Help required - we need your opinion

[Anton Levitskij]

Hey guys,

we have this idea for a
Kickstarter project that we want to launch at the end of March:  a browsergame with the goal to perform actions
and play pranks on virtual friends to make them unfriend you. The winner is the
person who has the fewest friends.

We are not quite sure
whether or not our concept is comprehensible enough and since you guys would be
our target audience, we wanted to ask YOU what you think about it.

If we get too much negative
feedback, we won’t even launch and give up on it.

Here’s the link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1695371981/1448147363?token=75921367

 

Thanks in advance for
your help. I would appreciate it if you would either contact me via Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/dizzlike.the.game or directly via Kickstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/profile/1695371981

 

The team & Anton

[Mr. Magniloquent]

I'm not normally a rude person, but this is tripe. Furthermore, the sum of money requested for such kitsch is only further insult. I await a moderator's speedy removal of this pan-handling from our boards.

[Brother Pain]

I suppose the idea could work, for a $0-1 iOS/Android game, but this I honestly assume is an elaborate attempt to troll people.

[Anton Levitskij]

Thank you both, I see that we have todo: a lot of work for the communication because nobody sees the complexity of this game or that all graphics are drafts. OR that you do not "attack" other people with dizzes/pranks but with special actions so that he gets new friends (or some of your Bots). Friends(Bots) are time-consuming.

 

But how could we change it?

 

About the Video: At least acceptable ?

 

Thanks you all in advance!

[entrerix]

shouldnt be kickstarted

 

just make it and sell it

 

if you dont believe in the idea enough to spend your free time making it then why should anyone believe in you?

[Oerwinde]

As a browser based social game, we are probably not your target audience.

[Deadly_Nightshade]

You wanted $300,000?! $90,000 is bad enough but the original amount is just crazy. 

[Tigranes]

I get the idea, and I think it could be fun enough for people, but that Kickstarting for such a project is out of the question. There are browser games / parodies pretty much exactly like this in style, features, etc. that are available for free, and moreover, are created with no money spent by the creators - and they've been around for years. It would be at best ridiculous, at worst disingenious preying of good-will to ask for $90k. 

 

If you wanted to persuade me that this project should be Kickstarted and I should fund it, I think I would need to be shown clearly (1) why this is different from flash games, etc. that look just like this and have been around in the thousands for years; (2) why this game couldn't exist without $90k, or Kickstarter; (3) and quite apart from that, why this game is going to be entertaining for more than ten minutes like the majority of such parody browser games.

[Orogun01]

Dear bot, 

Congratulations at winning your own game, everyone now hates you.

[Bester]

 

 a browsergame with the goal to perform actions

and play pranks on virtual friends to make them unfriend you. The winner is the

person who has the fewest friends.

You WON!

[Osvir]

It seems to me, according to the Kickstarter page:
A: You view People as problematic and random. How do you remove People from your Feed? *deep breathe*
- Your Solution: Make them remove you because you don't have the balls to do it yourself.... *another deep breathe* gotta stay Zen.
B: You have talent & skills, and this is the best you could think of to get it to use and earn some cash/get a job/merits~ whatever.
C: You want money, and it's transparent that you are doing this for yourself wherein the successful Kickstarter projects (that I know of) are doing it for the fans in order to do it for themselves (Obsidian is helping the fans in order to help themselves).
D: You want to make a game because it creates more revenue than an application.

I'm going to be honest: Your Kickstarter doesn't appeal to me at all and honestly feel you should just throw it in the trash bin.

The things I find interesting: A group of talented people. You seek employment through crowdfunding. Target audience seems to be people who like to use Facebook, disguised with the words "people who like to play games".

You aren't without luck entirely though: I like to use Facebook. I agree with you that the Feed is pretty bad. It is random and problematic, but that is not my Friend's fault, that is the random chaotic Facebook Feed's fault.

What about some sort of organizer? Something that gives me only Friend Feed, and something that only gives me World News Feed separately? Video Uploads goes into one Category, Photo Uploads into another one. Perhaps an Application that I can manage like a game, compare my "Lists" with others and in sorting my own lists I can help others sort their lists as well? A collective effort, in the form of an online browser game? Something that makes my Friends Information & Knowledge prosper, but at the same time I'm making my own prosper~

Anyways, I hope this was insightful, have a nice day

[HoonDing]

Mentioning you hate EA and first day DLC always helps.

[Volourn]

"shouldnt be kickstarted

 

just make it and sell it

 

if you dont believe in the idea enough to spend your free time making it then why should anyone believe in you?"
 

I agree. Kickstarter shouldn't exist! Neitehr should professional game companies or anything esle. if you believe farming you shouldn't need others to believe you! If you believe in politics the same!

 

Why get paiod to do anything! You should do it all in your free time!!!

[babaganoosh13]

Mentioning you hate EA and first day DLC always helps.

Speaking of which, it seems as though Civitas now has secured funding, so it cancelled its Kickstarter.

 

On the topic of Dizzlike, i just can't see myself throwing any money down on any Facebook game. It just always blown my mind when I seen Disney, EA et al spend hundreds of millions of dollars buying out companies that made these free games. Hopefully the game works out for you, Kickstarter or not.

[entrerix]

"shouldnt be kickstarted

 

just make it and sell it

 

if you dont believe in the idea enough to spend your free time making it then why should anyone believe in you?"

 

I agree. Kickstarter shouldn't exist! Neitehr should professional game companies or anything esle. if you believe farming you shouldn't need others to believe you! If you believe in politics the same!

 

Why get paiod to do anything! You should do it all in your free time!!!

 

 

go home vol,  you are drunk.

[Anton Levitskij]

This post was supposed to go between Bester & Osvir's post but I had problems with accessing my account:

 

@Tigranes: Thanks a lot for your constructive statement!
You
are right, it is a game like every other. Regarding the costs and why I
can not make it myself I can recommend you to read this (that's also
pretty interesting just in general):

http://www.slideshare.net/Bitfold/social-facebook-game-space-at-a-glance

Amongst
other things one must not forget that I want to do the best thing
possible and for that I will also bring bitfold in as  consultants.
Those guys cost and servers have to be paid for etc.

My biggest achievement without professional help so far has been a Mock-Up Demo: http://www.dizzlike.com/demo/Dizzlike_English-Demo_4.500001.html

Game
mechanics are written down, but we need money to turn it into what I
have pictured it to be in the ways of graphics and programming (like all
other kickstarter projects lol)

Concerning your last question:
That
is an important point, we have had that idea at a so called start-up
weekend back in the day, but the game would have been fun for only 10
minutes. A year later we attended another start-up weekend and thats
where we the principles for long-term fun have been settled. This will
be given through the multiplayer and all the possibilities to reach a
higher level. In addition to that, there are over 9000 dizzes and
actions, thus one would have a reason to log into the game without
getting a bonus for that

Anyway, thanks for your questions, we notice that there is a lot left to do until it will be comprehensible.
From another forum we will change the following:

We will now work on this and add the following:
- You will get new "bot friends" with random events (I don't think this is clear at all)
-
Bots (Friends) cost you time in this game (it costs you your freetime
and getting Dizzpoints - you get dizzpoints every 10 minutes)
- because botfriends cost you time, you can  beat other real players only with bots (we want to do PvP in the future)

@ all others: Thanks for the trophy

[alanschu]

 

Mentioning you hate EA and first day DLC always helps.

Speaking of which, it seems as though Civitas now has secured funding, so it cancelled its Kickstarter.

 

On the topic of Dizzlike, i just can't see myself throwing any money down on any Facebook game. It just always blown my mind when I seen Disney, EA et al spend hundreds of millions of dollars buying out companies that made these free games. Hopefully the game works out for you, Kickstarter or not.

 

I was actually pretty flabbergasted when I heard some of the numbers that the "whales" had done in the DA2 Facebook game (literally to the tune of several thousand dollars).  It's definitely a segment where a small few contribute the bulk of the dollars.  For some, it seems, their time is much more valuable than their money.

 

Free to play is interesting because it reminds me of an article I read where an analyst told a developer/publisher that they should not worry about pirates using bandwidth (or even Tech Support) in an online game, because the mere presence of more people in a multiplayer game enhances the experience for those that have paid for the game.

 

I can see the logic behind it, though I'm not 100% sure if the reality necessarily reflects that (i.e. I'm sure there are situations where doing so is not a good thing at all).

[Cultist]

4chan will approve the idea.

[babaganoosh13]

 

 

Mentioning you hate EA and first day DLC always helps.

Speaking of which, it seems as though Civitas now has secured funding, so it cancelled its Kickstarter.

 

On the topic of Dizzlike, i just can't see myself throwing any money down on any Facebook game. It just always blown my mind when I seen Disney, EA et al spend hundreds of millions of dollars buying out companies that made these free games. Hopefully the game works out for you, Kickstarter or not.

 

I was actually pretty flabbergasted when I heard some of the numbers that the "whales" had done in the DA2 Facebook game (literally to the tune of several thousand dollars).  It's definitely a segment where a small few contribute the bulk of the dollars.  For some, it seems, their time is much more valuable than their money.

 

Free to play is interesting because it reminds me of an article I read where an analyst told a developer/publisher that they should not worry about pirates using bandwidth (or even Tech Support) in an online game, because the mere presence of more people in a multiplayer game enhances the experience for those that have paid for the game.

 

I can see the logic behind it, though I'm not 100% sure if the reality necessarily reflects that (i.e. I'm sure there are situations where doing so is not a good thing at all).

(If I'm a bit all over the place - Sorry, I just got off my last night shift in this run.)

 

It was a fun little game. Obviously I played it to unlock the DA2 items. But, dang, it was expensive. The top tier was about $100. I could get nearly 2 new full games for that price, or 6 months and change of WOW. WOW was worth it to me at the time, because with the different timed events that went on, it was like a different game every month to an extent. Even for $20 I could get a good budget title, and get more enjoyment out of it per dollar. Plus it was a promo for DA2, like Journeys was for Origins. It didn't make sense to me to spend money on what is basically an ad. But I'm cheap, and it has to be a game I really want in order to spend top dollar on it. The BioWare games were in that category. Hopefully Dragon Age 3 is as well.

 

Back to real $ on Facebook games: I know there is money in it. A lot of the time it is people being stupid with it. Having their credit cards linked to their accounts, so they can instantly buy without thinking about it. Or in the case of some things like some aquarium game played primarily by kids, basically downright exploit it. For a grand and change, I could have a new PS4 and DA3 when they come out, and a new X-country bike to make up for the one that was stolen. That certainly isn't worth it to me to instead play a game that requires me to share all of my information to get access to it, and not let me own it in any way. This is why I don't like the micro transaction method of payment used by Facebook games

 

Heck, I bought a couple of T-shirts off of Kingdom of Loathing 5 or so years back for $30, and it's as good as buying the game itself because after not playing it for years, my character is still there waiting for me, loaded with time, and some other goodies for actually giving them money in some form. If those Facebook games had something like that (I'm sure some do, but I don't bother looking to Facebook for games anymore unless I feel I must [DA Legends]) where if you gave them a few bucks, or bought something from their store to "buy" the game, to get more out of it without micro-transactions or inviting all your friends over and over again, I might have done it for a game as good as what Legends was.

 

Let's take DA Legends as an example again.

 

Let's say there is two modes for DA Legends: The free mode that it was with optional micro-transactions where everything you do cost "energy," and it can take a while to recharge your energy. That is the model that the game was.

 

Or there might have also been an Enchanted mode for those that spent money on the game in any way. The difference would be the elimination of that "energy gage" where doing stuff like entering a battle didn't take those points away, companions didn't have wait times if alive and other little goodies. There would still be micro-transactions available if you wanted them, but there would be an obvious less need for them if you wanted to keep playing.

 

Back then, I probably would have dropped a couple of bucks down for the Enchanted mode, or bought a T-shirt or something for it. Instead, it was a game I just played to unlock DA2 stuff for free.

[alanschu]

I think that there's also still some level of experimentation that is happening.

 

Although it seems to me that "social" is dying down somewhat.

[Anton Levitskij]

Hi guys,

first of all a big thank you again for your opinions, feedback and also the constructive criticism!

We have changed the objections and have updated a lot of things.

We really hope that the new version is better!

For those interested, you can check out our NEW kickstarter link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1695371981/1448147363?token=75921367

We really appreciate your help, without your support we would not have been able to realize and change some important things!

 

Anton

 

[Anton Levitskij]

Hey guys,

it's me again! :D
First of all: a big THANK YOU for your help!

Some time passed and we got our heads together and tried changing many things. We tried making the pictures easier to understand and added some reward-pictures.

Here is the link to our project:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1695371981/1448147363?token=75921367

I hope you can help us out again. Are there still points you don't get? Anything we should change?

Thanks in advance again for all your support and effort on helping us!

The team & Anton

[Anton Levitskij]

First of all, thanks to everyone who took part, whether postive or negative, or those who want to take part (from now only positive).
For all who supported us like this, please send me a PM (I prefer over Kickstarter :>) and you will receive the 22 $ reward if you want (some people will receive a 55 $ reward instead of the 22 $ reward :D)!

We are live now:  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1695371981/friend-wars-dizzlike-the-game

[rjshae]

From a business perspective, I think you are severely limiting your target audience by focusing on anti-social behavior. Most people's default behavior is to try and encourage social interactions.

[Walsingham]

I think you're being needlessly harsh with the idea. It's not the worst I've heard. People are jerks, and playing a game where they get to be bigger jerks makes sense.

 

But I do think the OP has misunderstood how kickstarter works. Kickstarter funders don't do it for the product they do it for the bragging rights. So they can walk the Bill Gates walk for $50.

 

That just popped out, but I think it's true.