November 2011: Crowdfunding

November 2011's topic, Crowdfunding, was submitted by independent developer Michael Lubker.


He writes:

Crowdfunding raises many questions, both in the business and design of a game. Some games give funders an in-game character. Others give out of game rewards, (metarewards?). People ask where to go and how many funding operations to start at once, and how to start. Is it distasteful, or a valid way of funding (and do Minecraft, Mount and Blade, Cortex Command and others point to the answers?)

Here are some questions from the Game Design SIG to think about, if you want to contribute an article:

1. Is it possible to use multiple crowdfund sources simultaneously? If so, is that distasteful? Regarding the "distastefulness" see http://gawker.com/5858118/end-online-panhandling-forever
2. What is the minimum expected / acknowledged amount of work needed for Crowdfunding to work? We have seen people have as much as a game demo, and some with as little as a description. What is found to work best?
3. which crowdfund sources have the highest percentage of completed/successful pledges?
4. What determines success of crowfunding? Obviously worthy project is a must :) but what else.   

Michael Lubker is an executive producer and designer at Axelo Inc, currently finishing up his first 2 games in a production/design position. He has also worked in QA on The Sims Castaway Stories,
Supreme Commander, and 1701AD Gold. He also was a founding advisor for the Independent Game Conference, is co-coordinator of the IGDA Indie SIG, and is a coordinator for the Global Game Jam in Austin, TX, where he helped produce a working XNA/Xbox 360 title in 48 hours.