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Cadence: preparing for Kickstarter

NandrewNandrew
edited in Projects
Heyyyy guys!

After several weeks of research, meetings and writing things up in spreadsheets, @TheFuntastic and I have decided to embark on a Kickstarter campaign for Cadence. There's a fuckton of work to do in lotsa areas, but right now the most obvious brush-up zone we can see is the pitch video.

So this is the caliber of video I'm producing at the moment (Peter's gonna help too, but I'll need to shoulder most of the work for this to be done efficiently):





I want to improve some broad techniques, as well as mebbe see about getting the help of a real-life Camera Human to help us with the talking heads segment of the video.

Do any of you have tips or resources related to this?
Thanked by 2Tuism SubiyaCryolite

Comments

  • MCAMCA
    My suggestion would be to take a look at other kickstarter videos, and see what they do and make notes of what you like and dislike about them - what did you think helped get the point across and what was needless distraction.

    The things that stood out for me on the current clips are the sequence of topics presented, the progression should be expressing the ideas consecutively so that you don't go back to a previous topic or repeat yourself to much. I'd also suggest a VO script that is perhaps more objective - it's clear that you, the developer, wrote this and are explaining it from your point of view, and I think that if it were explained in a more 'TV commercial' style, it may sound more professional: "This, is Cadence - an open-ended musical puzzle game, with more than meets the ears…". A real-life voice-over actor human could also help in this regard.

    I like the idea of an interview with the developers to give people an understanding of what's involved and where you want to take it. Possibly as a separate video clip.

    Anyways, I'm already sold - very cool game!
  • dreampunchboydreampunchboy
    Looking good. If I may ask what type of funding you guys looking at and also have you considered indigogo? Just thinking tax related your going to pay it twice via Kickstarter if you wanna get the funds here.
  • MexicanopiumdogMexicanopiumdog
    I think you have the right idea with the "bliz pitch" video...I agree with MCA that maybe you should get a more professional VO for this and also work on making the underlying music REALLY cool...Suggestion: Make a kick-ass track using Cadence. Something that will blow people's minds, making them think: "Holy crap, this was done in this game! I could make something cool like that too if I buy this!"
    Little bit of a sidetrack idea:
    Since this game pretty much relies more on the music, it would make sense to pitch a video pre-dominantly focusing on that...If it were somehow possible to release a version of cadence that can be routed into a DAW...that would be flipping Amazing. Or have a "record your song in-game" function and export it to mp3/wav options...I can guarrantee that people will want to take their musical creations outside the game and maybe show it to their friends/use it as their ringtones? I dont know if this is a lot of work but I think it would definitely be a cool concept...
  • dislekciadislekcia
    I would work on the pitch a ton, taking the typical "explain your game to assholes" approach. 1 sentence pitch, 30 second pitch and then a full 3 min closer. Basically, focus on putting each feature of the game (and right now you're talking mostly about features) into a perspective that's centered on solving player needs. Stuff like "As you get more skilled, the puzzles turn into opportunities to express yourself musically. That's where Cadence really shines, with an easy to use, powerful synthesizer under the hood, the game can get out of your way and let you make your solution truly unique. Cadence builds your confidence as a performer/player until you're building your own songs in our editor and sharing them with your friends across the youtubes!" although that's just a stab at what you might want to convey (you should definitely build a list of points you want people to walk away from the pitch with).

    As far as video goes: Try to show people what it's like building a solution early on. The node-linking doesn't appear in that first video at all, but that's where a lot of the "aha!" of the game comes from - dragging stuff until you get a loop. It might pay to add more juice to that dragging/linking process as well, just to draw players in when you show it for 15 seconds at the start of a video (stuff like tapping on a node plays it's note/sample, nodes flash/glimmer as you get close to them with lines, lines themselves pulse or animate in some way while you're dragging them, or while they're not in a loop to indicate being slightly out of sync, etc.

    Try to stay away from confusing-looking video stills like the second video ;)

    And finally, Steven and his camera are really, really good at talky-head stuff.
    Thanked by 2TheFuntastic SubiyaCryolite
  • LazyLizzardLazyLizzard
    I'm curious, how are you planning on getting past the country restrictions in Kickstarter?
    Thanked by 1SubiyaCryolite
  • dislekciadislekcia
    edited
    LazyLizzard said:
    I'm curious, how are you planning on getting past the country restrictions in Kickstarter?
    UK registered companies wholly owned by SA entities. QCF is going to be spawning an overseas minion soon too.
  • NandrewNandrew
    Well, A MAZE was awesome.

    Thanks for the feedback, guys. @LazyLizzard - Cadence is going via UK by registering a company up there. This part of the process is surprisingly easy though the bureaucracy starts to slow down after that. Our biggest deadline issue will be getting our payments set up and having Kickstarter admin approve our project (it's a manual process).

    I think people are under the impression that the videos above are draft pitches for KS. We're going to be making a far more specialised offering because KS pitch videos have a complicated set of their own demands and recommendations -- but I was hoping that somebody more experienced with video-makey stuff could use the above material as a base to advise me where I'm going wrong with voice, editing and other technical stuff.

    And unfortunately, a professional VO demands money and Kickstarters generally do well to keep a personal touch, so it'll be limited to @TheFuntastic and myself talking. Unless we can get Joonas Turner in for something Broforce-style, but Peter would probably kill me.

    But no fears, I'll be posting an actual KS draft vid at some point soon, gotta have some early feedback after all. :)
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