Author Topic: Kickstarter backer tiers: feedback and more ideas, please!  (Read 23309 times)

Offline Draco18s

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Re: Kickstarter backer tiers: feedback and more ideas, please!
« Reply #15 on: September 07, 2016, 03:52:19 pm »
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I'm cool with that, although it's a lot of extra work for Jack potentially.  I'm not really sure.  Jack, that's a larger conversation we need to have, but the idea intrigues me for sure!

Oh of course, I'm just dreaming up pipe clouds (...or something), if it ends up not being feasible, oh well.  It was just a thing that popped into my head and I thought, "You know, I'd pay for that."

Speaking of, I could probably recommend a designer to do layout and such. He worked with us for Velociraptor! Cannibalism! for a pretty reasonable price (assuming the help is needed).

Offline x4000

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Re: Kickstarter backer tiers: feedback and more ideas, please!
« Reply #16 on: September 07, 2016, 03:57:17 pm »
Awesome -- thanks on that.  I'd definitely want to work with someone like that, unless Jack has that sort of experience (it hasn't come up in the past, so I don't know).  I'll have to discuss that bit with Jack.
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Offline Captain Jack

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Re: Kickstarter backer tiers: feedback and more ideas, please!
« Reply #17 on: September 07, 2016, 05:52:13 pm »

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The thing I suggested in the other thread was a digital lore book that compiles all the lore entries already present in all the Arcenverse titles and just formats them nicely, arranging them in chronological order (which would likely be "by game title").  The goal would be for those of us (like myself) who haven't read every single entry, or in some cases, don't own one game or another.

Oh, I missed the details of that.

Captain Jack, can you email me about this and come up with a cost proposal of what it would take to create this?  I agree it could be cool to have, but I'd need you to create it, and I want to make sure that a) you want to; and b) I match the cost of you doing it with the tiers on backer rewards.

Eh sure, writing up Arcen's own akashic record sounds like fun, and like prime stretch goal material. Haha: we do that and we've created modular KS tiers. :P

I'd want to talk with you and Keith so I can contextualize some things/add flavor/not step on toes (until appropriate). And hey it'd be a way to get some of the SR stuff out there! orz

Awesome -- thanks on that.  I'd definitely want to work with someone like that, unless Jack has that sort of experience (it hasn't come up in the past, so I don't know).  I'll have to discuss that bit with Jack.
I've designed websites but never something like this. I have a (small) collection of artbooks for various videogame franchises, I'd probably model this on them. Definitely don't have that kind of experience though.

Offline Dominus Arbitrationis

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Re: Kickstarter backer tiers: feedback and more ideas, please!
« Reply #18 on: September 07, 2016, 06:05:13 pm »
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3) Planet "chosen" => what about the old names ? Named after proeminent forum trolls enthousiasts & devs ? I'd love to nuke Chrishold, or Keithdom.

I'm not sure that I follow?  In terms of planet names, most likely there will be more than one pool, and different pools will go in different parts of the galaxy.  All of the backer names might go into a specific pool that is very much there, but not right at the center of everything.  Obviously that spot belongs to Murdoch. ;)
I think he means things like there is a list of planets that take their names from prominent figures from the forum. So, basically, you have a kitchen part of the galaxy for instance.

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5) Special forum badge (I personally don't care, but still some people find it cool).

It's on the things to investigate.  Personally I'm not aware of a way to do that in SMF or on the Steam forums, although I'm sure at least in the former case there is.  If anyone wants to point me or Quinn to such a location, that would be appreciated. :)

Done on the SMF side of things! If someone knows how to do that, or to grant exclusive emoticons or something similar on Steam, please shoot us an email!
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Offline kasnavada

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Re: Kickstarter backer tiers: feedback and more ideas, please!
« Reply #19 on: September 07, 2016, 06:12:56 pm »
Quote from: x4000 on Today at 03:25:44 PM

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        3) Planet "chosen" => what about the old names ? Named after proeminent forum trolls enthousiasts & devs ? I'd love to nuke Chrishold, or Keithdom.


    I'm not sure that I follow?  In terms of planet names, most likely there will be more than one pool, and different pools will go in different parts of the galaxy.  All of the backer names might go into a specific pool that is very much there, but not right at the center of everything.  Obviously that spot belongs to Murdoch. ;)

I think he means things like there is a list of planets that take their names from prominent figures from the forum. So, basically, you have a kitchen part of the galaxy for instance.

Well, that was jumbled on my part - sorry. Yes, I meant that I'd like a "name pool" with the old planet names, and possibly a pool with names from the forum / game history, more or less. The later would probably only appeal to people that have been there for a while... but would be another great way to show how you care about them.


Offline x4000

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Re: Kickstarter backer tiers: feedback and more ideas, please!
« Reply #20 on: September 07, 2016, 07:35:12 pm »
Got it, makes sense.  In terms of the old names, some of them were hardcoded, but most were procedurally assembled from word parts.  I could probably write up a thing to have it spit out all the possibilities it was able to create.

With those pools, we could name minor planets certain things, and even get into naming things like the derelicts something else, etc.
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Offline Tridus

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Re: Kickstarter backer tiers: feedback and more ideas, please!
« Reply #21 on: September 07, 2016, 07:51:18 pm »
Got it, makes sense.  In terms of the old names, some of them were hardcoded, but most were procedurally assembled from word parts.  I could probably write up a thing to have it spit out all the possibilities it was able to create.
Pretty sure Murdoch has to be in the new planet list. That planet was always such a pain!

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With those pools, we could name minor planets certain things, and even get into naming things like the derelicts something else, etc.

Derelict ships named after forum members would be fun. "Here lies the EDS Kahuna, done in when he ran into his own minefield by accident and realized there was no way out...."

Offline Cinth

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Re: Kickstarter backer tiers: feedback and more ideas, please!
« Reply #22 on: September 08, 2016, 01:44:00 am »
Well, that was jumbled on my part - sorry. Yes, I meant that I'd like a "name pool" with the old planet names, and possibly a pool with names from the forum / game history, more or less. The later would probably only appeal to people that have been there for a while... but would be another great way to show how you care about them.

You can have a planet named after me only IF I can define a layout for it.  Otherwise, it wouldn't be worthy of my name :D
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Opened your save. My computer wept. Switched to the ST planet and ship icons filled my screen, so I zoomed out. Game told me that it _was_ totally zoomed out. You could seriously walk from one end of the inner grav well to the other without getting your feet cold.

Offline Greeniguana

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Re: Kickstarter backer tiers: feedback and more ideas, please!
« Reply #23 on: September 08, 2016, 08:39:54 am »
Hey Chris,

So generally I'm just a lurker here, but I figured I really want to see you guys succeed, so if ever is the time to post, now's the time to do it.

Mostly everything in the kickstarter tiers looks good now, but I had a couple of comments on it:
- As noted by you and zharmad above, make sure you just have a "And everything from Mark 1 backer and earlier" sentence when you're doing the rewards on the kickstarter.  It helps make things legible and shows people exactly what they get for backing at that higher tier.  Then you can have a graphic or list below that states everything included in each tier in detail.

- I know you're not thinking about stretch goals too much, but you might want to state which tiers get stretch goals.  Right now it just looks like everything above the 1$ pledge will get the stretch goals, but say you fund an entire expansion: Do the people who bought multiplayer packs get multiple copies of the expansion?  (Probably not.  Which then leads to my next point...)

- Add ons: You may or may not want to do add ons.  If you do want to do add ons, I would try and keep them as simple as possible to avoid confusion.  (Ex: An extra copy of AI War 2 - Add 20$ to your existing pledge.)  This also means you'll need to do extra work at the end of the campaign, or use a pledge manager, so be careful.  If you don't do add ons, I think it would be wise to have a tier that is a "Just the games" bundle.  (For backers who don't care about designing anything, but just want a bunch of copies of the game to play with their friends.)

- Make sure you carefully distinguish between background factions/minor factions/alien race factions.  Otherwise people might get confused and think it's just a repeat of the earlier tier.

Finally, and this is a bit of a personal preference, but let's talk about Early Bird tiers:
- I despise early bird tiers.  If I get to a kickstarter and I see there's loads of early bird tiers all taken up, the odds are good I just won't back.  If I do really want to back the game, I'm likely to watch the early bird tiers like a hawk and swap down to one as soon as I get the chance.  Basically what this means is that, even for those people that later on increase their pledge to a higher tier to help support the game, other people will swap down and you don't actually get as much of an increase in money.
- Regardless of my distaste for early bird tiers, they are really good at doing one thing: Providing a huge surge in the number of early backers.  Normally you'll see all but the highest limited tiers vanish early on.  This doesn't necessarily translate to the kickstarter doing well, because backers can still cancel their pledge before the end of the campaign, but it can help build hype.  Here's what I mean:
1) Kickstarter launches.  Limited tiers disappear.  The backer mentality is, "HEY, I SHOULD GRAB THIS NOW IT'S LIMITED.  I can always cancel later".  Kicktraq (a website that tracks what value a kickstarter is heading too) reads like you're going to 2 million dollars.
2) Middle of the campaign.  Small to average amounts of growth, with usually some people cancelling their limited tiers as updates come out because they change their mind, bills, whatever reason.  This leads to other people swapping to the early bird tiers for a better deal and you actually losing money if you're not gaining that many new backers.
3) Then there's usually a spike at the end as the 48 hours left reminder hits and everyone who was on the fence decides if they're backing you or not.
- If you do end up doing early bird tiers anyways, I would suggest having a minimal difference between the tiers.  (Like, 5$)  That way people who come late don't feel like they're missing out on a great deal.

When you actually do launch, I highly recommend doing daily updates.  You can talk about small sections of the game you have planned, lore bits, the history of AI WAR, design segments on certain parts of the game, show art from the game.  All of this generally just serves to build trust (you're actively communicating) and to build hype (OMG this game is going to be so good).

Finally, be careful when you put your release date.  Be generous, and give yourself a couple extra months.  That way, if things work out as you plan you can tell people you're releasing early and people will be happy instead of being bitter that you're two months late.

Offline TheVampire100

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Re: Kickstarter backer tiers: feedback and more ideas, please!
« Reply #24 on: September 08, 2016, 09:18:06 am »
What's the Multiplayer Starter Pack? That you can try out Multiplayer in Early Access?

Offline Pumpkin

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Re: Kickstarter backer tiers: feedback and more ideas, please!
« Reply #25 on: September 08, 2016, 09:22:54 am »
Finally, be careful when you put your release date.  Be generous, and give yourself a couple extra months.  That way, if things work out as you plan you can tell people you're releasing early and people will be happy instead of being bitter that you're two months late.
Unfortunately, the timing seems to be much tight than a couple months.
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Offline Cinth

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Re: Kickstarter backer tiers: feedback and more ideas, please!
« Reply #26 on: September 08, 2016, 10:08:47 am »
What's the Multiplayer Starter Pack? That you can try out Multiplayer in Early Access?

It's just an extra key or 3a so you can play with a friend or 3.
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Opened your save. My computer wept. Switched to the ST planet and ship icons filled my screen, so I zoomed out. Game told me that it _was_ totally zoomed out. You could seriously walk from one end of the inner grav well to the other without getting your feet cold.

Offline TheVampire100

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Re: Kickstarter backer tiers: feedback and more ideas, please!
« Reply #27 on: September 08, 2016, 10:32:41 am »
Ah, okay, that makes sense.

Offline PokerChen

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Re: Kickstarter backer tiers: feedback and more ideas, please!
« Reply #28 on: September 08, 2016, 11:02:06 am »
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In the above vein, have starting units of alternate design and allow them to be named. Assign associated achievement as necessary.
I don't follow this one. :)

So context: when we start the game, we always spend a few minutes to build ships, defenders, etc. This initial lag can be shortened by simply giving players a fleet of triangle ships and a capital, since most people will build them anyway.

Now that we have a starting fleet, they could be a little bit special if we so wish. This places the player faction on similar footing as other minor factions with customisations. A backer can start with his own flagship, essentially the horse he rode into Home Command with, and try to keep "himself" alive.  It doesn't have to have special stats either.
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Incidentally, renaming or rebranding ships in general also allows, say, streamers to represent their viewers in game. Helps Viewership retention. Food for thought.

Offline kaffo

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Re: Kickstarter backer tiers: feedback and more ideas, please!
« Reply #29 on: September 08, 2016, 01:51:20 pm »
Personally not a lot of these tiers mean much to me.
I've never been a fan of these "name a system" or whatever tiers, but I know they are really popular.

What I'd really like to see is tiers which unlock expansions in the future (even if it was broken up into tiers offering 1 expansion, 2 expansions...), I'd consider throwing a fair bit of money at the campaign if I knew I was getting X expansions and the base game, even for a small discount.

Also maybe a tier/addon to offer a DRM free copy of the game? That's not a big deal though.

 

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