The kickstarter campaign is now into its last 5 days. Still on 2% of only 25k for a minimal goal is dreadful, regardless what anyone says! If it finishes on 2% then this is likeley the one of the worst ever kickstarter projects on a computer game in the history of crowd funding. Although i have got the game to no2 out of nearly 9.5k games on IndieDB, there are serious aspects of the game that nobody wants.
After kickstart the game (might) be put up on indieGogo, If i get (some) feedback on to what is so bad about my game then IndieGoGo will be the final push before i axe the game or pass it onto the publishers.
I have had almost zero feedback as why my game is doing so bad in the crowd funding arena. I have made this game almost entirely by myself, and as well as spending over 2k hours on the game up to now, I personally don't think it is that bad.
The 13 people who have played the alpha have had nothing to say apart from positive comments, with no further comments from any communities this makes me feel like the 100 hours per week i am putting into this project is nothing more than a waste of my time, and is holding me back from bigger and better things (www.shauntwilliams.com)
I will keep you posted on the future of Ghostship, and will refund the 11 pre-orders next months if i decide to give up putting 100 hours a week into Ghostship.
Up until the 03 June, the 19 backers on the kickstart project will receive the full updated and expanded alpha I am currently finishing off. After this if the game does get axed I will need to take the ghostship website offline as this is costing me more and more money as well as time.
I would like to thanks the few people who have given me support over the last 8 months, although none of my family, local press and almost all game channels and sites have given me zero support, i would like to thank my 2 friends Michael Hughes, and Michael Beckwith who where the only two people I actually know who have given me some support.
That said, who else in the world has made a game this big and this quality on there own? So i can at least have that achievement even if it is not appreciated.
Everyone tries to get their projects crowd-funded these days.
PPL getting tired of it as the initial hype is over.
Even projects of some professional Studios fail their Goals now and then.
You achived quite a lot, considdering that this is a one man project.
This is something noone can take away from you.
Maybe you should do it the other way arround.
Create a short playable demo of your Game and make it as good and polished as possible, then have as many ppl as possible play the demo (especially youtubers with big audience) to spread out the word about your game.
Then you could start another campain for funding a full length version of your game.
I agree with WNxKraid.
I never thought there was anything bad about Ghostship... It just seems like a run-of-the-mill shooter. Entertaining I admit, but I've been playing those for 20 years now.
I am very impressed by the visuals, animation and awesome gun power!
You have done a LOT of work on Ghostship and I personally wouldn't call it a loss.
It seems like these days everyone is looking for a game with RPG elements and/or social mutiplayer elements... or zombies.
It a matter of age groups and phases. A lot of games are into zombie apocalypse or just straight up flashlight horror.
I was really waiting for you to publish something really unique in Chostship... but I've mostly seen elements from other games: doom, Half-Life, Far Cry, etc.
I really don't expect one person to compete with all the huge corporations that have teams of developers...
You are really at a disadvantage being an independent developer.
There has to be a way to get the attention of more gamers...
I correct myself... I should have looked at some of your new screenshots first...
I had no idea there was an outdoor free-roaming maps and a story mode!!! Keep up the hard work, I'll keep watching!
Crowdfunding is more competitive now that it's the go to method to get money for an indie project. I don't think it's that people think something about your game sucks, it's just not getting seen from would be backers. Basically I think you just need to sell yourself more in other places.
Well, a few things.
First, you said that you didn't get any feed back. I think that's your problem. No one can donate to a project they don't even know about, and many people don't even know there was a kickstarter. I don't recall seeing any news articles promoting it on the front page. So, post about it everywhere. Send it to sites like rock paper shotgun, post up youtube videos, and just get publicity.
Second, the 13 people who played the alpha is a poor source for criticism. The reason is they already spent money on the demo! They like the game, and want it to be finished. Those who are on the fence can't give feedback on something they can't play.
Third, the goal was pretty high. Let's take your 150 watchers. Even if they all donated, each would have to pay 167 euros! That's a lot. And you can't expect people who can't even be bothered to watch the game to donate. I think a public demo would have gone a LONG way in this regard.
As for criticisms, well, from the places I've seen, one common complaint is the enemies aren't particularly scary.
Boy, that was a long comment! :)
Thanks for the feedback guys, a few things have come to light recently I will be looking into. I think the best way is to release the alpha I am polishing up at the moment, that will give you a real feel for the game and you will see the difference between my game and most other indie games. The aliens may not look scary, but as one of the alpha players said, once you play it, you will find the screens and videos dont give it justice. So that is the way ahead I think.
Thanks again guys :)
I like that the aliens actually LOOK alien; not just humans with some red paint on them. :)
One more thing that I wanted to mention is that perhaps you throw the enemies at the player too early - in a brightly lit, wide open hanger, no less. I'd recommend holding off a bit, and just building an atmosphere. Highly praised horror games/movies like Amnesia/Alien take an hour before you even get to glimpse a monster. Use those excellent sounds we've heard in all those trailers/videos!
Right. I'd also say fewer enemies and the bigger ones are not just acting as cannon fooder would be better.
I'd focus the game on things like exploring and solving puzzles.
What if you could find aditional equipment to get new abilities in order to reach areas you couldn't reach before.
The story mode is like that, lots to work out if you want to escape the ship. Other game modes such as onslaught and challenge mode offer you lots of enemies and the big ones etc.
Story mode is about working things out as you will find out when i release the demo at weekend :)