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crescentblade

8
Posts
1
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51
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A member registered Feb 24, 2016

Recent community posts

Excited! Everything looks great

I realize we're not there yet but seeing how far it's gone in such a short period of time I kind of feel like we were all worrying over essentially nothing lol

Good luck!  I actually got a notification that GB Patch, another VN dev, backed the KS so anyone else that follows them would've also got a heads up on that. Free advertising never hurts.

Short and sweet:

I like it. 

I hope there isn't too big of a pool open for early birds, I used the tip someone else gave and there would have to be over 300 backers at the game only tier for success. There'll definitly people that will back at higher tiers to make up for it but.. don't forget some people's pledges won't go through for one reason or another, we're charged at the end of the campaign, not when we pledge,

(Also, I thought Canadians and Brits were using the same spelling for everything. Learn something new every day!)

Um so. I wrote some things that might come out harsh if read with the wrong kind of tone so please try to employ a happy, teasing, concerned kind of tone over the whole thing...

Price for the game is WAY too low! I'd suggest going for at least 20 pounds if not more, some people will only buy on sale. A kickstarter is for making sure a game gets made, not doing discounted pre-sales.

The benefits given are too much for such small increments.  The lowest tier should be 4 pounds and it should only be a thank you and a wallpaper. The next highest should be at least 8 for a thank you and three wallpapers. Double again for all 8.

Also increase that Enough is as Good as a Feast tier. If you're giving all of those perks it needs to be more. The all 8 wall paper tier is 8, the game is 10 and the game plus all 8 wallpapers is 12?

Take another look at your prices, you deserve to be paid for you time.  If you got hired to flip burgers would you be making more or less than the amount of time you spend working on these things? If it's less, espeically if it's half as much,  you should be taking a hard look at why. I buy things from Etsy a lot and some people are clearly not selling at a profit; if you aren't making enough to cover your costs and some you might not be able to make another game. What if there's an unexpected issue? What if you need to hire someone else? 

Just consider carefully! It's really hard for most people to put a value on their time, be kind to yourself, consider if someone was hiring you to write something as long as this VN how much would you ask for?

Only 1000 pounds for 8 CG's? Seems low. - Also only 1000 pounds for custom music? Have you done a bunch of research on the cost for that? 

Add notes about the number of revisions or a set deadline for designing a character/scene/outfit. Some people will nitpick things into eternity and beyond.


And on to little nit picking...

Charlottes profile:
Not entirely sure what the last paragraph of her profile is supposed to mean. I can't decide if it meants that she is less worried about herself than she is for her brother, changing her personality to try to change her brother, or something else entirely.

Frederiques profile:
Enroll at university

Guillaumes profile:
You used nor, I'm pretty sure it's only supposed to be used if neither is used before it. I think it should just be a plain old or.

Mathys profile:
Is it supposed to be "does he hope a war will spark need of his skills once more..." or should it be "does he hope a war will spark the need of his skills once more..." ? or..?

Typo: rewards
All those backers... recognition int he credits.

Kind of ran into this randomly while reading through a different VN devs postings.  Nice info in it for running a Kickstarter. They seem to be writing a  adult oriented game but the info hits diverse subjects.

Two and a Half Studios - Marketing your VN for Kickstarter

Yeeeessss those cute little $1-5 tiers can help pull people back in if the project is close to being backed but isn't near to the dead-line.  Giving small little increments that people can go up from with a small reward can really make the difference on pushing over the edge or not.

I have personally seen people throw down for a $100-200 tier if it included something very meaningful like having a character in the game with a personality they could choose or the appearance of a character that they could influence.  Which I personally think is nuts but there are totally those kind of people out there lol.

I read through the posts and I have to agree I think marketing is a big weakness. I'm pretty sure the only reason I found you and your games was by doing a search for Otome games and checking out Rose.  I snagged HG as soon as the pre-orders opened but I haven't bought any of your other games. 

 I will absolutely be buying the second Rose game and if you ran a kickstarter I'd also get this one.  I'm not fascinated by the story, school settings feel done to death & I'm in my 30's so it's getting harder and harder to connect with characters in them. However, I like supporting Otomes in general, the concept is unique, and you've proven yourself as a good writer to me so I'll spare money on something I'm not sure if I'll enjoy or not.

If not many reviewers got back to you maybe try reaching out to some other VN devs? The community seems pretty tight even if they won't promote they might give advice themselves. I can't comment much because I'm the only person I know that doesn't have any social media accounts. I technically have a Tumblr but I only check it once every two or three months.  I do use Discord but I'm not sure that falls into a social media category or not.

 On top of Kickstarter I support a few artists on Patreon but I'm not sure how well that would work. I only support artists I already know/like and essentially I only buy them a cup of coffee once a month. I never get physical KS items, just the game and maybe artbook/making of/lore or name in credits only.  KS can be good for publicity, even if it doesn't succeed it might draw eyes to the rest of your work and help the liquidity issue.

 I'll typically lay down something between $5-30 for a non-guaranteed item depending on my level of interest. For a few examples I backed A Foretold Affair at $25, Zodiac-Axis at $20, Boyfriend Dungeon at $50 (embarassing now that I look at it), Royal Alchemist at $25... Better references, they have school settings: Band Camp Boyfriend I only pledged $10 and Reimei no Gakuen I only put down £22. The most I put in on any KS was $65 for Crossroads Inn and I -REALLY- wanted that game.

The prices for the content I got for both games felt fair, I don't recommend discounting further. (OK I'm 30 plus minutes in to writing this, initiating full stop.)

Thank you for the update! I've been wondering what was up