Kickstarter

[malvok]

First, I haven't used FG, FGU, or visited these forums in quite a while. I haven't followed FG news either. I enjoyed FG as a product for years and the developers, both official and community, always seemed like great guys. I have no ill will towards FG in any way and I don't enjoy writing this post. Smiteworks even gave me a bunch of D&D FG material when I won a contest a while back, and I do appreciate it.

To get to the point, I saw an email today about a kickstarter. I just felt compelled to write that it struck me as odd that FG, what is possibly the most expensive of VTTs, would not only be running a fundraiser, but for a popular IP as well. Something about that just doesn't feel right. If I, as someone who has always had a positive view of FG can feel this way, I just wonder, how would a neutral observer feel?

I'm sure there are valid reasons, but on the surface, it just feels wrong, and I had to mention it.

[Jiminimonka]

First, I haven't used FG, FGU, or visited these forums in quite a while. I haven't followed FG news either. I enjoyed FG as a product for years and the developers, both official and community, always seemed like great guys. I have no ill will towards FG in any way and I don't enjoy writing this post. Smiteworks even gave me a bunch of D&D FG material when I won a contest a while back, and I do appreciate it.

To get to the point, I saw an email today about a kickstarter. I just felt compelled to write that it struck me as odd that FG, what is possibly the most expensive of VTTs, would not only be running a fundraiser, but for a popular IP as well. Something about that just doesn't feel right. If I, as someone who has always had a positive view of FG can feel this way, I just wonder, how would a neutral observer feel?

I'm sure there are valid reasons, but on the surface, it just feels wrong, and I had to mention it.

Pinnacle Enertainment often run kickstarters for new Savage Worlds products. Because they are not a huge company with unlimited funds. So I guess maybe its the same with Fantasy Grounds. If you don't follow or use Fantasy Grounds, what is your point in any case?

[malvok]

Because, though I haven't used FG lately, I still have fond memories of the software, community, and developers. I just wanted to mention how I felt seeing this, in hopes that Smiteworks might consider how this could appear to people as presented. I didn't come to slam them, but in hopes that future emails would contain more information as to why there is a kickstarter, so as to avoid leaving a negative impression. I wish Smiteworks much continued success, and I'm just trying to help.

[Jiminimonka]

Because, though I haven't used FG lately, I still have fond memories of the software, community, and developers. I just wanted to mention how I felt seeing this, in hopes that Smiteworks might consider how this could appear to people as presented. I didn't come to slam them, but in hopes that future emails would contain more information as to why there is a kickstarter, so as to avoid leaving a negative impression. I wish Smiteworks much continued success, and I'm just trying to help.

Cool, spread the word https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...l=1#post697196 Sweepstake

[malvok]

I often speak fondly of FG to people I know, but I won't be entering the sweepstakes, as I don't play that particular game system and would rather see the winner be someone who does.

[Griogre]

I'm not an insider, but I will say that as a former computer game developer, licensed properties often don't make that much money if they are not wildly popular since you have to give the IP holder a pretty big cut.

As a former game store owner, I can tell you the World of Darkness is niche, but with a loyal fan base.

The goal of the kickstarter was $6K which is about 60-100 hours of a developer's time. Given they are building a ruleset and making data modules for the latest version of the Werewolf RPG the hours look reasonable, given Smiteworks should be able to work efficiently on new ruleset development and data entry, though they easily could spend twice the hours I quoted since software development rarely goes exactly accounting to plan.

Looking at the pledge tiers, it looks like they are doing a fair amount of bundling FGU licenses, which would imply they are hoping to get World of Darkness fans who don't already have FGU, ie expand their user base.

I suspect the last is why this is a Kickstarter. They didn't know if they could get enough WoD fans to pledge to justify the time it would take to make a new, shiny, licensed ruleset for a niche product. And that is a good question for this product - the sales for it for the first year or so are likely to be from this kickstarter and their friends.

That's all a long winded way of saying, my take is - they wanted to know if they should prioritize development time on this or something else and they used the Kickstarter to find out. A lot of small RPG companies that produce books, regularly run Kickstarters do something similar to here - to figure out what's demand for the initial print run.

[Zacchaeus]

Griorge says it above. No point in spending hundreds of development hours if only 10 people are going to buy the ruleset. Better to have a clear idea that it's going to sell before committing to a project that is possibly going to make a massive loss. That's what Kickstarters are for and many companies use them including fairly big players like Kobold Press and others. Pretty much every computer game that releases these days does so as early access; so it's not exactly something which anyone would need to look down upon.

[LordEntrails]

Interesting perspective. What are your general opinions or view of Kickstarter? I'm guessing this is why you see the FG kickstarter for a new ruleset in a negative light?

I have mixed feelings about KS myself, and am pretty careful about those I back. There are some that are just looking for guaranteed funding prior to investing in hard/production costs. There are others that it's to support creatives while they try to create something new (these are the highest risk no doubt). There are others that just use it as a distribution platform.

For a company like Smiteworks, I see it as an opportunity to lower the risk of developing niche content for FG. It gives the members of these niche products the ability to step up and show support for what they are willing to actually buy. I'd rather have FG, and other small businesses, Kickstarter a high risk project rather than either refuse to take a chance in developing such, or even worse, go out of business because the invested in a niche/high risk product and lost too much money on it.

[Jiminimonka]

Griorge says it above. No point in spending hundreds of development hours if only 10 people are going to buy the ruleset. Better to have a clear idea that it's going to sell before committing to a project that is possibly going to make a massive loss. That's what Kickstarters are for and many companies use them including fairly big players like Kobold Press and others. Pretty much every computer game that releases these days does so as early access; so it's not exactly something which anyone would need to look down upon.

Ah the greatest crowdfunder at all Star Citizen raised hundreds of millions and is still in Alpha after, 8+ years......

[malvok]

I see from the posts in this thread that there are, and I knew there would be, valid reasons for this kickstarter. I guess I still hold the idea that kickstarters are aimed at getting small developers needed funds to complete a project. I guess it could be useful to get a gauge of how successful a product will be, but that isn't the first use that comes to mind. It's kind of like if WotC had a kickstarter. I'm not suggesting that Smiteworks is as large as WotC, but in the smaller subset of VTTs, they're up near the top. Thanks guys, for giving me a broader view of how kickstarter can be used. I hope future emails will be a bit more informative.