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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

#2

Post by tptacek »

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 not a games industry person; I'm really just here to chime my recurring bell about "don't put your company together on a napkin, get the LLC done; it doesn't have to be expensive and it will help you down the road."

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

#3

Post by egypturnash »

"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.

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

#6

Post by jay_kyburz »

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 a AAA studio.

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

#7

Post by jrockway »

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.

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

#9

Post by tptacek »

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…

Not to disagree (I don't know enough about the industry to disagree) but they got the iPads to show the game teaser at PAX.

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

#10

Post by guelo »

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 think I disagree, for a $30k investment all the paperwork is useless and distracting from getting things done. Just do a handshake agreement with your partners and get down to doing the real work. After the $30k is gone, which will happen surprisingly quickly, you can look at your business more honestly and see if figuring out the paperwork is even worth it. I wouldn't even bother thinking about taxes, screw the IRS, there is no way for them to know about that $6k salary if you don't tell them, if you're successful later you can have an accountant figure out the mess. $30k is a short window to actually get something out the door, don't let anything else distract you.
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