oops, almost forgot to post details of Kickstarter Update 9

lunawisp

Quote: Today marks the end of week #1 of our Kickstarter campaign, and what an amazing week it's been! Today, before the clock struck noon we'd achieved 80% of our funding goal of $900k. 80% in one week!
Read the rest - and see some cutesy concept art for pets (!)

Timberhick

Let me get this straight.

This was said

JeromyWalsh said:

Hello Everyone!

Thanks for your interest in Chronicles of Elyria, and in our upcoming Kickstarter. As is obvious from the multiple messages telling the OP so, as well as the document the information was pulled from, the information contained in this thread was private information we were circulating within our community in order to get feedback about what kinds of tiers we were looking at, what kinds of rewards we were offering, and whether people felt like the tiers and rewards were equitable. As others have said, it was, and still is, subject to change.

Unfortunately, someone felt the need to make themselves important and leak the information to the public before we were ready to share it. C'est la vie. We don't really care the information was leaked. What concerns us most is that it was done so without the conversation and context that existed in our IRC channel at the time the information was shared. So let me take this opportunity to provide some of the context, relay some of the information missing from the OP, and then respond to some of the comments people have made in the thread so far.

Research-driven Tiers

First, none of the tiers are random. The tiers are being developed through a tremendous research effort. Not just looking at past Kickstarters, though that plays a large role in it, but also by identifying who we think are likely to back our project on Kickstarter, what we think their budget is, and what we believe they'd be most interested in. Some of this is based on our own opinions as gamers and some of it is solicited from various communities.

To provide some examples, we created personas which we felt covered the majority of backers out there. Our personas included things like: solo players, enthusiasts, spouses, friend squads, YouTubers/streamers, large guilds, and yep, even whales. For each persona we thought about what they'd likely be interested in and able to spend on supporting us and what we thought they'd like as a reward. We then took that and used that information to create our tiers.

At the end of the day, we're still iterating on our tier values and the numbers themselves won't be locked in until Monday or Tuesday of next week. However, the takeaway here is that our goal is to get as much support as possible, while at the same time making sure the people who support us feel like they're getting something worthwhile in return.

Missing Information - Influence (IP) & The IP Store

Some of the information missing from the original post is that we wanted to give backers as much flexibility as possible when choosing their rewards. Our initial plan for that was to just offer a few backing tiers with increasing amounts of IP, and then provide an IP store where people could use the IP they got while backing us to buy whatever they want.

While that system is still in place, feedback we got from talking to people was that it created too many degrees of separation and that the system was only good for people who already knew what Influence Points were, and what they wanted as a reward. We were encouraged to follow a more traditional Kickstarter model so that those who stumbled on our Kickstarter would have clear ideas about what we were offering.

As a result, we introduced additional Kickstarter tiers that have specific rewards. However, and this was explained in IRC but not listed in the document, each tier of our rewards comes with IP. That IP can still be used to purchase stuff from the IP store which will be available as an image during the Kickstarter campaign. So right off the bat the reward tiers appear to contain less than they actually do.

The other important thing to note here is that Influence Points (IP) can be earned not only through the Kickstarter by backing us at different tiers, but can also be gained simply by participating in the community and helping to influence the success of the game. This means that LITERALLY everything that can be obtained via money by backing us on Kickstarter can also be obtained without money. We recognize there are multiple ways to influence the success of the game, and we offer the same rewards no matter how people go about doing it.

With that out of the way, let me take a moment to address some of the questions/comments/observations people have made in this thread and in other locations.

So we have SBS here going into great detail about all of the research that was done.

But after a week on Kickstarter the very same person now says...
I can tell you that nobody here expected that kind of response. We believed deep down that we were making a game that others wanted to play, and hoped against reason that we'd get fully funded, but never did we expect to get 80% in the first week. Thank you all for your support and encouragement.

Really?  What about all this research you did? 

Yet somehow when I say I find this kind of tactic sleazy I'm toxic and negative.

drakeordanska

He researched the tiers, what they were going to offer, their price ranges etc.
He did not research the amount of people that wanted a game like this. The reason the kickstarter was launched was due to the amount of active people on the forums

He quite obviously didn't realise how many people were looking for a game like CoE and would be willing to support the kickstarter.

Oh and since when was being grateful and happy for support being sleazy???

whilan

I'm sorry, but like drake said, that research was about Kickstarter tiers, nothing about metrics or about peoples interests in backing was mentioned in the piece you quoted. I think you are trying to find something that isn't there, or at the least haven't proven that to be true.

Quote: We took info from many sources and decided to go with these tiers based on research of prior tiers and talking to people.

Second Quote: We are surprised a lot of interest in this game and never could have imagined so many would back it.

Yanocchi

There is actually one thing that has been a bit curious. I'm referring to two particular elements in CoE's PR/hyping/marketing campaign over the past nine months.

The first one is that people who promote CoE or get new "converts" outside the community can gain influence points which will be used to buy benefits inside the game. On one hand, it is an effective way to promote the game and seems really good for indie developers. On the other hand, turning members of one's game community intentionally into advertisers by seducing them with a promise of gifts may not be too tactful or respectful towards followers. Many other games do the same thing with referral codes and friend promotions but CoE took this one step further with influence points.

The second element concerns supporting one's game community to go and hype or vote for the game on sites like mmorpg.com in oder to be #1 on some list. It is a tempting method of encouraging followers to go get some more followers, but may not be an awesome gesture towards fellow colleagues in other game companies working on other games.



TL; DR: Slight manipulation and seduction of followers, but not necessarily on the "dark side of the force" ("There is nothing to see here, move along." - Obi Wan Kenobi)




Edit: I might have discovered a new oxymoron while writing this - "marketing doping".  

Deffcon_1

Timberhick said:

Let me get this straight.

This was said

JeromyWalsh said:

So we have SBS here going into great detail about all of the research that was done.

But after a week on Kickstarter the very same person now says...
I can tell you that nobody here expected that kind of response. We believed deep down that we were making a game that others wanted to play, and hoped against reason that we'd get fully funded, but never did we expect to get 80% in the first week. Thank you all for your support and encouragement.

Really?  What about all this research you did? 

Yet somehow when I say I find this kind of tactic sleazy I'm toxic and negative.

Yes you are because you are completely misrepresenting or misunderstanding what was said. Not expecting to reach 90% funding within 10 days doesnt mean they didnt do research. They did research to determine the tiers they were going to have. Clearly they were successful. You are just salty because you were in the camp that thought this would go down in flames and you and that group are being proven very wrong. Get over it. If you dont support CoE, move on. You arent going to convince anyone that is supporting it to stop.

drakeordanska

Yanocchi said:

There is actually one thing that has been a bit curious. I'm referring to two particular elements in CoE's PR/hyping/marketing campaign over the past nine months.

The first one is that people who promote CoE or get new "converts" outside the community can gain influence points which will be used to buy benefits inside the game. On one hand, it is an effective way to promote the game and seems really good for indie developers. On the other hand, turning members of one's game community intentionally into advertisers by seducing them with a promise of gifts may not be too tactful or respectful towards followers. Many other games do the same thing with referral codes and friend promotions but CoE took this one step further with influence points.

The second element concerns supporting one's game community to go and hype or vote for the game on sites like mmorpg.com in oder to be #1 on some list. It is a tempting method of encouraging followers to go get some more followers, but may not be an awesome gesture towards fellow colleagues in other game companies working on other games.



TL; DR: Slight manipulation and seduction of followers, but not necessarily on the "dark side of the force" ("There is nothing to see here, move along." - Obi Wan Kenobi)




Edit: I might have discovered a new oxymoron while writing this - "marketing doping".  

Most ip comes from referal codes but that was put on hold after some ppl tried to manipulate it.

Those that earn ip from adverts etc are not that numerous mainly bicycle walrus and a few others. Voting on sites like this doesn't get ip

Yanocchi

drakeordanska said:

Most ip comes from referal codes but that was put on hold after some ppl tried to manipulate it.

Those that earn ip from adverts etc are not that numerous mainly bicycle walrus and a few others. Voting on sites like this doesn't get ip

Do you know if there was a reset of influence points at some point during last autumn or winter (influence points going to 0)? For some reason some influence points awarded by Jeromy Walsh last summer went back to 0 later.

lunawisp

They found a few people manipulating the IP system. Take a look at Caspians post.

drakeordanska

Indeed. Anyone found cheating lost the ip.

Yanocchi

lunawisp said:

They found a few people manipulating the IP system. Take a look at Caspians post.

"To begin with, we'll be clearing IP for all accounts. Then, we'll be re-awarding IP based on concrete earnings, such as blog posts, YouTube videos, Easter eggs, Live Chat participation, contributions to the forums, bug posting, etc..."

Thanks, so it did happen last autumn. Is it still possible to request a re-awarding of IP for concrete earnings if it didn't reach someone?

drakeordanska

I think maybe when the new site comes in and the ip is distributed properly you could probably appeal.

They have said they have a database of all the legit earnings waiting for the new site / ip store

Yanocchi

drakeordanska said:

I think maybe when the new site comes in and the ip is distributed properly you could probably appeal.

They have said they have a database of all the legit earnings waiting for the new site / ip store

Great! I hope the database of legit earnings stretches a really long way back to summer 2015 in that case. :awesome: 

drakeordanska

I'm sure it will. If not you could appeal to caspian's better nature

Vucar

As I understand it, your IP only "counts" if the people who referred you end up actually buying the game and become a "real person". Otherwise its too easy to make forum accounts, make a few posts, and appear to be a person so you can refer yourself.

So i think a lot of this pre-launch IP from referral codes won't solidify until after release, which i believe is fair.

drakeordanska

No after release ip is void.

It's if they earn their own ip through the ks and other methods

vonryan123

Good luck hope you guys make it sounds like you will.
Side note:
woot my 200th post.

whilan

Torval said:

Some overly simple math trivia for you:

The average pledge at this time is approximately $116. At that pledge amount the game needs 721 more people to pledge that amount. That's an average of 34.3 people per day for the next 21 days.

You can also look at it this way:

They need $83,278, they have 22 days (and some change) to get that in. So they need 3,785 dollars per day.

Note: at the time of this post

drakeordanska

Some more maths 3 days ago they needed 12,000 per day to reach the goal

It's now down and will hopefully complete well ahead of schedule.

Timberhick

Deffcon_1 said:

Timberhick said:

Let me get this straight.

This was said

JeromyWalsh said:

So we have SBS here going into great detail about all of the research that was done.

But after a week on Kickstarter the very same person now says...
I can tell you that nobody here expected that kind of response. We believed deep down that we were making a game that others wanted to play, and hoped against reason that we'd get fully funded, but never did we expect to get 80% in the first week. Thank you all for your support and encouragement.

Really?  What about all this research you did? 

Yet somehow when I say I find this kind of tactic sleazy I'm toxic and negative.

Yes you are because you are completely misrepresenting or misunderstanding what was said. Not expecting to reach 90% funding within 10 days doesnt mean they didnt do research. They did research to determine the tiers they were going to have. Clearly they were successful. You are just salty because you were in the camp that thought this would go down in flames and you and that group are being proven very wrong. Get over it. If you dont support CoE, move on. You arent going to convince anyone that is supporting it to stop.

Wanna show me where I said the kickstarter wouldn't be successful?  I'll wait.

Oh you need a clue.  I never did.  I knew the kickstarter would be successful. 

Are you seriously going to try to get us to believe that SBS never once looked at the distribution of pledges over the course of a kickstarter?

drakeordanska

Timberhick said:

Deffcon_1 said:

Timberhick said:

Let me get this straight.

This was said

JeromyWalsh said:

So we have SBS here going into great detail about all of the research that was done.

But after a week on Kickstarter the very same person now says...
I can tell you that nobody here expected that kind of response. We believed deep down that we were making a game that others wanted to play, and hoped against reason that we'd get fully funded, but never did we expect to get 80% in the first week. Thank you all for your support and encouragement.

Really?  What about all this research you did? 

Yet somehow when I say I find this kind of tactic sleazy I'm toxic and negative.

Yes you are because you are completely misrepresenting or misunderstanding what was said. Not expecting to reach 90% funding within 10 days doesnt mean they didnt do research. They did research to determine the tiers they were going to have. Clearly they were successful. You are just salty because you were in the camp that thought this would go down in flames and you and that group are being proven very wrong. Get over it. If you dont support CoE, move on. You arent going to convince anyone that is supporting it to stop.

Wanna show me where I said the kickstarter wouldn't be successful?  I'll wait.

Oh you need a clue.  I never did.  I knew the kickstarter would be successful. 

Are you seriously going to try to get us to believe that SBS never once looked at the distribution of pledges over the course of a kickstarter?

Your right I can't see in the 30 seconds I spent bothering to look.

What I did find is you being a hater in every other way and as soon as the game looks to start being successful with kickstarter, and as soon as the rest of the community rise up in direct disagreement with you what happens?

You do a U-turn that even the conservative party (UK politics here) would be proud of

Deffcon_1

Timberhick said:

Deffcon_1 said:

Timberhick said:

JeromyWalsh said:

Wanna show me where I said the kickstarter wouldn't be successful?  I'll wait.

Oh you need a clue.  I never did.  I knew the kickstarter would be successful. 

Are you seriously going to try to get us to believe that SBS never once looked at the distribution of pledges over the course of a kickstarter?

Your post made no sense to anyone that has solid comprehension of reality. Thats what I was pointing out. You make claims that are based in some fantasy that isnt reality. Its perfectly reasonable, to normal people, that Soulbound can say they did research on setting their Kickstarter up AND that they are surprised at the success. You seem to think that because they are surprised at its success its shows they arent genuine. The only thing that can be drawn from your comment is that you think Soulbound is playing dirty or that they arent genuine. The only way to get to that conclusion is if you have a personal vendetta against them or that you dont live inside reality. If you honestly dont think its possible for a company do both do research on something and then also be surprised at its success, then you are not connected with reality. Stop being salty.

celestialimmortal

is there a real gameplay video yet?

drakeordanska

There is alpha combat and I'm engine footage but no "gamplay" yet