A Princess to Save Me - Cancelled

The Kickstarter campaign for A Princess to Save Me has been cancelled by the developers.

WHY?

You might've noticed that despite all the exposure we got, it doesn't look like the funding will be able to reach the goal. We believe that our project has potential, but we've made a few mistakes regarding the campaign that prevent it from being realized.

WHAT WENT WRONG?

1) RPG-maker default graphics

We don't have an artist (that's what the funds are for), and the default graphics pack looks nice, so we just went with it. What we didn't realize is that it comes with reputation attached. The ease of using RPG maker led to tons of games of questionable quality being created. The decision to use the default graphics in the video has cost us a lot of potential backers: people dismissed the project as amateur without going into details or looking at the demo.

2) Timing

Three AAA projects launched on the second week of our campaign, which made it hard to get attention and also got people less inclined to spend even more on gaming. Thanksgiving and Christmas around the corner didn't help as well.

3) Weak campaign page

Because of no artist our page was not colorful enough to compete with other projects. We also lacked detailed description of the game and didn't give enough info about the gameplay.

WHAT'S NEXT

We're not giving up on the game!

We got valuable feedback and over a hundred supporters who backed us despite all of the above! We see it as a great result!

Time to work on our mistakes. We will find a talented artist who shares our vision on the game and will be willing to give it a try with us. We will polish the gameplay and create a bigger demo, showcasing it at it's best. At the moment we're considering both relaunching the project on Kickstarter and looking for a publisher, but whatever it will be, you will be first to know.

We will continue posting updates and keeping you informed about everything that happens to the game.

Thank you so much for supporting us and believing in A Princess To Save Me. We will make it happen!

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Thanks Eye.

More information.

WHAT WENT WRONG?

1) RPG-maker default graphics

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This.

It's not that I hate RPGmaker games, but I've played so many of those I really and honestly don't want to see another. For a long long time.
Seriously.

Passing over the RPG Maker thing - this was a game that should have ticked with a certain crowd. You know which one, no need to mention it. And yet, just like with Mooncrest before, no money were thrown to someone that was trying to please their demands, demands that are supposedly supported by a fragtons of people. So no money where their mouth is.

You can check the webz to see how much praise took in certain places, how many people announced how they will support it. Let me check: Kickstarter cancelled...yeah, overwhelming support. Venting out, there is a shadow of a good idea. Thing is, there is this small visual novel called Cinders that already had the idea to present a victim turned hero (or villain, depending on your choices). And before it, there are a fragton of other games, purely ignored, because....reasons.

Wish them luck and to sort out of what they actually want from their game.

Whats wrong with these guys. Did they suddenly realize that graphics actually matter? I'm not a graphic whore and I enjoy playing older titles, but these guys put no effort on visual quality. Graphics don't have to be next gen or even last gen, but they still have to look "intresting" and "stylish". This game just looked darn generic.

They had to be out of their mind if they expected this project to sell simply by having an intresting idea…

I've seen Kickstarter games with decent pages, quality art, and experienced people fail, and there are a lot of people which try to use RPGmaker and most of their efforts are ignored on Kickstarter. I know from experience that its a lot of work to make a game with RPGmaker, but you need a lot of things to set you apart if you want to make an RPGmaker game on Kickstarter. Custom graphics, an unusual story or game mechanics, or something else really different. As far as bad timing goes, its always bad timing unless you have multiple qualities to help you stick out from the crowd.

Here's the thing (and I don't think I am alone here, but we'll see).

When I think of games created with RPGMaker, the following words come to my mind:

Cheap.

Simple/Easy.

Average/Mediocre.

Untalented.

JRPG.

I am not saying there are no good RPGs made with RPGMaker, I assume there probably are some. But let's face it, most people who use RPGMaker are not great programmers, because if they were great programmers, they probably would not be using RPGMaker. Pitching an RPGMaker created game using default RPGMaker graphics is kind of like demo'ing RPGMaker and asking for 10 grand to add some new graphics for it so you can make something that looks less like an RPGMaker game.

If you're going to try to fundraise for an RPGMaker game, and you have no impressive visuals to woo backers, then you'd better have some VERY compelling gameplay/], innovative ideas, or features to make backers believe they aren't sinking cash into something they could probably create on their own.

And, my impression is that RPGMaker primarily targets JPRGs - so any non-fans of JRPGs may be immediately lost upon seeing it's an RPGMaker game.

Oh, also, the title of the game (to me anyway) is very bland, generic, and uninspiring. The title of the game might not seem to be too important - but when it is somewhat generic and non-memorable, and you combine that with everything else, in the end potential backers may not come away with any strong feelings telling them "of all the pitches on kickstarter, this is one of the games I should back with my hard earned money".

Reading the kickstarter campaign pitch, there is absolutely nothing there that stands out to me. Fantasy RPG, turn-based, 4 character party, character decisions impact the characters and the outcome, skills and experience. Heard all of this a thousand times and none of it is any different than a thousand other games. What makes this game unique and special?

Sorry if this comes off as overly harsh or critical - just trying to be honest and real. The campaign as written doesn't sell the game. Great that you have all the standard RPG tropes - what is different about your execution of these features, what sets this game apart from others, what is different about this game that should convince me to back it instead of RPG X?

Don't ever put the word WEAK in your video pitch in big letters.

Generic RPG Maker game with default art? Seriously?

wolfsrain said:

Passing over the RPG Maker thing - this was a game that should have ticked with a certain crowd. You know which one, no need to mention it. And yet, just like with Mooncrest before, no money were thrown to someone that was trying to please their demands, demands that are supposedly supported by a fragtons of people. So no money where their mouth is.

You can check the webz to see how much praise took in certain places, how many people announced how they will support it. Let me check: Kickstarter cancelled…yeah, overwhelming support. Venting out, there is a shadow of a good idea. Thing is, there is this small visual novel called Cinders that already had the idea to present a victim turned hero (or villain, depending on your choices). And before it, there are a fragton of other games, purely ignored, because….reasons.

Wish them luck and to sort out of what they actually want from their game.

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Right, the problem always has to be SJWs, right? There couldn't possibly be any other reason for these kickstarters to fail, right? That's gotta be it. No other explanation for it.

axellslade said:

Generic RPG Maker game with default art? Seriously?

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The Kickstarter was to hire artists so they wouldn't be using default art in the final game... It's just that in order to pay the artist, they needed the Kickstarter money.

daveyd said:

The Kickstarter was to hire artists so they wouldn't be using default art in the final game… It's just that in order to pay the artist, they needed the Kickstarter money.

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Commissioning new art is certainly a reasonable need for crowd sourcing funds.

But the problem is, there needs to be something about the pitch that convinces people that there is a great game here, if only it had new art.

The campaign would really benefit from a strong writer who can take what is cool or unique about the game and translate it into a strong pitch. The pitch isn't written very well at all. A lot of text was spent talking about some pretty generic RPG features. There were a few parts here and there that almost grabbed my interest, but then they were never elaborated on, leaving the reader dangling.

For example:

"The game is a conversation about vulnerability, love and a person's perception of self. What makes us helpless? What if the people we love want us to be this way so they can protect us, feel needed and appreciated? What if we were raised believing that we should not solve problems by ourselves, but ask for help instead? "

Ok, sounds like there may be something interesting here; but it needs further explanation and follow-through. A few compelling questions are asked to draw the reader in - but where is the payoff? The follow through needs to be an example or explanation of how this game answers these questions through its story, mechanics, features, and how it involves/engages/affects the player. Describe some of the game mechanics. So the player's actions/words have impacts - explain some of them or give examples so the reader can get a sense of how this is engaging, immersive, unique.

The "Universe" section - spend more text describing the setting. "Set in a fantasy medieval universe" describes about 99% of every RPG game ever done. How is this one different? "It has its traditions and laws, and beliefs people act upon." Such as? "Magic is present, but fairly rare and restricted to scholars." Why? " Religion and family play a big role in folk's everyday life. Majority of population lives in small villages where men work and women stay with kids. " Why? Does this world or realm have a name?

Give an idea of the current status of development. Have you been working on it for 5 years and now just need to update the art, or is the project just beginning? Is there only one developer, or is there a team, and what is their background and level of experience? "At this moment the project is at stage of a working prototype. We have tested all the ideas we want to include in our game." Ok, but what are all those ideas that have been prototyped? "The only challenge we see at this point is that we might want to expand the game beyond our initial plans." How so? (Maybe these should be stretch goals?)

There's nothing in the pitch that makes me believe in the project. The features mentioned are generic RPG features. There seems to possibly be some other intereting game mechanics, but they are not really explained. Not much said about the story. I don't know if this is a 1-person effort who just bought RPGMaker yesterday, or the work of 5 people who have years of experience and completed games under their belts.

People will back projects they believe in, but you have to sell the project and explain why this game will be great to play. Convince people that you or your team has the background and experience to complete the project.

If you re-launch the campaign, find a great writer who is knowledgeable about RPGs who can better translate the developer's vision for the game into language that pulls the reader in and convinces them to believe in your project and invest.