How to Run a Successful Indie Campaign on Kickstarter: HypeTrain Digital Experience

The Russian indie game Stoneshard has raised more than $ 100 thousand on Kickstarter. How did she manage it, App2Top.ru I asked the publisher of the project, HypeTrain Digital.

The interview was attended by Ivan Belousov, who is responsible for publishing and producing projects, and Anton Datiy, a PR and marketing specialist of the company. The questions were asked by the issuing editor App2Top.ru Alexander Semenov.

This is the fourth successful HypeTrain Digital crowdfunding campaign. And a record. Did you expect the game to attract $100k?

Belousov: It’s more now. After the end of the Kickstarter campaign, we opened additional fees on the game’s website.

The fees exceeded our expectations and forecasts. We were sure that the project would raise the minimum amount of $ 30 thousand, but the final success was a pleasant surprise for us.

Stoneshard

What was the basis for the formation of the requested amount?

Belousov: We have studied the project well and analyzed the community that has gathered around it.

We do not launch Kickstarter from scratch, but always carry out preliminary work and research, choose the right time to start the campaign. In particular, we are trying to form or strengthen the gaming community. Part of it is usually converted into the first backers at the beginning of the campaign.

Are there any very simple things that you can start from when predicting the minimum results of a campaign?

Belousov: First of all, this is a database of postal addresses and the number of subscribers in social networks. Data on the number of project additions to the vishlist on Steam and activity on the page are also important.

Stoneshard

For example, the game had a total of 100 thousand subscribers. Based on this, we can predict that with additional promotion, a Kickstarter game can raise $ 30 thousand. Is that how it works?

Belousov: The numbers, of course, vary, but to put it quite simply, yes. Everything is very conditional here. A lot depends on the specific project and various other factors.

For HypeTrain Digital, this is far from the first successful launch on Kickstarter. So we already have an almost subconscious understanding of what can be expected.

Date: Prior to the launch of Stoneshard on Kickstarter, the team analyzed the niche and target audience of the game. We came to the conclusion that now is the right time for crowdfunding a hardcore “bagel”. In general, there are two main types of games in the genre.

The first is projects in which the elements of “bagels” are simplified and integrated into the main gameplay. For example, this is Rogue Legacy or the recently released Moonlighter. The second one is hardcore classic “bagels”. These are complex, very thoughtful games that often sacrifice the quality of graphics and interface in favor of the depth of gameplay.

Both types have their own audience. The Stoneshard concept appealed to both hardcore fans who sit on Reddit and still play the original ADOM with ASCII graphics, and those who have not seen anything in the genre except The Binding of Isaac. This is important because one of the main ideas of the developers is to make a game that can please both veterans of the genre and beginners.

Can you describe step by step how to launch a project on Kickstarter?

Belousov: The most important thing is not to come empty—handed. When entering crowdfunding, it is desirable to have a playable build. It is also important to prepare the community in advance for the launch of the campaign and “warm up” it.

Stoneshard

How is the preparation of the community going on?

Belousov: It is important to regularly and step-by-step talk about the development so that people can see the progress of the project. Plus, the database of email addresses plays an important role. It may take quite a long time to create it, but then it pays off with a good conversion, because these are actually already quite loyal and interested contacts.

Okay, let’s say I want to go out with a project on Kickstarter. What should I do?

Datiy: As already mentioned, the first thing is to prepare the community around the game. It will give the first “boost” both in terms of fees and in terms of word of mouth.

Secondly, a playable build must be prepared for launch. Now it’s not enough to go to Kickstarter with one idea or concept art and say: I want to make such and such a game. Of course, it works, but only under certain circumstances — Stoneshard is not backed by a famous franchise or a well-known developer (by the way, a new RPG campaign from Jeff Vogel’s team took place in parallel with us, and they are also doing very well), plus the audience of the previous Ink Stains Games game does not overlap much with the CA of turn-based RPGs.

In general, if you are indie, if you do not have additional selling features outside of the game itself, then you need a live demonstration of the gameplay, It may be at least a ten-minute vertical slice with the main mechanics, but it should be. It is necessary that the Kickstarter audience can try out the game in action, make sure that the project is already at a certain stage and ready to develop further.

In addition, it is very important to be clearly aware of who and what you want to tell about the project. Be sure to formulate elevator pitch and the main features of the game that distinguish it from competitors and attract attention. The moment about “standing out” is especially important in working with the media, because any team is constantly fighting for the attention of the press and bloggers with hundreds of other projects. Try not to make announcements while the whole world is discussing the new Call of Duty, and write about your game in an interesting and lively way. These are pretty obvious things, but they work and they need to be talked through.

In the case of Stoneshard, we decided that we would communicate primarily with fans of old-school “bagels” and turn-based RPGs in general. And these are forums, subreddits, niche sites, indie influencers and proper targeting in social networks.

We have always clearly conveyed what projects we were inspired by and what new the game brings to the genre. They explained that Stoneshard is friendlier than symbolic “bagels” in terms of UI and pictures, but at the same time it is not inferior to them in the depth of gameplay.

Stoneshard

Did you release a free demo on Steam just to attract fans of the genre, or were you aiming for a wider audience?

Belousov: This is not a demo, but an alpha version. Even more — a separate product at this stage.

The build that can now be downloaded on Steam is a plot prologue that tells the story of one of the key characters of the Laura game.

Initially we released it on itch.io . Such things traditionally go well there. When the Kickstarter campaign started gaining momentum, we launched the build on Steam and got an additional boost. We managed to reach a fairly large audience — the prologue quickly soared to the top, gained 100 thousand downloads in a few days, and this noticeably affected Kickstarter activity.

Can the release of the prologue be called one of the drivers of success on Kickstarter?

Belousov: Definitely. This is an additional good “boost”. Again, the main task of the playable build is to show that the developers did not come to Kickstarter empty–handed.

What other means of promoting a crowdfunding campaign do you resort to?

Belousov: We had a good experience with The Wild Eight. On the day of the release, we held a Twitch Launch Event. This is a 12-hour stream marathon with placement on the main Twitch.

The Wild Eight

Can you tell me more about what it looked like?

Belousov: The Wild Eight has a cooperative playthrough option. We decided that it would be nice to gather various popular streamers together so that they could play the game, post it on the launch day.

There were four groups — three streamers and one person from the development team. Each group streamed the game for three hours. Such an event was effective — the influencers exchanged the audience and lit up on the main page, and we received an influx of players. But in the future we do not plan to carry out such things yet — it is too physically exhausting. We have to focus on American time zones, and the 12-hour night marathon was not easy.

Can you tell me how much it cost you?

Belousov: We paid only Twitch — then placing the banner on the main page cost $ 5 thousand. Now the prices may be different, we have not checked.

How else would you advise to move forward?

Belousov: As part of the promotion of The Wild Eight, another interesting case was implemented. We partnered with the famous Japanese YouTubers 2BRO. These are two perky guys who go through cooperative games, while cheerfully yelling and swearing at the camera like yakuza.

We have released a special build with the stylization of heroes for 2BRO. The Japanese made very successful videos based on this build, which significantly increased our sales in Japan. The most remarkable thing is that we didn’t pay the guys for this, they made the videos for free, they just liked the game and the fact that we made special skins for them.

Stoneshard

Here I want to return to crowdfunding. In recent years, it has been increasingly called a marketing tool. Is it an investment in production for you, or is it advertising too?

Belousov: Both. For us, it’s 50-50.

We regularly turn to him for a number of reasons. Kickstarter helps with marketing, gives push in sales and an additional budget for development, and also allows you to check how interesting the selected game is to the audience.

Datiy: Plus, this is an additional generation of the community, because backers are very active players and ambassadors in the future. This is a very engaged audience that is really interested in the game, they really want the project to come out as cool as possible.

Coming to the end, I can’t help but ask. You’ve run a Kickstarter campaign four times. Every time successfully. Hypothetically, what will you do with a project that will not be able to collect the required amount?

Belousov: We have not yet encountered such a situation and, I hope, we will not, because every time we are sure that the project will overcome the minimum mark. If the project is worthy, we will connect anyway and bring it to release.