RPG Augmented Reality Survival -Please give me some feedback

Bernardus

Hi guys I launched my campaign on Indiegogo about a month ago. I made a huge mistake by not making a proper video at the start and had to take 3 weeks while the campaign was running to make a new video. I think it was worth the time though because it came out looking really nice.

Please can you watch the video and let me know what you think. ANY feedback will be appreciated.

It's a rpg where you have to combine traps and wards to customize your character to be the most productive and effective.

Here is a link to the campaign http://igg.me/at/Dispersion/x/9849367
Please I need feedback on this to find the reason why people aren't backing.

Elyaradine

I thought it was really long and repetitive. I felt too much time was spent animating text and trying to do be fancy there, rather than valuing my time with either entertainment or concise information.

When I saw the very first part of the trailer, and saw the holding up of the phone to see something life-sized that wasn't visible without the phone, it made me think this was a horror survival like Five Nights at Freddy's, and I thought this could actually be a really interesting use of AR.

But having watched it in full, the augmented reality seems superfluous, especially because right at the end you say it's not actually necessary because you want to make it a PC game anyway. It makes the AR feel like a gimmick rather than something that was designed.

I feel that you didn't really use the feedback that you got in your other thread.

dammit

As far as I can tell, your game is essentially having your character fight never ending waves of monsters. To what end? To upgrade to fight more monsters? To upgrade to fight more monsters? See where I'm going...?

RPGs are usually interesting because of the world they're in an interesting world with interesting characters and a story that unfolds as you play. There's usually a lot of different things to do in the environment and lots of exploration.

Also, you're planning this for touch screens and yet you're trying to use a joystick controller? Watch this video by extra credits on designing for a touch screen :

Finally, you're probably not getting support on indiegogo because you're not marketing your game. You need to contact press and build a buzz. To be fair, you probably needed to have built a fan base before attempting a indiegogo campaign at all. Take a look at some of the recent threads on this forum about failed kickstarters.

vintar

First of all , it does look great. Personally I`m not a huge fan of AR because I find it quite bizarre to use it for games as it never seems to enhance any gaming experience for me. Would be great if you did port this to PC. The AI is seriously dumbed down and follow you in a straight line walking over any trap set. This is one thing I would spend time on.

Sonicay

If you know how to run away.....then your a pro in this game already.

Bernardus

Thanks for the valuable input can you guys give me some input on the campaign page.

Bernardus

What part of it do you think could make people not backing it. I know I can always trust on you sa buddies for good feedback.

Tuism

There's no magical button or design or whatever that "makes people back". There's a heck of a lot that goes into a crowdfunding campaign, especially these days. There's tons of work on it alone before during the campaign. The basic gist is that YOU need to bring the backers to your page - just having it there isn't magically gonna get backers to it.

What everyone else is saying about the game is also stuff you need to consider. From what I see myself, it's trying to be crimsonland, which was cool maybe 10 years ago. There's no long term involvement in the game from the players' part, the animation is kinda bad (everything is drifty), enemies are dumb and you just kite everything, and the augmented reality part is purely gimmick... It doesn't change the gameplay in any way at all (I see your characters all walk around table edges but I bet they just hover right over them, right?) (if not, then you've got something REALLY cool and you should show that tech off)

The best I can do is guide you to someone who really knows what they're saying about it:
http://www.makegamessa.com/discussion/3047/kickstarter-lessons-by-stonemaier#latest

Bernardus

I was looking for that article after losing it due to my browser crashing and not recovering properly. lol it's exactly like that I got no awesome tech to show off :( im using unity and vuforia. I tried to make it exactly like crimsonland and stuff from other games XD I know it's an old game but it's still extremely fun to play now and again.

Elyaradine said:

I feel that you didn't really use the feedback that you got in your other thread.

I changed 3 things based on the feedback I got from the previous thread. Add muliplayer, make non ar also and one other thing.

The thing why I had to rush it is because I'm broke and need the money to move out of my girlfriends parents house and only work on this. I worked at a company doing motion graphics in kempton park where they didn't pay me for 2 months but promised and then went insolvent.

Things are crazy atm i'm being sued by some bitches father because some duchbag played this game on his naked sleeping girlfriend and she and everyone is freaking out.

Even if the game isn't cool now you guys can't back me for future development? You can help it eventually become cool because this is only what I want to focus on now for the next few months. You can create a spell or a Easter egg level by backing,,,

If not any feedback will be appreciated

vintar

@Bernadus said
Even if the game isn't cool now you guys can't back me for future development? You can help it eventually become cool because this is only what I want to focus on now for the next few months. You can create a spell or a Easter egg level by backing,,,

Maybe that's just it. People want to see something cool before they are interested. I`ve seen numerous people say this now. The game looks very generic at the moment. AR is not a strong enough pull on its own as a marketing tool, you need to stand out.
Sorry about your troubles, but hey "This too shall pass" :)

Elyaradine

(I feel that those weren't actually recommendations in the other thread? I thought the feedback was to make the AR matter, as in, "Why AR?", as opposed to offering two versions. Anyway, more important things to talk about...)

I don't want to discourage you from making games, but if you're broke and need money, I really don't think making games is the way to get some (unless the response to your game's been so overwhelmingly positive that you're going to get guaranteed sales when you release, or you're contracting your skills out to someone else to make a game. I don't think either is the case here).

It's your life and all that, but I'd strongly recommend applying to animation/design studios, or getting whatever paying job you can get just to cover the essentials (food, rent), and making games after hours. I think the pressure to make money from games is a huge thing that stifles creativity, makes you less able to "kill your darlings" and explore other design spaces and solutions, and ironically less likely to make a game that'll make money. Again, your life, your circumstances, your choices; I'm not you and I don't know your situation. I just don't think the one you seem to be choosing is a wise one. I really hate to say this, but I think you're not getting backers because your product isn't appealing, not because of some magic to do with your page or campaign. I'd focus instead on the immediate problem, which is getting a stable job that allows you to cover the most basic expenses, and gives you the freedom to take risks with your game design without fear.

dammit

@Bernardus What people have tried to say very politely in this thread is that they don't like your game. There's not much to it and they do not want to give you money to keep making it because they don't want it. The game devs here have also tried to gently direct you into making something more appealing. You've been offered a lot of feedback on how to improve your game, not least from @Elyaradine here. Finally, unfortunately, your personal situation is not a reason for us to back a project we have no faith in. There are a lot of people on these forums in various financial crises as well as people who have just simply been realistic enough not to quit their day job for a game that has yet to sell or show mass appeal -- and we're not giving them handouts, so why should we give money to you?

I would strongly suggest following @Elyaradine advice and getting a job that will pay for your needs and then using your spare time to improve your game.

dislekcia

So everyone is being super nice in this thread and that's awesome (you're really all awesome people) but I feel like it's not working... Let me be blunt:

This game isn't going to make you any money. Spending time working on it further is a sunk cost illusion: No matter how much more work you put into this, it's not going to return anything like the amounts that you're looking for. There are two reasons for this:

1. You're an inexperienced gameplay designer. Yes, your art is good (and honestly, you should be focusing on marketing that to get jobs, that's a concrete skill you've got down) but your gameplay sensibilities aren't there yet. If this game was just blocks and spheres moving around, it wouldn't have anything compelling to it. You've tried to solve that problem by sprucing up the graphics instead of addressing the underlying gameplay issues (and those issues are mostly inherent with what you want to do with AR and mobile). You need to build more games until you start getting a feel for producing compelling experiences for players. This isn't an attack on you! Very few people actually ARE experienced gameplay designers that can put out 100% compelling gameplay all the time, the way most of the rest of us who aren't deal with this is that we make lots of things whenever we have ideas and only invest time and effort into the prototypes that people seem to enjoy - even then we know that there are many ways for those prototypes to become boring too, so we keep checking if we should invest more by constantly checking if things are still compelling...

2. You can't make a game turn a profit unless you have loads of money to drive awareness of it. Even then, you need a game that converts well when that traffic reaches it. As a studio with no resources other than time to invest (and you're running low on that), you need something truly special to drive attention and create interest in your game. Right now that means you don't want to keep investing the resources you have in a project without that sort of hook. Yes, you tried the AR angle for that, it didn't work. That happens!

So, I would strongly advise against trying to get this game to support you financially. It won't. All that will happen is you will spend time and resources on it that could be doing more to support you in the immediate sense. You can always come back to this after you stabilise (and after you make other games).

Also, it's really not a good idea communicating in public about potentially active court cases. Especially not in the tone and terms you're conveying there.

Bernardus

No I was just joking about the court case.

I think this game is still unique and experimenting with interesting technology. What I don't understand is you don't want to try out casting spells on your table for R50?

And you guys are seeing it as a final game, it's still in development and much more can improve. That's why it's on Indiegogo. It's the directions it's going which matters.

vintar

Bernardus said:

No I was just joking about the court case.

I think this game is still unique and experimenting with interesting technology. What I don't understand is you don't want to try out casting spells on your table for R50?

And you guys are seeing it as a final game, it's still in development and much more can improve. That's why it's on Indiegogo. It's the directions it's going which matters.

I really think you should listen to the likes of dislekcia et al when they say try and get a job on the artistic side and make this your evening project. The only direction I see this going is the one where you end up broke before your vision is realized. Unless you can literally make characters step out of someone's phone...

Tuism

Bernardus said:

No I was just joking about the court case.

I think this game is still unique and experimenting with interesting technology. What I don't understand is you don't want to try out casting spells on your table for R50?

And you guys are seeing it as a final game, it's still in development and much more can improve. That's why it's on Indiegogo. It's the directions it's going which matters.

You did some really great graphic work, that's undeniable.

But. Convincing a handful of devs here isn't going to get you any traction you actually need to be sustainable and survive. If you want to convince people, you should be trying media out there, pitching it to reviewers and sites and whatnot.

But. Listening to what the feedback here is an important first step.

I've played AR Defender YEARS ago and it was free. I looked it up again, there's a 99c sequel on the App Store: http://www.appannie.com/apps/ios/app/ar-defender-2/
Does your game beat that 99c game (that was free years and years ago)? It kept my interest for about 5 minutes, I think.

I don't believe anyone is seeing it as "a final game". Everyone posts prototypes here, we know perfectly well what's final and not, but that's not important. Even a prototype must give glimpses into the potentials of a project, where its value lies, why it's fun. This one isn't showing me the fun that's significant enough for me to be interested in.

But really good graphic work, congrats on that, you can seriously portfolio that.

Stop trying to convince people through explaining, it simply won't work. listen to feedback and implement/figure out how to fix/if it can be fixed at all.

Sonicay

With your graphics, try something different, i know its a lot of work to scrap, or you dont even have to scrap it all, keep your models and use it for something else.

dINGLE

I thought about this thread while reading an article on Gamasutra

Let's get real about the financial expectations of 'going indie'

Bryant Francis talks to indies like Daniel Cook and Adam Saltsman about how long it took them to make their game dev financially sustainable and how they supported themselves until then

Bernardus

awesome read thanks