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Author Topic: Help me Obi-wan Kenobi...  (Read 8653 times)

CptOvaltine

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Help me Obi-wan Kenobi...
« on: January 24, 2019, 02:35:31 am »
Hey guys, so as most of you probably know I've been working on a Chrono Cross arrangement album called Cross Symphonic for the past year. As the project has developed and gone through some ups and downs, I decided to have the album recorded by a live 75 - 95 piece orchestra and a 30 voice choir with a release date in November to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Japanese release.   

In order to do that I need to raise a pretty hefty chunk of cash... $150K to be exact.  This covers all fess, recording, post production, album production, marketing, artwork, physical production, distribution, etc. I've spent the last two months pulling together quotes, schedules, licensing information (with the help of Boo!), and a myriad of other production related info to get a solid budget together before I launch a Kickstarter on February 4th.

I had the opportunity recently to meet with someone that has had tremendous success with crowd funding.  His number one suggestion, and he couldn't stress this enough, was to find as many people as possible that will commit to donating to the campaign on the first day, even if it's only $10.  Apparently, if you can get a minimum of 100 pledges to a campaign on the first day it significantly boosts your projects ranking on Kickstarter, and can often land you a front page spot for their trending projects which leads to huge organic reach.

I'm setting up rewards for the campaign now, and will have something set up for the early bird donations.  Likely a physical album at a lower price point, and possibly another perk or two.  Would any of you be interested in donating on February 4th? I would be happy to share a track or two with all of you if you'd like to hear something from the album, and welcome any feedback you might have!

I'm putting a list together of potential day one backers, so let me know if you're interested! (It will help me gauge how many early bird spots to open up!)
« Last Edit: January 24, 2019, 01:29:54 pm by CptOvaltine »

Boo the Gentleman Caller

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Re: Help me Obi-wan Kenobi...
« Reply #1 on: January 24, 2019, 01:43:54 pm »
I will gladly be a day one donor. That makes 1/100!

I can also sticky this to the Chrono Trigger subreddit for visibility, in addition to posting to the most likely visible places: r/jrpg and r/gaming.

chrono.source

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Re: Help me Obi-wan Kenobi...
« Reply #2 on: January 24, 2019, 01:56:12 pm »
I'll back you for sure. Maybe post a reminder here Feb 3rd/4th  ..... I tend to forget dates that aren't ingrained in my head. :lol:

Kodokami

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Re: Help me Obi-wan Kenobi...
« Reply #3 on: January 24, 2019, 02:25:38 pm »
Same. I'm not sure how much I can back at the moment, but it will be something for sure.

CptOvaltine

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Re: Help me Obi-wan Kenobi...
« Reply #4 on: January 24, 2019, 02:40:55 pm »
I really appreciate it, guys!  This is a huge help.  Share this around with anyone that might be interested, or would be willing to support an awesome orchestral project!  Even if they aren't Chrono fans, I think this album will appeal to soundtrack lovers too.

Quote
I can also sticky this to the Chrono Trigger subreddit for visibility, in addition to posting to the most likely visible places: r/jrpg and r/gaming.

That would be awesome! I think getting the word and collecting early backers might be a good idea. I could finish that moon trailer with the date to go along with the post if you think that would be helpful?

I'll back you for sure. Maybe post a reminder here Feb 3rd/4th  ..... I tend to forget dates that aren't ingrained in my head. :lol:

I'll be sure to come back and post a reminder! :)

Same. I'm not sure how much I can back at the moment, but it will be something for sure.

No worries!  Every little bit helps, so whatever you're comfortable with!
« Last Edit: January 24, 2019, 02:43:12 pm by CptOvaltine »

Razig

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Re: Help me Obi-wan Kenobi...
« Reply #5 on: January 24, 2019, 03:14:41 pm »
And my axe!

CptOvaltine

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Re: Help me Obi-wan Kenobi...
« Reply #6 on: January 24, 2019, 03:58:23 pm »
And my axe!

 :lol:  You're on the list, Razig.  Thank you!

CptOvaltine

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Re: Help me Obi-wan Kenobi...
« Reply #7 on: February 04, 2019, 04:17:56 pm »
Today is the day!  I'll be launching in a few hours, is everyone ready?!

Razig

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Re: Help me Obi-wan Kenobi...
« Reply #8 on: February 04, 2019, 06:23:13 pm »
Darn it, I wanted to be first. I guess third is still pretty good.
:P

CptOvaltine

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Re: Help me Obi-wan Kenobi...
« Reply #9 on: February 04, 2019, 06:39:08 pm »
Darn it, I wanted to be first. I guess third is still pretty good.
:P

That's still a bronze. ;)  Seriously though, thank you so much!  Let's get the word out there!

Here is the link for those of you that don't have it: https://kck.st/2Svaz1i
« Last Edit: February 04, 2019, 06:56:09 pm by CptOvaltine »

Boo the Gentleman Caller

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Re: Help me Obi-wan Kenobi...
« Reply #10 on: February 04, 2019, 11:16:17 pm »
Woohoo! I am about to back the project and I can't wait!

CptOvaltine

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Re: Help me Obi-wan Kenobi...
« Reply #11 on: February 05, 2019, 02:16:55 am »
Woohoo! I am about to back the project and I can't wait!

Thanks, Boo!  We've hit 100 backers.  Let's keep the momentum going!  On a side note, does anyone frequent Kotaku, Polygon, or any other game enthusiast website? It would be great if we could grab some attention from that corner of the internet!

CptOvaltine

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Re: Help me Obi-wan Kenobi...
« Reply #12 on: February 05, 2019, 03:25:19 pm »
So some complications arose, and I had to take down the Kickstarter temporarily. I'm working things out, and will relaunch as soon as possible! This is only a set back, not the end! :D

CptOvaltine

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Re: Help me Obi-wan Kenobi...
« Reply #13 on: February 26, 2019, 08:39:29 pm »
It is LIVE once again!  Help me make this happen.  :roll: :lol: 8)

http://kck.st/2Eknvhk

Balroth

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Re: Help me Obi-wan Kenobi...
« Reply #14 on: March 04, 2019, 06:28:05 pm »
Hello! It has been a while since I last posted, but I really wanted to drop feedback on the kickstarter, because I would like to see it succeed.

I didn't post it on this thread https://www.chronocompendium.com/Forums/index.php?topic=12626.285 because this comment/reply can be easily misunderstood by random viewers, as negative/condescending, and it can damage the kickstarter

I am no marketting expert, but I am a game developer with some knowledge of marketting in videogames, and I just had to type this, seeing the kickstarter's trailer, which is the most important for anyone who stumbles on the kickstarter, because it's all about the First Impressions (I cannot emphasize the "First Impressions" part enough)

First of all, minor but still worth noting is the kickstarter page which has no thematic background on the top (random example I found, weirdly not many kickstarter pages do, but it is important https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2020043306/jupiter-hell-a-modern-turn-based-sci-fi-roguelike )

Aside of that, is the trailer. Before I get right to the point, you may have noticed that movie trailers nowadays, have a "mini-trailer" of 5~6 seconds right before the actual trailer with logos etc etc starts (example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XW1Ygatsz4 ) This also applies to game trailers ofc, since if it hasn't "hooked" the player in 5 seconds, it will either be skipped entirely (most common), or just skipped to later in the video (backed by huge data from Steam and Youtube)
That said, in the kickstarter's trailer, it starts really genericly (is that a word?), with a music I didn't recognize (I haven't played chrono cross, but even so, I have heard a most of CC OST, but it made me doubt this is one of them)

Now, since the kickstarter is about an orchestra(/film?), I expected it to start with some iconic chrono track, but "Remastered" to hook me, but I did not recognize any song until after you started explaining (which is veeeery long in the video, but this is what the kickstarter's funding product is essentially and to be presented so late is very very negative), whereas it should be on the start. Like, opening with "The Girl Who Stole The Stars" (used in 5:56, thats so deep into the video!) should be at the start of the video, if not the very beginning.

On the visuals, there is literally nothing interesting for 1 minute! which is just doing a disservice to the actual content you have planned! I apologize for being a little abrupt/rude but that opening of the trailer is what made me write this whole post, and it is really sad because I really want to see this kickstarter fulfilled, to make it happen!
For 1 whole minute (an average time for a full game trailer) logos and people that are unknown appear on the screen with the "what music is this" playing, and that earth on the background made me feel like i was watching some sci-fi trailer (and while "Earth" is relevant to the game with the iconic game over screen, sure it is relevant, but there are so many things that would serve a better goal being there)

That said, the kickstarter's launch has passed, and it hasn't snowballed, which is troublesome, and the general psychology/thoughts of those who end up on the kickstarter right now (aka the potential backers), will have doubts as to back the project, since they "predict" it will fail, and their money will be gone. In other words, since there isn't a "Funding Promise", some will not fund "yet" and wait for others, and others will wait for others, and hence, like a vicious cycle, only very few will risk such a thing.
And as I said before, I'm not saying this to offend you or anything, I really want it to be funded, and I'm glad someone has finally stepped up to do something like this.
Hence, my suggestion is this:
Think of unorthodox marketting ways, otherwise this project will slowly fade in time (apologies for the pun) Messagging people who aren't even related to the chrono brand in any way, even though most will ignore it, or even publications or other gaming forums, but this is a start of "unorthodox". Safest bets of "unorthodox" marketting is some bucks on reddit ads on certain subreddits (music or chrono subs) or contacting the guy who made the "Chrono Break" trailer? I think he is the artist/developer of Owlboy, but I'm not sure
Hopefully you will try out new stuff, because in the last days, a huge difference cannot be suddenly made

For the last thing related to the marketting/exposure above. Look at this https://www.kicktraq.com/projects/johnpaulhayward/cross-symphonic-a-20th-anniversary-symphonic-tribu-0/
There is a trend (dont trust them I say), but the estimated projection, assuming that the funding rate is approximately the same - whereas the funding rate in reality only decreases  - is ~45K$ which is a long way from funding. Hence, you need to somehow put fuel in the fire, to bring up exposure in some way, hence I mentioned "unorthodox marketting" above, literally any way that you can think of that can help in some way.(inb4 a ROMhack that advertises this game)

I apologize if I come off as rude in some parts above, but it just reminds me of so many failed kickstarters for promising games, and I don't want this to end up the same (so many hopes, then people outraged and asking for refunds, while trashing the project or kickstarter) where the developers were tortured from "What if" on their marketting campaigns and I honestly wish you the best and for this project to succeed! I did write so much feedback so as to help the kickstarter, even ignoring some programming tasks I had today (I did write this kind of late though, but at least the kickstarter is still active, and in its most important phase too, so don't consider it done yet, it can make a come-back!) In the end of the day, it's all about raising awareness to the point it snowballs itself and a fraction of it "cashes in", and for example, I still haven't heard of this kickstarter except of this place :(

Disclaimer: I have nothing to do with kickstarter, nor have I kickstarted any game, but I am looking a lot into marketting for the past year, hence the above is just a stranger's tip from someone who loves Chrono Trigger (and Crimson Echoes) very very much :D

Note: I did some edits on the above, so my points are more clear and easier to read/understand because admittedly it still looks a bit chaotic to read
« Last Edit: March 04, 2019, 07:44:39 pm by Balroth »