What are the best ways to fund development of an independent game?

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score 24 · Accepted Answer

Kickstarter

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Top Pro

All-or-nothing model allows commitment with certainty

Knowing that there is enough funding will allow long-term budget planning. Knowing that there's not funding allows users to move on. See More

Top Con

Can't work with banks that don't accept $0

Beware if your bank (as many other banks) doesn't accept $0 charges. You can't pledge in this case because Kickstarter tries to charge $0. See More

Top Pro

Strong games community with good public reputation

Due to several high-profile successes, Kickstarter is known for funding games. This has created a public perception of legitimacy for Kickstarter projects, which other crowdfunding options may lack. See More

Top Con

Unresponsive and unhelpful support

Even if it answers it gives you standard answers. In addition there's a bug and when you open your ticket you can't access the ticket and communicate with the support further. See More

Top Con

Goals need to be higher than on competing services

There's a 5% fee for using the service, a 3-5% fee for processing payments and since rewards for various pledge levels are not optional they often end up being physical goods that have to be shipped and that adds cost of the goods, the time it takes to create the goods and the cost of shipping the goods to the total amount of money that has to be raised for the project. See More

The Best 1 of 10 OptionsWhy?

My Recommendation for Kickstarter

My Recommendation for Kickstarter

All-or-nothing model allows commitment with certainty

Can't work with banks that don't accept $0

Strong games community with good public reputation

Unresponsive and unhelpful support

Goals need to be higher than on competing services

9 Other Options Considered

My Recommendation for Day Job

My Recommendation for Day Job

Lack of obligation can translate to lack of motivation

Minimum risk to all parties

Development is constrained to hobby time

Day Job gets in the way of development time

My Recommendation for Patreon

My Recommendation for Patreon

Great for influencers with unique contributions

Difficult to make long-term projections

Low risk to patrons

Potentially inappropriate for commercial products

Projects can change and adapt over time

Unproven model for game funding

No need for reward schemes

My Recommendation for IndieGoGo

My Recommendation for IndieGoGo

Poor gaming community can dull pledgers' enthusiasm

Allows both all-or-nothing and flexible-funding plans

My Recommendation for Private Investors

My Recommendation for Private Investors

Equity commitment

You only need one

Comprehensive business plan is essential

My Recommendation for Early Access

My Recommendation for Early Access

Get end-user feedback earlier in development

Not viable until the game is in a playable state

My Recommendation for Ratafire

My Recommendation for Ratafire

Free to use

Not very well-known

My Recommendation for Rally.org

My Recommendation for Rally.org

Doesn't require a goal

No real gaming community is available

Processes payments directly

Donation links can be embedded in videos and imagers

Can be used for ongoing fundraising

My Recommendation for Ulule

My Recommendation for Ulule

International, multilingual community

Can set a funding goal based on units sold

My Recommendation for RocketHub

My Recommendation for RocketHub

Partnered with A&E Project Startup

Relatively obscure

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