Lots of commentary! I'll do my best to respond to as much of it as possible, but if I miss you please let me know.
Giving the game right off the bat in Early Access to even the lowest (past 1$) tier seems like a interesting move.
That would be selling the game for $1, literally, since once you have a key it's yours forever. I've never seen a kickstarter do that before, personally, although I'm sure some must have.
I also have to wonder how many "human factions" you intend to include. Considering the amount of tiers and slots that let you design a human factions lore.
I'll be getting into this more soon, but I don't really see this as being too important. We'll want a number of them, but no number is particularly too high. Discovering specific ones organically would be the goal, rather than having these be lobby options. I need to write up more about these, but basically for the parts that I'm talking about here, these are not like the minor factions in AI War Classic. That sort of thing will exist as well, but these are more numerous and more... cough... expendable.
Find out what the AI was focused on during AI War Classic (but shh don’t tell yet)
Shouldn't that be in the $5000 tier as well as the $3000 one? Otherwise it seems like the $3000 one is a better ideal, unless you really like to be involved in music creation. (Not that I can afford either of these, sadly.)
Fixed -- thanks! And yeah, I wouldn't be backing at those levels either.
KS exclusive alternative models for ships
That seems like a lot of work that not a lot of people would see.
Maybe. These are low-poly enough that it wouldn't be horrible. If it was just a couple of ships that we did in total, for backers above a certain amount, then it wouldn't be killer.
Get game when it arrives in public Early Access
Will that be on Steam? I presume "earlier than early access" won't be. Should make sure it's clear. The later down ones that have multiplayer starter packs do mention it, but the early tiers don't.
Maybe -- probably. But I'm not sure yet. Either way, it will be eventually at the worst case.
Not mentioned anywhere: The amount to make the KS successful. You probably don't want to throw that around until you're ready, which makes perfect sense.
I don't actually know the number yet, since I don't know the scope yet. Until that design document is complete, I can't give a real answer to that question at all. My gut says about $200k, but I could be quite off. I still have a lot of design doc work to do, and then Keith and I have various estimation work to respectively do, and then we'll have an actual number that means something.
1) Spare change tier ($1) doesn't need an acknowledgement, I think, as a tier that's just designed to let people feel good and receive kickstarter updates (and you are supposed to write kickstarter updates semi-regularly).
It also cleans up the credits screen to start at Mark-I.
Ah, that makes a lot of sense! I changed that to the standard "our gratitude" type thing that you often see on kickstarters.
2) The $20 dollar tier is the first tier to give out the game. This creates the expectation that launch price will be $20 or a bit higher, and also creates the expectation that it's a $20 game. Note that you don't have to give out early access at this price, but it should be okay like this.
Consider offering more early-bird discount spots, or an explicit non early-access discount at slightly below launch price.
The posters are free give-aways as thanks indeed. If people really wanted them and the game is popular, someone would probably have uploaded a copy quasi-legally. *Shrug*
AI War Classic was originally a $20 game, and I have been planning this to be the same. We didn't drop the price on AI War Classic for a couple of years there. I have increased the number of early bird backer slots on the $15 slot to 500, though, good call.
3) $30-50. Should be okay. I would be slightly more cautious with planet naming simply because they are more in your face without messing with mods, and also being extremely easy to mod.
Good point on that. I've moved that to the $60 tier and up only.
Derelict good - pleased specify in further information on the limits of backer messages and desired intent. A paragraph would be a sweet maximum.
Yep, updated that to note it is a paragraph. Good catch.
4) 90-100 identical to 70-80??
Oops! Good catch. I just removed those for now. I need something to put there.
5) The scope of 64 potential human factions is very, very large. Who will handle the vetting process, how will they appear in the game - presumably a random 1-4 will appear from the list?
I assure you, it is not. We're talking about text and lore here, not game mechanics. More is better for this sort of thing, and it's only the sort of thing that you can click into if you are curious. It's not in your face stuff you have to read at all. Either Jack or I will vet these.
Minor factions with game mechanics are a thing, don't get me wrong -- but these are not that. Further specs on these to come.
6) Working with Blue tier should be justified by giving some idea of the final graphics style of the game, a few examples, and who will see it. If you don't have a final visual style decided yet, this is important to do by KS launch.
Yep. Either way she'll be doing the actual work, but folks can put what they want on a cocktail napkin or however else they want to communicate with her, and she'll do her best to accommodate that within the theme and style of the game.
1) $30-50. That's too large a gap IMO.
Good point. I don't know what to pick, but I've put a note there that it needs to be filled at least.
2) Could the OST be a reward ?
See my note in the OP.
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.
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.
6) In a "single" item:
- Get game earlier than Early Access
- “Multiplayer Starter Pack” + 1 Steam key (unlocks at start of early access)
So basically if I buy this pack I can't play with my friend. Not so sure it's a good idea.
The rationale there is that during "earlier than early access" you're not likely to be playing with friends recreationally anyway. Not in the sense of where you "play for playing," at least not fully. The idea with the earlier than early access is that it comes out pretty darn fast after the Kickstarter and is bleeding early, but something that you can give feedback on extra early if that is your desire. By the time it reaches Early Access it's something where you'd want to play with friends. Of course, multiplayer will be there from the start (it's there now), but if your friend is that big an enthusiast I hope that they back themselves directly.
7) Plans for a make-it-yourself flagship in origami.
I'm certainly open to that if there is some guide somewhere about how to design origami!
- you could have 8 different factions and 64 potential human "background" factions. I think care must be given so that the kickstarter does not imply that different factions have to be mechanically different in-game. Just in case of. People don't like broken promises.
Okay, I've now clarified that the 64 things that get lore are now "background factions," so hopefully that will help at least (particularly once I give the specs for background factions). I like that term for them, because that clearly separates these from actual minor factions.
On the one working with Blue, I've reduced that from 10 to 8 because of scope reasons, and made it so that these also include the ability to design that full minor human faction's lore as well as the space station design there.
We spoke about space platforms or champions or whatnot being feasible if the KS would be successful. How are things shaping on that front?
I'm not really to the point of thinking about stretch goals too much just yet. I want to be cautious there. Some of those things could go to expansions, or if the kickstarter is going gangbusters I will have to spend some serious time during it working on a concrete design that I can pitch to people. I don't want to hang stretch goals on half-baked ideas, as that leads to disappointment.
Oh, yes, what are the stretch goals ?
The main one right now would be for a soundtrack by Pablo. Right now in the base game package I'm only budgeting for a couple of music tracks, because this already is going to be a hard enough target to hit.
Hey Chris, I don't think the base $15/20 should get the game in early access. You want to encourage people to go to higher tiers by offering better rewards, and Early Access is a reward that speaks to a lot of Kickstarter backers. It's an easy $30/35.
You know, I went in there to do that just now, and set the $15/$20 price to be for "at 1.0." But the EA launch price of the game is planned to be $20! So people who bought at this tier would have to wait until after others got the EA copy on Steam or wherever at the same price as them (early birds aside). That seems like it would really piss them off.
The alternative is making the game more pricey during EA on Steam and such, but then reducing its price when it hits 1.0 to that $20 price point. That seems like a really dangerous move, though, and potentially a lot of lost revenue.
Also, my warning about ship design apply just as much to races and AI plots, if not more so. Each race represents a new paradigm in gameplay, and most game players are not game designers. Making it cost a lot could weed out the people who are less serious about the process, but it could make them feel extra stung if you don't implement their ideas exactly as envisioned.
Right. Thus far there is nothing mechanics-based that is in here at all. We have some lore, and we have (essentially) commissioning some art and music. But nothing here ties into gameplay just yet. I do probably plan on adding stuff like that, but it will be at a higher price for the reasons you mention.
1) At the top tiers, backers will essentially be commissioning Blue or Pablo for content to go in the game. If you haven't already, please confirm with them about linking their DeviantArt, Bandcamp, or equivalent.
Hopefully the actual trailer for the kickstarter shows off both well enough, but we'll see.
1) At the top tiers, backers will essentially be commissioning Blue or Pablo for content to go in the game. If you haven't already, please confirm with them about linking their DeviantArt, Bandcamp, or equivalent.
It's not quite a jenga stack, which makes it harder. I've just put all of the ones that are a repeat in purple for now. During the actual KS I'll have it done with tiers named and it saying things like "with everything X tier" and so forth, since "from all prior tiers" is not correct in most cases.
Are there... alien minor factions?
I introduced confusion with the wording there. Yes there are alien minor factions. But what I was describing are now called "background factions," and those are all intended to be human. Minor and background are separate.
4) You might want to consider more mechanics that are likely to make the cut and enable more supporter recognition:
- If you add human commanders attached to fleets, say, allow people to name them.
- If you decide to retain rescuable human colonies or mercenaries, add formation of mercenary fighters/bombers/corvettes that will draw from names of supporters (I think this is better than naming planets at low tiers). Custom design optional.
- If you allow planet-types to influence gameplay, allow supporters to specify, say, that they will name an asteroid belt (and move this to a higher tier, as leading a fleet of mercs is clearly less $rich$ than owning an entire planet).
These are super good notes. I'm not going to do anything with them just now, but I've put them on the document and will be planning some things with this in mind. So the tiers will be adjusted a lot in the coming week or two in order to handle this. Thanks!
- 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.
5) At a limited higher tier, ask Blue to make an image that will be found alongside the message.
She's certainly capable of it, but that gets into a different style of art that can be extremely expensive and time consuming.
6) Dream commission #1: Special AI-plot resulting in scripted mega-wave.
*When AI-plot successfully completes, slowly fade in supporter-commissioned music.*
* A set of carriers warp in with escorts and starts pumping out fleetships in-sync with beat.*
* The wave parades in formation towards your defenses until near engagement range.*
* Featuring capitals with barrels that make a good, honest thump, and raid starships doing airshow maneuvers over your command station*
Hahaha, that would be expensive indeed.
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.
I would like to see it include any "branching" lore as well (e.g. Spire missions) just for completeness, even if it isn't considered "canon" in the grander scheme.
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!
