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Hi all! As you know, we're down to the wire on Kickstarter, with around 5 days left. Nearly 3 years of blood, sweat and tears have gone into Bevontule and here's a small montage of the work that we've put in!
Hi all! As you know, we're down to the wire on Kickstarter, with around 5 days left. Nearly 3 years of blood, sweat and tears have gone into Bevontule and here's a small montage of the work that we've put in!
Hi all! As you know, we're down to the wire on Kickstarter, with around 5 days left. Nearly 3 years of blood, sweat and tears have gone into Bevontule and here's a small montage of the work that we've put in!
Hi all! As you know, we're down to the wire on Kickstarter, with around 5 days left. Nearly 3 years of blood, sweat and tears have gone into Bevontule and here's a small montage of the work that we've put in!
Zero sound MTG_Derek
I have tried for months to come up with a better title for my own game and utterly failed, so I cannot help you much.
Changing title is tricky because it makes you lose a lot of the awareness you built with the KS campaign.
I would definitely try to leave Bevontule somewhere in the name.
So something like Wellspring: chronicles of Bevontule could work IMO.
Random thoughts:
1) Bevontule tells me absolutely nothing. Companies with massive budgets and media attention can turn a word like Skyrim into a household name but you can't so don't go for it. It doesn't matter what appears in google searches these days, what matters is your visibility on Steam. I'd suggest to drop wellspring and go with The Altar of Roots since that's the name you like the most.
2) Don't waste money on PR hacks.
3) Your KS is your pitch not an info board. Every word should be selling the game. If it doesn't, remove it.
Bevontule is an eclectic fusion of Western, Japanese, and strategy RPGs, with stunning 3D visuals and challenging tactical combat.I have no idea what eclectic fusion is but I suspect it might give you aids and thus best to be avoided. Branding your game as a a mix of two vastly different genres won't have a strong appeal to either camp. No indie game has stunning visuals so don't oversell it. Your game looks great, let the screens speak for themselves.
Multithreaded Games consists of a core team of two lifelong friends and Portsmouth, Ohio natives, Derek Bradley and Andy Fenton.Don't start your pitch with about us. Imagine you're trying to strike up a conversation with a girl. Would you start it with "So... about me..."? Sell me on your vision first, then tell me about yourself.
If you wish, you can now pledge a higher amount to get additional rewards.You're killing me here. I want to know about the game and you're talking about yourself and extra pledges.
The player takes control of Bodom, a mysterious person that appears along the western shores of the Inner Sea, allegedly hailing from the northernmost regions of Onich. Claiming the ability to destroy the Kelvari, he quickly finds himself a valuable asset in the ensuing struggle against them – as well as a pawn to the political machinations of regional and continental players. Will you stave off the looming calamity... or unwittingly hasten its arrival?I like the hint at choices, the pawn bit, political machinations, etc. Suddenly, the game doesn't seem to be a kill rootsoul monsters action rpg. It's exciting but I had to work very hard to get to that first truly interesting bit of info. I didn't like all that "mysterious person, allegedly, claiming" stuff because it's my character. Either I'm from that region or not, have the ability to destroy or not. It's not a book, so I demand full control over my character's options. I might claim that I can do things I really can't but this should be my choice, not something forced on me by the developers.
Key FeaturesFinally. Should have started with them and explained them one by one.
Anyway, you did pretty good. Managing to get 35k isn't a small thing. Now try again and I'm sure you'll do better.
I'd operate on the assumption that your PR company knows nothing but means well. I assume you don't pay them tens of thousands of dollars, which makes them bottom-feeders (with all due respect). Anyone who actually knows the business and is good at it would be working for bigger companies and earning a lot more than what you're able to pay.Altar of Roots isn't really the name we like the most--our PR company suggested that we add a subtitle, which made sense.
It works when you sell some crap infused with your own story that makes it more desirable for hipsters or when you're an industry veteran and your name is the main selling point. You're selling entertainment, not your personal story, so don't open with it.While I'll definitely take credit for things done wrong on our end, the 'About Us' section was not initially at the top of the page--it was only moved there at the behest of our PR company, in an effort to 'tell our story.'
That's what makes game development so much fun.And thus, you come to the crux of what makes this so fucking difficult/frustrating--everyone has a different opinion on the relative importance of different pieces of information.
Exactly right. Everyone is an expert on the internet, present company included. Anyway, now that you see the camps clearly, you need to figure out how to proceed and which camps to target. You can't please everyone, of course, and nobody knows your game as well as you do. Do you want everyone to love it? Do you think it will appeal to everyone? Then make it as appealing as possible. If not, target your niche audience and speak their language. Do you want people to like your game design and be pleasantly surprised to discover that you have a cool origin story or the other way around? Fall in love with the origin story and like the game design because of it? Does your game have both strong tactics and strong plot? Then show both. See, it's actually quite simpleWe have the camp that wants to know about why we made the game and who we are--we have the camp that wants the plot. We have the camp that wants the tactics/combat, et cetera. We don't show enough concept art--we don't show enough gameplay. We should be as appealing as possible--we should only appeal to tiny subsets. Where does it all end, man?!! This is mostly just me ranting btw, but hopefully, you can see where I'm coming from here in that every single person has a different idea of what the 'selling point' is, and we've learned very quickly to take anything levied at us as an 'absolute' with extreme skepticism.
Essentially, there are two kinds of RPGs: games where you kill monsters (and the backstory/history hardly matters) and games where you actually play a character (where the backstory matters a lot). Until I hit that bit of info, I assumed it was the former.This is a plot point that you, personally, found interesting, but you also mention that the background/history is a bad starting point.
It's the only way to learn and yes, many campaigns failed at first but did much better on their second try. You should post your pitch here and we'll go over it line by line. It will be chaotic and violent, but in the end you'll have a great pitch.If nothing else, we've learned way more from running this campaign than practically any other possible thing we could've done. We certainly aren't the only campaign that's failed initially and we'll use what we've learned (including your analysis) to come back stronger in the future.
I'd operate on the assumption that your PR company knows nothing but means well. I assume you don't pay them tens of thousands of dollars, which makes them bottom-feeders (with all due respect). Anyone who actually knows the business and is good at it would be working for bigger companies and earning a lot more than what you're able to pay.Altar of Roots isn't really the name we like the most--our PR company suggested that we add a subtitle, which made sense.
It works when you sell some crap infused with your own story that makes it more desirable for hipsters or when you're an industry veteran and your name is the main selling point. You're selling entertainment, not your personal story, so don't open with it.While I'll definitely take credit for things done wrong on our end, the 'About Us' section was not initially at the top of the page--it was only moved there at the behest of our PR company, in an effort to 'tell our story.'
That's what makes game development so much fun.And thus, you come to the crux of what makes this so fucking difficult/frustrating--everyone has a different opinion on the relative importance of different pieces of information.
Exactly right. Everyone is an expert on the internet, present company included. Anyway, now that you see the camps clearly, you need to figure out how to proceed and which camps to target. You can't please everyone, of course, and nobody knows your game as well as you do. Do you want everyone to love it? Do you think it will appeal to everyone? Then make it as appealing as possible. If not, target your niche audience and speak their language. Do you want people to like your game design and be pleasantly surprised to discover that you have a cool origin story or the other way around? Fall in love with the origin story and like the game design because of it? Does your game have both strong tactics and strong plot? Then show both. See, it's actually quite simpleWe have the camp that wants to know about why we made the game and who we are--we have the camp that wants the plot. We have the camp that wants the tactics/combat, et cetera. We don't show enough concept art--we don't show enough gameplay. We should be as appealing as possible--we should only appeal to tiny subsets. Where does it all end, man?!! This is mostly just me ranting btw, but hopefully, you can see where I'm coming from here in that every single person has a different idea of what the 'selling point' is, and we've learned very quickly to take anything levied at us as an 'absolute' with extreme skepticism.
Essentially, there are two kinds of RPGs: games where you kill monsters (and the backstory/history hardly matters) and games where you actually play a character (where the backstory matters a lot). Until I hit that bit of info, I assumed it was the former.This is a plot point that you, personally, found interesting, but you also mention that the background/history is a bad starting point.
If you were to tell me about Conan or Spider-Man, you wouldn't start with a lengthy historical overview, would you? You'd sell me the hero first and what makes him different and interesting. Same here, only in the context of what I'd able to do in-game.
It's the only way to learn and yes, many campaigns failed at first but did much better on their second try. You should post your pitch here and we'll go over it line by line. It will be chaotic and violent, but in the end you'll have a great pitch.If nothing else, we've learned way more from running this campaign than practically any other possible thing we could've done. We certainly aren't the only campaign that's failed initially and we'll use what we've learned (including your analysis) to come back stronger in the future.
A quick word of minor advice. I would avoid putting Saga in your game's name like that example because it may be within striking distance of Square Enix's lawyers. Probably better not to risk that one. Good luck to you guys. If/when you relaunch, I'll give it another look.
One thing I'll also mention is that you need a longer ramp up in terms of hype. People need time to hear about your game and digest that it will be coming to KS. I'd say a good two months of posting some upcoming devlogs prior to the KS is a good rule of thumb. For me, this campaign came out of nowhere.
It can be anything. Maybe start out with an announcement that your game will be coming back to KS. Then show some progress since then...but not all..just a tease. Really, what you wanna do is build awareness of your game. Then the KS will build credibility as well as excitement of your game.
In terms of the KS campaign, remember that the biggest part is building credibility. You want to show a level of professionalism that will convince ppl that you're studio is ready to deliver. I'd look at some successful recent kickstarters to get ideas. Even campaigns that are super above your league can offer glimpses of advice. For example, a lot of the very well done KS campaigns had very polished kickstarter videos. Look at the original PoE pitch for example.
Reallocate expenses form using a PR firm to spend it on some quality camera work. Make it look more professional. Remember, you're not pitching to seasoned professionals, where glitz and glamour are unimportant. You're pitching to everyday consumers. They need to believe in your competence to deliver something professional. So a professional pitch is essential IMO.
Also, this might be controversial advice, but I say ditch the demo. I think Vault Dweller might back me up on this because KS campaigns are all about pitching the potential. Again, backers are not professional developers. Many do not understand the workflow of developing a game. Giving them a demo that is years away from the actual product might sound like an act of goodwill. But in fact all you're doing is giving the impression that your final game will look and play that way.
Finally, I'd say really do your homework on who your potential audience is, and target them accordingly. Sales a lot of times is about volume. Try to reach as many people as you can. Just don't compromise your vision. What I mean is let's say you identify 10 rpg forums or websites. Maybe 2 or 3 are your target audience. However, targeting the other 7, however different they might be, can create word of mouth through sheer numbers. And if your pitch is tightly designed enough, it might attract a few backers here and there, even if the main audience of said forum isn't your typical backer. Of course, for forums that might take a year to join (recetera and Neogaf come to mind), it might behoove you to start that joining process now.
I'll end by saying this. You got around 30k in your campaign, regardless of some stumbles. That is good. Really. Imagine if you have a more polished and focused campaign (and with a better game name). Imagine if you had cast a wider net. Imagine if your pitch video was just a few levels more polished. Imagine if you had built hype up to where a KS campaign wasn't something that felt random for me, but something I was looking forward to. I think if you make some adjustments, the next pitch will go much better. Good luck, regardless.
Now that was super wholesome. To be honest, that's the main reason this forum has been so helpful to us--you guys simply don't fuck around. It's way better to get legit feedback than have your D S'ed the whole time, so... yeah. Seriously thinking about changing the title as well--my ego isn't so big as to say that yeah, maybe Bevontule isn't the best title. We've often wanted to call it something like Wellspring Saga/Story (can you use the word Saga in a video game these days, does Disney own that?) or maybe just Wellspring (Altar of Roots subtitle would probably stay.) I don't think we've grown so large that changing the title at this point would be a terrible endeavor--I mean, it'll suck, sure, but I've seen this sentiment echoed in many places, and it's likely that we were too 'close' to many of our supporters and they, perhaps, didn't want to hurt our feelings by telling us how... uh... 'not good' of a title it really is. Perhaps it would be worth narrowing our focus as well, maybe lose the 'JRPG' entirely. I mean, yeah.. the influences are there, but maybe people just see it and say, nope, even when the game is not really... a JRPG at all.
PS: Kudos for dealing with the Codex, this is a hard-nosed group. I wouldn't have heard about your game if not for your activity here. Cheers.