KickstarterForum.org

[WordGamer]

Hello,

This is my first project on Kickstarter, RHETTS word game, and I was wondering if anyone viewed it and has any suggestions to improve the website or message?

Barry Tenser

[VaporStarter]

suggestions to improve the website or message?

Hi WordGamer! I love it when game designers who have been designing games for a while decide to move their creations into an online existence.

First the positive... people love word games. Once a group learns a game, and if it's designed well, you'll have a loyal following of consistent players.

Now the bad...

Intro is way too slow. I watched 30 seconds of video which should have occurred in 2 seconds, maximum.

You go into the details of the game too quickly. I'd prefer to have a little back-story initially. I think your backers will initially be less interested in the grueling details and more interested in why they should fund your project... why should your game exist. You could even have the entire game-play portion in a separate video in the body of your project. At 3:40 you talk about the benefits of the game. I think you should lead with this information (or after a bit about you and your history).

"RHETTS" is based on "Rhetroic" in 1989, which looks to have been a physical card game? This is interesting to me... I'd want some history in the video about this. How well did you do? Do you have a following? Do you have quotes from educators, or players?

Your art looks painfully primitive for the game samples. If you can manage ~$200, you can have awesome art and layout that really illustrates the potential of your game. There are sites like guru.com and elance.com where you can hire an artist for a very reasonable fixed rate. You have to be very specific and discerning, with a complete asset list, but you can get some amazing visuals for very little money with some effort on your part.

Your audio levels need to be balanced (audio splices easily heard, and music at end blasted me out).

Who will develop this software? What is their history? I have very little trust that comes through that you can manage a group of developers, and especially stay within budget. Utilize their history and experience to help sell your product.

Is your development house outsourced overseas? If it is, you're in for a world of hurt. Do you need a developer? You can talk to me directly and I can help you out. Message me here, or email me at: dev@vaporstarter.com

Do you have a huge Facebook following? Facebook is the number one source to pipe people into a Kickstarter project.

It's hard to get software funded on Kickstarter... your full-time+ job from this point forward needs to be promotion.

[WordGamer]

Hey Vaporstarter,

Thank you for your comments and questions, to which I will try to address.

You were right about the slow introduction, which I just corrected, going from 32 seconds to just 7 seconds.

I do mention the major reasons to back it, that being a new and better word game for the world to play, and something that can motivate school children to learn even more. I also give detailed reasoning of both of those points beyond the video.

True, the cards look old fashioned, though I want to be honest, and show what the true existing playing cards look like, what I will ship them as a hold over game until the improved computer game is developed and online in 2014.

I do provide some painful history in the FAQ section at the bottom, check it out.

I will agree the video is amateurish, done mostly by myself to keep cost down. With Kickstarter and the credit card fees totalling 8% or so, I need to keep cost down, so more money goes into the game, not into the movie. So far, there have been no complaints about the video except for the long and fixed intro, so for now, I will leave it as it is. I went to a professional video service for the blue background speaking parts of mine, a little costly, though my at home audio levels did sound better then theirs, though not enough for a refund, and not worth spending another $300-$500 to go to another service to replace those 2 clips.

The software will be developed by a US based company with top quality work. Since no contract is signed, I will not list who it will be yet, since there is always a chance of a contract problem and change of developers.

No, I am not on Facebook, as I have always been more of a private and quiet type, not sharing my personal life details like most other FB people. If Rhetts takes off, I will have a future Rhetts FB page though.

You are correct, getting software funding is hard since many people are more comfortable funding items that exist today instead of future concepts that may turn into a future item, which is totally understandable, normal and how we do most transactions today.

I hope I answered most of your questions.

Here is the RHETTS word game link that may provide more details and explanations for others.


Barry

[VaporStarter]

You were right about the slow introduction, which I just corrected, going from 32 seconds to just 7 seconds.

Much better! Tho honestly I'd cut at least 2 or 3 seconds more off.

I do mention the major reasons to back it, that being a new and better word game for the world to play, and something that can motivate school children to learn even more. I also give detailed reasoning of both of those points beyond the video.

I was talking about the order in which your information is presented in your video. You want to catch a person's attention and keep it. So putting higher level details earlier is better than specific details.

True, the cards look old fashioned, though I want to be honest, and show what the true existing playing cards look like, what I will ship them as a hold over game until the improved computer game is developed and online in 2014.

I wasn't talking about the cards.. I have no issue with the cards. I was talking about the "now I will show you how the future internet RHETTS game will look like" This is a pretty good buildup, but then the graphics you show for the future game are not impressive.

I do provide some painful history in the FAQ section at the bottom, check it out.

Okay, I missed that.

So far, there have been no complaints about the video except for the long and fixed intro

I'd be surprised if you got complaints at all, but what you won't get are many backers. Can you share what your video completion % is from your Kickstarer dashboard? This tells you how many people that start the video, actually finish it. It can indicate when a video needs to changed. I'm not saying to throw away your video, I'm just suggesting that changes in order, audio leveling, and pacing, could increase the desirability of it.

I went to a professional video service for the blue background speaking parts of mine, a little costly, though my at home audio levels did sound better then theirs, though not enough for a refund, and not worth spending another $300-$500 to go to another service to replace those 2 clips.

Do you not like the blue background clips? The blue hit me a little strange but then kind of grew on me. I think it's because it's almost the exact light cyan color from the old 80's DOS CGA color pallet. Actually, a lot of your graphics for the game seem to hit from that color pallet. Anyway, if you want to change the color out on those clips, I'd be more than happy to do it for you. I can even out your audio levels while I'm at it too.

The software will developed by a US based company with top quality work.

That's good to hear, but too bad you can't mention their name or use any of their past accomplishments to build confidence in your project.

No, I am not on Facebook

Do you know anyone with a huge Facebook following that can push the game for you? I'm not a big fan of Facebook myself, but it can be a powerful tool.

You are correct, getting software funding is hard since many people want to fund what exists today, where they can get a reward in their hand as soon as possible, as I have something for the future, not for today.

I don't entirely agree with that... I find people don't have an issue with the wait, as odd as that seems. But they do need two things: 1) they want the reward. 2) they want to see YOU succeed. So you're just not selling product, you're selling yourself. This varies of course, depending on the project. Sometimes it is only about the reward.. but smaller, more personal projects, need to rely on people wanting to help you bring your dream to reality.

I hope you don't take this feedback as too harsh.. my only purpose in telling you this is to help you. I'd actually love to see you succeed. To tell the truth I'd like a deck of cards so I could get a hands-on feel for the game. Would you send me two decks if I sent you some money via PayPal?

Anyway, I was serious about the help with the video... just export the entire thing at a decent bitrate, so we won't get too much quality loss when I re-encode it, and I can send you a DropBox invite so you can transfer it to me.

[WordGamer]

Hey VaporStarter,

Thank you again for your observations and suggestions. I will address and answer some of them.

As far as video order of information, I believe I did what you suggested already. At first, the bikini picture states its a great game, then the video introduction claims its a great game too, then I give verbal reasons why its a great game all before showing the game itself, and then I give promotional points after showing the game, so with all that in mind, I believe the order will remain and addresses your concerns currently.

True, the graphics could have appeared even better, though I did not want to keep paying more professionals to do this project, to do as much as I could do on my own so more funds are available for the gaming software. For example, I could have $10-20K on a great professional video, though I would have to raise the funding goal another $10-20K to pay for it, causing the project not to be funded at all. The future graphics will not look too different then what I have shown, just basic Arial type style on white card like rectangles and solid shapes, nothing fancy, as seen.

The video completion rate was over 50%. I believe many are leaving the video near the way end during the long still credits slide at the end, which I need to keep for copyright lawsuit deterrence reasons. I did inquire with Kickstarter if they had video stats of when people leave but they do not have that at this time.

I will say the software firm planned to make Rhetts, is one of the top rated firms on the top few reputable hiring websites.

You are right about Facebook, and a few people I know have posted the Kickstarter site of my game, though I think this game needs more hard selling, not working well with passive selling.

I believe there are different reasons for backers, and we will never the know how many back for each reason. Overall, Kickstarter is a wonderful resource which is good for society and individuals lacking funds who have something to contribute.

I would say my biggest problem with the video was my hair, it had to be wetted down after some hair interfered with the green special effects background. Light blue was suggested by the video staff as not to compete with the white bottom and side panels, and providing contrast with me. For example, if it were black or brown, my hair would seem to disappear and I would look bald and even older.

Though I appreciate your desire to provide technical help, for now, the only major help I need is getting the word out on the Rhetts game, for people to see it, for many of them to pledge financial support for it. Any direct or indirect help of that type would be most welcome and appreciated.

[sbriggman]

Hey VaporStarter,

Though I appreciate your desire to provide technical help, for now, the only major help I need is getting the word out on the Rhetts game, for people to see it, for many of them to pledge financial support for it. Any direct or indirect help of that type would be most welcome and appreciated.

You could try out some cross promotion with another campaign creator. See this thread: jose-borges-kickstarter-paintings-of-japan-t746.html

Sal

[VaporStarter]

Though I appreciate your desire to provide technical help, for now, the only major help I need is getting the word out on the Rhetts game, for people to see it, for many of them to pledge financial support for it. Any direct or indirect help of that type would be most welcome and appreciated.

Fair enough.

I think your best bet will be to form personal relationships with bloggers, press, podcasts, anyone who can help you get the word out. This takes lots of time and effort, but I think it's your best bet.

How to find them, you might ask? Just Googling is one option, but you'll get pretty overwhelmed.

So here is a little trick to focus your efforts on contacting people who are most likely to say something about your product. Look through past KS projects which might appeal to the same crowd that you're targeting. Doesn't need to be exactly the same, but something that is in the general area. Now here is the trick... use Google image search to identify sites on the web which reviewed, blogged, etc. about that project. You'll need to open two Chrome browser windows, side by side. Now go to a Kickstarter project that was successful and is the same interest area as your crowd. Now go to: images.google.com Drag image from KS project to the search bar in google images. You'll get results of image like that one, but also results of sites which posted that image! This is something review sites almost always do, when talking about a project. Look thru all the images on the KS project, and do this for each image making a list of the sites which talked about this project. Now do your research and contact the individual about your project. Be real and sincere.