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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

#31

Post by mattmanser »

forrestthewoods wrote: post #28

Damnit people. I've lost track of how many times the Star Command Kickstarter story has been misrepresented. The implication is that only $4000 (post tax) was spent on the game and that's an outright lie. They spent 6k on music, 5k on marketing (poster + pax), and 1k to development/demo hardware. That's not necessarily ideal but it's not entirely unreasonable either. You can argue the marketing/hardware issue perhaps…

Huh, seems like a perfect representation that very little money actually went to development to me!

Sounds like they didn't do their sums. Also how did they spend so much money on incorporation, costs about £25 ($40) over here.

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

#32

Post by jaems33 »

marquis wrote: post #30
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…

>6K for music should be 1-2k at most! For good music? For music that you don't want to turn off the second time you play it? Don't undervalue good production values.

Seriously. Oh development can be 5k and above but something also important like music? Pssh, screw that...

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

#33

Post by mparlane »

mattmanser wrote: post #31
forrestthewoods wrote: post #28

Damnit people. I've lost track of how many times the Star Command Kickstarter story has been misrepresented. The implication is that only $4000 (post tax) was spent on the game and that's an outright lie. They spent 6k on music, 5k on marketing (poster + pax), and 1k to development/demo hardware. That's not necessarily ideal but it's not entirely unreasonable either. You can argue the marketing/hardware issue perhaps…

Huh, seems like a perfect representation that very little money actually went to development to me! Sounds like they didn't do their sums. Also how did they spend so much money on incorporation, costs about £25 ($40) over here.

One pluralised word: Lawyers.

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

#34

Post by ChuckMcM »

Interesting post. I wrote an article on comp.sys.amiga about why software costs so much as a way to try to illuminate the unseen costs in development and support.

I really do think that folks should create the LLC first, get that setup and a copy of Quickbooks or what ever and "practice" running a company first. Seriously, go out and create an LLC right now. Not only will you learn a lot but the cost is moderate. Read the nolo press books, etc.

Do that and the rest is much easier.

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

#35

Post by danneu »

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.

I'd wager that people pledge because they want your product, not because they get t-shirts and mugs.

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

#36

Post by forrestthewoods »

mattmanser wrote: post #31
forrestthewoods wrote: post #28

Damnit people. I've lost track of how many times the Star Command Kickstarter story has been misrepresented. The implication is that only $4000 (post tax) was spent on the game and that's an outright lie. They spent 6k on music, 5k on marketing (poster + pax), and 1k to development/demo hardware. That's not necessarily ideal but it's not entirely unreasonable either. You can argue the marketing/hardware issue perhaps…

Huh, seems like a perfect representation that very little money actually went to development to me! Sounds like they didn't do their sums. Also how did they spend so much money on incorporation, costs about £25 ($40) over here.

They are a three man team working without any pay. What did you expect the money to go to? Proper salaries and benefits for the team would be a few hundred thousand dollars, not 36k.

Spending $6000 on music counts 100% as "to development" and is perfectly reasonable. For PAX if anything they should have spent more money to create a bigger presence.

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

#37

Post by corin_ »

jay_kyburz wrote: post #15
InclinedPlane wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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 d…

I've been in the fairly unique situation of seeing the results a wide range of companies in the extended games industry (from top games publishers to indies to gaming hardware... etc.) got from exhibiting their products and I couldn't disagree more about it being a good investment.

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

#40

Post by monochromatic »

mattmanser wrote: post #31
forrestthewoods wrote: post #28

Damnit people. I've lost track of how many times the Star Command Kickstarter story has been misrepresented. The implication is that only $4000 (post tax) was spent on the game and that's an outright lie. They spent 6k on music, 5k on marketing (poster + pax), and 1k to development/demo hardware. That's not necessarily ideal but it's not entirely unreasonable either. You can argue the marketing/hardware issue perhaps…

Huh, seems like a perfect representation that very little money actually went to development to me! Sounds like they didn't do their sums. Also how did they spend so much money on incorporation, costs about £25 ($40) over here.

> costs about £25 ($40) over here

You can do it pretty cheaply over here too... but it's a good idea to get a lawyer involved, and you get what you pay for.

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