SQN only sneak peak at the PayPal stretch goal site

[ChrisPope]

Hey guys, I'd love to get your thoughts on our new PayPal stretch goals page before we do an official update.

 

I need you all to have some things in mind first. Before slamming the things we have there, remember that we are trying to achieve more so we can add the new features to SpaceVenture. Rest assured, the game will be made, as we have the funding now, but this page below will show you our stretch goal plans.

 

Scott and Mark themselves decided on what the stretch goals would be. I of course gave my 2 cents from a fan perspective, but in the end, they decided on what they considered to be most valuable and what kind of funding we'd need to implement them.

 

Also, consider the fact that I did try and take out certain reward objects that were meant for Kickstarter only. I did need to leave certain things so that new comers will still be excited to pledge for our cause. These stetch goals will only be available for a limited time of course. Note that we're still cleaning up the text/font/formatting stuff on this page and a new piece of artwork will soon be added as well.

 

And in reading all of that, I'd love you to post your feedback here on this forum thread.

 

Thanks so much everyone for all of the support! I apologize that we've been a bit quiet in the last few days. You're about to start hearing a lot more from me and the Two Guys now that we've got some more of the details worked out. More podcasts/interviews/contests coming up!

 

Ok here we go. The password is "twoguys"

 

The link to get the sneak peak is http://guysfromandro...s-spaceventure/

 

Thanks again everyone! :)

 

Chris Pope

[rogerxy]

Great site, thank you! :)

[pcj]

• There's no way to increase the contribution by $15 for international backers.
• It shouldn't say "Pledge" since it's really just an instant contribution at this point

[Intendant S]

I personally still think that the female playable character should be lower on the list. $650K is too high of a stretch goal for that one, IMHO. I really want to see that one happening. If all we get is Ace, Cluck, and Rooter, though, I would have absolutely no problem with it because it's still going to be a game from the freaking TWO GUYS FROM ANDROMEDA!

[Pak-Man]

Would it be too complicated to have some "Already Pledged" tiers? They could have little goodies and incentives for those who already pledged, but wouldn't include copies of the game.

[ChrisPope]

• There's no way to increase the contribution by $15 for international backers.
• It shouldn't say "Pledge" since it's really just an instant contribution at this point

Both valid points!

[ChrisPope]

I personally still think that the female playable character should be lower on the list. $650K is too high of a stretch goal for that one, IMHO. I really want to see that one happening. If all we get is Ace, Cluck, and Rooter, though, I would have absolutely no problem with it because it's still going to be a game from the freaking TWO GUYS FROM ANDROMEDA!

 

I'll pass this on to Scott and Mark. :)

[ChrisPope]

Would it be too complicated to have some "Already Pledged" tiers? They could have little goodies and incentives for those who already pledged, but wouldn't include copies of the game.

 

Great idea!! I'll give this some thought :)

[Johnathon]

I really like the idea of pixar-quality characters, and even the EGA mode. Too bad they're so much higher on the goal list (lol, not trying to stir up trouble here, just honestly probably going to miss those two things)

 

Still... I couldn't be more excited that this is happening! :y:

[vega]

I didn't see this mentioned, but I, for example, would like to upgrade to a higher level and I didn't see an option for that.

[Chrono]

More Cluck sounds great, but If anything were to change, I'd put the female character at a lower tier, since we already have two Cluck consecutive Cluck tiers :)

[MusicallyInspired]

I agree with that. Female character at a lower tier. Although I do want that Cluck minigame...but I also want the EGA graphics, so....

[pcj]

They've got to balance the coolness of the things they do with their cost ;)

[marsilies]

Some nitpicks:

• $25, $30, $60 tiers are missing from their description: "This tier includes all previous rewards."
• $500 tier: "Nte" should be "Note"

Also, I think the tiers would benefit from having some additional descriptive text. Something like:

• $550k = German, French, Spanish translation of game text
  • Play SpaceVenture in your native language (if your native language is German, French, or Spanish)!
• $600k= Cluck Y’egger retro-sci-fi mini-adventure
  • An additional mini-adventure game launched from the game menu.
• $625k = Cluck Y’egger animated graphic novel.
  • Tells the story of Cluck’s origin, drawn by Mark Crowe!
• $650k = Playable female protagonist for a portion of the game
  • An additional level of the game where you play as a female protagonist.
• $675k = Pixar-Quality 3D Characters and animation
  • (Something about how much of an improvement these graphics will be)
• $700k = Retro EGA graphics mode (ala Space Quest 3)
  • Allows you to toggle between graphics modes.

[s_d]

I second MusicallyInspired; since Cluck will already be a playable, I think it would be great to bring the female Andromedan playable down slightly, and then enrich Cluck's content beyond that. Whoops, did I write female Andromedan? I meant "as-yet-undetermined-female-playable-character, designed by the Two Guys and nobody else".

 

Also, I second pcj, so please disregard my remark above. It comes off as a bit presumptuous, IMHO.

[Tawmis]

Some nitpicks:

$625k = Cluck Y’egger animated graphic novel.

• Tells the story of Cluck’s origin, drawn by Mark Crow!

Some nitpicks:

 

Mark Crowe, not Mark Crow.

;)

[Spikey]

Funnier to think of a Crow drawing Cluck :)

 

Great work as always, Chris. Really great work. I love the big box that says "A Real Pantload"! Hilarious!

 

My only complaints, minor as the yare, is that the list of rewards looks almost 1:1 the same as the KS page, so I wouldn't get anything new for pledging again, aside from stretch goals of course.

The other being what's been said before, female protag maybe 625 or something like that.

 

And, didn't I see a lot of the fans at the wrap party ask for an original MT-32 soundtrack mode? (OK, maybe too hard to implement, but still.. Hey, i'd convert it if given MIDI's)

[RoyMartin]

I second the possibility of "already pledged"-exclusives. And if possible, lower the female playable character. But it looks great! Looking forward to updates.

[jfrisby]

I like all the stretch goals, and can see why they come at the costs/levels that they're at --- but I do worry it's a bit ambitious to try to structure the campaign for these new goals in the same way as the Kickstarter.... I'm just not sure the momentum works the same way to get there.

 

I think it'd be wise to bolster the visibility of things like the $150 level chat access (and maybe define what that is), and any other tier items that are "watch the process now" type things -- that may push a little urgency into the "why now" question for some people.

 

Other than that... my first thought was that it might work better to have two larger, bulkier, stretch goals -- maybe 600k & 700k that combine all the stuff into two. Since EGA mode & female protagonist seem to be the easier to sell people on, it might drive momentum to put one of them a little lower (600k).

 

Those are rather intimidating numbers to get to either way, especially with the lower profile that this 2nd round campaign will get (even if we have 6 months/a year to raise it). Would they allow another Kickstarter for additional game content? If you did something like confirm Felicia Day for the female character and launched a supplemental campaign in 8 months for it, it would probably go smoothly.

 

 

 

Or, you could just do all the stuff in the stretch goals, since it will make the game even more awesome, marketable and memorable... and put the eggs in the "future sales" basket (if there's any way you can afford to do it -- I guess that's probably not a real option.. oh well).

[jfrisby]

Oh, and definitely get some kind of real-time $ total counter on screen somewhere.... so we can continue to enjoy the game-ification of spending all our money, Kickstarter style.

[Fronzel Neekburm]

I'd love you to post your feedback here on this forum thread.

You probably won't once you read mine. Anyway, here goes...

 

http://www.bigfinishgames.com/support-project-fedora-paypal

THIS is how it's done! Your page deviates from the standard set in terms of ease of use, clarity, etc.

 

First of all, you ought to give international backers an extra button for every reward tier. That one extra button you have for intl. backers at the bottom of the page comes across as ultra-lazy. It's like telling your customers that you simply couldn't be bothered to create a few extra buttons for intl. pledgers, so you'll just have the people who FINANCE YOUR GAME go through the extra hassle. Not customer-friendly! Not recommended!

 

did try and take out certain reward objects that were meant for Kickstarter only

I can see the reasoning behind this. It's a dumb idea nonetheless. One that will discourage people from choosing a higher tier.

 

Furthermore, and that's just personal preference, I couldn't care less for the translations. I'd rather have something else - ANYTHING else - from that list at the $550K stretch goal. Graphic novel, Mini adventure or female character should be at the top of the stretch goals, since they are the most incentive. I don't even know if there are any Europeans left that can't speak English. But that is totally your call.

 

Overall, I still think it's a major improvement over the rather bold "Be sure to check out our nightmarishly convoluted and contradictory reward tier clusterfuck over at Kickstarter!"-message. But you might want to think the "Less bang for your buck"-attitude over. And don't forget to include the extra buttons for international backers!

[pcj]

THIS is how it's done! Your page deviates from the standard set in terms of ease of use, clarity, etc.

I agree that Tex's PayPal page is nice, though hardly a standard. One way to do it would be more like a shopping cart and let people pick and choose their rewards? I don't know.

 

First of all, you ought to give international backers an extra button for every reward tier. That one extra button you have for intl. backers at the bottom of the page comes across as ultra-lazy. It's like telling your customers that you simply couldn't be bothered to create a few extra buttons for intl. pledgers, so you'll just have the people who FINANCE YOUR GAME go through the extra hassle. Not customer-friendly! Not recommended!

OK, calm down a bit please. The enthusiasm is appreciated, but they just finished a KS campaign and probably would like to avoid the extra stress.

 

I can see the reasoning behind this. It's a dumb idea nonetheless. One that will discourage people from choosing a higher tier.

Bah, even your vaunted Tex Murphy project removed tiers for PayPal donations. There's something to be said for supporting backers who were in the project from the beginning - giving them something special, as well as necessary production times for those extra-special rewards.

[billybob476]

While the Tex page is definitely a bit clearer, It's still too much of a wall of text. Honestly I'm not a big fan of the guysfromandromeda site design in general. I find it very cluttered and the galaxy background is quite distracting. The center "content" area is very narrow which makes it difficult to lay out more complex information (like the reward tiers).

 

I do agree (with less vehemence) that there should just be a button for international backers. You want to make things as easy as possible. Yes, add 15 to your intended total isn't a big deal, but it may deter people.

[jfrisby]

I think one of the only things the Tex paypal page has going for it is the white background -- I think there was a study done at some point implying that lighter backgrounds generally inspired more trust & purchases from web consumers. Who knows if that means anything, but it might look more organized by default.

[billybob476]

We call that "filling white space" :)