Kickstarter would be terrible for Byond. Most successful kickstarters involve giving the donors something they want, be it a video, a print, a game, etc. A byond kickstarter would have to give some reward to attract non-byond user donors, and those kind of things cost money, and would reduce the amount earned.

While it could bring some attention to the Byond platform, it would probably make less money (due to Paypal/KS getting their cuts) then just having Tom attempt to raise money directly from the site.

A BYOND Kickstarter should be aimed toward a complete reboot of the engine. It could provide development with enough money to create a tool that is much more capable than what we currently have.

You just have to make sure you finish the game. The last thing we need is someone going to Kickstarter, raising like $100,000 and then we never hear about the game again. That would ruin BYOND's already ruined reputation to the point of no return.

I went to Kickstarter last yearish and got accepted, but that was just to see if I could get accepted. I didn't actually put a game on there and try to raise money. Before you even get on the site you have to fill out some forms and stuff describing your project and then afterwards you wait about a day or two and get an email either telling you you can begin raising money or you can't because what you're trying to raise money for is in violation of their rules ( for example, you can't start a Kickstarter because you want a house and a new BMW, it has to be a project ).

The most important part is your video. You need to really convince people that the world needs your game. If you can't get a decent video editor and a skilled narrator to talk about your game, you'll have a hard time doing that ( which is why Tech's Kickstarter failed ). This for example raised $2,000,000 on the first day. The reason being, the idea is awesome and that woman ( who I just realized is the CEO ) presenting it is doing an awesome job at persuading people to donate.

Not everybody that had a successful Kickstarter campaign was extremely wealthy. And the wonderful thing about BYOND is you don't need "world-renowned" designers to make something. There's no reason why a BYOND user wouldn't be able to do what Julie did.

BYOND could probably get some funding in sort of a "help keep this software free" plea. It has a long history and big user base, so it has some credibility. Either way it's likely to generate some buzz for BYOND even if it doesn't actually reach its investment goal.

Acebloke wrote:

These sites tend to be for people who have 'already made it', their kickstarter income largely coming from their own established base, regardless of their personal volume of wealth. As an extra, Kickstarter is anti-anyone outside of the United States, yet unfortunately is by far the most successful site of its kind.

Basically, many BYONDers who would benefit from kickstarter is already blocked from even using it.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of them disallowing foreign pitches. As for the "established base" criticism, I'd disagree. I've personally talked with a programmer who had a successful pitch a month and a half ago, and his fanbase was nonexistant before their kickstarter rush.

And I agree that a lot of Kickstarter projects are already developed things that just need money to ship/market/produce, but there are a lot of concept games too, it's just that they tend not to be popular due to them being more of a gamble.

Cloud Magic wrote:

I think you guys might have it wrong there...

A friend of mine was working on a board game and raised around $5000 for its creation. He has no affiliation with anyone famous...but he has worked with someone famous once in the past to help his reputation...so idk, you decide.

Link the project. Effort is a large part of what makes a kickstarter successful, being well known just amplifies how much money people will throw at you.

EmpirezTeam wrote:

The most important part is your video. You need to really convince people that the world needs your game. If you can't get a decent video editor and a skilled narrator to talk about your game, you'll have a hard time doing that ( which is why Tech's Kickstarter failed ).

Yes, this is absolutely true, you need to have a great pitch and you need to have your entire presentation leave a great impression. I went in thinking I'd get in and slowly add videos and content, and college and my health got in the way.

Really, if I'd have any advice for anyone attempting the crowdsourcing route, it'd be for your Kickstarter pitch to answer the following questions:

1) Can you actually make the game?
2) How realistic are your goals?
3) Have you anything to show for your current progress?
4) Is your hypothetical game worth playing/funding?
5) What is the money going to be spent on?


After that I'd have some interesting stretch goals and funding levels and you could probably succeed with a realistic goal.

SuperAntx wrote:

BYOND could probably get some funding in sort of a "help keep this software free" plea.

Like Wikipedia! If that guy can do that "personal appeal from Wiki founder" thing and raise a couple million every 3 months, so can Tom. Lol.