Kickstarter Rewards & Gold Stars

[big_b]

As far as pledges go.

I am a single pensioner so my money is limited.All my Trainz so far are gifts Birthday Christmas etc from my Daughters
I don't have the money to pledge unless it's going to benefit me.In other words make a pledge & then have to pay
out for the game as well at a later Date.
By now you should have an idea what the selling price of the game will be.
If that price was reasonable as a free copy for a pledge of amount $?.?? than I would consider it.
Why not make the get a pledge copy price the starting point similar to a pre order.
This would also be an indication of how many are actually interested in having the new game.
Then have a sliding scale above & below that,where extras,addons would sit.
That way you could pledge for a copy of the game & also increase that amount if you wanted to add any extras,
this would mean the the release price would be higher than the pledge price for those who didn't want to pay upfront.

 

[amigacooke]

And as I understand it, Kickstarter is money spent on top of what you eventually pay for the software - you still have to buy it regardless?

I think you'll find that is pretty much the opposite of what normally happens with software projects in KickStarter. Google 'Elite Dangerous' or 'Godus' KickStarters to see how this works with established software producers.

 

[Tony_Hilliam]

Stock would be nice. Without ownership, why invest?

Without being a party-pooper, I would say get the scheme up and running and the basics in place before worrying about gimmicks. If you really want to make a gesture, just give anyone who pledges $5 off the eventual retail purchase price.

There seems to be a misconception here about the Kickstarting funding model.

There are platforms for investing in private companies such as CrowdCube and Seedrs where pledges are investments in shares of the company. Under this model, it can be very tricky to monetize your shares since there is no open market to trade the shares and it generally requires the company to list publicly or sell to provide a return to investors.

A Kickstarter pledge is NOT an investment. It is a donation to help fund a project. The project owner then promises to use those funds to create the product/complete the project and deliver rewards to the people who pledge. Most rewards include a version of the project - in the case of games, a copy of the game is the "standard" reward.

What I was really asking was "in addition to a copy of the game, if you increased your donation above the price you would normally want to pay for the game, what additional 'things' would you like in return"?

 

[Bluewater]

Please please please fix the bell problem!!!

 

[Vern]

Thanks for the clarification Tony. But if one had only (say) $10 to pledge when the full product is going to sell for $50 or $60, it will be a case of making up the difference?

 

[pcas1986]

I'd suggest time limited discounts on the product or additional content based on the amount contributed. Since I like making content I would be interested in alpha/beta testing for some aspects of the product. The idea of having to pay for being a tester does not appeal to me although I am keen to donate to the cause through KickStart. The two are quite separate in my view.

 

[SD45T-2]

In my opinion, a copy of the game would suffice for me, and maybe some custom content.

And fix the bell problem....:hehe:

 

[Tony_Hilliam]

Thanks for the clarification Tony. But if one had only (say) $10 to pledge when the full product is going to sell for $50 or $60, it will be a case of making up the difference?

I haven't seen any rewards where you pay like a "deposit" - it's an interesting concept. We are planning something that kind-of fits into this mould (pay less now, more later if you want to) .

 

[JCitron]

I haven't seen any rewards where you pay like a "deposit" - it's an interesting concept. We are planning something that kind-of fits into this mould (pay less now, more later if you want to) .

EA Games does something similar to this with their pre-order sales programs. A new version of a SimCity DLC package is coming out and they have a pre-order price which in a sense gives them funding for the project now. Once the product is released, the price is quite a bit higher at the MSRP.

John

 

[HLJames]

Just fix the bell problem already!! Then we can talk about rewards..

 

[martinvk]

As one of the people who creates objects because I need them and share without any reward besides a thank you, getting content or other items like a FCT ( already have a lifetime) is not really appealing. Not because I wouldn't appreciate them, its just not why I'm here. I'll support the KickStarter program because it will help produce a product that promises to allow me to indulge in even more endless fun; creating, building, driving.

One of the earlier user manuals had a complete listing of all the people who helped and contributed. Perhaps something similar, included with the game and online, sort of like the pledge memorials in museums, hospitals, etc. where donors are recognized.

 

[Ricke82]

Why not offer a dozen "Golden Tickets"?

 

[behemoth14]

Getting the privilege to commission some piece of content would be fantastic, but I'm sure this would be a heavy workload indeed if even 100 people pledged the required level of support. You can't assume that the pledgers would do all the research on the content they commission either (in terms of collecting drawings, photos, other material to help the modeller).

Getting a lifetime FCT or access to premium content would be great.

Getting named on a pledger's roll would interest some, I suppose, but I guess it would have to be opt-in for people worried about their privacy.

Getting some kind of souvenir tin or something like that would be cool.

 

[dricketts]

Yeah. Well good luck with that.

Holy Moly! Is it really you Ed?

 

[KingConrail76]

Just some ideas; feel free to suggest changes.

$1.00 pledge = you get to feel good.
$2.00 pledge = you get to feel twice as good.
$5.00 pledge = 3 month First Class Ticket for DLS
$10.00 pledge = 6 month FCT for DLS
$15.00 pledge = 9 month FCT for DLS
$20.00 Pledge = 12 month FCT for DLS + $5.00 voucher/coupon for DLC.
$25.00 Pledge = 12 month FCT + $5.00 DLC coupon + 25% discount on Retail purchase of Trainz-T2
$30.00 pledge = 12 month FCT + $10.00 DLC coupon + 25% discount on Retail purchase of Trainz-T2 + Name placed in a "memorial" document included with game.
$35.00 pledge = 12 month FCT + $10.00 DLC coupon + 50% discount on Retail purchase of Trainz-T2 + Name placed in a "memorial" document included with game.
$40.00 pledge = 12 month FCT + $15.00 DLC coupon + 35% discount on Retail purchase of Trainz-T2 + Name placed in a "memorial" document included with game.
$45.00 pledge = 12 month FCT + $15.00 DLC coupon + 50% discount on Retail purchase of Trainz-T2 + Name placed in a "memorial" document included with game.
$50.00 pledge = 24 month FCT + $15.00 DLC coupon + 75% discount on Retail purchase of Trainz-T2 + Name placed in a "memorial" document included with game.
$60.00 pledge = 36 month FCT + $20.00 DLC coupon + 75% discount on Retail purchase of Trainz-T2 + Name placed in a "memorial" document included with game.
$75.00 Pledge = 36 month FCT + $20.00 DLC coupon + FREE first release of Trainz-T2 + Name placed in a "memorial" document included with game.
$100.00 Pledge = 60 month FCT + $25.00 DLC coupon + FREE first release of Trainz-T2 + Name placed in a "memorial" document included with game.
$150.00 Pledge = 60 month FCT + $50.00 DLC coupon + FREE first release of Trainz-T2 + Name placed in a "memorial" document included with game.

$250.00 Pledge = Lifetime FCT + $50.00 DLC coupon + FREE first release of Trainz-T2 + Name placed in a "memorial" document included with game + Commissioned Diesel Locomotive Model in game (pledge choses a piece of content to be included with the game for all to use).

$500.00 Pledge = Lifetime FCT + $150.00 DLC coupon + FREE first release of Trainz-T2 + Name placed in a "memorial" document included with game + Commissioned Diesel Locomotive Model in game (pledge choses a piece of content to be included with the game for all to use)+ Custom 3D Avatar of the pledge, to be included for all to use as a Driver.

 

[Tony_Hilliam]

Yeah. Well good luck with that.

Great to see you around Euphod, but what can I say... I have no idea what this means?

KingConrail76 - it appears you are misunderstanding the nature of the pledge. You choose from a list of rewards, and almost every reward already includes "a full version of Trainz: A New Era". So there is no need to purchase the game when it is released - you will already own a copy.

Regarding the "memorial" concept we have an idea which we think will be even better than a name on a document.

 

[KingConrail76]

Great to see you around Euphod, but what can I say... I have no idea what this means?

KingConrail76 - it appears you are misunderstanding the nature of the pledge. You choose from a list of rewards, and almost every reward already includes "a full version of Trainz: A New Era". So there is no need to purchase the game when it is released - you will already own a copy.

Regarding the "memorial" concept we have an idea which we think will be even better than a name on a document.

No, I don't mis-understand, but I find it highly unlikely that you'll be giving away a full PC version of the game for a $1.00 Pledge...or a $10.00 pledge for that matter.

So unless you are starting at a minimum of about $40.00 USD for a pledge amount, I do not see the feasability of Kickstarter at all, not to mention at $40.00 minimum, you will be losing about 65% of those who have already said they will pledge (Kids and Retirees with no disposable cash).

I make no apologies for being more well-thought-out than N3V.

Regardless, unless some of my, and others', "deep" questions get answers soon, I won't be "donating" a single penny, no matter what the "reward".
--I'd rather pay full retail for software that I know about, than gamble that I might get want I want.

 

[Tony_Hilliam]

Sorry for the confusion. I can see now that you are saying for a $40 pledge you don't get the full game, just a future discount on the game. What you get is $40 worth of value now (an FCT worth $25 plus $15 for DLC), plus a future 35% discount on Trainz in the future (so say another $40-50 or so to pay in a year). This would bring the pledge total close say $85 (since why pledge in the first place unless you plan to buy the end product).

I appreciate your input, and your deep questions will certainly be answered. As I have said, not everything will be announced prior to the project start since we want everyone to visit the page in two weeks time and make their pledge decision based upon the project details, not forum snippets.

Btw, we sell copies of Trainz 12 right now for $40 http://www.simulatorcentral.com/index.php/trainz-simulator-12.html so I'm not sure on the source of your demographic data that suggest 65% of people here don't have $40 to pledge on helping us make the best ever version of Trainz.

 

[RRSignal]

Btw, we sell copies of Trainz 12 right now for $40 http://www.simulatorcentral.com/index.php/trainz-simulator-12.html so I'm not sure on the source of your demographic data that suggest 65% of people here don't have $40 to pledge on helping us make the best ever version of Trainz.

I'm sure plenty can. I could easily pledge ten times that. But I won't pledge a penny.

 

[nicky9499]

I think if N3V is going to all the effort to overhaul the engine then they'd most probably fix the bell issue too, unless this is some sort of running gag I'm missing out on.

In other news, HI ED! :wave: