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

10
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The Best 1 of 10 OptionsWhy?

10 Options ConsideredPriceLast Updated
The Best
Kickstarter
Jan 31, 2018
Patreon
Jul 11, 2017
Day Job
–
Sep 1, 2015
IndieGoGo
Jan 19, 2015
Early Access
Jul 16, 2015
See Full List
The Best

Kickstarter

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Taylor Coogan
Patricia Q
Theodore Lief Gannon
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.
Patricia Q
Theodore Lief Gannon
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.
Kristaps
Andrey Pashentsev
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.
Kristaps
Andrey Pashentsev
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.
Andris Pelcbergs
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...
See 3 more Pros & Cons
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9 Other Options Considered

Patreon

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Paolo
ComposedMushmahhu
Top Pro

Great for influencers with unique contributions

•••
Rewards artists developing unique content very well. No other platforms compare as of now.
Patricia Q
Theodore Lief Gannon
John Bevan
Top Pro

Low risk to patrons

•••
Campaigns are ongoing and funded based on observable work, so the potential patron doesn't have to worry about the project dying after payments are collected.
Patricia Q
Theodore Lief Gannon
John Bevan
Top Pro

Projects can change and adapt over time

•••
Without the advance payment of a large lump sum of donations, creators are free from the associated commitment to the specific goals those donations were based on. This also reduces the need for exhaustive time and budget estimates, which can be daunting for new and inexperienced developers.
Paolo
John Bevan
Top Pro

No need for reward schemes

•••
The deliverable is the reward; so you can focus all your attention on developing an awesome game, rather than posting and packaging.
Patricia Q
Theodore Lief Gannon
Top Con

Difficult to make long-term projections

•••
Because patrons can pull out at any time, you can't necessarily rely on a certain rate of pledges even if you maintain consistent work.
Patricia Q
Theodore Lief Gannon
Top Con

Potentially inappropriate for commercial products

•••
Patreon's structure and culture assume free distribution of the creators' output. Collecting secondary revenue (e.g. unit sales, in-game ads) is not strictly prohibited, but may be seen as a violation of trust if not handled carefully.
Patricia Q
Theodore Lief Gannon
Top Con

Unproven model for game funding

•••
Patreon is one of the newest crowdfunding sites, and its unique model makes comparison to other sites difficult. As of August 2014, no high-profile developers have chosen Patreon for funding.
See 5 more Pros & ConsSee 5 more Pros & Cons

Day Job

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Patricia Q
Theodore Lief Gannon
Top Pro

Minimum risk to all parties

•••
Since nobody is giving you money for development, you owe nothing to anyone. Since you have income independent of the game, your personal security does not hinge on its success.
Patricia Q
Theodore Lief Gannon
Top Con

Lack of obligation can translate to lack of motivation

•••
The prospect of losing something is often a stronger motivator than the prospect of gaining something. When nobody will lose anything concrete if development stalls, it can be harder to maintain focus.
Patricia Q
Theodore Lief Gannon
Top Con

Development is constrained to hobby time

•••
Since your income is decoupled from the game, the game has to come second. Depending on your other obligations this could result in very little time allotted to development.
Andris Pelcbergs
Endi Sukaj
neuro
Top Con

Day Job gets in the way of development time

•••
You may start the day very motivated to work on your project, but then after coming home from the day job the motivation is gone due to tiredness, or other daily priorities taking precedence thus leaving you without much time to get the will power to work again. Rinse and repeat each day.
See 2 more ConsSee 2 more Cons

IndieGoGo

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Taylor Coogan
Stuart Kearney
Patricia Q
Top Pro

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

•••
While all or nothing is an option, flexible funding gives people the option to receive money even if the goal isn't met.
Patricia Q
Theodore Lief Gannon
Top Con

Poor gaming community can dull pledgers' enthusiasm

•••
Without the game-funding reputation of Kickstarter or the novelty of smaller sites, IndieGoGo campaigns can receive dubious reactions from the public.

Early Access

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Patricia Q
Theodore Lief Gannon
Top Pro

Get end-user feedback earlier in development

•••
Because early access doubles as a public playtest, you can get valuable user feedback while there's still time to implement changes.
Patricia Q
Theodore Lief Gannon
Top Con

Not viable until the game is in a playable state

•••
Early access depends on consumer interest, and few consumers will be interested in an unplayable pre-alpha build. Another option must be used for early development.

Ratafire

Endi Sukaj
Fari Liang
Top Pro

Free to use

•••
Ratafire is a free to use fan funding tool.
Endi Sukaj
Fari Liang
Top Con

Not very well-known

•••
The site is still very new.

Private Investors

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Patricia Q
Theodore Lief Gannon
Top Pro

You only need one

•••
A successful crowdfunding campaign requires social marketing and community management. Gaining an investor requires convincing just one person that your project is worth it.
Patricia Q
Theodore Lief Gannon
Top Con

Equity commitment

•••
An investment is not a loan which can be paid off; it's a permanent piece of the action. Part of your earnings belong to the investor, indefinitely.
Patricia Q
Theodore Lief Gannon
Top Con

Comprehensive business plan is essential

•••
If you can't show where the money is going and how long it's going to take to yield returns, you're not likely to get any.
See 1 more ConSee 1 more Con

Ulule

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Patricia Q
Theodore Lief Gannon
Top Pro

International, multilingual community

•••
Ulule supports posting your campaign in multiple languages, and converts currencies based on the user's preference.
Patricia Q
Theodore Lief Gannon
Top Pro

Can set a funding goal based on units sold

•••
Ulule recognizes that one of the most common pledge perks is the final product itself, and allows a campaign to fully embrace the pre-sale model.
Know any negative aspects of this option?
See 1 more ProSee 1 more Pro

RocketHub

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Patricia Q
Theodore Lief Gannon
Top Pro

Partnered with A&E Project Startup

•••
Campaigns on RocketHub may receive donations from A&E, and may be featured at projectstartup.com or on A&E television.
Patricia Q
Theodore Lief Gannon
Top Con

Relatively obscure

•••
As of August 2014, RocketHub does not rank among the top 10 crowdfunding sites by traffic, and no high-profile games have been funded there.

Rally.org

Add Video or Image
Andris Pelcbergs
Top Pro

Doesn't require a goal

•••
No goal needs to be set to start fundraising.
Andris Pelcbergs
Top Pro

Processes payments directly

•••
Rally has a in-house proprietary payments system. There's no middleman such as PayPal or Amazon needed to transfer money.
Andris Pelcbergs
Drew Bradic Dameron
Top Pro

Donation links can be embedded in videos and imagers

•••
Rally.org includes a feature called covers that allows donation links to be embedded in videos and images.
Andris Pelcbergs
Drew Bradic Dameron
Top Pro

Can be used for ongoing fundraising

•••
Both one-time and ongoing fundraising initiatives are supported by the platform.
Andris Pelcbergs
Top Con

No real gaming community is available

•••
The site's community is mostly interested in organizing fundraising around various social, economical and political causes.
See 3 more ProsSee 3 more Pros

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