Pondering on: Fans and Funds
- Savannah Edwards
- Aug 17, 2018
- 4 min read
Updated: Aug 17, 2018
"Shut up and take my money!" Fry demands. Many of us find it hard to part with our money so easily, as an emerging and creative practitioner, I find it quite the dilemma trying to figure out whether I want to spend all my money on a new watercolour set which I could potentially make more money with, or feed myself for a week. 'Artists don't make money' we hear a lot of old folk say, and lets be real, it's hard for an artist to make money when they're starting out. Though, in an age of technology and the global net, creative practitioners are now able to reach out their feelers across the world to audiences they wouldn't typically be able to reach. Expanding their audience and potential market.
Another sect of the internet services we are provided with that should be noted here is internet banking. Developed so that we can spend so very easily and without hitches - other than insufficient funds from easy spending. With a service like Paypal, we are able to spend with a simple few clicks. This is good news for the creative industry as some blessed souls have developed services for struggling artists, companies and projects to make money. We are in the age of Patreon, Ko-fi, Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and GoFundMe.
If you're unaware of what these services do, a quick Google search for each one displays their tag-lines:
"Patreon: Best way for artists and creators to get sustainable income..."
"Ko-fi | Get support from people who love your work"
"Kickstarter.... the world's largest funding platform for creative projects"
"Indiegogo: Crowdfund Innovations & Buy Unique Products"
"GoFundMe: #1 In Free Fundraising & Crowdfunding Online"
How nice does that sound? Your fans are willingly giving you money to support you and your artistic endeavours; however, this does not come without hard work or responsibility.
"It is rare, for instance for a relative 'nobody' to have a successful campaign. You need to have a network, a community of contacts, before you even begin your funding call."
- SAE Creative Institute, 2015
Majority of successful campaigns are handled and played out by experienced professional groups. Some highly successful examples include: Pebble Time and Kingdom Death, raising USD $20,338,986 and USD $12,393,139 respectively (Crowdfundingblog, 2018). However when handled poorly, things can go severely wrong. This was the case for Double Fine's 'Broken Age' Kickstarter campaign. Quick and dirty, the Kickstarter campaign for Broken Age was a hot mess.
Dubbed as the "...original Kickstarter blockbuster..." (Webster, 2015), Broken Age was a project launched on Kickstarter looking for a sum of $400,000, this was a "...goal eventually shattered by more than $3 million in pledges..." (Gilbert, 2013). Initially to be released after a six to eight month period, the creators - DoubleFine - underestimated how long it would take to create the game. They announced on kickstarter far past this "six to eight" month period that they had "...designed too much game..." (Double Fine, 2012). Which tells us that the game was in fact not ready. Although, it somewhat makes sense that they would have "designed too much game" as they were initially shooting for a $400,000 game but got $3 million, instead of sticking with the original plans, they wanted to make something worth the $ 3 million.
Regardless, backers were not happy with this; DoubleFine had not delivered on what they promised. Rather than releasing the full version of the game on time, the studio released the game "...broken up into acts..." as Bailey suggested in their documentary series about the development of the game (DoubleFineProd, 2015). The first half was released promptly, and then the second half a couple months down the road. Below is an episode from the documentary series, here we see the struggle the studio had in trying to compromise for backers:
In a nutshell, crowd funding is a fantastic and efficient way of acquiring the funds needed to go ahead with a large scale project. Be that as it may, a campaign needs to be very carefully planned, It's not as simple as 'we give you money, you make the thing'. Factors across the whole board must be taken into risk management, no matter how tedious or unlikely. It is better to overestimate how long something will take rather than underestimate. Your reputation and future as an individual and/or company is at your own risk.
Cheers,
Grassland
17/08/2018
Bibliography
References:
CrowdfundingBlog (2018) Most Successful Crowdfunding Campaigns. Retrieved from https://crowdfundingblog.com/most-successful-crowdfunding-projects/
DoubleFineProd (2015) Double Fine Adventure! EP10: "Part one of Something Great" [video] Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RG5e6B5MHak
DoubleFineProd (2015) Double Fine Adventure! EP11: "Ship It" [video] Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuNrA9xsIOE
Double Fine and 2 Player Productions (2012) Double Fine Adventure Kickstarter. Retrieved from https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/doublefine/double-fine-adventure
Gilbert, B (2013) Broken promise: Double Fine's 'Broken Age' Kickstarter mess. Retrieved from https://www.engadget.com/2013/07/03/double-fine-kickstarter-debacle/
SAE Creative Institute (2015) Week 10: Collaborating with Fans. Retrieved from https://medium.com/self-directed-practitioners/week-10-collaborating-with-fans-c2cfff5d64fe
Webster, A (2015) Broken Age is the best and worst of classic adventure games. Retrieved from https://www.theverge.com/2015/4/28/8507967/broken-age-act-two-review
Images & GIFs:
Giphy (undt.) Power Rangers [GIF] Retrieved from https://media.giphy.com/media/uxLVaMUiycgpO/giphy.gif
DoubleFine (undt.) Broken Age Title [Image] Retrieved from http://www.doublefine.com/themes/site_themes/sideshow/_i/main/games_DFAdventure.png
Videos:
ps3sweden1102 (2013) Shut up and take my money [video] Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnB1TgxgwEA
DoubleFineProd (2015) Double Fine Adventure! EP10: "Part one of Something Great" [video] Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RG5e6B5MHak
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