How do you fund an indie game with crowdfunding?

What should a game campaign pay for?

One finished milestone players can hold: a complete small game, the first chapter, a console port, the soundtrack album. A goal for "the next two years of development" is hard to picture and hard to fill.

The code is usually the part you write yourself. The campaign pays for what you can't make alone, and for getting the game out the door.

How big should the goal be?

The real cost of that milestone, plus the rewards and the fees, and nothing added for show. The usual lines for an indie game:

• Art and animation you commission.
• Music and sound effects.
• Translation into the languages you'll sell in.
• Store and release costs, and a test device or two.
• Making and sending any physical reward.

For example: art $1,500, music and sound $1,000, translation $500, store costs and a test device $500. That's $3,500. Add the rewards and a margin for fees, and the goal lands near $4,000. The goal planner does that sum with your own numbers.

What rewards do players want?

The game first, then a place inside it. Ideas that suit a game:

• A copy of the game on release day.
• Beta access, weeks before launch.
• The backer's name in the credits.
• Naming a character, an item or a town.
• Designing an enemy or a level with the team.
• The soundtrack and a digital artbook.
• A printed poster or a boxed edition, for the top tier.

Digital rewards cost almost nothing to deliver, so make them the popular tiers. Keep physical ones few, and price them to cover shipping. The reward tier planner shows what each tier leaves you.

When should you launch?

When people can see the game move: a playable demo, a short trailer or a set of clips. A campaign with only concept art asks players to imagine too much.

Before day one, gather the people who already play it: demo players, devlog readers, the community you post clips to. They make the first days, and a campaign that starts strong is easier to share. About 30 days suits most campaigns. Pick a deadline that leaves you time to deliver what you promise.

How can players and streamers help?

By sharing the link, and you can pay them for it. When you publish, set a share reward from nothing up to 18.5% of each pledge. Whoever shares the link earns that share of every pledge it brings in, paid by the program in the same transaction.

A streamer who plays your demo live now has a reason to put the link in the chat.

What does it cost?

Writing and previewing the campaign costs nothing. Opening it costs $5 on the free plan. Each pledge pays 1.5% plus a flat $0.99, and the share reward you set comes out of the pledge too. The smallest pledge is $10, low enough for a tier that is just a thank you.

The percentage fee on a pledge follows the plan of the account making it. It's taken when the pledge is made, so it isn't returned if the campaign misses its goal. Paid plans aren't on sale today, so the published fee is the free plan's fee.

What if the goal is missed?

If the goal isn't met by the deadline, you take your pledge back from escrow with one tap, and nobody has to approve it. What comes back is the amount held for you: your pledge minus the fees taken when you backed (the platform fee, the flat fee, any tip and any share reward the campaign pays).

You keep the demo, the trailer and the list of players who wanted the game. You can come back with a smaller scope and a goal those same players can fill.

How do you start?

1. Sign up in the app with email or Google.
2. Write the story: what the game is, what's done and what the money finishes.
3. Add the goal, the deadline and your reward tiers.
4. Preview it, set the share reward and publish.
5. Post the link, with the trailer, wherever your players are.

How to set a crowdfunding goal, from the free course, goes deeper on the number. Everything you can fund has a guide for each kind of project, and every other question is in the answers.