homepage Forums Read Only Forums Read Only Forums Combat Helo Flexman's blog has been updated

It needs to be realistic ie what he actually needs to complete it. No bothering with "stretch goals" or whatever if he can't devote the time to actually DO them.

One issue is KS usually includes a copy of the game above a certain minimum level...so basically you're cannibalizing your sales for preorders to finish the game. Then the game is done, all those people get their copies...who's left to buy? Granted some people will never KS/preorder and instead wait for the final product, but they're not the majority anymore.

A lot of KS is about "getting the money from sales NOW to finish" and therefore your later sales are smaller.



The Jedi Master

I don't think it's that significant a loss though, if you look at double fine's kickstarter they only had 87k backers, if the game sells a couple hundred thousand after launch then that's still a significant chunk of people giving you money.

But I think it's just signalling a shift in how things are done though, doing kickstarter cuts out the middle man publisher, so now instead of being paid to develop this game and then on release the publisher and big names get the rewards, now I would assume that any money made post launch goes to the devs instead of the publisher.

I don't know, I've always been curious how big development studios handle sales, I assume it all goes to replenish money spent on development and then whatever's left goes to bigwigs and funding the next game.

Yes, FWIW I think "standard" game development is "publisher funds developer costs (salary, facilities, equipment) during game production, then get all monies from sales at launch and after with possible bonuses for exceeding sales and/or review score targets." The publisher also funds developer work on patches or post-launch content including DLCs or add-ons.



The Jedi Master

Yeah so I think overall doing kickstarter would be better financially for developers even if some of their sales are lost to the kickstarter.

All I'm sure of is that I'll be dead before I get to buy any version of LB2 that works on modern gear. But hey! The Romans missed out on ipads too.

Yes, what did they ever do for us anyway, besides the roads, the aqueducts, the education, cleaning up the streets so they're safe to walk at night...



The Jedi Master