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Developers can benefit greatly from launching a crowdfunding project, regardless of the outcome, says a developer who has bounced back from a Kickstarter failure.
Kostas Zarifis, founder of independent studio Kinesthetic Games, launched a Kickstarter project for his game, Kung Fu Superstar, only if it to run out of stamina. But thanks to the expose the project give him, and the missteps he reflect upon, he was able to secure a deal for a new project further down the line.
He feels that there are many positives to takeaway for those that are bold enough to put their project out in the wild for the game community to judge.
Speaking to Develop about the lessons he’d learned from his experience with Kickstarter UK, Zarifis urged developers to carefully consider who it is that they are aiming to reach with their project.
“It’s really hard to regain interest from people. You’ve got to make an impact within those first five days,” said Zarifis. “While it pays to try and prolong interest in your campaign, at the same time, you want to make sure that you capture as many people as possible on that opening day.”
As well as ensuring that you make an impact with your project, Zarifis advised developers to target where the majority of users are – North America – even if that means taking an administrative hit.
He added that developers must keep their messaging and their retail packages are simple as possible, as a complicated pitch can drive users away.
And, furthermore, he advised that developers keep their funding goal as low as possible.
Although, Zarifis does recognises that Kickstarter and other crowdfunding sites can be seen as a fast-track to alternative funding.
He has his doubts about Kickstarter’s ability to fund outwardly original titles, such as his own Kung Fu Superstars project, telling Develop: “A lot of the time you’ll go on Kickstarter and if you look at the kind of projects that do get funding, you’ll find that the new, completely wacky and innovative projects are the exception really.”
