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[WillowLuman]

If I were a developer, I would just use the framework kickstarter provides to set up a preorder, get alpha system.

[burningpet]

You mean with the alpha already functioning enough to be distributed? why do that when you can just mock a few screens and get the money to fund the alpha and then sell the alpha to everyone else?

Btw, there were some games that already done that - gave the alpha as soon as you backed them. can't remember which game that was, but i am certain i saw more than one that did it.

[WillowLuman]

I mean, to the point of saying "Here's something to prove I'm working. These are 3 seperate .exe's, representing the overworld, the inventory, and the battle map. Now you can see theres actually something to interact with. Tune in next week for a unified program that your money enabled!"

[burningpet]

Well, i think that would not help that much, or, in some cases, it might even hurt.

Kickstarter is for selling dreams. when the general public sees that your dream is a few non functional tech demos, the dream is no longer a dream, its a very tangible, defined and confined thing which might make them realize that so is their money.

In short, kickstarter is getting people to like their vision of your dream.

I do not feel scammed by Castle Story, but i wouldn't have backed it if i had played their alpha at the time. i might have still bought their finished game, but i sure as hell wouldn't care enough about it to back it on kickstarter for an overprice.

[Krevsin]

Btw, there were some games that already done that - gave the alpha as soon as you backed them. can't remember which game that was, but i am certain i saw more than one that did it.

That is becoming a common practice even outside Kickstarter, due to Minecraft's successful application of this marketing scheme.

Buy the Alpha - get the alpha and everything developed afterwards.

[Rakonas]

Well, i think that would not help that much, or, in some cases, it might even hurt.

Kickstarter is for selling dreams. when the general public sees that your dream is a few non functional tech demos, the dream is no longer a dream, its a very tangible, defined and confined thing which might make them realize that so is their money.

In short, kickstarter is getting people to like their vision of your dream.

Kickstarter isn't for just one purpose. Many kickstarters are actually just selling a product, using the money upfront to make it possible in non-videogameland.
Kickstarter is simply a more democratic form of purchasing, as things which people aren't interested in purchasing won't ever be advertised or sold.

[Krevsin]

Well, i think that would not help that much, or, in some cases, it might even hurt.

Kickstarter is for selling dreams. when the general public sees that your dream is a few non functional tech demos, the dream is no longer a dream, its a very tangible, defined and confined thing which might make them realize that so is their money.

In short, kickstarter is getting people to like their vision of your dream.

Kickstarter isn't for just one purpose. Many kickstarters are actually just selling a product, using the money upfront to make it possible in non-videogameland.
Kickstarter is simply a more democratic form of purchasing, as things which people aren't interested in purchasing won't ever be advertised or sold.

Wrong word choice. Purchase implies product is given to you when you pay the money.

Kickstarter does not do that. It gives you the chance to invest in a project without guaranteeing success or you actually receiving the final product. It is basically a way of funding projects that are presented in the best manner.

Bold text is fun.

[guessingo]

Kickstarter is a way for people to get free  money to develop games. In the past in order to raise money you have to either get loans or give up equity. Typcally if someone invests in your company they want a return on investment (in terms of cash). Now you even have regular development companies going out and say 'please gimmee money so we can make this super cool game at your expense, then make it better!. So we make even more money'. you are basically giving someone your money so they can turn a profit off it. Way to see the goods. if your game doesn't get done, go on with your life.

There was one game that raised nearly 4 million from a regular development company. I cant remember the name of it. When they hit 3.5m they had a new push. Get us to 4m and will spend the entire 500k on development. Ok so let me get this straight, does this imply you didn't spend all of the first 3.5m on development of this game and either paid yourselves big bonuses or used it for other business  purposes? They ended up 14k short. They need did say what they did with the other 486k they made. So since they are short, does this go as bonuses to the owners of the company?

Most kickstarters bug me. people want me to pay you to make a product before its even done. Then you charge more than I would normally pay for a finished project. I paid for the ADOM pre-release after 13 releases and I saw a product worth paying for.

When you pay at kickstarter it NOT an investment. You are paying people to make a product that they own and will go out and make more money on. If they promise to make it better (and actually do) they still end up making even more money. The amounts that people 'donate' are radically higher than they would pay for a finished product.

I would be ok with a Dwarf Fortress Kickstarter because Toady is radically underpaid. He has a product that we can actually consider finished and he is currently enhancing. The game is fully playable and is alot of fun. Though he doesn't consider it finished, most game companies would release a product with far less features, then call the new features 2.0 or a charged add-on.

all this being said, I am ok with people who are not me paying for cool games. if its done and I like it, I may buy it. I will wait for a finished product.

[Levi]

http://www.fortressofdoors.com/2012/07/freeloadable-content-alternative-to.html

Out of curiosity, how do people feel about this model?  The idea is to use kickstarter to fund DLC, then release the DLC for free.  It removes the risk for the developer in knowing if anybody will buy the DLC, because the kickstarter would have already funded or failed.

[Darkmere]

http://www.fortressofdoors.com/2012/07/freeloadable-content-alternative-to.html

Out of curiosity, how do people feel about this model?  The idea is to use kickstarter to fund DLC, then release the DLC for free.  It removes the risk for the developer in knowing if anybody will buy the DLC, because the kickstarter would have already funded or failed.

Sounds interesting. I'm sure people will find some way to exploit it if it ever happens, though.

[casserol]

I've never donated through kickstarter, mostly because I generally don't spend much money anyway (mostly because i don't have much to spend, that is) but i really love the idea. EA or Ubisoft would never have funded  a Fallout 3 4 7 Wasteland 2 or Baldur's Gate 3 Infinity Project.

Zenimax with Bethesda did. Hrm.

So yeah I'm very grateful crowd funding models allow to make games retarded producers would never take the "risks" to.

[Virtz]

http://www.fortressofdoors.com/2012/07/freeloadable-content-alternative-to.html

Out of curiosity, how do people feel about this model?  The idea is to use kickstarter to fund DLC, then release the DLC for free.  It removes the risk for the developer in knowing if anybody will buy the DLC, because the kickstarter would have already funded or failed.

Sounds interesting. I'm sure people will find some way to exploit it if it ever happens, though.

"We here at Activision have chosen to offer the golden desert eagle DLC for free to all our customers! But only once our humble fund-raising goal of 2 million dollars is met."

Also, not really sure if people would see the incentive of paying for something everyone else would get free.

[Levi]

"We here at Activision have chosen to offer the golden desert eagle DLC for free to all our customers! But only once our humble fund-raising goal of 2 million dollars is met."

That is what is cool about it though, if people think its stupid it wouldn't get funded.  Then nobody loses out.

Also, not really sure if people would see the incentive of paying for something everyone else would get free.

Yeah, that is the bigger problem.  It would sort of come down to how people view kickstarters.  People who treat it like a "Buy" wouldn't be interested as they get no product.  People who treat it as a "investment" might be interested as they simply want the content.   So its possible that a model like this would never get funded.

[Virtz]

"We here at Activision have chosen to offer the golden desert eagle DLC for free to all our customers! But only once our humble fund-raising goal of 2 million dollars is met."

That is what is cool about it though, if people think its stupid it wouldn't get funded.  Then nobody loses out.

Thing is, I've seen so many things that made me think "nobody's gonna buy this" only to see them become top-sellers, I suspect something slightly less comical would actually find funders. There is no bottom of the barrel.