JustinVoD
Barely Literate
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2013
- Messages
- 3
Hi everyone, I am the developer for Void of Darkness, I saw the game was mentioned in a news round up and the kind words and constructive criticism posted subsequent 
.
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/void-of-darkness
To speak to the comments in order, it is planned to have a planetary component such as that which existed in Starflight. However, being only one person, I wanted to concentrate first on the space part and get it right before expanding into what is virtually a second game in and of itself. This means that if there is enough interest in the final game (not the campaign itself but the actual final game available for purchase on various digital sites) then the first expansion will include this.
VoD is actually the first of a trilogy of games, the story was broken down into three parts, this being the introductory chapter.
This is in part to do with the other comment about the lacklustre pitch video. The blame in the end lies squarely with me as the project creator but I ran with some very bad advice on that one and not so good help. A friend offered to do the pitch video 2 weeks before the campaign. Up to three days before they had not come through and decided to throw that together at the last minute. No gameplay in the main video is a disaster of epic proportions, but he felt that there were so many videos available otherwise that it would speak for itself and this video was merely an introduction and the prospective pledgers would check out the rest of the content and then make a decision. Wrong. People want to see what I have to show up front there and then, not offsite.
But as we all know it is true, people will only give something that is so obscure as it is already very few seconds of their time, if they aren't grabbed in those seconds, they won't go further.
It is my intention to edit the pitch video with the current gameplay videos I am doing, so it will have the pitch video roll into several minutes of gameplay video. This won't help to reclaim the potentially lost backers, but hopefully in the remaining weeks it would serve as a better pitch video than the original.
Also it is true, Indiegogo is not the platform of choice for persons looking to back games. It seems there are hundreds of thousands of people on kickstarter who have what I term monthly budgets for backing, and it is true that although the pitch video is lame and the campaign obscure, it would definitely have more backers still if it were on KS.
I am a member of some space game communities and they know me well and trust me, so this is probably the reason it has any backers at all because of that respect I've built within the communities as I blogged about the progress of the game since February. Then there are people who email me and say put it on KS and I'll back it, I don't like Indiegogo, then there lots of people out there with misconceptions about indiegogo who believe the only campaign type is flexible one.
I still believe that with a good enough viral campaign among a close knit group of backers utilizing all the social media at their disposal that VoD could still makes its goal. If everyone who backs gets a friend, who gets a friend who gets a friend, it would work. I estimate VoD would probably be backed at probably 200 backers since the average pledge is about $30 right now.
It would get posted on more sites such as this as well.
If VoD had an artist there would not be a need to obtain this funding to hire a freelance artist. I would be willing to enter into a deal with a competent artist. The game already is to be released digitally on Gamersgate, Fireflower games and Desura. When it is finished I plan to submit it to Matrix and Iceberg and see what they say.
(the pitch video has now been edited)
VoD is a stubborn project though, the Indiegogo campaign isn't the end. It has a story to tell, and hopefully the players will review it as a story worth being read.
Thanks again, you can email me aussidan@hotmail.com if you have a private query.
Always happy to discuss VoD and Starflight with anyone.
-Justin
Project Creator
Programmer
.http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/void-of-darkness
To speak to the comments in order, it is planned to have a planetary component such as that which existed in Starflight. However, being only one person, I wanted to concentrate first on the space part and get it right before expanding into what is virtually a second game in and of itself. This means that if there is enough interest in the final game (not the campaign itself but the actual final game available for purchase on various digital sites) then the first expansion will include this.
VoD is actually the first of a trilogy of games, the story was broken down into three parts, this being the introductory chapter.
Void of Darkness seems interesting. I was always wondering why doesn't someone kickstart Starflight or Star Control 2 like game in this kickstarter craze. But it seems they aren't doing so well.
This is in part to do with the other comment about the lacklustre pitch video. The blame in the end lies squarely with me as the project creator but I ran with some very bad advice on that one and not so good help. A friend offered to do the pitch video 2 weeks before the campaign. Up to three days before they had not come through and decided to throw that together at the last minute. No gameplay in the main video is a disaster of epic proportions, but he felt that there were so many videos available otherwise that it would speak for itself and this video was merely an introduction and the prospective pledgers would check out the rest of the content and then make a decision. Wrong. People want to see what I have to show up front there and then, not offsite.
But as we all know it is true, people will only give something that is so obscure as it is already very few seconds of their time, if they aren't grabbed in those seconds, they won't go further.
It is my intention to edit the pitch video with the current gameplay videos I am doing, so it will have the pitch video roll into several minutes of gameplay video. This won't help to reclaim the potentially lost backers, but hopefully in the remaining weeks it would serve as a better pitch video than the original.
Also it is true, Indiegogo is not the platform of choice for persons looking to back games. It seems there are hundreds of thousands of people on kickstarter who have what I term monthly budgets for backing, and it is true that although the pitch video is lame and the campaign obscure, it would definitely have more backers still if it were on KS.
I am a member of some space game communities and they know me well and trust me, so this is probably the reason it has any backers at all because of that respect I've built within the communities as I blogged about the progress of the game since February. Then there are people who email me and say put it on KS and I'll back it, I don't like Indiegogo, then there lots of people out there with misconceptions about indiegogo who believe the only campaign type is flexible one.
I still believe that with a good enough viral campaign among a close knit group of backers utilizing all the social media at their disposal that VoD could still makes its goal. If everyone who backs gets a friend, who gets a friend who gets a friend, it would work. I estimate VoD would probably be backed at probably 200 backers since the average pledge is about $30 right now.
It would get posted on more sites such as this as well.
If VoD had an artist there would not be a need to obtain this funding to hire a freelance artist. I would be willing to enter into a deal with a competent artist. The game already is to be released digitally on Gamersgate, Fireflower games and Desura. When it is finished I plan to submit it to Matrix and Iceberg and see what they say.
(the pitch video has now been edited)
VoD is a stubborn project though, the Indiegogo campaign isn't the end. It has a story to tell, and hopefully the players will review it as a story worth being read.
Thanks again, you can email me aussidan@hotmail.com if you have a private query.
Always happy to discuss VoD and Starflight with anyone.
-Justin
Project Creator
Programmer
