I've had some lucid dreams before, but the degree of lucidity is on a spectrum, and some people report having dreams that feel indistinguishable from reality, or even more real than real. I don't think I've had one of those, but I'd love to! Isn't it strange that humans have the innate ability to do something like this, but most people either aren't aware of it or don't care? It should be taught in schools, I think. I wonder how different the world would be if people were able to consciously enact their wildest fantasies every night.
I wasn't aware of those articles written by Craig Stern, but I just read the one about the profits for his game, and... hmm. I suppose my excitement about contacting him being the best way to move forward has dampened a bit, since he seems way more involved and professional than I've ever been! Going to conventions and paying various people for their services and such. Makes me feel like a naive child in comparison or something. He also didn't sell many copies or make much money from it, which is sad to hear, but it also seems it took forever to make. I'm intending to be done with a Divine Dreams chapter each year, and to make all the assets myself, but I wonder how naive that expectation is. I suppose we'll have to wait and see.
I haven't read the two articles about succeeding on Kickstarter yet (I will later), but I wonder whether it'd be a wise idea for me or not... Maybe it would be better to just use Patreon? He talks about having paid almost $10k for marketing during the promotion period. Obviously I can't afford that! Nor could I manage to go to conventions or things like that.
Eh... Maybe this games thing will end up being a failure in the end. It's definitely hard to make money, and I have a lot of handicaps when it comes to getting the word out. I'll just have to hope that what I make is able to make at least something in the end. Only time will tell. Maybe releasing several connected RPGs will be the key to it all; I feel MARDEK 3 only did as well as it did because it was a sequel to two other things.
I didn't know some sites didn't support https! I suppose that's a rare thing, at least? Usually it's safer to convert everything to https, which is why that happens.
1
MontyCallay99~4Y
That's annoying that that article ended up making you feel worse! I feel like comparing yourself directly to other developers in terms of marketing abilities and recent success is setting yourself up for failure at the moment. I can remember reading that article again before I linked it and thinking, "Wow, Tobias really has an advantage being able to produce his own art rather than spending 25k+ on hiring someone to make it for him!" So it really is a matter of perspective. If you had that amount of money to spend (from a successful Kickstarter campaign perhaps, wink wink) then you could hire someone to help you with marketing as well. I think there's no shame in you taking small steps with this at first, as long as you do something. And from your plans for this year it sounds as if you're trying to take some steps in that direction.
I think running a campaign like that would be a good idea since 1) it's ultimately a manageable challenge for you that forces you to think about how to market yourself in general and 2) having a real Kickstarter project with the money behind you would probably be a lot more motivating to work for than just some vague patreon funding, which would also probably be more difficult to obtain without some reward behind it.
I've looked at his steps on how to run a Kickstarter, and none of them have as a requirement "become a marketing guru, spend thousands of $ in cash and start travelling the country looking for gaming conventions". Most of them are actually pretty obvious, like "Explain why you need the money" and "Lead with gameplay footage." Even his advice for marketing ultimately boils down to "E-mail the press, use social media, post updates everywhere, reach out to forums, respond to comments".
That's not an insurmountable goal! Most of the things that you'd have to do, like explaining what's interesting about the game, giving regular progress updates, and using social media to get the word out, you already do in some capacity already! You've even had some experience reaching out to press for Sindrel Song. The biggest challenge would probably be your social anxiety when reaching out to specific people and outlets, but that's something you might be able to work on and get help with. I realise that looking at someone else's success in marketing and running a campaign, that feels like an insurmountable hill to climb - but reaching out to someone like Craig might help make it less intimidating as a concept.
I wasn't aware of those articles written by Craig Stern, but I just read the one about the profits for his game, and... hmm. I suppose my excitement about contacting him being the best way to move forward has dampened a bit, since he seems way more involved and professional than I've ever been! Going to conventions and paying various people for their services and such. Makes me feel like a naive child in comparison or something. He also didn't sell many copies or make much money from it, which is sad to hear, but it also seems it took forever to make. I'm intending to be done with a Divine Dreams chapter each year, and to make all the assets myself, but I wonder how naive that expectation is. I suppose we'll have to wait and see.
I haven't read the two articles about succeeding on Kickstarter yet (I will later), but I wonder whether it'd be a wise idea for me or not... Maybe it would be better to just use Patreon? He talks about having paid almost $10k for marketing during the promotion period. Obviously I can't afford that! Nor could I manage to go to conventions or things like that.
Eh... Maybe this games thing will end up being a failure in the end. It's definitely hard to make money, and I have a lot of handicaps when it comes to getting the word out. I'll just have to hope that what I make is able to make at least something in the end. Only time will tell. Maybe releasing several connected RPGs will be the key to it all; I feel MARDEK 3 only did as well as it did because it was a sequel to two other things.
I didn't know some sites didn't support https! I suppose that's a rare thing, at least? Usually it's safer to convert everything to https, which is why that happens.
I think running a campaign like that would be a good idea since 1) it's ultimately a manageable challenge for you that forces you to think about how to market yourself in general and 2) having a real Kickstarter project with the money behind you would probably be a lot more motivating to work for than just some vague patreon funding, which would also probably be more difficult to obtain without some reward behind it.
I've looked at his steps on how to run a Kickstarter, and none of them have as a requirement "become a marketing guru, spend thousands of $ in cash and start travelling the country looking for gaming conventions". Most of them are actually pretty obvious, like "Explain why you need the money" and "Lead with gameplay footage." Even his advice for marketing ultimately boils down to "E-mail the press, use social media, post updates everywhere, reach out to forums, respond to comments".
That's not an insurmountable goal! Most of the things that you'd have to do, like explaining what's interesting about the game, giving regular progress updates, and using social media to get the word out, you already do in some capacity already! You've even had some experience reaching out to press for Sindrel Song. The biggest challenge would probably be your social anxiety when reaching out to specific people and outlets, but that's something you might be able to work on and get help with. I realise that looking at someone else's success in marketing and running a campaign, that feels like an insurmountable hill to climb - but reaching out to someone like Craig might help make it less intimidating as a concept.