Syndicate with a relatively modest campaign goal, hoping that I have gained a larger audience since the Kickstarter for Memoirs. As a solodev with modest resources, my attempts at marketing were about the same for both.

In the end, I believe the lower goal for Memoirs led to a faster pledge growth rate. Although, a lower goal also means less development time and a narrower scope. I will probably relaunch with that in mind.

In the meantime I will be focusing on three things:



1. Polishing up the demo for Vampire Syndicate

The demo is still in a very rough stage, especially with combat, and can be improved.


2. Continue development

There are a lot of systems in the game that are still very experimental, and need further work.


3. Help TORii with her project

TORii has been an immense help on Vampire Syndicate, from graphics to gameplay mechanics. It's really starting to stretch the meaning of solodev at some point :D.

I intend to help with her project, a lovecraftian RPG/Grand Strategy hybrid called That Which Rises, which has been in on and off development for a few years now.

If you're curious, it is actually part of my MoonFall setting and takes place in Dyavol, Gushan and Zimalaya after the Second Moonfall (about 400 years before Vampire Syndicate).

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1546820/That_Which_Rises/

That Which Rises of course also has a thread here on codex: https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/that-which-rises-grimdark-fantasy-x-cosmic-horror.136448/page-9

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

News to me…. Never heard of that which rises.

Oh wait… now I recall the mention.

 

[Tyranicon]

I'll just post this here instead of spamming all the different threads I have going on.

 

[Technomancer]

Trying to ride the hype of BG3 with some porn 'parody', eh? Well, makes sense if it will work out. One way to bring in the money for vamps.

 

[Tyranicon]

Trying to ride the hype of BG3 with some porn 'parody', eh? Well, makes sense if it will work out. One way to bring in the money for vamps.

I just wanted to make porn with an anime version of Shadowtits.





The more serious answer is that we were using an off-brand D&D asset pack as placeholders for That Which Rises, and we figured, why not just make a parody while we're at it.

 

[Vincente]

an off-brand D&D asset pack

Pillars of Eternity?