A long time ago, in a galaxy far away, a blogger backed a Kickstarter campaign for a sequel to a classic space-opera themed computer game. Despite a rocky start, the campaign proved to be phenomenally successful - and in due course, the game was released to a warm welcome from its many fans. Feeling immensely satisfied, the blogger downloaded his free version of the game, installed it and hit the "play" button on the launcher...
...only to discover that his pre-Bronze Age PC was so low spec he had no chance of ever running it. And so the dream died and the blogger drowned his sorrows and continued with his life. When the pain wasn't too sharp he would continue to read about the game and the exploits of its pilots, and even watched in-game events streamed on YouTube.
The pre-Bronze Age PC struggled on for several few months, occasionally shaking or emitting smoke or sparks, until finally it could calculate no more and departed this earth for the greener pastures of the Cloud. It had served its master well and had had the digital equivalent of a good innings.
While the blogger mourned the loss of his faithful if pathetic companion, his heart was not entirely sad. In fact, while this may appear heartless to some, he realised that finally there was an excuse to buy a half-decent machine!
There was a moment of suspense as, once more, the "play" button depressed and the hard drive fired up - and a whole new world opened up.
The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight
I can't claim to be that far ahead of the curve on this occasion - thousands of people are already playing Elite Dangerous so there's a steep catch-up curve ahead of me. However I can report that my old BBC B docking skills have survived cryosleep and the new game isn't too difficult to pick up. I will write more about the game when I've had more of a chance to try it out.
Angel Rose: pilot, interstellar trader and disappointment to her parents. Desperate to pay her debts, escape her mother's somewhat unhelpful matchmaking efforts, and get away from her drab home planet of Slough, she agrees to ship a cargo of gold across a pirate-infested region of space. It's fair to say her mission doesn't entirely go to plan and Angel is about to learn some important lessons about survival, join the quest for an ancient alien artefact, and make some new friends - not necessarily friends that would meet her parents' approval.
Mostly Harmless is a novel set in the Elite universe, written by Kate Russell. Although the author is an accomplished technology journalist and writer, this is her first novel but it's confidently written, packed with interesting characters, and really brings out the danger and paranoia of the Elite setting, while throwing in plenty of humour - as the title might suggest, there's a hint of Douglas Adams in the writing style. Also, as another reviewer pointed out there are three strong women in pivotal roles - is there a Bechdel test for novels?
This novel was supported by a Kickstarter campaign and was part of the meta-funding campaign for the Elite: Dangerous game which has just been released as a beta. Kate's campaign rewards included the opportunity to name a character in the novel who would be guaranteed a gory, painful death. Let's just say the book delivers on this front too.
The end result is an enjoyable and satisfying space opera - and perhaps a promising start to a fiction-writing career.
While post-production continues on comedy short Reply To All, taking on board some very helpful suggestions from our producer's trip to Cannes, you can check out the film's website here - including lots of new photos from the production weekend. It's been a long journey from the Kickstarter campaign to here, and there's still a lot of hard work to come, but based on the most recent cut, I can confirm that thanks to some excellent editing, the final film will be around 10 minutes long, and it will be awesome.
Some more thoughts about crowdsourcing, based
on my experience as part of the “Reply To All” campaign team, my first
experience of Kickstarter fundraising. This is part II - you can read part I of this article
here.
Get All The Money
Fourth lesson: remember that you will not get all the money
to spend on your project. Even if successful, a percentage is paid to the
crowdsourcing website, and another large bite will be needed to pay for the
rewards.
You Are A Filmmaker, Damn It!
Fifth lesson: Use your talents for the campaign. You are a
filmmaker, damn it! (unless you are something else) and I’m fairly sure a
Kickstarter campaign video is a kind of film. So produce it like a film – write
a script, use locations wisely, rehearse, shoot in decent quality with good
lighting and sound, and pay attention to editing and post-production. We had
lots of lovely feedback about our campaign video in particular.
If you are not a filmmaker but, say, a graphic artist or
musician – the same applies, make sure you incorporate your own artwork or
music into your campaign, and give it the best production value you can.
Dive Straight In
Final lesson: before you dive straight in, I would recommend
studying successful campaigns, particularly for similar projects. Follow or
back one or two interesting-looking projects yourself so you get a feel for the
process, and watch plenty of videos before making yours. We learnt a lot,
particularly about choices of reward, and the importance of keeping the updates
flowing, from other short film campaigns.
Thanks to our backers, we’ve already been able to shoot “Reply To
All” at a standard that wouldn’t otherwise have been possible, and I can't wait to
see the final result once the edit is complete. As director I found that the involvement of backers was a
great motivator when we were under pressure, I felt I wanted to keep going and create something worthy of all the support.
Crowdfunding is definitely an option for funding an artistic
project provided you have the stamina and organization. There’s very little to
lose and everything to gain. However at time of writing the Kickstarter success
rate is about 43% (up to date figure here) so a Plan B is a good idea – despite
all the hard work we put into achieving our result I know luck also played a
part.
You can find out about “Reply To All” on the Caramie
Productions website or Facebook page.
Some reflections on raising money through crowdsourcing,
following the successful “Reply To All” Kickstarter campaign. I've been asked several times how we did it and I have to say I'm no expert, this is my first campaign, and these are just my thoughts and opinions. You can also find out more about “Reply To All” on the Caramie Productions website and Facebook page and I will continue to post updates on the production here.
Free Money From Strangers
First lesson: Kickstarter is not a way to get free money
from strangers. Unless you already have a global brand or are lucky enough to
go viral, you will be raising money by approaching people and asking them to give you stuff, just
like any other form of fundraising: mostly this will be friends, family and
colleagues and you will need to campaign hard through all your online or
offline social networks.
And by hard I mean hard. I thought I was working hard until
I saw the dedication some of my team-mates were putting in. Being part of a
team will work in your favour – you will have more social contacts, and you
will be able to push each other to succeed. We finished with 103 backers most
of whom are known to at least one team member.
Watch The Money Roll In
Second lesson: you can’t just post your video then sit back
and watch the money roll in. The aim is to engage with your backers and keep them
up to date with your progress. We posted updates (text, written, photo or
video) every few days. The campaign was planned in advance although we also
updated on some events, such as the casting process, as they happened.
Hundreds Or Thousands Of Pounds
Third lesson: most backers will not sign up for rewards
costing hundreds or thousands of pounds. Our high end rewards such as signed
art materials, VIP screening tickets, being included in the film as an animation,
and producer credits were of interest to a few backers - it's certainly worth offering these premium rewards, but it’s probably best
to assume you will do most of your fundraising through lower level rewards.
Most backers do want some level of access to your finished project, in our case
digital download or DVD, and we had good take-up on coffee mugs. Everyone seems
to like coffee mugs.
Tracey Pickup, who will star as Becki in Reply To All - clips from audition video.
The Reply To All fundraising campaign is in it's final 6 days. Thanks to the generosity of those of you who have already backed us, and to those of you who have been spreading the word, so far we have raised £2,000 in pledges but still have some way to go: the clock is ticking and, under Dragon's Den Kickstarter rules, we will only receive the funds pledged if we reach our goal. Please check out our campaign here and, if you like the idea of Reply To All then please consider backing us. And of course please get in touch if you'd like to know anything about the film or the campaign.
A selection of the rewards available to backers: but check out the campaign for the full list.
A video message from Tracey Pickup, the actress who will be playing Becki, the lead role and only non-animated character in our short film "Reply To All." To find out more about Tracey, our film and the rewards you can get by backing us, come join us over at Kickstarter
Crowd-funding campaign videos aren't supposed to be as funny as this! Watch our chucklesome 3 minute trailer for "Reply To All" and:
i) if we make you laugh once, maybe consider backing us
ii) if we make you laugh twice, give some serious thought to backing us
iii) if we make you laugh three times, reach down the back of the sofa and give us whatever you can spare
After all, if we can be this funny in the campaign, just think how hilarious the actual film will be :-)
And please, please, please share us with your friends....
Coming soon: "Reply To All" - a short comedy written by Nick Boocock and produced by Sophie Caramigeas / Caramie Productions. I will be directing, and working with artist Jeremy Hay to produce the animated sequences. There's a main shoot in January 2014 and the film should be complete March 2014. There's more info on the Caramie website here: no poster yet but watch this space.
There will be a Kickstarter campaign for this film. I directed a campaign video a couple of weeks ago with the production team and it's with the editor now for some final touches - we're planning to go live in the next couple of weeks. So you'll be spoiled for choice - you can follow progress on this film here at the Sci-Fi Gene, on the Caramie website, on Twitter and on Kickstarter.
We've been auditioning for the main part as well - somehow we managed to get the original 450+ applications down to just the 6 we met with yesterday. I'm impressed by all of our final 6, it will be difficult to choose. Meanwhile I'm also working with our artist to develop the animated supporting cast.
For those of you following the Roxë15 campaign, despite a late surge the team didn't make their Kickstarter target. They haven't given up and a new campaign is starting on indiegogo. If you were supporting Roxë15 on Kickstarter, remember your donation will not have been donated, so please consider switching it over to indiegogo.
A Kicktraq tracker for the ROXË15 campaign. I should also pledge to do more for diversity in my own films although at least Last Zombie Standing and We Can Get You Some Really Cheap Gear feature green and yellow protagonists...
I'm posting this Kickstarter video link for a filmmaker friend who is making this film because she wants to see more diverse casting in the movies - in this case more black African-American faces, without resorting to the stereotypical supporting roles they often play, and who is (like me) very much in love with the concepts of science fiction. Roxë15 is a short cyberpunk film about a computer programmer battling a virus. The raw footage is already in the can and hopefully you'll agree after watching the kickstarter that it's already looking stylish and intriguing. The campaign is to fund postproduction and get this film audience-ready.
I think that the point about lack of diversity in mainstream cinema is well made. You can find out more about what this film is trying to achieve over at Kickstarter or on the Roxë15 Facebook page here.
Congratulations to David Braben and Frontier: the Elite Dangerous campaign has reached home base, smashed both stretch goals and broken the record for the highest successful Kickstarter target, and is about to close having raised one and three-quarter million pounds of startup cash.
Along the way a whole shelf of Elite universe novels have also been successfully launched and a new form of meta-funding invented, and LBC presenter Julia Hartley-Brewer was rendered speechless at the suggestion Elite Dangerous might prove to be more fun than a slinky.
So now David you have no excuse: go and write the damn game.
The Elite Dangerous kickstarter campaign is closing in on the £1 million mark (four fifths of the target) but with only 9 days to go there's still some question as to whether they will succeed. The video above was released a few days ago, and together with the concept art already on the site, really gives a feel for what Elite Dangerous will be trying to achieve in terms of epic atmosphere.
It's a relief to see evidence of such clear vision, when earlier in the campaign the team seemed to be more focussed on how good the clouds were going to look (impressive though that might be.) It's also encouraging to see profiles of team members and quick and reasonable answers to questions from backers. This campaign has suffered from a slow start - but in a way that's encouraging too, we're not backing a slick marketing job but a small company with genuine enthusiasm.
Interestingly, there's also a kind of meta-fundraising going on that I haven't seen before on KS. One of the KS pledges is the "writer's pack" - a £4,500 license to write a novel set in the Elite universe, with co-operation from the programming team who can add elements of the novel such as planets into the game. Amazingly it's working - several writers, such as Drew Wagar, have come forward and have started their own mini-Kickstarter or indiegogo campaigns, most have hit their targets and added their pledges to the main E:D campaign. The latest author to join the fray is BBC tech journalist Kate Russell - check out her Kickstarter page here.
The videogame market is alive and well. There's no shortage of casual jewel-matchers, FPS and MMO lookalike wargames, or quirky indie concept games. And sadly there's also no shortage of games with a magnifying glass on the cover. What's missing from the computer gaming world at the moment is the epic. And Elite: Dangerous is one project that just might produce one. Would you like to know more? Main Kickstarter page here. You can also read more on programmer Michael Brookes' blog, The Cult Of Me.
An update on the Elite: Dangerous Kickstarter campaign: the campaign now has more than 13,000 backers and £600,000 pledged. This is impressive but the Frontier team have set themselves an ambitious target of £1,250,000 - and that won't be easy to reach.
The campaign is active with new information and FAQ answers, pictures and videos being added every few days, such as this development diary video.
I think this game has the potential to be awesome but I'm still waiting to see what will set it aside from games such as "Freelancer" (one of the many games heavily inspired by the original Elite.)
A Kickstarter campaign is more than just a way to raise money - it's a chance to connect with potential players and build a community before a product is launched. Not all Kickstarter campaigns bother to do this. It looks as if David Braben and Frontier are listening to the backers and fans. For example the game was going to be download-only, but as many commenters said they'd like the option of a traditional hard copy or boxed set, they've changed their minds and both standard and collectors edition boxed sets are now on the list of pledge rewards. It's a small change but a positive one.
There's a faint glimmer of light at the end of the (docking) tunnel: a Kickstarter campaign has been launched to fund a new Elite game, Elite Dangerous.
When the classic space-opera Elite first appeared on the BBC Micro it was ground-breaking and a work of genius. Eight galaxies of 3D open-ended interstellar trading, fighting, adventuring, asteroid mining, docking and ship upgrading were squeezed by programmers Bell and Braben into less memory than an e-mail.
Elite is still the watchword for non-casual computer gaming. The learning curve was brutal: it took me three weeks of playing to figure out how to launch my ship, turn it around and return to dock (you are required to match spin with the space station) – only then could I venture out beyond the safety zone, try out my shiny new hyperdrive and get blasted to pieces by space pirates. Elite rewards the dedicated player: some events in the game are only seen rarely, or are scheduled to occur on reaching a particular rank which could be weeks or months into playing.
Elite created something which still marks out the best computer games: a player community. Micro User, Acorn User and BEEBUG magazines regularly printed letters describing dubious in-game discoveries e.g. “I found another secret mission!” “I was ambushed by Thargoids!” “I saw a space dredger!” sometimes accompanied by pencil sketches and followed by weeks of debate as to whether the space dredger was real, or whether the pilot had indulged in one too many narcotics trading runs.
Versions of Elite appeared on different computers: each with its own graphic style and quirks. An early PC version was extremely playable however the best and most quirky version was produced for the Acorn Archimedes: features included an ongoing war between police and criminals, and fleets of unarmed Space Missionaries calling on you to repent. A popular hack for this version kitted out your Cobra with fluffy dice and a bumper sticker.
Elite also spawned two sequels: Frontier and Frontier First Encounters, both groundbreaking in their own way, and then - nothing. Rumours of a planned Elite 4 have come and gone, and all but a few of the waiting pilots had given up hope.
So last week's announcement, more or less unexpected, came as a pleasant surprise. The story is by no means over: the campaign is live and the video and concept art look serious, but Frontier have yet to achieve their ambitious Kickstarter goal, and then they have to actually write the game. As a backer Sci-Fi Gene is hopeful and looks forward to completion - Godspeed Elite Dangerous.
Glad you could drop by! This blog is part support group, part research institute for those who, like me, enjoy the best and the worst of sci-fi. In addition I have interests in computer graphics and independent media, and will continue to document my own adventures in filmmaking and CGI.
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