CBL is a Pathfinder compatible gaming aid that consists of pre-generated NPCs that come with Hero Lab portfolios and high quality character art files. All the NPCs come with stat blocks for levels 1-20 so they can be used in any Pathfinder campaign regardless of level.
If you just want the character art files, they are offered as its own package called GA: Game Avatars. Examples of the character art can be seen on the Kickstarter page.
This is our first project that we hope you find useful for your games.
Dan Brink and the rest of the Rabid Hamster Workshop team thank you in advance for your support!
Link?
Sounds interesting so dug up the link.
Characters By Level Kickstarter..
Firefox does not recognize the link.
Firefox does not recognize the link.
Link should work in the title in my original post, but here's the link again -
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/danbrink/cbl-characters-by-level-for-pa thfinder-rpg
This is a cool project idea and the artwork is great in the sample shots, so I'm sure this will be successful. I understand the financial reasoning of doing this subscription style, but I'd love to see this eventually be marketed so that you have a catalog of characters with maybe a small picture and brief description so a purchaser could pick out the individual characters they want to buy on an as-needed basis. Also, like I said the artwork is very good, but if I was going to nitpick I'd prefer (speaking more about ones like the gnome and elven cleric specifically) a little bit more added detailed skinning/texturing when it comes to things like the skin/clothing so it looks a little less monotextural/monochromatic to give more realism and depth. Maybe not this extreme as that would be incredibly time consuming and expensive, but just a little more. Good luck on your project! /bump
If this Kickstarter is successful, I plan to sell the characters separately by month, and maybe individuality if feasible. Obviously, if you subscribe, then the cost of CBL per month or by character goes down significantly. If price is a concern, my Kickstarter offers a month sampler that costs as much as buying lunch at a fast food restaurant.
Artwork for my project is very expensive and is the majority of the cost of my product. If I went cheap on the art like most 3pp products, I could easily drop my Kickstarter goal to 1/3 or even 1/4 the amount of what it is. If you want good quality art in a product, you have to pay for it! Also, it takes time for the artists to draw high quality art, so that is the main reason I went the subscription route.
Now, the picture you link to is a 2D/3D mixture character. I bet to create one of those types of pictures would take longer to produce and cost way more than what I even paying now for my art. Due to cost, I will not look into commissioning that style of art until I see Paizo, WOTC, and other major gaming publishers start using them in their works. There is 2 reasons you don't see those types of pictures in RPG gaming products - cost and long production time.
Ok basic information time:
Have you (or your team) ever published anything before? Have you ever done anything for Pathfinder before? What made you decide you would be able to open a publishing company? Why should we have faith in your company?
Every company starts from nothing, Paizo included. Every product you buy has a risk that it doesn't meet up to your expectations. The risk is very low for reputable companies, but there is always a risk.
With that said, I am tossing my hat into the ring of RPG publishing and see if my RPG products is worth your money and to be used in your RPG games. Being a gamer myself, I plan to offer products that I think other gamers may find useful and produce them at an affordable price with high quality art. This may be my corporate quality engineer side speaking, but even gamers want decent quality products that don't cost them an arm & leg to purchase.
As to your questions --
No, my company hasn't published anything before since this is our first attempt to make something official. However, all the artists on our team have work for Paizo or other gaming companies in the past. Also, being a former quality engineer and database programmer, I have written numerous quality procedures and documentation for my previous employers over the years, so I do have a decent understanding when it comes to writing and publishing. Taking the jump from writing quality documents to creating a gaming book isn't that much of a leap, especially when I enjoy playing RPGs.
No, we haven't written anything for Pathfinder before since this is our first product. All companies have to start from something. I do want to mention that all the artists on our team are experienced and have worked gaming companies in the past. Also, the lead designer, which is me, has been playing Pathfinder since the beta and has been involved in RPG games since 1st ed. AD&D that was released many years ago. Saying that makes me feel older than I am!
Why did I decide to try to start a 3pp gaming company? Mainly due that I'm a RPG gamer at heart and I want to pursue something that I enjoy doing instead of being an engineer & IT tech working in a typical big corporate environment.
Since my company doesn't have a track record as of yet, it's hard for me to say honestly that we are the next best company to come on the scene and you should have complete faith in us. However, to show that our first product is something worthwhile for you to look into, our Kickstarter offer samplers to try our first product out and the cost for them is no more than eating out at a fast food restaurant for dinner.
I hope that answers your questions.
I'm tempted to say that for your first project you may be overstretching yourself (although I do wish you well and hope I'm wrong!) There's a reason most 3PPs go cheap on the art, and that's because they're not expecting to sell enough copies to cover it until they've built up a name and reputation, and mostly players want to get the text as cheap as possible.
One thing I would have suggested is to offer non-artwork options to see how many people would rather have the text-only product and not pay for the art at all, to see whether it's worth getting it done at all, or just in a simpler line-art format. A full-color drawing for a character is nice and all, but I'm not 100% convinced it's all that important to the average player.
You may also find that (unless you've found artists that will do custom color artwork really cheaply for you) having 3D artist produce a rendered image is cheaper than you think - I'm actually planning on doing my own to save on paying for artwork, seeing as I have the software and models from other things I was doing a couple of years ago, and the time to assemble and pose the model, and then get the lighting right is inevitably cheaper (for now at least, while I have spare time to burn on it) than paying someone else to draw what I want - maybe 1-2 hours at most for a full-color closeup on the head.
Anyway, good luck!
EDIT: Just to finish on a non-negative note, it *does* look fantastic!
I'm tempted to say that for your first project you may be overstretching yourself (although I do wish you well and hope I'm wrong!) There's a reason most 3PPs go cheap on the art, and that's because they're not expecting to sell enough copies to cover it until they've built up a name and reputation, and mostly players want to get the text as cheap as possible.
One thing I would have suggested is to offer non-artwork options to see how many people would rather have the text-only product and not pay for the art at all, to see whether it's worth getting it done at all, or just in a simpler line-art format. A full-color drawing for a character is nice and all, but I'm not 100% convinced it's all that important to the average player.
You may also find that (unless you've found artists that will do custom color artwork really cheaply for you) having 3D artist produce a rendered image is cheaper than you think - I'm actually planning on doing my own to save on paying for artwork, seeing as I have the software and models from other things I was doing a couple of years ago, and the time to assemble and pose the model, and then get the lighting right is inevitably cheaper (for now at least, while I have spare time to burn on it) than paying someone else to draw what I want - maybe 1-2 hours at most for a full-color closeup on the head.
Anyway, good luck!
EDIT: Just to finish on a non-negative note, it *does* look fantastic!
Thanks.
I may be overstretching on my product, but all it takes is about 200 yearlong subscribers to fund my KS project at the cost of buying a hardcover book on Paizo's webs store. To be honest, that's not a lot of money over a year's time frame.
Trust me. Doing excellent 3D art is not cheap or is done quickly. If it was as cheap as you say it is, then why doesn't Paizo or other gaming companies use it in their products? Also, how long do you think it takes to make the custom models to use in your 3D art? I'm not saying this to be negative, but I think 3D artists are no cheaper than 2D artists if you want something of excellent quality.
You may well be right on the 3D art side, I've never actually had to pay anyone for it so I may well be underestimating the cost, I can only go from the amount of time it takes me to produce an image (which makes me wonder if I should look into producing 3D art instead of writing, heh.)
The other issue is that 3D rendered art *looks* rendered, and I find most people don't really appreciate that as an artform as much as something that's been hand-painted (at least, not until you get into full scenes with incredible landscapes that have been hand-touched and edited for hours after rendering.) That's the other reason I felt it's likely cheaper to get hold of.
The overstretching... I just look at the total amount of money you're looking to get via KS and scratch my head. It seems most 3PPs work around things like a $500-1000 maximum budget (often less) for the very first piece of work they put out (with a cost of $0 for the author's own time so it's really all in art, software, editing, and layout), safe in the knowledge that if it doesn't sell they're not going to be too much out of pocket.
Who said I was taking a handout? You help me fund my project and you get something in return. Do you think Kickstarter projects are handouts? If that is the case, then I guess you think Kobold Press, Monte Cook, and Reaper Miniatures were asking for handouts for their products too when they ran their Kickstarters.
If you actually wanted to know the artists involved in project, just read my Kickstarter page. Takes about a minute to find out all the details about my Kickstarter.
Shadowcat, it seems from your response that no matter what I say to you is going to satisfy what you want out of me and it appears you want to be negative & confrontational about it as well. If you don't want to support my Kickstarter, that's fine. However, I'm not here to play 100 questions with you, especially when you seem to want to start an argument with me.
My Kickstarter offers samplers if you have concerns about what I'm offering as a new player in the industry. If you feel $4 or $6 is too much of a risk, then don't pledge.
You may well be right on the 3D art side, I've never actually had to pay anyone for it so I may well be underestimating the cost, I can only go from the amount of time it takes me to produce an image (which makes me wonder if I should look into producing 3D art instead of writing, heh.)
The other issue is that 3D rendered art *looks* rendered, and I find most people don't really appreciate that as an artform as much as something that's been hand-painted (at least, not until you get into full scenes with incredible landscapes that have been hand-touched and edited for hours after rendering.) That's the other reason I felt it's likely cheaper to get hold of.
The overstretching... I just look at the total amount of money you're looking to get via KS and scratch my head. It seems most 3PPs work around things like a $500-1000 maximum budget (often less) for the very first piece of work they put out (with a cost of $0 for the author's own time so it's really all in art, software, editing, and layout), safe in the knowledge that if it doesn't sell they're not going to be too much out of pocket.
High quality artwork isn't cheap as seen from my initial goal. You can easily pay $150+ for bust portraits and go over $300+ for full body ones without any backgrounds. The reason most 3pp production cost $500-$1000 is due that their artwork is minimal, usually B&W, and the art quality is not that great. I also assume that they are not hiring a professional layout artist to create their books as well.
You want excellent quality artwork in your product, you have to pay for it. And, when I'm offering anywhere from 48-72 portraits a year, the cost goes up significantly! However, if I can get enough people to support my project, I can offer high quality artwork at a cheap price just like any other 3pp company. Just because my artwork cost is expensive, if I have enough people supporting it, I can keep the price low and still offer something of excellent quality.
You are correct that most 3D art looks rendered and it take some work in Photoshop or whatever to lessen that rendered look. I do like 3D art as much as 2D, but almost all commercial RPG gaming art is 2D and I don't see any price reductions hiring 3D artists over 2D ones. Making custom 3D models of people, equipment, and terrain is not going to be any cheaper than hiring someone to draw me the same things in Photoshop or Gimp.
I wish you luck on your 3D endeavors!
@abellius,
I looked again and there is no link in your original post. That is why I asked for one.
@abellius,
I looked again and there is no link in your original post. That is why I asked for one.
Hmmm...link works for me still and I'm using Firefox. I'm not sure what to tell ya.
If you have any questions about my project, let me know.
To understand ShadowcatX's "handout" statement a bit better, it's important to understand what Kickstarter is and isn't.
Kickstarter is a place where you ask for money to help you fund a project you can't afford to do, and can offer rewards in return.
What it isn't a preordering platform, although it's easy to forget that given the amount of people that appear to use it (often successfully) as such. There's no actual sale of goods, or contract to supply them, just the word of the person launching the Kickstarter that the funds will be used for what they have stated. There's no comeback via Paypal, Kickstarter, or Credit Card companies (as far as I know, as I don't pretend to be a legal expert on these matters) because there wasn't a product ordered or expected other than "if we manage to succeed in this project." People are, in fact, making donations to you in the hope that you'll succeed and they'll get something in return.
Indeed, there have been cases of people being unable to deliver the promised rewards, and saying they've already used all the money on the project but discovered too late it would be too expensive to complete.
That's why, for many, it's important to know the people behind the project and that they're not just Joe Smith writing a Kickstarter page from his computer in the basement and intending to live off the money for the next six months and produce nothing in return - and also why a dollar breakdown of how the requested funds will be dispersed is a good idea, so they can see if it's actually going to be spent or just pocketed. While that doesn't mean you shouldn't include payment to yourself in there, it does mean some people will be looking for capital expenditure that you couldn't otherwise afford (such as Reaper using the money to buy new machinery.), or for materials, or at least seeing what kind of money is being used to employ artists, etc.
Anyway, I hope you understand I'm not posting this to be difficult, only to help understand why some people may seem somewhat... aggressive in their questioning :)
My mistake. There is a link. I thought it was the title to the thread, not the link. I am used to seeing it presented as "here" in a sentence. My apologies.
Just as an example of the kind of situation people will be asking questions about in order to avoid:
http://valleywag.gawker.com/kickstarter-project-canceled-after-dude-spends- all-the-912176282
In which case it appears part of the money the backers thought was being used to form a company got used on personal expenses (moving home, to be precise) by the project organizer :-S
CBL is a Pathfinder compatible gaming aid that consists of pre-generated NPCs that come with Hero Lab portfolios and high quality character art files. All the NPCs come with stat blocks for levels 1-20 so they can be used in any Pathfinder campaign regardless of level.
If you just want the character art files, they are offered as its own package called GA: Game Avatars. Examples of the character art can be seen on the Kickstarter page.
This is our first project that we hope you find useful for your games.
Dan Brink and the rest of the Rabid Hamster Workshop team thank you in advance for your support!
Hi abellius. I wanted to introduce myself, I am Louis Porter Jr. of LPJ Design.
I saw your kickstarter when it started and I was impressed with the artist names I saw on your list. All of them are very professional and of a high level. I think on the artwork side of things, this should be a successful project. What worried me was the actual execution of doing this type of project for a first time 3PP. I am not sure of your background in the publishing industry but I know for a fact how easy it is to have project cost double due to all kinds of issues and mistakes. The first attempt of Razor Coast showed that even with well known freelancers attached to it. From one 3PP to another that goal of $13K seem like a lot of money (which it is) for a first time 3PP to ask for a fist project.
Also I think it would have been better if you took some time before the kickstarter started to tell people about what you were planning to do. That would have helped draw interest for it. The more people that are interest means the more people will donate. Look at Dragon Kings her talked it up a month before it was up at kickstarter. I am doing a Codex: Torment and it is not starting until early 2014. I am taking this time to help me build interest in it.
I would suggest that you might want to try a smaller version of this kickstarter. What you showed as the sample work is solid. I thought it would be better if maybe you released this as a level 1 through 5 of Gilmere and see if there is an interest. If there was you do more level and go from there. These are just my thought and I hope you could find them helpful. Good luck!
To understand ShadowcatX's "handout" statement a bit better, it's important to understand what Kickstarter is and isn't.
Kickstarter is a place where you ask for money to help you fund a project you can't afford to do, and can offer rewards in return.
What it isn't a preordering platform, although it's easy to forget that given the amount of people that appear to use it (often successfully) as such. There's no actual sale of goods, or contract to supply them, just the word of the person launching the Kickstarter that the funds will be used for what they have stated. There's no comeback via Paypal, Kickstarter, or Credit Card companies (as far as I know, as I don't pretend to be a legal expert on these matters) because there wasn't a product ordered or expected other than "if we manage to succeed in this project." People are, in fact, making donations to you in the hope that you'll succeed and they'll get something in return.
Indeed, there have been cases of people being unable to deliver the promised rewards, and saying they've already used all the money on the project but discovered too late it would be too expensive to complete.
That's why, for many, it's important to know the people behind the project and that they're not just Joe Smith writing a Kickstarter page from his computer in the basement and intending to live off the money for the next six months and produce nothing in return - and also why a dollar breakdown of how the requested funds will be dispersed is a good idea, so they can see if it's actually going to be spent or just pocketed. While that doesn't mean you shouldn't include payment to yourself in there, it does mean some people will be looking for capital expenditure that you couldn't otherwise afford (such as Reaper using the money to buy new machinery.), or for materials, or at least seeing what kind of money is being used to employ artists, etc.
Anyway, I hope you understand I'm not posting this to be difficult, only to help understand why some people may seem...
I understand you are not being difficult, but..
Actually, you are incorrect about Kickstarter. I am obliged to supply my backers based on what I promised them as per Kickstarter's rules. You pledge money to my project, and if successful, I create my project and send you the product(s) that your pledge requires me to do so. You are not giving me donations. If they were donations, I am not required to send any of my backers anything. Also, all Kickstarters are pre-orders of products that people want to create. If the product is already created and being sold, why would you use Kickstarter? Kickstarter is suppose to help people who need funds for their projects and to gauge interest.
If you really think Kickstarter is a donation website, is Reaper Miniatures' new Kickstarter a donation project for them to create new minis as well?? Also, did they give you a dollar breakdown of all the expenses of their Kickstarter so you can make sure they are not pocketing anything per say? Furthermore, what percentage of Kickstarters give you their dollar-to-dollar breakdown of their projects?
I understand what you are saying, but Kickstarter isn't a donation website and I'm required to give you what I said I would if successful. You are correct that there isn't any easy way to go after people who lie in their Kickstarters, but you know that risk going in by pledging on any crowd-sourcing project. Btw, you can sue people for not fulfilling their Kickstarter promises. It may not be cost effective, but you can.
Just like numerous other Kickstarter projects, my Kickstarter is my first attempt to break something interesting to the market that you may find useful or enjoyable. If I wanted to hood-winked people, I wouldn't have already invested $2k into the art samples and PDF layout. I do, however, want to bring something I think gamers may want to use in their Pathfinder games and it is up to you if you want to support me or not. That is all I can ask.
I think a less pointed way of expressing what other people have said is that even with years of gaming experience, you are starting a business in a very turbulent and capricious industry.
If everyone thought like that, why does anyone start a business nowadays?
Also, you are correct, Kickstarter is not Paypal, but it isn't a donation website either!
It's actually a bit of a legal mess what Kickstarter *is*. "Donation" is probably the wrong word, "Investment" is more accurate. People are investing in the hope your project succeeds and delivers. I'd actually say you've got a better chance than most as you're going with something that isn't going to lose money from machinery breaking down/material costs rising, you can deliver those PDFs even if they end up done text-only in your own personal time, so there's not as much risk there as, say, someone that backs the production of a new computer console or a scooter.
Note that Kickstarter themselves don't guarantee that backers will get what they hoped for.
By the time it hits the time it's overdue, it's past the point that a credit card company or Paypal can intervene on the backer's behalf, and that's what the majority of people rely on.
There has been some success from backers suing the project owner
themselves directly, but most people aren't going to be willing to do that.
In the event of an limited company going under because the project falls through, nobody is liable for the money any more as the entity no longer exists. Individuals can go bankrupt over the amount of money concerned, and again no longer be liable.
Therefore to all intents and purposes it really is a donation, because if you don't deliver they're unlikely to be able to get their money back.
The main issue is, however, that unless the buyer can prove in court they really did preorder a product (and while it's been done, as Kickstarter isn't a sales site it's impossible to say per-project if it qualifies or not) they don't have a leg to stand on. There just isn't the same contract of sale that exists if you preorder something from a company yourself, so the majority of backers that understand the system assume they're making a donation, or investment, and cross their fingers and hope they'll get something back.
Finally, as LMPjr has said above, what you're doing is *very* ambitious for a new 3PP, and is why the majority start off with smaller, cheaper products to build their audience up before doing something of this scale :)
I applaud your ambition here, but would say to be prepared for a plan B if you don't hit the backing target.
Hi abellius. I wanted to introduce myself, I am Louis Porter Jr. of LPJ Design.
I saw your kickstarter when it started and I was impressed with the artist names I saw on your list. All of them are very professional and of a high level. I think on the artwork side of things, this should be a successful project. What worried me was the actual execution of doing this type of project for a first time 3PP. I am not sure of your background in the publishing industry but I know for a fact how easy it is to have project cost double due to all kinds of issues and mistakes. The first attempt of Razor Coast showed that even with well known freelancers attached to it. From one 3PP to another that goal of $13K seem like a lot of money (which it is) for a first time 3PP to ask for a fist project.
Also I think it would have been better if you took some time before the kickstarter started to tell people about what you were planning to do. That would have helped draw interest for it. The more people that are interest means the more people will donate. Look at Dragon Kings her talked it up a month before it was up at...
Hey Louis.
I appreciate the warning about budgets. However, being a former quality engineer for 3 different manufacturing plants over the years that were only concerned about cost-per-widget and scrap rates, I crunch the numbers for my project numerous time so I feel comfortable and have no doubts about my goal amounts, even if I have to replace an artist. I have also done my research on how I want to distribute my products and how to create my PDFs efficiently.
I totally agree with you that I should have spent a month or two before my Kickstarter launch to get some hype built up for it and have my website's forums ready on day one. I spent so much time getting my agreements ready and Kickstarter pages in order that I should have spent some more time on my pre-launch promotion. Oh well, no one is perfect. I'll make sure next time that I do this. Engineers were never known to be great PR people!
Ugh, anyway, more positive post time!
As I mentioned above, the great thing here is that there's really not that much that can go wrong, compared to something producing a physical product with moving or electronic parts, and nobody ought to be doubting the fact they'll get their product because of a budget shortfall.
Personally, I'd have preferred to go with a single product rather than the entire year's worth, and reduced the target figure to closer to 2k, but as far as backers are concerned you've given them the option to do that so that's good too.
The artwork really is *very nice* (i.e. at the level I'd expect to see in a printed book from one of the big name publishers), and compared to the page art from someone like <picks at random> Chaosium, it's amazing. (To be fair, Chaosium products sell on their written content and not the artwork, and I love what they do, but some of the line art they use is just plain tacky and around the level I'd expect from a 3pp using stock filler art... in other words, what I'd use myself :) )
It's actually a bit of a legal mess what Kickstarter *is*.
Kickstarter themselves don't guarantee that backers will get what they hoped for.
By the time it hits the time it's overdue, it's past the point that a credit card company or Paypal can intervene on the backer's behalf, and that's what the majority of people rely on.
There has been some success from backers suing the project owner
themselves directly, but most people aren't going to be willing to do that.In the event of an limited company going under because the project falls through, nobody is liable for the money any more as the entity no longer exists. Individuals can go bankrupt over the amount of money concerned, and again no longer be liable.
Therefore to all intents and purposes it really is a donation, because if you don't deliver they're unlikely to be able to get their money back.
The main issue is, however, that unless the buyer can prove in court they really did preorder a product (and while it's been done, as Kickstarter isn't a sales site it's impossible to say per-project if it qualifies or not) they don't have a leg to stand on. There just isn't the same contract of sale that exists if you preorder something from a company yourself, so the majority of backers that understand the system assume they're making a donation, or investment, and cross their fingers and hope they'll get something back.
Finally, as LMPjr has said above, what you're doing is *very* ambitious for a new 3PP, and is why the majority start off with smaller, cheaper products to build their audience up before doing something of this scale :)
I applaud your ambition here, but would say to be prepared for a plan B if you don't hit the backing target.
Matt,
If you have all these concerns about my Kickstarter, then don't pledge to it. Not a big deal. I prefer to have your support, but I won't be offended if I do not.
There has been great Kickstarters and horrible Kickstarters just like everything else in life. We can debate all day about crowd-sourcing websites and the legalities behind them, but I'll save that for another time.
You and others can say my project is ambitious, but I know exactly what I want to produce and I want the high quality art to back it up. Yes, I could have gone with lesser art to dramatically reduce costs, but then that lowers the quality of my product as well. That goes against what I want to present to other gamers, so I'm going to stay with what I originally plan to do - produce a quality product at a low cost and hope that I get enough backers to keep that cost low. Either you can join me in my endeavor or not.
Matt,If you have all these concerns about my Kickstarter, then don't pledge to it. Not a big deal. I prefer to have your support, but I won't be offended if I do not.
There has been great Kickstarters and horrible Kickstarters just like everything...
To be honest, if I had the cash available right now, I probably would (I really am *that* strapped for cash right for the next few weeks due to some nasty big purchases I really shouldn't have made, and juggling bills for the next week or so while I deal with the fallout). I guess I'm hoping that as all I really have to give right now is advice that doing that is at least something that helps :)
And yes, there have been some really horrible Kickstarters, and some really great ones, and I hope yours gets to be one of the latter :) You've certainly got the enthusiasm there as well as the talented team working on it, if the previews are anything to go by.
Mostly, I'm just going over all the things I've been looking into myself over the past two to three months for the Kickstarter I'm hoping to launch closer to the end of the year (which itself is a bad time, I'm realizing, and may delay it a few more months until everyone's recovered from Christmas), so please don't feel I'm targetting you specifically. These are all reasons I've been weighing up myself, so I've just been passing on how I feel about each of them and the advice I've been given by others. I felt the $10k I was looking at was far too much to be asking, and have done my best to reduce the costs down to almost a fifth of that now (which is the reason for me being flat broke at the moment, if I'm honest, as I just ploughed pretty much everything I had into 3D assets for it), as well as constantly working on the product in the background so there'll at least be half of it ready to give to the backers at the time of the Kickstarter itself.
If nothing else, I'll be watching your KS with interest in the hope it does well, as that can only be a good sign for when I'm ready with my own :)
Good luck!
Ugh, anyway, more positive post time!
As I mentioned above, the great thing here is that there's really not that much that can go wrong, compared to something producing a physical product with moving or electronic parts, and nobody ought to be doubting the fact they'll get their product because of a budget shortfall.
Personally, I'd have preferred to go with a single product rather than the entire year's worth, and reduced the target figure to closer to 2k, but as far as backers are concerned you've given them the option to do that so that's good too.
The artwork really is *very nice* (i.e. at the level I'd expect to see in a printed book from one of the big name publishers), and compared to the page art from someone like <picks at random> Chaosium, it's amazing. (To be fair, Chaosium products sell on their written content and not the artwork, and I love what they do, but some of the line art they use is just plain tacky and around the level I'd expect from a 3pp using stock filler art... in other words, what I'd use myself :) )
Same here.
The main reason I'm going with the subscription route is to keep all the artists on board for the whole project. If I go by month-by-month whenever I may need them, I have a good chance to lose them to other contracts and jobs. They have their bills they need to pay.
Assuming my Kickstarter is successful, I do plan to sell the character artwork as a separate product for people that just want the artwork AND I do plan to sell each month's release as its own product down the road for people that only care about specific months or characters. I want to make my characters to people as much as possible.
I don't want to state what I pay my artists for their work, but it's not cheap. Just go to Angela-T's (website) to get an idea how much these portraits can cost. And, I consider those prices on the cheap side for commercial work.
I want to keep the art top-notched to make my product stick out over others similar to it, so I have to ask for the goal amounts on my page. Like I said, good artwork is not cheap. I wish it was!
Matt,If you have all these concerns about my Kickstarter, then don't pledge to it. Not a big deal. I prefer to have your support, but I won't be offended if I do not.
There has been great Kickstarters and horrible Kickstarters just like everything...
To be honest, if I had the cash available right now, I probably would (I really am *that* strapped for cash right for the next few weeks due to some nasty big purchases I really shouldn't have made, and juggling bills for the next week or so while I deal with the fallout). I guess I'm hoping that as all I really have to give right now is advice that doing that is at least something that helps :)
And yes, there have been some really horrible Kickstarters, and some really great ones, and I hope yours gets to be one of the latter :) You've certainly got the enthusiasm there as well as the talented team working on it, if the previews are anything to go by.
Mostly, I'm just going over all the things I've been looking into myself over the past two to three months for the Kickstarter I'm hoping to launch closer to the end of the year (which itself is a bad time, I'm realizing, and may delay it a few more months until everyone's recovered from Christmas), so please don't feel I'm targetting you specifically. These are all reasons I've been weighing up myself, so I've just been passing on how I feel about each of them and the advice I've been given by others. I felt the $10k I was looking at was far too much to be asking, and have done my best to reduce the costs down to almost a fifth of that now (which is the reason for me being flat broke at the moment, if I'm honest, as I just ploughed pretty much everything I had into 3D assets for it), as well as constantly working on the product in the background so there'll at least be half of it ready to give to the backers at the time of the Kickstarter itself.
If nothing else, I'll be watching your KS with interest in the hope it does well, as that can only be a good sign for...
No problem and it is appreciated.
What I'm learning now that I should have done before my launch is that I didn't do any pre-hype work for my Kickstarter. I'll remember this next time!!
I tried to reduce my Kickstarter costs to the bare minimum I feel comfortable with. My goal amounts includes no wages for me, so I'm technically working for free and hoping that website sales will make my project worth all the effort and initial investment I put into it. That's assuming my Kickstarter is successful btw. The only way for me to lower my costs is to lower the quality of the art, which is something I will not do. As a FYI, almost all of my stretch goals amounts deal with paying for the additional art, nothing more.
Matt, I would like to make a deal with you. If by chance you do pledge to my Kickstarter at the 6 or 12 month levels, I'll make sure you get an extra bonus for your pledge! Just make sure you message me on Kickstarter when you do.
The main reason I'm going with the subscription route is to keep all the artists on board for the whole project. If I go by month-by-month whenever I may need them, I have a good chance to lose them to other contracts and jobs. They have bills their bills to pay.
Explained like that, it makes a lot of sense now :)
Matt, I would like to make a deal with you. If by chance you do pledge to my Kickstarter at the 6 or 12 month levels, I'll make sure you get an extra bonus for your pledge! Just make sure you message me on Kickstarter when you do.
Lessee. 28 days to go. It might be close to the end, but I'm pretty sure I can get in before it expires, I'll be in touch! And thanks :) (and expect to get a similar proposal from me if and when mine goes ahead!)
Lessee. 28 days to go. It might be close to the end, but I'm pretty sure I can get in before it expires, I'll be in touch! And thanks :) (and expect to get a similar proposal from me if and when mine goes ahead!)
Thanks and keep me posted of your KS. I'm interested to see how to handle the "rendered" look in your 3D pictures.
I don't want to ruin some surprises for my KS, but I do have 2-3 bonus art pieces for backers that I plan to introduce around the midway point so I keep some momentum going for my project. But, I got to do some serious promoting going before then!!
For people that managed to read all the conversations between Matt and I and are interested in my Kickstarter project, I am willing to give you a bonus as well if you make a pledge on my Kickstarter. The bonus will depend on your pledge level of course for I do have some different options to offer backers for free. Send me a message when you make your pledge so I can track of you.
Matt, I will still make sure you get a better bonus since you didn't ask for one.
Abellius, I am sorry you had to cancel your kickstarter but I hope figure out some way to still do this project. I think it is a great idea, just the delivery needed a little work. Good luck with getting this off the ground again.