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What the hell these game developers did with your kickstarter money

kotaku.com

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Re: What the hell these game developers did with your kickstarter money

#11

Post by jay_kyburz »

jay_kyburz wrote: post #6
tptacek wrote: post #2

As they said: they clearly overpaid on company formation ($4000 for legal and accounting, which could have been accomplished to the same effect for around $500 if they were frugal, including filing quarterly estimated returns). But still, they'd have ended up with ~$9000 gross instead of $6000; the point still stands. Some of these Kickstarter numbers look more game-changing than they really are. But whatever, I'm no…

I'm in the indie games business and I can say they overpaid for everything. 6K for music should be 1-2k at most! Poster Art - What's wrong with those awesome sprites that Kotaku used. Should be 0. IPads? More that one? PAX East? - That's a holiday not a legitimate business expense. This is why they say so many people don't make their money back in the App Store any more. You can't spend indie money like you work for…

Actually, now that I read my own comment I realize it makes me sound like a cheap and grumpy old man.

Perhaps they want to make a big budget game with really great music from their favorite artist, really awesome posters, and I know of course that each dev should have an iPad. You might even need all the different kinds.

Re: What the hell these game developers did with your kickstarter money

#12

Post by InclinedPlane »

jay_kyburz wrote: post #6
tptacek wrote: post #2

As they said: they clearly overpaid on company formation ($4000 for legal and accounting, which could have been accomplished to the same effect for around $500 if they were frugal, including filing quarterly estimated returns). But still, they'd have ended up with ~$9000 gross instead of $6000; the point still stands. Some of these Kickstarter numbers look more game-changing than they really are. But whatever, I'm no…

I'm in the indie games business and I can say they overpaid for everything. 6K for music should be 1-2k at most! Poster Art - What's wrong with those awesome sprites that Kotaku used. Should be 0. IPads? More that one? PAX East? - That's a holiday not a legitimate business expense. This is why they say so many people don't make their money back in the App Store any more. You can't spend indie money like you work for…

"PAX East? - That's a holiday not a legitimate business expense."

For a game developer? No, it's a fantastic way to raise the profile of your game. You get the most avid gamers interested in your game (who will spread the word if they like the game) and you get press coverage too. For an exhibitor PAX isn't a 3 day vacation, it's 5 or 6 days of working 12+ hours days, most of them staying chained to their booth in their expo hall.

Re: What the hell these game developers did with your kickstarter money

#15

Post by jay_kyburz »

InclinedPlane wrote: post #12
jay_kyburz wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in the indie games business and I can say they overpaid for everything. 6K for music should be 1-2k at most! Poster Art - What's wrong with those awesome sprites that Kotaku used. Should be 0. IPads? More that one? PAX East? - That's a holiday not a legitimate business expense. This is why they say so many people don't make their money back in the App Store any more. You can't spend indie money like you work for…

"PAX East? - That's a holiday not a legitimate business expense." For a game developer? No, it's a fantastic way to raise the profile of your game. You get the most avid gamers interested in your game (who will spread the word if they like the game) and you get press coverage too. For an exhibitor PAX isn't a 3 day vacation, it's 5 or 6 days of working 12+ hours days, most of them staying chained to their booth in th…

Nar, a game as great looking as theirs would get the press anyhow. The press are dying for more interesting games to write about.

You raise another good point though, not only is it 3k, but its 5-6 days at 12+ hours. A whole week of dev time lost to the event.

Events are great fun, but if you don't have money you don't know what to do with, I don't think they are a very good investment. Not much bang for the buck I don't think.

Re: What the hell these game developers did with your kickstarter money

#16

Post by wilfra »

Ignoring the suspiciously round numbers and the fact that they grossly overpaid for basically everything as an indie dev on a tight budget, here is what they raised money for:

"Hire extra talent for things like music, sound effects and additional platform development like Android

Promote and market to help sell the game and fund future expansions and possible sequels

Localize the game to other regions like Europe and Asia"

Several of the things they spent money on have nothing to do with any of those and thus the money they spent on them should not come from the money they raised on Kickstarter. IMO.

Re: What the hell these game developers did with your kickstarter money

#17

Post by waterlesscloud »

jrockway wrote: post #7
aristus wrote: post #5

"Offering labor-intensive rewards that do not move your project forward are a net loss." http://carlos.bueno.org/2012/03/rocking-kickstarter.html

But remember, people on Kickstarter are pledging money, not investing money. So if you don't offer good rewards, you won't get any money, and your project will never happen.

Unless of course the project itself is the real reward.

I think the tiered award thing hurts a lot of projects by distracting from the basic fact that what you're really contributing to is making the project real.

Re: What the hell these game developers did with your kickstarter money

#19

Post by andypants »

egypturnash wrote: post #3

"Now, right off the top you had $10,000 for prize fulfillment." The lesson to be learnt here? Very carefully consider your bonus goods. Will making and shipping them cost more than the extra profit they make over the base price? Price 'em out beforehand. And build in a healthy margin of error in case you are wrong.

Kickstarter recommends providing intangible rewards. Some people just don't listen to that advice.

To me, it just indicates a lack of creativity. There are so many ways to reward people when making a game, such as allowing funders to name in-game characters or locations, or to have a say in some of the game design. Posters and t-shirts seem like very lazy rewards. And costly of course.

Re: What the hell these game developers did with your kickstarter money

#20

Post by andypants »

guelo wrote: post #8

We keep hearing kickstarter projects complaining about tshirt costs, maybe kickstarter should start warning people about this.

Kickstarter does warn people about this. People should read the text on kickstarter more, or listen to advice more often.
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