Kickstarters

Just looked at Kickstarter, and saw that there are two separate VN projcts there right now.

So I thought I would make a thread in case KS becomes a major part of the VN scene, and we need it to track and discuss future projects.

Right now, Driftwood appears to be your typical OELVN, while Errant Hearts sems pretty professional.

By the way, has anyone tried to discuss the possibility of a new Kickstarter project with the 4 leaf studios guys? I know they said they don't plan to sink any more years into such a bothersome hobby, but maybe a huge pile of money in advance would change their mind...

edited 21st Apr '13 2:32:25 AM by Ever9

Katawa Shoujo is already a major part of the VN scene.

Oh wait, you mean Kickstarter.

I pledged to one VN Kickstarter so far, Devil Gene R, which seems to be going, and that is all I can say about it. I wouldn't have pledged to it if the rewards didn't sound interesting for the money they wanted in return, which can't be said for the rewards for the other free VN kickstarters I've seen. Errant Hearts' rewards are too overpriced, and Driftwood just doesn't sound interesting enough for me to pay money for something I can get for free. If it gets funded.

Which seems to be the problem, of course. These three aren't the only VN projects I've seen on Kickstarter, but most of them don't actually get funded, and can easily get lost in the middle of hundreds and hundreds of music and design projects. From what I can tell, Devil Gene R already had a small following when the kickstarter was started, which helped jump it to the Popular page. Unless you know what you are looking for, and unless it is already popular enough, finding something on Recently Launched can be a pain. Of course, it doesn't stop me from looking every week in case something that can catch my interest has showed up, but compared to more popular kinds of projects, V Ns need a lot of pre-kickstarter build-up to be successful.

Just my five cents.

Driftwood has already passed its funding goal of $4000 US. As of this writing, Errant Heart is around 78% funded.

Memento: Aurora Chronicles had a goal of 5000 pounds, and backers pledged almost 7000.

Dizzy Hearts was a major Kickstarter success earlier this year — the goal was $5500, and people pledged almost $17000.

The biggest VN funding success so far seems to be Coming Out on Top. They asked for $5000, and total contributions were over $38000.

Bliss Stage: Love is Your Weapon was funded back in 2011. This project has been in the works for quite some time. It already has a page here on TVTropes, and I'm hoping it will be finished in the near future.

Indiegogo isn't as well known or widely used, but it might be the best option depending on where you live. Canadian developers have successfully funded Actual Sunlight there. The German VN Kako no Koi currently has raised only 615 Euro, and their goal is 5000 with thirty-three days left.

For those who have time and something to say, there's a seven-page-and-still-active thread on Lemma Soft about the merits and potential problems of using Kickstarter.

edited 24th Apr '13 8:41:06 PM by dorkatlarge

Huh. I know I shouldn't be too surprised especially with the relationship between indie gamers and the Ouya, but even the very niche fandom of visual novels has plenty of people willing to give money to a project. Heck, even Monster Girl Quest 3D got funded.

I hadn't heard about Monster Girl Quest 3D until today. Interesting.

And while I saw a reference or two to Gender Bender DNA Twister Extreme, I forgot about it for several weeks. This is another crowdfunding project which was quite successful. I assume the people making both games promoted their project in quite a few places...

Just getting started on Indiegogo: Demon Kissu.

I don't know many examples of companies using crowdfunding for a translation project of pop culture media. The attempt to use Kickstarter to fund an official Class of Heroes 2 translation project failed. But Digital Manga Press had a lot of success in funding three Osamu Tezuka series. If you want to consider doing this, unless you work for a translation company, start by looking for a small indie or free game that meets the content guidelines of a crowdfunding site. Contact the creator, and see if they reply. They just might say "yes."

I'm adding a double post because I learned that a planned fan translation project has a Kickstarter associated with it. The head of Seiha Translations is asking for $2500 US so that he/she can devote time and effort to working on a patch for Little Witch Romanesque. (Which was made by the same defunct company that created Quartett! and Period.)

That one is looking very much like a "pay my salary while I work on a hobby" thing.

(aka. "Fund my life")

edited 4th May '13 11:06:10 PM by Sabbo

Well, given that his hobby produces something that others enjoy, I can't see the problem :P

I don't mind that he wants money for what he does, but last time I checked, Kickstarter had a policy against "fund my life" projects. I'll look it up.

EDIT: Let's see... We've got these as possible problems:

• Kickstarter cannot be used to raise money for causes, whether it's the Red Cross or a scholarship, or for "fund my life" projects, like tuition or bills. An arguable case, I guess. I'm certainly betting though that he could do it for free just as easily, although yes there may be a delay
• Kickstarter cannot be used to fund software projects not run by the developers themselves.
• No offensive material (hate speech, etc.); pornographic material; or projects endorsing or opposing a political candidate. I have no idea whether this VN has pornographic material. If not, then ignore this bullet.

edited 5th May '13 1:21:41 AM by Sabbo

Well, technically you could probably consider it a software/writing project. It's not really "fund my life!", as a product is being produced.

Technically the patch might not even contain any pornographic material even if it exists ingame (barring image edits)!

Yeah, I put qualifiers next to the first and third points because I wasn't as sure about those. The second one though I consider certain: It is definitely a software project which is definitely not being run by the developers.

Aroduc isn't in charge of making the patch?

Kick starter doesn't seem to care much about the porn clause as is more or less proven by the other links up there (maybe they only care if it's pure porn or something) and when Aroduc asked kickstarter, he was surprised as well when they accepted it.

Wasn't Tentacle Bento canceled because of "inappropriate content" thing people who didn't know what it had said?

Tentacle Bento was canceled because of general outrage. Kickstarter seems to run on on a TV Tropes-like porn policy, "I know it when I see it", but if enough people swear that it's not, then it's probably not.

If a VN is presented as a story first and formost, then "there are sex scenes in it" is not enough for most people to call it "porn", especially as long as the pitch formally avoids the "eroge" label, therefore they won't generate an outrage.

Welp, looks like LWR was not to be http://tenka.seiha.org/2013/05/no-funds-allowed/

Pretty sad, really. Oh well.

^^Yeah, but in case of that one, did it even actually have such content? I don't remember anymore since I wasn't interested in it, I was interested in controversy about it being canceled though.

^That guy could try putting crowdfunding thing on his site too though. I mean, thats what Starbound is basically doing with pre orders and I've seen others to do that too.

edited 7th May '13 2:52:47 AM by SpookyMask

From the webcomics world, there's now a Megatokyo Visual Novel in the works, FWIW. Seems be doing quite well for itself, too ($52,000+ out of a goal of $20,000 as of the time of this post).

While the Megatokyo VN is meeting a bunch of stretch goals, Paradise Plus has barely received any support, and it has less than two weeks left. Also, Kako no Koi only got 27% funded.

Some crowd funding efforts on Indiegogo work. I don't think it's just a popularity contest. The creator has to Win The Crowd and/or earn an And The Fandom Rejoiced reaction. This is easier said than done.

edited 23rd Jun '13 9:03:45 AM by dorkatlarge

It's not up to 120,000+ and looking well on the way to funding all three parts. Having decided I only want the $35 pledge level, which has no limits on numbers, I'm going to wait and kick in closer to the funding date (just to simplify my finances).

The upcoming graphic novel Swords of Edo is now getting a Visual Novel.

Kudos to the Megatokyo VN for reaching $190,000 in their Kickstarter which will now include Opening songs for Largo and Piro sung by a vocalist! Now if they managed to reach the $500,000 goal...... there will be "Excessively Romantic Content" (aka Sex Scenes ).

In related news, Swords of Edo is about to reach it's goal to start development for it's VN game which according to the creator, will feature Ecchis scenes. Higher Backers can even help create an ecchi scene with any of the main characters.

Here's a demo of the Swords of Edo VN game.

Whoa. The Swords of Edo Visual Novel is raising the stakes in their pledges.

£15,000 - The game is already due to include the risqué ecchi content, but if we achieve this stretch goal then we will go the extra mile and develop some more adult 'Love' scenes for the game. As shown in the prototype there will be an option to disable these additional scenes.

I wonder if they are able to do what the Mega Tokyo Visual Novel failed to reach?

Might have helped if they'd introduced those stretch goals earlier.

The fact that they're doing it for a lot cheaper certainly doesn't hurt their chances.

As of this writing, the Australian puzzle visual novel hybrid Unhack is just one-fifth of its way to its $1000 goal with a few days left. The page doesn't provide much information outside of some hyperlinks.

Midrain has a detailed page with plenty of concept art and screenshots. As far as I can tell, it's more like a role playing game, and the main character is involved in stealth action. Apparently nobody's noticed it.

Meanwhile on Kickstarter itself... the fantasy story Icebound just barely passed its $7000 goal. Current active projects include SC2VN (a story about dedicated Starcraft 2 players), and a small-scale VN called Love Me or Die.