Should a kickstart fund be made for kenshi?

[alexpoysky]

I have seen a BUNCH of projects go up on kickstarter, get more than their deisred funding, and turn out a polished project due to the new source of revenue. There is a side effect though, as some devs like to keep their work "clean" and not ask for money prior to release.

Chris is the latter, which is truly commendable in this day and age. But if he were to sell the first version of kenshi on pre-order only, and then use kickstarter to fund the rest of the project, it would be like killing two birds with one stone.

What do you guys think?

As a reference, check THESE guys out, they posted their kickstart just a few days ago and are over their ENTIRE budget already! And they still have 16 days to go!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sta ... ?ref=video

I think he could really get so much coverage, as well as much needed funding through this. The best part is, he would just have to post pre-orders on it as a donation gift at the same price as a normal sale in order to be able to gague proper income for it.

What are your opinions?

[ArcaneSaint]

I don't know if you've noticed, but there's already a "donations" button up on the mainpage (the bar on top, just next to "game design"). The first sentence on that page "I feel kind of bad for putting up a donation button", and then he goes on about how he doesn't want to somehow make people feel obliged to support him, so I don't think he'll open a kickstarter fund.

And then there is the fact that kickstarter projects usually have this "goal" they try to reach, which would be contradictory to Chris' earlier statements. And also the fact that you can see how much money is donated to a project means that perhaps some people will feel Chris is obliged to make the game, and they might feel cheated if for some reason development can't continue (accident, troubles in family, loss of interest [unlikely], etc. ).

I don't think he'd even need it, seeing as how this product is close to release, and Kickstarter seems to be more for developers who don't have the financial means to even start development. Whereas is about a month time, Chris will be gaining revenue through sales (and perhaps the donate button will stay up as well?).

So I'm gonna vote "no", for the reasons stated above.

[alexpoysky]

Good series of points, and rightfully so! I was just curious was all!

[ArcaneSaint]

Oh, also it says "No, it should be done without external help, no matter how charitable it is." on the no option, though there is a donate option. So I humbly suggest you might perhaps include a "No, there already is a donate button on the main page itself." option (or something along those lines).

[dorkian.gray]

The main difference between Kickstarter and a "donations" button is that a lot more people will fund through Kickstarter because of the rewards. Chris even states that you get nothing in return for donating, which would turn a lot of people off. I think that after he releases this beta (as the stated goal of selling beta access is to raise cash to hire a second developer and maybe an artist), he should create a KS project page with a short video. It's really just another avenue for sales, and KS is much more prominent in the public eye than the Lo-Fi Games website.

[SakeSage]

100% support either getting this project on Kickstarter or http://www.games-plant.com/! Even if it doesn't get on one of these I'll be most likely getting this game but I'd like to see this game secure some more capital and those are great ways to do it for small developers.

[GlitteryGreg]

Yeah it would be a great idea chris, Mainly because youll get more exposure which always helps but not only that it will speed up the process aswell as grant the donators a reward for donations which makes it more appealing to donators either way i support im just drooling over this game lol