What would you like to see in a fundraising campaign?

[CaptainD]

This is a general question, although if we decide to do a fundraiser for the Captain Disaster game then obviously we'll try to take any points brought up here into account.

I think it's a given that the majority of people who back a game financially on Kickstarter, IndieGoGo et all use it effectively as a pre-order system.  Which is great, but what other things do you like to see as options in a fundraiser - access to beta versions?  The possibly of your name as an Executive Producer of the game? the chance to be involved in the game design process - even if it's in a very small way, such as naming a character that appears in the game?  Those are all things I've seen, along with other things like meeting the game creators, game-related merchandising etc, but I wonder if there's anything that particularly attracts you to a project, or something that you'd love to see offered but never have.

[kconan]

  After initally being interested in the content of the project, then first and foremost the most important thing is trust that the fundraisers aren't scammers or the kind of people that don't follow through on their commitments.

  Bonuses and stuff like that are very secondary, but I think that having an in-game character is a cool idea.  A large contribution should be looked as an investment, and so the donater should be rewarded financially if the game (or other kind of project) does well. 

[NickyNyce]

Perhaps they could get a version of the game, where the character...Captain disaster...would be their name instead, and maybe they could rename some other characters too. This would probably be a bit of work to do especially if you have lots of backers, so if you only do this for say 5 to 10 people that donated the most as a special perk...?

*Don't get me wrong, I really like Captain disaster*
But me being referred to as the main character would be kinda cool. No need to change the character sprites either, just the name throughout the game and the title.

It's early, I had a long day yesterday, and I think I was dreaming about being some kind of Superhero in my dreams last night

Maybe this will get someones wheels turning to come up with something else

[CaptainD]

Thanks both for replying!

kconan - very good point, hopefully the demo which will be out soon and the frequent updates on the forums here, the dev blog and several other places will help to convince people that we really will get this game released.

NickyNice - that's a really cool idea actually, though I'm not quite sure how well it would work with there being probably a lot of lines that will also need to be re-voiced.  Certainly something I'll keep in mind though!

[NickyNyce]

Damn, I forgot about the voice acting. 

typing is one thing...but yeah, that would be a bit time consuming

[CaptainD]

Although come to think of it, so far I think the only thing anyone calls his is "Captain"... if I could maintain that throughout I guess it might just work! 

[Paul Franzen]

T-shirts! One of the few Kickstarter campaigns I've backed, I've done so because I could get 1) a copy of the game, and 2) a t-shirt. Even if the game stinks, the shirt is bright orange and awesome.

[LTGiants2000]

I was thinking about this the other night and I thought of something cool. At the $50 donation (hypothetical), you can name an item or character no matter how crazy (as long as it's not copyright) to appear in the game in our "donation museum". Then have a particular "planet" the player can go to (by using the ship's controls) that has all of the user added ideas in one location. We would program & voice lines and reactions to each item when the character looks at them. It would obviously take some extra artwork and character reactions but it could be a fun and funny addition to the game as well and a way for the contributors to have a piece of the games history.

Highest donor get's the planet named after them (like a hospital wing donor) lol

Ideas/thoughts?

[CaptainD]

Actually that's a pretty interesting idea.

[EchosofNezhyt]

LT's idea is good.

[LTGiants2000]

LT's idea is good.

Thanks Frito....anyone else have feedback? I think this is certainly more for the PLAYERS crowd and not so much for the "dev" crowd like you guys. Most of you probably already have your own projects but for someone who is on the outside, I think they would love to be able to be included without having to have any of the skills involved in making a game. I know before I was involved in AGS, if I was able to give input into a game and have my own item or piece of the game, I would have loved to up my contribution amount.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

I'd like to see a free night with the pornstar of your choice.

Seriously though, boobies and/or a share of the game profits.

[Ghost]

Many things have already been mentioned, but:

Feelies. Could be anything from a keychain to a T-shirt, really. Lemmings 2 had a keychain, Ultima had nice cloth maps, and Wishbringer had this little glow-in-the-dark plastic pebble. Even today I am willing to shell out some extra money for a game box with a feelie (I purchased The Whispered World two times and even fell for the boxed version of Terraria).
Knowing that there's a little game-related goodie in my box as soon as I provide kickstart, well, that'd be good enough for me.

Ingame-cameo sprites would be my second place, but that's only because I am HIDEOUS. 

As a player/consumer, I would probably be very exited about the opportunity to meet a developer I already know, but meeting some random guys who make an indie game would be less exiting to me (as self-proclaimed AGS indie game developer I would be thrilled, however!)

[Tabata]

Give aways, that only will be avaliable for supporters of the game would be nice.
I am thinking of little things like the already mentioned keychains or figurines from the games characters.
I'd love stickers with the main characters and the games title (underlined: "I am one of those who made this game possible!" or a similar text)

A bigger thing would be something like a poster with signatures
or the next step something personal like an original drawing with a note from the creator(s) to the supporter.

Somehow to become part of the game (not in the credits) might be great for a lot of gamers, too (choose an avatar/pic and user- or prename to be seen somewhere in the game. For example as part of an articel in the newspaper that is used as an item and to be read by the player or on a poster somewhere in the streets or framed in a room ... including a hotspot and short dialog)

You might get even a bigger sponsor by offering to place the advertising of a product in the game (changed to the same style, but recognizable and named)

[Ghost]

...stickers with the main characters and the games title (underlined: "I am one of those who made this game possible!" or a similar text) [img]

Lovely!

[Mati256]

I like Ghost and Tabata's ideas.
Also, DVD cases are a big plus for me. I like to have the game I help sitting in my shelf and not so much DRM.

[Igor Hardy]

Something I've never seen before. The more original, unique and surprising, the better.

[LTGiants2000]

This is good stuff guys...I like the stickers idea and I also like Tabata's about a sponsor spot.

[Paul Franzen]

I was thinking about this the other night and I thought of something cool. At the $50 donation (hypothetical), you can name an item or character no matter how crazy (as long as it's not copyright) to appear in the game in our "donation museum". Then have a particular "planet" the player can go to (by using the ship's controls) that has all of the user added ideas in one location. We would program & voice lines and reactions to each item when the character looks at them. It would obviously take some extra artwork and character reactions but it could be a fun and funny addition to the game as well and a way for the contributors to have a piece of the games history.

LT, that's ADORABLE. I'd definitely be interested in supporting that (and, as a player, in checking it out, too, to see what people came up with!).

[CaptainD]

Good to hear that some people like the "museum" idea.  It's the sort of thing I'd be more inclined to want to do - I'm not entirely comfortable with some aspects of crowd fundraising (and still not convinced it's the right thing for CD), but this sounds eminently doable and quite fun both to create and explore in the game itself.