Game Development Giant

"That's a good question."

Jester smiled, then nodded and continued.

"This is my plan. This crowdfunding plan is guaranteed by our Mars Entertainment. Of course, this is the initial situation. If other companies can participate in this plan, then of course the company that conducts the guarantee and review will It will be expanded accordingly, that is, the project will start after the initial scheduled fundraising goal is reached.”

"However, we will only pay half of the funds raised, and the remaining funds will be paid to developers for game development after they have received practical development results and been approved by the review committee."

After listening to Jester's explanation, Mark Saini also nodded. Although the idea was still a little rough, it was obviously feasible.

After a slight pause, Jester continued to speak.

"Actually, I just thought about it again. Regarding this crowdfunding plan, this plan is not only some interesting ideas and creativity, but even the sequels of many games. We don't know whether the current players are really When you are interested in these sequels, you can regard it as a test of the market. For example, we want to release a sequel to "Avengers", but because it has not been released for several years, we do not know the players. What are our expectations for this game?"

"Then, we can definitely use the sequel of "Avengers" to conduct crowdfunding on this crowdfunding website, and look at the players' reactions, and we will naturally know the current popularity of this game. "

"I still have a lot of ideas about this, and it's not just limited to games, but it all needs to be considered in the long term."

Listening to Jester explain this, time passed very quickly. Although he has not completely convinced Mark Saini, he still has it. It can be said that he temporarily agreed to Jester's plan. After the project and plan were completed, when discussing this issue, although Jester has absolute decision-making power in Mars Entertainment, he basically does not have this power. Used before.

Under normal circumstances, any matter encountered will be discussed internally.

Internal discussions will lead to the most appropriate and complete version or plan. In a few days, there will be another routine high-level meeting, so the two decided to discuss the crowdfunding issue in detail during this high-level meeting.

After Mark Saini left, Jester recalled what happened before.

At that time, when Mark Seni brought coffee to Jester, he really had not thought of a very good topic for the opening speech of the GDC Global Gamer Development Conference.

But after hearing what Mark Saini said, he naturally thought of a website that would be very famous in later generations.

kickstarter.

It is also what many domestic gamers jokingly call Begong.com.

This website was established in New York, USA in April 2009. It is a crowdfunding website platform designed to raise funds for companies with creative solutions.

Committed to supporting and stimulating innovative, creative and creative activities. Raise small amounts of funds from the public through online platforms. Make it possible for creative people to get the funding they need to make their dreams come true.

Kickstarter provides a platform for those who have creativity and ideas but lack funds and those who have funds and are willing to donate to support good ideas. kickstarter believes. A good idea can spread quickly through proper communication; at the same time, it can gather the power of everyone to gather funds and moral encouragement. It can make you more practical and courageous to implement your good ideas.

Of course, his fundraising scope is not just games, but all projects that can be invested.

The way it works is relatively simple and effective: the users of this platform are people who are innovative and eager to create and create. On the other side are people who are willing to fund them and then witness the emergence of new inventions, creations and new products. Creative activities on the kickstarter website include: music, web design, graphic design, animation, writers and anyone who has the ability to create and influence others. activity.

Anyone can donate a specified amount of money to a project, and the website charges a very low commission. The threshold can't be lower. For example: California Magin Callahan hopes to create a new comic about half-human and half-demon. The creation and promotion costs for the first issue are expected to be US$1,500. Therefore, she wrote a letter of introduction to the website, hoping that someone could provide it. Small donations. In return, donors can get a comic book signed by the author for a donation of $5, and a bag with decorations of the protagonist in the comic story for a donation of $100. Of course, her promise will only be fulfilled if donations exceed $1,500. As a result, she owned the donation in a very short time.

The idea for the website comes from one of the Chinese founders, whose Chinese translation is Perry Chen.

His official occupation is a futures trader, but because of his love for art, he opened a gallery and often participated in organizing some concerts. In 2002, he was forced to cancel a planned concert at the New Orleans Jazz Festival due to financial problems. This made him very frustrated, and he began to consider setting up a website to raise funds. Perry Chen recalled: "Money has always been a barrier to creative careers. Some good ideas often suddenly appear in our minds and we want to see them have a chance to be realized, but unless you have a rich dad, otherwise You don’t really get the chance to do that.”

After a long wait, the kickstarter was finally launched in April 2009.

Of course, for gamers, the most famous example of Kickstarter is the crowdfunding of a game called "Star Citizen". This can be said to be the most successful project on Kickstarter. It has raised more than a million dollars. 100 million US dollars in development funds, which is the most in the entire Kickstarter.

There is also the crowdfunding of Keiji Inafune, the crowdfunding of Koji Igarashi's "Castlevania" spiritual sequel, and the crowdfunding of "Shenmue 3", which has been a great success at the e3 exhibition on the 15th.

In fact, the reason why Jester was able to immediately think of the idea of ​​crowdfunding from Mark Saini's words and use it as his theme at the GDC Global Game Developers Conference is that besides this fact This is great news for all independent producers involved in game development around the world, and it is also because he was recalling every bit of "Shenmue 3" before.

So, the memory of crowdfunding is still fresh in my mind.

Moreover, in Jester’s opinion, this is indeed a very good place to develop a sequel.

In fact, in addition to the above simple general introduction to job seekers, in addition to its own function (crowdfunding), it is actually a uniquely interesting website that can satisfy your curiosity. You can meet people on it. To all kinds of imaginative projects, such as crowdfunding for civilian space navigation solutions (low-cost solar sails) - don’t be dissatisfied, as of the time of writing this chapter, this project has raised more than the original plan 618% of funding, totaling $1.2 million.

In fact, this is indeed the best thing for many declining game companies, or some game designers who want to be independent and start their own business.

For example, Jester does not object to producers becoming independent from Mars Entertainment, but it is not easy for a producer to find investment when he becomes independent. So at this time, he can refer to such a crowdfunding The website in the form of a website allows players who have supported him in the past to pay for him in advance for the new store in his mind.

Although the times are different, the deeds are indeed interoperable.

For example, there are several such examples in Jester's memory. The first is Keiji Inafune, the father of Mega Man.

This should be the first big name or legendary producer to beg for food on the Begging Network. Fans affectionately call him the second brother.

The second brother's career can be described as illustrious. In addition to "Onimusha" and "Mega Man", he has also participated in the production of "Street Fighter" and "Resident Evil".

In addition, there should be some people who are somewhat impressed by his sharp criticism that "Japanese games are finished". All in all, he is a typical Japanese star game producer who was once all-powerful. Many years after leaving Capcom, he used Kickstarter as an independent game producer to crowdfund his own work "Might No. 9". This game spiritually inherited the mantle of "Mega Man". Needless to say, the appeal of "Mega Man" is natural. This project finally raised 3.8 million US dollars for Keiji Inafune, which was 400% of the original goal. By the way, this crowdfunding goal was announced 2 days after it went online. If If you don't watch "Shenmue 3", this is one of the projects that will make you a job and reach the crowdfunding goal the fastest.

There is also another legendary producer, Koji Igarashi, the father of "Castlevania".

Because Konami gave up on the console project and many ace producers left, Koji Igarashi officially announced the game "Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night" that he had prepared after leaving Konami at almost the same time, and began Crowdfunding on kickstarter. As the "second son" that completely inherits the spirit of "Castlevania", it instantly attracted the attention and support of die-hard fans of "metroidvania" games. (To be continued...)