KickstarterForum.org

Hi guys, I am a passionate indie game developer and I would like to point you to my sci-fi RTS, Stardust Colonies. I made the game because I am really interested in AI (I am currently doing a PhD in swarm robotics) and I wanted to bring something new to the genre. People who played it so far really liked the uniqueness of the game play where individual units have ‘feelings’ that affect their responses and performance. It would be great if you could check the game out!

I have recently launched Kickstarter so that I can afford artists, I would like to port the game into 3D and give it a cool and unique style of constant suspense.

Check the campaign out: http://kck.st/Z0urJN
Download a demo: http://stardustcolonies.com/join

Getting any feedback from this community would be awesome!
You can also follow on Twitter: http://twitter.com/stardustclns, Steam http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=308866507 or Facebook http://facebook.com/stardustcolonies

ABOUT THE GAME

• Complete mission objectives like building monuments, securing an area or defeating enemy bases
• Micro-manage your minions by assigning them to jobs they like and are good at
• Let your minions take a break to make them more effective at work
• Build light beacons to repel alien creatures that want to steal your resources
• Train soldiers to eliminate hostile aliens
• Take care of the basic needs of the colony: provide food, water, light, power
• Make your minions happy by creating beautifications and entertainment for them
• Customise your capabilities by buying and researching upgrades for your mothership using resources and intelligence gathered during missions
• Colonize procedurally generated side-quest planets to secure a stable resource income

SPECIAL FEATURES

• Procedural maps. Missions feel and look a bit different every time you play them
• Realistic fog of war, using only line of sight of units and buildings
• Good, evil or pragmatic? Become the kind of colonizator you want to be
• Show off your skills and achievements on an on-line profile
• Original 3D graphics
• Survival-style minimalistic user interface

More about future plans: http://stardustcolonies.com/about

BACKGROUND STORY
It is year 4860 and gorgans have become a successful species of scientists and explorers. They use the lower lorkans for all physical work and manage to control them almost perfectly using long-range telepathy. Gorgans live off the Universe itself - they colonize untouched planets and use acquired resources to progress even further. As a Colonizator, you will be given a chance to create your own intergalactic empire by generating an income, researching technology and upgrading your mothership. You can become a generous and caring explorer of the vast space or a powerful and merciless ruler. Or something in between.

My first promotion for the first 50 backers is that they can design their own in-game flag that others in the game will be able to use. I think trying to get the first people is very important because others are more likely to back when they see it was already backed. I hope this works

I started to back it, but the terms of service on your site persuaded me not to. The way that it's worded, it is an obstacle to sharing about your project.

That's interesting. could you please point me to something more specific?
Also, you don't really need to create an account to download the demo or to back the project?

Elendurwen wrote:That's interesting. could you please point me to something more specific?
Also, you don't really need to create an account to download the demo or to back the project?

http://stardustcolonies.com/home/termsAndConditions

You agree that you will not redistribute The Game or any of its content including images, videos, music, text or other themes and general ideas associated with The Web Site or The Game. Any unauthorised use may violate copyright, trademark and other laws, making you liable under both civil and criminal law.

In conjunction with item four from that document, and absent any effort to spell out what sharing is authorized, it ends up being fairly restrictive. I browsed it over, and then clicked the page off. Now, granted, you may not personally care if people share images and screenshots and such about the game. You might even prefer that they do, what with this being the 21st Century and all, seeing as how your Kickstarter would stand a better chance of actually being funded, if people can do those kinds of things. But, not knowing what meaning that you seek to ascribe to redistribute, since it isn't actually spelled out, deferring to caution strikes me as the best approach.

Ok I see how this can be restrictive, thanks for pointing it out. I changed this section now to

You agree that you will not redistribute The Game or any of its content including images, videos, music, text or other themes and general ideas associated with The Game. Any unauthorised use may violate copyright, trademark and other laws, making you liable under both civil and criminal law. Sharing of video, image and text materials publicly available on The Web site is permitted, as long as it is shared in conjuction with a reference to The Game or to The Web Site, and to The Company, for purposes of promoting them.

Elendurwen wrote:Ok I see how this can be restrictive, thanks for pointing it out. I changed this section now to

You agree that you will not redistribute The Game or any of its content including images, videos, music, text or other themes and general ideas associated with The Game. Any unauthorised use may violate copyright, trademark and other laws, making you liable under both civil and criminal law. Sharing of video, image and text materials publicly available on The Web site is permitted, as long as it is shared in conjuction with a reference to The Game or to The Web Site, and to The Company, for purposes of promoting them.

I share a lot of stuff that I don't promote, per se. Screenshots from the game may not be available on the website.

At any rate, it was merely an observation that I wanted to share. You can word such agreements pretty much as you want to, but many companies seem to craft them in ways that are actually counter-productive to their own best interests. Besides, there's always other stuff out there to share. Most people who visit your Kickstarter page probably won't bother to read that document. And, as a project creator, you really don't want to spend a large amount of time sifting through legal documents, while your crowd funding campaign is under way.

Yes I agree, not many people read these things and they do take time to write. My opinion on it is though to rather try to protect yourself than get someone steal the game or its assets from you. I had someone try once So, I would rather have a couple of people not downloading the game, if they are going to be so literal, than getting burned on poor worded T&C. I think everyone with some common sense knows what they should and should not do. And they know when they are stealing and when they are not. And I really wanna get the game out so will not try to 'catch' people on stupid stuff like putting up a screenshot of the game on their blog or something.

Elendurwen wrote:Yes I agree, not many people read these things and they do take time to write. My opinion on it is though to rather try to protect yourself than get someone steal the game or its assets from you. I had someone try once So, I would rather have a couple of people not downloading the game, if they are going to be so literal, than getting burned on poor worded T&C. I think everyone with some common sense knows what they should and should not do. And they know when they are stealing and when they are not. And I really wanna get the game out so will not try to 'catch' people on stupid stuff like putting up a screenshot of the game on their blog or something.

Understood. I just think that sloppily written terms of service don't really protect your interests, per se. As far as common sense goes, nothing precludes companies from incorporating common sense into their terms of service or terms of use. Instead, companies often resort to being hyper-restrictive, even where it's in their best interest not to be. Of course, it's also common sense that, if you post links to thinks, you shouldn't be surprised if some people then click on them and read what's on the other end.

Yeah sure, you always want people to share stuff and read your stuff. But what is the best way of preventing someone literally creating their own web site but using your assets to promote and sell your game or ideas for their own benefit? I guess that's really hard to catch with any T&C.