Hi there. If this isn't the right subforum to post this, move it please.

I recently created a Kickstarter for a wrestling game in August. I had started marketing it in January when it was revealed, and had huge interest from a number of parties that grew my twitter by 300+ followers, with a lot of big names such as content creators and even a famous wrestler. When me and my team put together enough marketing and asset material, we launched it.

Kickstarter Link

We kept communicating with our backers who reached a total of nearly 500 and informed numerous channels and people of our game. And yet, in the end, we failed to reach our goal. Some said that the kickstarter goal was too high. Others said that it was the artstyle. Some said it's because we didn't have the right amount of followers. And some said that maybe the project's presentation wasn't good or clear. 

So I will like to ask other professionals in the industry if they will like to critique what we offered. Education of my failures is always welcomed. We are currently producing a playable demo to release to the public and hopefully get more people aware and trusting in our product to try a second time with crowdfunding in a couple of months. What do you guys think we as a team should do now? Should we continue on this path? Or should we sit down and scale back our expectations and project for an easier attainable scope that the public would trust? 10K is a lot easier to raise than 60K.

Thank you.

5 hours ago, jbadams said:

Firstly, grammar.  We'd all like to think it doesn't matter that much as long as everyone knows what you mean - and your writing is pretty clear - but there are numerous mistakes, and that reflects poorly on you.  Run the whole text through Grammarly if you're not confident, and make sure you get multiple proof readers before going public.  If you can't put in the effort to fix basic errors, a lot of people won't trust you with money to make a game.  

 

I think it was probably a mistake to attempt crowdfunding without already having a demo.  In the early days of crowdfunding people would fund anything that caught their interest, but after numerous projects failing to deliver people are now a lot more cautious; they want to see more impressive projects rather than just concepts, and they want to see teams that can deliver.

 

Next up, I think maybe you had a little too much fun with the team member bios.  It's great to appeal to your audience, but they also want to be confident that your team can deliver and that the final project will be what they want.  I'd put the real-life profile up front and put more work into putting your best feet forward (link to your successful projects, cut the less impressive and put the best stuff up front.  Looking at your own profile for example:

You're the director and lead programmer for the project, but the first thing that you say about yourself is that you're a student.  You then me mention other programming, and then get to video games.  Put the most important thing up front: you're a successful video game developer with two released projects.  If you got your degree put it in there, but otherwise don't mention being a student at all.

Keep the wrestler bios if you think they're fun and if you've had positive feedback, but I'd make them a secondary thing after the real description, and I'd keep them brief.

 

You're asking for people to trust you with their money, so having a team member who won't give any details about themselves is also risky.

 

Your "risks and challenges" section is a place to remove people's doubts and win them over - see "inoculation" in this article.  This is not the place for humour unless you're sure you've already removed all doubt.  Making games is hard, and a lot of them don't get completed: I would address that, and show your track record again.  I'd lose the bit about "dying of laughter" as a challenge.

 

Hope some of that helps!

It was good advice. Especially the team member part. I had several discussions with some people on whether that was necessary at all. It's a humor based project, but when we do a second one, learning a little subtlety wouldn't be a bad idea on our part.

21 hours ago, jbadams said:

Remember, a humorous game does not have to mean humorous development.

I think taking some pointers from Matt and Trey on how they approach South Park (the show and the game) would be interesting, too. They tell jokes during interviews, but they are often serious and stressed when developing. And yes, as game developers, we all know too well that development is never funny.

On 11/13/2017 at 11:38 AM, Zido_Z said:

Hi there. If this isn't the right subforum to post this, move it please.

I recently created a Kickstarter for a wrestling game in August. I had started marketing it in January when it was revealed, and had huge interest from a number of parties that grew my twitter by 300+ followers, with a lot of big names such as content creators and even a famous wrestler. When me and my team put together enough marketing and asset material, we launched it.

Kickstarter Link

We kept communicating with our backers who reached a total of nearly 500 and informed numerous channels and people of our game. And yet, in the end, we failed to reach our goal. Some said that the kickstarter goal was too high. Others said that it was the artstyle. Some said it's because we didn't have the right amount of followers. And some said that maybe the project's presentation wasn't good or clear. 
Thank you.

1. Get a narrator on your video (Nice explainer video). It's just how the Kickstarter community works. Like to make a point on Youtube, you need to be funny or goofy, etc. Speak to the market in their / style language first.

2. As several ppl mentioned here, grammar check. Get your copy proofread by a third party or something.

3. Congrats on a good looking game and having the guts to put it on Kickstarter.