The old way to fund a game
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the basics of how the game industry functions, normally you have a development studio who makes a game for a publisher. The publisher will usually provide most of the financial support for the game’s developers… and keep most of the reward upon the game’s release. The odds are generally stacked in the publisher’s favor for their support during the development process. However, the publisher also tends to have a heavy hand in the game’s creative direction–they are paying for it, after all–which the developers may not always agree with. For some games (mainly very large ones), this type of setup is necessary to ensure the game’s success. But if you want to be more creative than your publisher will allow… then you have to look elsewhere for your funding.
Being indie isn’t easy
As many small game developers already know, the price to remain independent is an expensive one. Without a publisher’s backing, a studio must find other means to secure enough money to finish its game and successfully launch it. This can be very tricky, especially when a new studio is in its infancy. Without previous game sales to fall back on, a brand new studio must operate on the pocket change of its owners… which is exactly what we are doing right now. But we don’t have to go it alone–there are many gamers out there who feel our mission to make independent games free from publishers is a worthwhile investment.
Why donate to us?
This is the part where you come in! Donating to the arts is a great way encourage creativity and culture, and the video game as an artistic medium is a frontier continuously being explored by indie developers like us. If a bunch of dedicated gamers who feel passionately about independent games each pitch in a little bit at a time, new studios like ours will be able to get a solid footing to launch their first couple of games for the rest of the world to enjoy.
What is donation money used for?
Your generous donations will be used for paying expenses directly related to keeping our business up and running, such as:
- Developer program fees
- Development software licenses
- Web hosting and development services
- Devices for quality assurance and compatibility testing
Want to keep track of our progress?
We’re excited that you want to know more about what we’re working on! If you want up-to-date information, our website is the best place to find it. We will be posting blog entries about our development as we go. Sign up for our email service to get new content delivered directly to you!
Are there other ways to help?
Yes! We appreciate any support you can offer. The next best thing would be to promote our efforts by:
- Buying our games and giving them a good rating/review
- Sharing our story with friends and family on social networks
- Encouraging journalists to write about our game
- Giving us feedback about how we can do things better. We’d love to hear from you!
Thank you!
We can’t thank you enough for taking the time to hear our story! We hope that you will support us now and into the future on our journey to explore video games as works of art. If you have any questions for us, please feel free to contact us.