Dear all!
Kickstarter post-mortem
Although we have been silent, we have not been sitting still! After the Kickstarter ended and didn’t reach its goal we first took the time to recover, think about what we want for Woven and reflect upon the Kickstarter campaign. Did we do things the wrong way, is Woven just not that great an idea, or were we just unlucky?
After all the prep and thought that went into the Kickstarter it is tough to say we could have done things better. But obviously; we could have done things better. Which is not that strange considering this was the first time any of us attempted a crowdfunding. And with all the positive reactions we got from people that played the game, we couldn’t possibly lay not funding on poor Stuffy and Glitch.
We have learned a lot
We could have been clearer on how we planned to build the game after the Kickstarter was done to provide trust on a platform where distrust is growing. We could have communicated clearer from the start that Woven is a game like an onion; it has layers and is aimed at a wide audience, not (just) kids. Having an active presence on social media like twitter or Twitch gave us a chance to really talk to the people we are making this game for. We started a month before the Kickstarter, but should have started building up the #BeWoven community months before that, to have a chance at reaching enough people.
Still, we came far. With the knowledge we possessed then, we gave it everything we had. With late-night Twitch streams, until the very end of the campaign. We are proud on what we did achieve, and still very much awed by the overwhelming positive response to the game.
Now what?
We’ve invested a lot of time and funding in Woven from out of our own pockets. Our first priority is making sure our companies keep existing. That means securing income to be able to pay our people, rents and etc. Luckily both our companies; Alterego Games (Dom and Matt) and Digital Forest (Vincent) have a long history of making tailor-made games for clients. This ‘work-for-hire’ sometimes isn’t the creative outburst a project like Woven is, but always challenges us in a good way to keep us sharp. It is good work and Woven helps us showcase what our team is capable of.
Woven
Meanwhile, we will not ‘simply’ let go of Woven. We have too much love for the project! And we believe there are lots of people out there with love for the project as well. We are determined to make this game for you, so we need to secure the necessary funding. We plan to do this in a couple of ways. Even though we did not fund 100%, our Kickstarter shows that there is a community that really wants this game. That has opened new doors for us:
1: we are writing to subsidy funds in the Netherland to support Woven.
2: we are in talks with Publishers.
3: We are in talks with Investors.
4: We are accepting PayPal donations on
website.
With the donation campaign all funds go directly and only to developing Woven. For instance, it can help us showcase the game at events to publishers or help speed up development.
Also, part of the team is still working on Woven. Slowly but surely the game progresses. Not fast enough to finish the game any time soon, but it might help us bring it to a point where less funding is needed. It also is important to keep Woven alive. For you, but also for us! To help us stay motivated until the proper funding has been found.
We’re currently working on something concrete to put into people’s hands as they wait for the game. We’ll tell you more soon, but want to let you know it involves at least an Elephant, Rabbit, Flamingo, Cat and Wolf!
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