SteamShards, the (current) name of the project to which all this terrain generation is going into, will be up soon on Kickstarter. Here's a preview to it.
I haven't posted much here lately because ... well I've been busy on lighting, and then writing all the code to handle the various subvoxel shapes (863 at last count) and proper lighting for them. I think I'm going to write a post on voxel lighting, actually.
There's tons of information out there on Kickstarter. I haven't launched yet, but I've got some comments on the campaign-creation process:
Video is top, I think. From everything else I can tell, having a video has the single biggest effect on sales.
It's weird to calculate that, though. I think the greatest multiplier might be being able to spell, and/or not looking like a tool. So, like, #0 is not looking like a fail project. I've seen kickstarters that basically said "I want to eventually be good enough to be a game dev," kind of a "fund my life" sort of goal with no reward. Those failed. Many failed projects were "I'm going to remake this obscure game from the 90s, and I need $100,000 to do it, and btw I'm still in high school." All sorts of things wrong with that: the tiny market, the outsized goal, usually bad grammar and art, but mostly very little evidence to suggest that the creator would be able to finish the project.
So #1, really, is "don't suck." Avoid bad mistakes. Have a video, include screenshots, have a key reward that people actually want. Spellcheck. And, if English isn't your native language but you're trying to sell to an English-speaking market, try to get a native speaker to review your page. If English is your native language but you're currently in 9th grade and failing at spelling... then you're not ready for Kickstarter yet. Hmm. I don't just want to complain though. If you are currently 23 and you have a great idea but suck really bad at spelling and grammar... then find a friend or partner to help. Put an ad in Craigslist for a copy-editor for $100. Ask a mate, spouse, girlfriend, mentor, whatever.
#2 is "be believable". You've got to convince people that you can finish the project and deliver the rewards. $25 or $40, sure, I could buy that project. But if I don't think the rewards will come, then I've got to weight that $40 against the chance I actually get the reward. If the project doesn't meet its funding goal, then OK, no cash lost. I'm fine with that. There's two parts to being believable: first, actually BE capable of finishing the project, and second, communicating that to people. Many of the failed projects I've looked at (and I've scrutinized a couple hundred projects) fail because the creator doesn't look like they know what they're doing. High school kids that want to make the "biggest" zombie game ever, someone that wants to make an awesome RPG (one of the most technically different game genres out there) but is currently only an artist, a team of one that wants to build the next MMORPG, stuff like that. It's possible for one person to make a game by themselves, but that usually means simple art, simple design, and/or simple tech. Middleware like Unity makes building a game much easier, but it doesn't provide any game design.
I've seen those projects, though. Unity is great! Someone buys a bunch of assets and scripts from the Unity Asset Store, throws them together, makes a build, and somehow gets the project onto Steam. It's buggy as hell and doesn't do much, but the assets look great. Those devs lived off of backers for a couple years, but now their reputation is ruined and they've got to switch to driving a taxi or working at dad's dry cleaners. Meanwhile the backers have gotten more sophisticated, more cynical; they'll look more closely at who they're willing to back.
To me, that means the gold rush is over. You'll no longer find placer deposits.
#3 is having a hook. That obscure game from the 90s is not a hook. "It's like Game X, but it has Feature Y!" That's your hook. Some hooks are more compelling than others. "That obscure game from the 90s, but MODERNIZED!" Well, um, ok, what does that mean? I don't even know what game your talking about. That's not a hook. "That popular game from the 80s, but MODERNIZED!" Well hey, here's a hook: that popular game from the 80s.
I think for SteamShards (that's my project, btw), I've got two hooks: steampunk, and subvoxels. Minecraft has procedural terrain, voxels, exploration, adventure, "world gates" (kinda; although there's only 3 worlds). I've also got Minions, Cities, and Invasions, though, but they're not really my hook. I'd like to think that the City complex -- cities, bad guys invading your cities, you having to defend your cities, and minions to help you do that -- are a good hook, but ... it's also complex gameplay. I don't have that working; I can't show that off. I'd love to talk about it, but that's a future hook. I'm not sure how to categorize that.
OK, so that's my Top 3 Keys to Success. I think I'm currently failing at #1 -- I need more graphics and a video for my project. I will definitely have those before I launch.
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