Kilrathi
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Posts posted by Kilrathi
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Just because Fargo and Shafer did it doesn't mean xenonauts can. A lot of kickstarters don't meat the goals and while I can't say for certain if xenonauts would or not I'm just not sure it's the right way. Sure if there is no other options go on but I would look to solve the money problems in other ways.
True, though it's interesting to note that it's definitely a hot means of raising funds lately (as the FTL and Banner Sage examples show). The article at http://techcrunch.com/2012/03/29/kickstarter-shares-the-effects-of-its-blockbuster-season/ makes some interesting points:
"There are a ton of details at Kickstarter’s blog post, but the gist is this: the two biggest projects lately, Double Fine Adventure and Order of the Stick, brought in millions of dollars themselves, but have also produced a halo of funding where there was very little before.
In the gaming category, for instance, only one project had reached $100,000 in funding before last month. Since then nine have. And in webcomics, where the Order of the Stick book was categorized, the number of pledges per week, on average, has doubled.
They’re not just staying in the original category, either: 22% of each group of original backers have been busy in other categories, backing nearly 2000 projects with over $1m all told. Many of the backers were on Kickstarter for the first time to back the big projects, and these big names on the marquee ended up working as advertisements for the site itself as well."
There's something to be said for riding the wave while you can, and if a "smaller" game like FTL can reach $182k funded without the benefit of a game that's as far along as Xenonauts is or the easier-to-sell link with X-Com, I'd think that the recent success of videogames bodes well for Xenonauts. That last paragraph quoted makes an interesting case for the network effects of big projects on feeding people to other projects on Kickstarter, but if we all put effort into mentioning the Xenonauts campaign in the comments for other similar projects on Kickstarter (like on the FTL and Banner Saga comment sections), I think we can capture some of that buzz, too.
I like the idea of crowdsourcing funding of games and, while I'm not sure it's definitely a "wave of the future" thing, it certainly seems to be the buzz-y idea for now, and I'm glad to see Xenonauts is jumping aboard (and will be among the first to back it as soon as the project goes up!).
-Kilrathi
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http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php/1270-Xenonauts-Kickstarter-and-Public-Build?p=14851&viewfull=1#post14851
Since kickstarter pages doesn't cost anything and doesn't seem to have any policy against it I was suggesting makeing an unofficial/fanmade Xenonaut kickstarter page set up to deliberately fail, but to make people aware of Xenonauts and possibly it's IGG campaign. (But noone has commented on that so far)
My sense is that wouldn't work - I haven't done a ton of digging but there's a question in the Kickstart FAQ about "My project was declined but meets the Kickstarter guidelines..." (http://www.kickstarter.com/help/faq/creating%20a%20project#MyProjWasDeclButItMeetTheKickGuidWhatDoIDo). That seems to imply that there's an approval process and guidelines, and I'd have to imagine that "Kickstarter project designed to drive traffic to a rival site" probably doesn't fit within those guidelines.
I do agree with people that there's a real social aspect to the Kickstarter site, because you can see what projects other people back and I know that I've used that to see what projects are backed by creators of projects I back (reasoning that Brian Fargo, Rich Burlew and the FTL guys probably have similar tastes to mine) and I've even clicked on random co-backers of projects just to see if there are good ideas out there that I'd like. I think there's definite value to being on "the" site that everyone else is on so that you get those network effects, though Xenonauts has enough buzz in the tactic gaming community (and supporters at PC Gamer, etc.) that maybe that's not necessary.
It's a real shame about the Amazon payments policy... if I had to guess, Amazon's probably running up against either tax or money laundering regulations that create issues with money being sent overseas. As with I'm sure a bunch of other supporters of the cause, I'd happily offer my services as a U.S. citizen but I can get why any of us random forum users with cool nicknames aren't necessarily the sort of close friends you'd trust with something this big. That said, if Goldhawk needs a U.S. licensed general counsel to be a part time Advisory Member for Kickstarter purposes, just say the word.
Sounds like the real answer is going to be for everyone in the community to beat the drum for the Indiegogo site on twitter, websites, live broadcasts, letters to journalists, etc., and move Xenonauts to the All-Time #1 spot for Indiegogo by a factor of 10x or so! I'm on a bunch of forums/mailing lists for fans of old school games and as soon as the drive goes up, you can bet I'll be spreading the word.
Looking forward to it !
-Kilrathi
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Great news, Chris. I've been looking forward to seeing even more hype for Xenonauts and will be there backing the project as soon as it goes up (well, I'll probably get the beta before then, just need to find some time to play it!). You've got a lot of fans out there and plenty of us will be happy to keep spreading the word. Keep up the good work!
-Kilrathi
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Any update on a potential Kickstarter campaign? Seems like videogame Kickstarters are getting a lot of buzz these days, with Double Fine and now Wasteland 2 (and smaller projects like FTL and the Banner Saga) doing well. Might be a good time to jump on the bandwagon while Kickstarter is still getting a lot of buzz in the gaming community - I'd think a lot of old school gamers who are keeping on eye on Kickstarter due to Wasteland 2 or Double Fine would be drawn in by the X-Com links, too. I'd be happy to lend a hand with the campaign is there's anything I can do!
-Kilrathi
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Just to add my $0.02, as someone who's both a long-time X-Com fan (and who pulled out JA2 recently and is having a blast) and someone who's been wawtching Kickstarter drives recently: I think a Kickstarter with a good amount of publicity could be a real winner. There are a number of games on Kickstarter that do well but few with the built-in audience that Xenonauts has - add in ready sources of publicity from places like PC Gamer that have already been covering the game and I think you could generate some real buzz.
One additional benefit that getting a Kickstarter up and running would have is that it lets you generate cash from additional rewards over and above those that require additional amounts of time/money invested in programming. I've seen a number of projects where things like concept art, mention of your name in the credits, signed copies of this and that make money and those would require a relatively minimal additional expense will generating additional cash. If you make things fun/exciting for people to bid on, with some interesting non-programming-related limited edition packages, I think it could be a good fundraiser. Heck, if it's a hassle for the dev team to run it, I'd volunteer my time to help with it (and I'm sure other forum members would, too). I'm looking forward to the project getting going - loved X-Com and even enjoyed Apocalypse but the clunky UI is tough to get past these days... thanks for taking this on, guys, and looking forward to the funding thermometer/Kickstarter/whatever else can be done to keep things rolling!
-Kilrathi
Xenonauts Kickstarter and Public Build
in Xenonauts-2 Releases & Patch Notes
Posted
Chris,
Just thinking out loud here, but what about setting up a U.S. company (which can be done pretty cheaply/easily) and having the bank account in its name? You might need a U.S. citizen to help out with it to keep Amazon happy but I would think that you could have a "Xenonauts LLC" bank account that would list you or someone from Goldhawk as a signatory, either individually or maybe alongside the U.S. person - but in any case, that would give you control over the funds once they're in the bank account since the money would be deposited into that account and need you to sign off in order for it to be spent.
Obviously, you'd need to look into the tax/accounting implications of this, but typically LLCs (limited liability companies) aren't taxed themselves but just subject to the individual taxes applicable to the members, which you'll likely have to address one way or another anyway.
-Kilrathi