Re: Joe Montana Football 16 Looks to be a Mobile Game, Utilizing Unreal Engine 4
One problem, particularly with crowdsourced funding options such as Kickstarter or IndieGoGo, is that there is often a time limit to the funding operation. I think Kickstarter's max time limit for funding is in the neighborhood of a month. If the crowdfunding target isn't met in the time period, the developer gets zero dollars and everyone gets their money back.
Having a strong first day on Kickstarter in particular is critical. Getting as many eyeballs and as many dollars committed to the project the very first day is mission-critical so it can snowball and pick up momentum and reach the funding target by the end of the time period.
If you're talking about a more open model such as early access where gamers pay for early copies of in-dev games (most successfully done with Minecraft and Rust, and Darkest Dungeon is another good example) - something unfinished is somewhat expected (what's there still needs to be playable and relatively polished), but they need to get to a point where they have a playable and stable game first before opening that can of worms.
Something that I don't know much about - if it's even possible - is funding game development via Patreon, in which users basically subscribe to artists and give money monthly towards the production of the artist's primary work in exchange for some sort of exclusive bonus content. No time limits or anything like that. I've most commonly seen this with web comic artists and Let's Play personalities recently, but I do wonder if it could be successfully applied to game development.
One problem, particularly with crowdsourced funding options such as Kickstarter or IndieGoGo, is that there is often a time limit to the funding operation. I think Kickstarter's max time limit for funding is in the neighborhood of a month. If the crowdfunding target isn't met in the time period, the developer gets zero dollars and everyone gets their money back.
Having a strong first day on Kickstarter in particular is critical. Getting as many eyeballs and as many dollars committed to the project the very first day is mission-critical so it can snowball and pick up momentum and reach the funding target by the end of the time period.
If you're talking about a more open model such as early access where gamers pay for early copies of in-dev games (most successfully done with Minecraft and Rust, and Darkest Dungeon is another good example) - something unfinished is somewhat expected (what's there still needs to be playable and relatively polished), but they need to get to a point where they have a playable and stable game first before opening that can of worms.
Something that I don't know much about - if it's even possible - is funding game development via Patreon, in which users basically subscribe to artists and give money monthly towards the production of the artist's primary work in exchange for some sort of exclusive bonus content. No time limits or anything like that. I've most commonly seen this with web comic artists and Let's Play personalities recently, but I do wonder if it could be successfully applied to game development.
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