Ideas for kickstarter add-ons: any good?

[cdx]

Hi everyone,

 

I was pondering on a way to help the kickstarter campaign a little bit and wanted to ask for opinions on a couple of ideas for add-ons.

 

(1) Dwelling add-on: The first one is organising a draw the buy-in for which is $13 (multiple entries allowed) and is separate from any of the tiers, the reward – getting the chance to win something (very) unique.

 

The reasoning for it being $13 – since luck plays big part of it 13 seems like a very good fit (also, it’s not high enough not to pay it but is much better than 10).

 

As for the reward: this could be the chance for those of us who cannot afford to pay for designing items / npcs to get lucky. I was thinking of the winner being given the choice to help design a small location of a family home or lodging place with up to 6 npcs and a small quest tied to them. It should be something not too involved in the game and with not too many resources spent on it, as not to overshadow the rewards of $1,000 tiers and up. The main reason for offering a dwelling place and several people as a reward is that this would let anybody put a fantasy take of their real family or group of friends in the game… and would give them a really good reason (and chances for success) to ask for support friends and family members who otherwise do not care much about rpgs. What a present that would be! A rich family that keeps to themselves in merchant’s quarter, shack with a family of beggars, house of loonies, gallery house of artists, house of awkward and misunderstood geniuses, whatever that one lucky person feels like portraying his closest people as (that fits in the game, of course).

 

This should get a lot of support and would help get some otherwise inaccessible funds.

 

(2) Initials add-on: There is another flavour of this idea which could be implemented together with the first one: a draw with the same entry fee or a bit less (again multiple entries welcome) with the reward being inclusion of the winners initials in the box cover art in a hidden way (shape of buildings in the distance, cloud formation, dents on a shield, etc). I’m sure obsidian’s artists can find a way to do that in any image. This is more personal, it is unobtrusive in any way but would mean a lot to us, supporters. Could even make it very well hidden (but more prominent) and announce the result to the public much later?

 

Another idea is about an (3) in-game artifact. I’ve always been fascinated with the popular representation of eternity as an amount of time that would allow, without a shade of a doubt, for some monkeys pressing random keys on typewriters to come up with the complete works of Shakespeare. I’ve always imagined it with just a few monkeys, taking maybe several billion years to come with one of Shakespeare's plays but with a mistake or two in it. Then, taking a maybe several billion times the previous stretch of time to get that one play without mistakes. Then taking (meaningless number here) times the previous amount of time to come up with all his works with just a few mistakes. And finally taking (another meaningless number here) times the previous amount of time to come up with his complete works with no mistakes. You get the idea of eternity when you realise that, if you have eternity this WILL undoubtedly happen. Um, sorry, got a bit sidetracked here .

 

So, about the artifact: It would give an-game random message when used. And these messages are what Project Eternity can get funding from.

 

For a support token of $2 or $3 each, a kickstarter supporter could send messages to be included in a database that the artifact would use (after being checked and ok’d by devs/moderators). There could be a specific chance for it to spit out a supporter message, much smaller chance to include messages from the devs or useful secret lore (about treasure and whatnot). As a side note, this could give raise to a whole community (what message you got, what does it mean, etc.)

 

As for the messages, they should probably be short (say up to 128 characters) and include a phrase plus the initials of the supporter (as some phrases may repeat).

 

So where does all the monkey business come in? It just gives one possible description of the artifact. “This stone, after being slightly brushed, slightly warms up and then faintly glows with an inscription that seems to change every time. It is said that it gives an extra-planar connection to the wisdom of the gods. It is also said that it gives an extra-planar connection to hordes of monkeys that bang their fingers in strange clicking apparatus. Which of the two is correct seems very difficult to judge.”

 

What do you guys think? Do you like these? Do they seem technically feasible?

Edited October 4, 2012 by cdx

[septembervirgin]

Lotteries are a good idea. Initials on the cover don't seem right to me, but that might work out well if someone doesn't choose a significant word as initials.

 

I also think entry should be twenty bucks. That's all.

[cdx]

When I meant hidden initials I meant it .

 

For example, in this Michael Whelan's picture you could read "KI" in the formation of the rocks:

 

 

Or in this one for example, you could read "BOD" in the lower left corner of the cape (while the artist's signature in the rocks is way too obvious).

 

 

These are not very good examples as I just had a look of these two pictures and looked for possible places to hide the initials. But you get the idea.

 

About a more prominent but very well hidden Initials: the second picture is a great example for "HT" or "TH" - the shapes formed by the trees and sword for one letter, and the sword and character figure for the second. Somehow restrictive but still very doable, especially if elements comprising the letters are smaller.

 

As for the entry amount.. twenty, at least for me, borders to the amount that I'd consider to be maybe a bit too much. Would have to think about whether I want to give as much (although, I'm pretty sure I would). With 13, I wouldn't even think about it, just get both right away.

 

Three all for and three all against so far.. are they really that bad? To me these seemed like a really good way to add funding..