DevelopmentGame Development

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

10

Options
Considered

40

User
Recs.

Jan 31, 2018

Last
Updated

Here’s the Deal

10 Options Considered

Best ways to fund development of an independent game	Price	Last Updated
87 Kickstarter	-	Jan 31, 2018
-- Patreon	-	Jul 11, 2017
-- Day Job	-	Sep 1, 2015
-- IndieGoGo	-	Jan 19, 2015
-- Early Access	-	Jul 16, 2015

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

Patreon

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Top Pro

Great for influencers with unique contributions

Rewards artists developing unique content very well. No other platforms compare as of now. See More

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. See More

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. See More

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. See More

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. See More

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 More

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. See More

Day Job

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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. See More

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. See More

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. See More

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 More

Rally.org

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Top Pro

Doesn't require a goal

No goal needs to be set to start fundraising. See More

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 More

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. See More

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. See More

Top Pro

Can be used for ongoing fundraising

Both one-time and ongoing fundraising initiatives are supported by the platform. See More

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