Topic: ASYLUM 33D Kickstarter LAUNCHED!

[zendavis]

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zendavis/asylum-33d




Asylum 33D is a horror project we have launched! You can back it right now! Some people say the Wii U has no games! You can prove them wrong by backing this project!

[Oblivion]

So, your project is a book, and if you reach the stretch goal of $75,000, you'll make a visual novel for the Wii U and other platforms?


I'll definitely support you guys if that stretch goal is reached, but I'm not particularly interested if otherwise.

[zendavis]

So, your project is a book, and if you reach the stretch goal of $75,000, you'll make a visual novel for the Wii U and other platforms?


I'll definitely support you guys if that stretch goal is reached, but I'm not particularly interested if otherwise.

Fair point!

Our approach for development is to build Asylum 33D using the novel and graphic novel as our foundation for the visual novel. The visual novel release, especially for the Wii U, is our holy grail! The plan is that if we can reach our $75,000 stretch goal , we will co-develop the artwork for the graphic novel and visual novel together. This way we can streamline art production, and double the content for the visual novel, and include branching stories, locations, and animated sequences not possible in any other version of Asylum 33D.

There are a number of projects on Kickstarter that use the same funding approach as us. Ghost Song: A Journey of Hope (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1192311215/ghost-song-a-journey-of-hope) is one such project using this same approach, where their project will initially be developed for the PC, but if their stretch goal of $60,000 is reached, they will also develop a Wii U version. Soul Saga! (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/disastercake/soul-saga-a-j-rpg-inspired-by-playstation-classics) is another example where a Wii U version wasn't in the works until they reached an $80,000 goal. The only difference between those projects and Asylum 33D is that while they will bring their project over from a PC version, we will combine the creation process of the graphic novel with that of the visual novel, and release all iterations of the game at once thanks to Unity.

Our goal is to share the story of Asylum 33D with as many story-lovers as possible. This Kickstarter gives us that option. There are a lot of varying ways in how people want to experience their stories. For those who prefer to read, novels. For those who like their stories illustrated, graphic novels. And then there’s the interactivity that comes with visual novels. With enough support, we'll be able to share the story of Asylum 33D with everyone who loves a good story, and we'll be able to do it in a way where you can cater, and tailor, your experience with Asylum 33D to your own liking.

[Oblivion]

I personally backed Soul Saga, but it's hard to compare your project, which is a book with a graphic novel and visual novel stretch goals (which are two completely different mediums from one another) and a project where they were creating a PC game and very easily porting it to the Wii U.


If I sound mean I'm not trying to be. I'm just wondering how you'll be able to pull this off (which, you seem to be answering just fine so thanks for that.)


I like that if it is reached, you'll reward every backer with the game. A question, though: if it's reached, are you providing the game to every backer that went for a reward (like $15, $25, etc.) or to every backer that pledges even just $1?

[zendavis]

I personally backed Soul Saga, but it's hard to compare your project, which is a book with a graphic novel and visual novel stretch goals (which are two completely different mediums from one another) and a project where they were creating a PC game and very easily porting it to the Wii U.

If I sound mean I'm not trying to be. I'm just wondering how you'll be able to pull this off (which, you seem to be answering just fine so thanks for that.)

I like that if it is reached, you'll reward every backer with the game. A question, though: if it's reached, are you providing the game to every backer that went for a reward (like $15, $25, etc.) or to every backer that pledges even just $1?

Good points! 

So lets address your first issue regarding the two different mediums between graphic novels and visual novels. Well the truth is that the art generation for the two wouldn't be all that different. Here let me show you!




Lets say the above image has been designed for the graphic novel. The background would have been created as a separate layer from the characters. And the characters would each be on separate layers from one another. This way when we bring this setting in a game engine, we would first bring in this:





We would prepare all on art on separate layers to be imported into the Unity game engine. This would make development very easy for us. At this point we would begin to lay our characters over the background image one by one, along with a text box and voice acting. The primary difference from the graphic novel is that instead of speech bubbles, we would use the text box and voice acting to set up our dialogue. The bulk of the work then on the visual novel would come from creating hundreds of facial character reactions to dialogue choices made by the player, along with creating new locations for the visual novel that the linear nature of graphic novel would prevent the reader from visiting.


Now lets take on your second issue: the ports. This is an easy answer. The Unity development engine allows developers to click and export their games to the platform of their choice. I'm not making this up. It can literally be done in three minutes:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=0inr1OgKic0. All we would need is a development kit from Nintendo, their version of Unity that exports to the Wii U, and we would be set to launch Asylum 33D on the eShop. It's this simplicity that's makes Unity one of most used engines in the word. You can check out the news about it here: http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/31834.

Lastly, in regards to rewards. The game will only given free to those backers that go for a reward. Usually most projects, when hitting stretch goals, will add their stretch goals in for free. We're doing that as well. But, what most projects don't usually do is enhance their projects on THIS scale. If we hit our $75,000 stretch goal, we will be giving away a novel, an art book (for planning out our graphic novel), a graphic novel, and a visual novel. That's a lot of stuff!

It would be unfair to backers who support us with a $15 (or over) donation, only to then just give away these things to everyone else. Perhaps for these backers we can do a one day sale where we can offer them a special sale price only to them? What do you think think? Hopefully, I've done my best to answer all your questions. If you have anymore, I'll be happy to answer them as well! Thank you!

[ShyGuy]

This is interesting. Make sure you email Rawmeat Cowboy to spread the buzz.

[Soren]

If we hit our $75,000 stretch goal, we will be giving away a novel, an art book (for planning out our graphic novel), a graphic novel, and a visual novel. That's a lot of stuff!

That is indeed a lot of stuff. I appreciate your willingness to come here and share your project on these forums. I glossed over the kickstarter page and I counted 21(!) reward tiers. Not only would you be giving away all the stuff you mentioned above, but also: coffee mugs, t-shirts, miniature figurines, hard bound books, (unique) posters and other stuff. My main worry would be that an overwhelming amount of the $75,000 raised for the Wii U stretch goal would go for the production of all those rewards instead of on the game, which is what would interest me the most.

[Oblivion]

My main worry would be that an overwhelming amount of the $75,000 raised for the Wii U stretch goal would go for the production of all those rewards instead of on the game, which is what would interest me the most.

And that's my main worry. I get worried when a project starts to concentrate on all the extra goodies and stretch goals instead of the main project. (And in this case, the Wii U goal).


Also, I gotta ask: you're gonna have a Vita version; why not a PS3 version too?

[zendavis]

If we hit our $75,000 stretch goal, we will be giving away a novel, an art book (for planning out our graphic novel), a graphic novel, and a visual novel. That's a lot of stuff!

That is indeed a lot of stuff. I appreciate your willingness to come here and share your project on these forums. I glossed over the kickstarter page and I counted 21(!) reward tiers. Not only would you be giving away all the stuff you mentioned above, but also: coffee mugs, t-shirts, miniature figurines, hard bound books, (unique) posters and other stuff. My main worry would be that an overwhelming amount of the $75,000 raised for the Wii U stretch goal would go for the production of all those rewards instead of on the game, which is what would interest me the most.

Awesome! Lets talk rewards! It's a complex topic so sorry for the wall of text.

There's a couple of key truths that one has to deal with when talking about Kickstarter rewards. The first is that the majority never contributes more than $100 for a reward, no matter how compelling a reward is. In fact, most won't contribute more than the $15 for the eBook edition of Asylum 33D. So even though there are 21 reward tiers, most people won't back anything past the first 8 tiers.

Now in these 8 tiers, $15 to $110, and this is second truth: Though artists and the coder on the team will earn what they're asking for, I won't pay myself as much as I should for my work. This is because through the initial 8 rewards, I will do most of the work myself. Whatever is donated to the project will then be passed on to the team members for their way and I'll only keep the bare minimum I need to keep going. This way I can fulfill my obligations to you guys, not because I like working for free, but because I love Asylum 33D. I honestly believe once you experience it for yourself, and word of mouth gets out, I'll earn my share.

The $80 and $110 rewards are the exceptions. The $80 reward will include a poster. This poster is will be a character sheet we'll develop in order to design what each of thirty-three of our ghosts should look like, and that's what we'll send to backers. Thus the $80 reward becomes a part of the development cycle and ends up paying for itself. The $110 reward offers backers a cool little opportunity to be illustrated as a ghost inside their specific copy of Asylum 33D. We believe this personalized touch will draw in extra backers and the extra little bit more we end up spending creating the illustrations will come back to us through the additional "bulk" of people who pick the reward up.

We're don't expect backers to pick up rewards above those first eight tiers en mass. BUT even if they do, I've run the math on EVERYTHING; I've got quotes from the artists, I've run costs on printing the book, and I've taken into account the percentages that Kickstarter and Amazon Payments will take and no matter what the reward, we will have enough left over to invest in everything leading up to the game.

How I've setup the project is like this: The book builds to the screenplay. The screenplay sets up an adaptation of the book for both the graphic and visual novels. The art book will then be a group of early production images that will be crafted for both the graphic novel and visual novel. And finally, as mentioned before, the graphic novel and visual novel will use a portion of the same art pieces. That's basically the assembly line workflow that I've designed. It allows for one thing to develop into the next in a method that lets us streamline our resources, stretch our dollars, and become self-reliant.

[MegaByte]

When there's such a big discrepancy between the initial goal and the stretch goal, it's a lot harder to get people to back. It's like running a flexible funding campaign on Indiegogo -- it's tricky to commit because you don't know if you'll actually get what you want for your contribution without the fixed funding threshold, and when most people approach it that way, it's hard to be successful. It just seems like a big jump to make before even starting the campaign -- the projects you cited had much momentum before going after those stretches.

[zendavis]

When there's such a big discrepancy between the initial goal and the stretch goal, it's a lot harder to get people to back. It's like running a flexible funding campaign on Indiegogo -- it's tricky to commit because you don't know if you'll actually get what you want for your contribution without the fixed funding threshold, and when most people approach it that way, it's hard to be successful. It just seems like a big jump to make before even starting the campaign -- the projects you cited had much momentum before going after those stretches.

You make a good point Aaron!

It depends on how potential backers want to support a project. Perhaps they're hesitant to back a project until it's closer to reaching a specific stretch goal. In that case they could still help by getting the word out about Asylum 33D to build, as you said, momentum. If that momentum doesn't pan out, they're still in the clear. But that's up to each individual and how they want to show their support. We appreciate them every which way.

Now lets say we reach $25,000. Not enough for the graphic or visual novel, but enough for the novel, screenplay, and art book. Any remaining funds would be spent towards graphic & visual novel artwork. We would then run a follow-up Kickstarter with a goal of $5000 for completing the graphic novel, and another stretch goal to complete the visual novel. I agree the process is like a flexible funding campaign from Indiegogo, but our plan in this case would be to use the funding at hand to continue creating content to build on our previous successes and increase our fan base. 

A further issue with flexible funding campaigns is that for the majority of game projects, it's still an all or nothing deal for the developer. If they have a $50,000 goal, and it only reaches $25,000, backers can't expect self-sustaining progress because a developer probably won't be able to monetize that initial investment by having something completed they can sell. The difference here is that we'll have completed content from Kickstarter that we'll be able to sell, be it even just the novel, and any funds earned from that can then be put back into continuing to finance further stretch goals.

My main worry would be that an overwhelming amount of the $75,000 raised for the Wii U stretch goal would go for the production of all those rewards instead of on the game, which is what would interest me the most.

And that's my main worry. I get worried when a project starts to concentrate on all the extra goodies and stretch goals instead of the main project. (And in this case, the Wii U goal).




Also, I gotta ask: you're gonna have a Vita version; why not a PS3 version too?

We're not sure exactly what a PS3 development kit would cost. I've read that Sony has given free PS4 kits to developers going into their first year and plan to charge $2,500 for it afterwards. We're still looking into it.

[zendavis]

Hey guys. I have some questions for you.


Would you feel more comfortable if we did a straight $75,000 goal with no stretch goals? Or is keeping it how it is now okay after what I've said?


I did create this thread for feedback and I've taken what you said to heart.

[zendavis]

Kickstarter is live!


Level design preview! More on the Kickstarter!