Us and the Game Industry Kickstarter

[Erkki]

Us and the Game Industry is another movie about indie game developers that got kickstartered. I backed it (I think only 15$ or so), but things are a bit iffy with it.

First, this kickstarter succeeded:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/627987916/us-and-the-game-industry/

Except just before the end, it was only half-way there. So it seems the creators probably put their own money into it.

Now, there's another kickstarter that is for "polishing" the edit:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/627987916/us-and-the-game-industry-for-show

This seems a bit scammy: seems they put their own money in to get the project backed, and then asked for roughly the amount they financed in another kickstarter.

What happens if the other kickstarter fails? Do I not get my reward from the previous one? (copy of the movie?)

Anyway, these concerns aside, it looks like a movie I'd like to watch, focusing on different developers than were in Indie Game: The Movie. At the moment I'm not going to pledge though.

[brkl]

Yeah, that's not great. Looks like they retconned the original Kickstarter to be for a rough cut, but the original states it's for completion.

[Erkki]

Yeah, that's not great. Looks like they retconned the original Kickstarter to be for a rough cut, but the original states it's for completion.

Hmm... actually the wording of the original is pretty vague, and I guess I just made some assumptions:

This project seeks your support to assist in its completion. The funds raised through Kickstarter will enable us to continue, to complete shooting and edit the great footage we have.

From skimming the page again, this is all it says about what the money is for. The rest of the text describes the movie itself and the rewards. So possibly they planned this anyway, but still they could be clearer in their communications. The wording in the updates even seems to be in a relatively strange and vague language, almost as if coming from a politician.

[brkl]

This project seeks your support to assist in its completion. The funds raised through Kickstarter will enable us to continue, to complete shooting and edit the great footage we have.

This is how that sentence structure plays out:

1) The funds raised through Kickstarter will enable us to continue AND

2) The funds raised through Kickstarter will enable us to complete shooting and edit the great footage we have.

[brkl]

If you played through Paypal you might be able to get your money back.

[Nachimir]

I backed it (I think only 15$ or so), but things are a bit iffy with it.

This is the weird and interesting thing about crowdfunding that not many people have talked about yet: It distributes risk, and could largely take it away altogether from creators and put it on buyers. When the developers of that game that seemed really cool come back and say "[We fucked up the budget]*, so we need to run another kickstarter!". At what point to they go from plucky underdog that deserves your help to incompetent fuckwit?

* It'll be dressed up as "We lost our artist and had to find another one" or "X was more expensive than we thought", or something, but that's what it'll mean.

I've backed a few things on kickstarter, but usually with low amounts that I wouldn't mind losing. Some kickstarter pages have red flags all over them: A month or so ago, I saw a Kickstarter for an iOS game. It said the team had already put a year into it, but needed some crowdfunding to push it to the end. They were asking for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

[racingfreak92]

So, I hadent heard about the orignal Kickstarter, and since no one seemed to be sure on what the deal was, I messaged the creator.

After reading both Kickstarter descriptions and this email, I have noticed that there is a specific writing style being using by the author that dresses things up in a way that is sort of misleading if you arent paying careful attention.

"

Hi Vincent.

No. I didn't go over budget for how far I wanted to get the film done in that phase. The first kickstarter was all about getting last shoots and cutting done. It shall be fully cut by three more weeks I predict.

My sub-contracted editor shall have brought in almost five cut hours by then, meaning we'll have a completed film but not yet a film for exhibition. Some of the clips look interesting in their own right. But, discarding has to continue to get down to 1.4 hours that I expect shall feel like the length being just right for exhibition.

You kind of have to shoot a high enough ratio to get enough. Then you have to make some sense out of all that footage and get hold of a structure. Reckoning that the film is done is based on confidence in having got some magic within the limits of a budget. There is that degree of chance with documentary form, most of it having to come due to the instincts of selecting what and where to film. I had to make the call which later developers to follow after Rohrer, Hunicke and Chen and that stretched the budget for sure, geographically.

Well. The first kickstarter got the film shaped, you might say. I put all my money into it for the research, planning and early production.

Kickstarter is based on minimums. Meeting two kickstarter goals will account for still under half of all the film's budget. So, kickstarter, it's all just a lovely help.

Final cut,music, getting the levels done on the audio track and doing the poster and marketing work requires $9000. That will be the focus of the second kickstarter. The film shan't be released without the required next spending. It will get released. I'd have to hunt up different sources if it doesn't come in in via pledging e.g back to on the drip feed from part-time salary. The joy of kickstarter is individuals getting to know about projects. Under 400 people got to know about the film last time. It's kind of amazing seeing new names from all over the world appear. A lot more seem to be coming in from Europe this time. Filmmaking is finger nail biting as it is, but this method of crowd sourcing and marketing is great at taking away the sense of working a bit madly and alone on something!

I'm sorry if anything I wrote up on the first kickstarter implied to you that reaching that goal would get the film fully finished off for exhibition. It had been a kind of two -step plan."

Erkki it looks like your fears may be right, she says "The film shan't be released without the required next spending. It will get released." So basically, yes, they need this money to get this to "exhibition quality", and if it dosent happen through Kickstarter then it will happen by some other yet-to-be-known-way. I think the vast majority of people would consider that a finished film is one for exhibition, but this project author seems to disagree.

[Erkki]

Well then, you must then all back it so I can get my reward!

Man, it's so hard to read that language."The joy of kickstarter is individuals getting to know about projects. Under 400 people got to know about the film last time." WTF? I didn't give 15$ to "get to know about the film". I thought I gave it so I could see the film. But I think the film will be still interesting, the fact that she communicates so badly in written form, doesn't mean she can't make a good film.

[racingfreak92]

Yes... it is confusing writing. Also I looked at the rewards from the last one and from this one and everything is significantly more expensive this time around, so thats not very encouraging for donors. And as someone who launched my own Kickstarter, I expect them to make it look much better the second time around. Those stills they chose look SO BORING, that random little blue divider bar is lazy and dosent match anything else, and the video is identical from the last project.

(Also side poll: does anyone actually care about getting a T-shirt from these random projects/products/companies?)

[Erkki]

(Also side poll: does anyone actually care about getting a T-shirt from these random projects/products/companies?)

Depends if I was previously a fan. Usually not, probably, although I haven't backed that many projects so I don't know.