13 ms·

How I raised $24,000 on Kickstarter (for a text adventure)

38 points by ido 16y ago

veb 16y ago
WTF? Man, the Internet does not cease to amaze me at times... Eh, good luck!
- pvg 16y ago
  You could try reading the guy's bio - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Plotkin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Plotkin Or even the article - But I guess everybody who succeeds on Kickstarter has to answer this question. How did I do it, really? First, spend 15 years working hard on projects with no reward but community goodwill.
  - ulf 16y ago
    That is the correct answer on a LOT of "How do you do it"s, actually. Sometimes there are alternatives, but you cannot beat a longtime community involvement if you want your voice to be heard...
sdfghrjtr 16y ago
●---------------------------------------● ●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------● ●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------● ●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------● ●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------● ●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------● ●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------● ●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------● ●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------● ●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------● ●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------● ●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------● ●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------● ●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------● ●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------● ●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------● ●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------● ●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------● ●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------● ●---------------------------------------●
thorin 16y ago
Great link, although 24K doesn't seem like much for a lifetimes work! I look forward to playing some of the games. The teaser reminded me of Infocom's Hitchhikers Guide for some reason...
- ido 16y ago
  He eventually raised 31k, and this is just for the development of Hadean Lands - which he will also be selling on the app store once completed. So the sum is more like bootstrapping the monetization of a lifetimes work by financing the first project!
  - thorin 16y ago
    Yes, I can see it going somewhere now with the growth of mobile devices. I love the old text adventures. Retrotastic.
    - jonhendry 16y ago
      If you haven't yet, check out inform7.com. It's a free system for developing text adventures, with a sweet GUI IDE (cross platform Win/Mac/Gnome) and a language that's similar to English yet has interesting support for relationships between game items. (ie, you can define a relationship of 'loathing' between characters that influences reactions.) It can compile to the same format as the old Infocom games, or to glulx, a new format by Andrew Plotkin (the guy this thread is about) that allows for bigger games.
      - thorin 16y ago
        Thanks, I'm looking!
abecedarius 16y ago
Trivia: total donations came to $31,337, exactly. New interview of the author: http://www.adventureclassicgaming.com/index.php/site/interviews/622/ http://www.adventureclassicgaming.com/index.php/site/intervi...
jamesteow 16y ago
Those tips are sort of less helpful to some people when it's already hard to get past step one: getting your project accepted at kickstarter.
- jgoewert 16y ago
  It wasn't that hard for me. I had a creative project. I had a plan and a reason for seeking funding upfront. I had something to give to those that funded me. That seems to be the only real requirements. Of course, I only got $25 pledge towards my $4,000 goal. So it must not of been that good of an idea.
  - ytNumbers 16y ago
    Would love to know what your idea was. Care to elaborate?
  - jamesteow 16y ago
    Glad that you got a chance. I pitched, they gave reasons why they rejected me, I gave projects they supported that rebutted their reasons, they shrugged.
  - patio11 16y ago
    So it must not of been that good of an idea. How did you market it?
sp332 16y ago
There's a bunch of technical details in the Kickstarter updates, if you're into that kind of thing :-) https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zarf/hadean-lands-interactive-fiction-for-the-iphone/posts https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zarf/hadean-lands-inter... they're labeled "The Techy Post, Part n of 4"
markkat 16y ago
This makes me happy. I loved Zork, and I don't see why text adventures need to be outdated. I would love to boot one up on my Kindle. On that note, I can't see why anything fun should be declared 'dead'. There is something a MUD can offer that WOW cannot.
steveklabnik 16y ago
The money quote: > First, spend 15 years working hard on projects with no reward but community goodwill. Instant success takes 10 years of work.
- motters 16y ago
  It sounds as if he had already built up a reputation within a certain community, and is now just capitalising on that. Without that reputational factor, he probably wouldn't have been able to raise much funds.
  - steveklabnik 16y ago
    Yep. "Without running every day, he probably wouldn't have been able to run that marathon." We love instant success stories, but the reality is, you have to prepare and be ready to seize your moment when it comes.
- pmichaud 16y ago
  This is exactly the answer to the question I posed today: What is the key to success? Show up and do it. http://www.petermichaud.com/essays/what-is-the-key-to-success/ http://www.petermichaud.com/essays/what-is-the-key-to-succes...
rick_2047 16y ago
Seeing this I have some faith that my latest lark might get some attention (not money attention, but people attention). I am going to work on a hand held text adventure play thing. Going to post the schematics on the web, I could use an aruduino but that would overshoot my small (very very small) budget. Lets see where this goes.
- oofoe 16y ago
  Please check out the Ben Nanonote -- this is just the sort of thing that it might be good for. I know that some kind of inform interpreter has been ported for it, but a nice little adventure client could be very spiffy! Project page: http://en.qi-hardware.com/wiki/Ben_NanoNote http://en.qi-hardware.com/wiki/Ben_NanoNote Sales site: http://sharism.cc/ http://sharism.cc/ (You can also use ThinkGeek, I believe.) I have one of these things with the latest firmware (OpenWRT linux with some modifications). It is an incredibly cool device. You actually have a keyboard that has all the stuff you need for programming (or general unixy/emaily things), a pretty nice colour display and a reasonable amount of horsepower. I like to think of it as an SGI Indy that I can put in a pocket...
  - rick_2047 16y ago
    Thanks for the pointer, but no this is not what I am thinking. This project is supposed to be a intermediate level electronics project. This is most probably going to have a black and white screen and an avr controller of some sort. I chose IF to implement on this because I love solving little text adventures.
postfuturist 16y ago
The total now is $31,337, no joke.
pjeide 16y ago
Wow. This is the same zarf of "Zarf's List of Interactive Games on the Web" circa early '90s. http://www.eblong.com/zarf/zarfs-list.html http://www.eblong.com/zarf/zarfs-list.html Nice to see this guy is still doing big things. I'm sure some of you must recognize him by that page as well. (reference: His kickstarter profile @ http://www.kickstarter.com/profile/zarf http://www.kickstarter.com/profile/zarf shows website eblong.com which hosts the legacy "Zarf's List")

38 points by ido 16y ago

veb 16y ago

WTF? Man, the Internet does not cease to amaze me at times... Eh, good luck!

pvg 16y ago
You could try reading the guy's bio - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Plotkin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Plotkin Or even the article - But I guess everybody who succeeds on Kickstarter has to answer this question. How did I do it, really? First, spend 15 years working hard on projects with no reward but community goodwill.
- ulf 16y ago
  That is the correct answer on a LOT of "How do you do it"s, actually. Sometimes there are alternatives, but you cannot beat a longtime community involvement if you want your voice to be heard...

sdfghrjtr 16y ago

●---------------------------------------● ●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------● ●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------● ●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------● ●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------● ●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------● ●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------● ●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------● ●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------● ●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------● ●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------● ●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------● ●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------● ●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------● ●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------● ●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------● ●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------● ●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------● ●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------● ●---------------------------------------●

thorin 16y ago

Great link, although 24K doesn't seem like much for a lifetimes work! I look forward to playing some of the games. The teaser reminded me of Infocom's Hitchhikers Guide for some reason...

ido 16y ago
He eventually raised 31k, and this is just for the development of Hadean Lands - which he will also be selling on the app store once completed. So the sum is more like bootstrapping the monetization of a lifetimes work by financing the first project!
- thorin 16y ago
  Yes, I can see it going somewhere now with the growth of mobile devices. I love the old text adventures. Retrotastic.
  - jonhendry 16y ago
    If you haven't yet, check out inform7.com. It's a free system for developing text adventures, with a sweet GUI IDE (cross platform Win/Mac/Gnome) and a language that's similar to English yet has interesting support for relationships between game items. (ie, you can define a relationship of 'loathing' between characters that influences reactions.) It can compile to the same format as the old Infocom games, or to glulx, a new format by Andrew Plotkin (the guy this thread is about) that allows for bigger games.
    - thorin 16y ago
      Thanks, I'm looking!

abecedarius 16y ago

Trivia: total donations came to $31,337, exactly. New interview of the author: http://www.adventureclassicgaming.com/index.php/site/interviews/622/ http://www.adventureclassicgaming.com/index.php/site/intervi...

jamesteow 16y ago

Those tips are sort of less helpful to some people when it's already hard to get past step one: getting your project accepted at kickstarter.

jgoewert 16y ago
It wasn't that hard for me. I had a creative project. I had a plan and a reason for seeking funding upfront. I had something to give to those that funded me. That seems to be the only real requirements. Of course, I only got $25 pledge towards my $4,000 goal. So it must not of been that good of an idea.
- ytNumbers 16y ago
  Would love to know what your idea was. Care to elaborate?
- jamesteow 16y ago
  Glad that you got a chance. I pitched, they gave reasons why they rejected me, I gave projects they supported that rebutted their reasons, they shrugged.
- patio11 16y ago
  So it must not of been that good of an idea. How did you market it?

sp332 16y ago

There's a bunch of technical details in the Kickstarter updates, if you're into that kind of thing :-) https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zarf/hadean-lands-interactive-fiction-for-the-iphone/posts https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zarf/hadean-lands-inter... they're labeled "The Techy Post, Part n of 4"

markkat 16y ago

This makes me happy. I loved Zork, and I don't see why text adventures need to be outdated. I would love to boot one up on my Kindle. On that note, I can't see why anything fun should be declared 'dead'. There is something a MUD can offer that WOW cannot.

steveklabnik 16y ago

The money quote: > First, spend 15 years working hard on projects with no reward but community goodwill. Instant success takes 10 years of work.

motters 16y ago
It sounds as if he had already built up a reputation within a certain community, and is now just capitalising on that. Without that reputational factor, he probably wouldn't have been able to raise much funds.
- steveklabnik 16y ago
  Yep. "Without running every day, he probably wouldn't have been able to run that marathon." We love instant success stories, but the reality is, you have to prepare and be ready to seize your moment when it comes.
pmichaud 16y ago
This is exactly the answer to the question I posed today: What is the key to success? Show up and do it. http://www.petermichaud.com/essays/what-is-the-key-to-success/ http://www.petermichaud.com/essays/what-is-the-key-to-succes...

rick_2047 16y ago

Seeing this I have some faith that my latest lark might get some attention (not money attention, but people attention). I am going to work on a hand held text adventure play thing. Going to post the schematics on the web, I could use an aruduino but that would overshoot my small (very very small) budget. Lets see where this goes.

oofoe 16y ago
Please check out the Ben Nanonote -- this is just the sort of thing that it might be good for. I know that some kind of inform interpreter has been ported for it, but a nice little adventure client could be very spiffy! Project page: http://en.qi-hardware.com/wiki/Ben_NanoNote http://en.qi-hardware.com/wiki/Ben_NanoNote Sales site: http://sharism.cc/ http://sharism.cc/ (You can also use ThinkGeek, I believe.) I have one of these things with the latest firmware (OpenWRT linux with some modifications). It is an incredibly cool device. You actually have a keyboard that has all the stuff you need for programming (or general unixy/emaily things), a pretty nice colour display and a reasonable amount of horsepower. I like to think of it as an SGI Indy that I can put in a pocket...
- rick_2047 16y ago
  Thanks for the pointer, but no this is not what I am thinking. This project is supposed to be a intermediate level electronics project. This is most probably going to have a black and white screen and an avr controller of some sort. I chose IF to implement on this because I love solving little text adventures.

postfuturist 16y ago

The total now is $31,337, no joke.

pjeide 16y ago

Wow. This is the same zarf of "Zarf's List of Interactive Games on the Web" circa early '90s. http://www.eblong.com/zarf/zarfs-list.html http://www.eblong.com/zarf/zarfs-list.html Nice to see this guy is still doing big things. I'm sure some of you must recognize him by that page as well. (reference: His kickstarter profile @ http://www.kickstarter.com/profile/zarf http://www.kickstarter.com/profile/zarf shows website eblong.com which hosts the legacy "Zarf's List")