Started working with Unity, last wave of Facebook ads.

Facebook ads

Ads with my newest presentation video. After spending around $250, I got someone back me for $5. Not very lucrative…

Unity development

Here is what I had in my old Unity prototype:

• Old graphics.
• Character movements using the mouse.
• My own cutscene API and the first cutscene in Thomas’s house.
• Triggered cutscene when we walk near the priest.
• NPC AI for running randomly and speaking.
• Combat in a separate screen. It had no enemies though and there were no way to transition from and to the dungeon scene.
• Movement and throwing skill in combat.

I don’t know how much time it took for this work. This week, I worked 42,5 hours on the Unity game.

• Going into and out of combat without having a separate screens. It is not complete.
• Adding enemies in combat and making the attacks make some damage.
• Integrating the Dependency Injection and refactored some of the existing code. I took Zenject from the Asset Store.
• Integrating a few of the newer graphics
• Adding background music. I made a small music manager that remembers where the song was at when you go into combat so it does not start over when you go out. Also, when switching scene and the music is the same, it runs seamlessly while the scene loads.
• Buying TileTool2D to help me make dungeons faster. This tool would benefit from a better explained tutorial, I had a hard time figuring out the workflow. It had some bugs I fixed and I also adapted the tool to my need.

A lot of work need to be done to polish the UI. Making an AI for the enemies in combat will take a lot of time.

This week

• Continue having fun with Unity!
• Maybe make a video about my progress in Unity, I did not hear enough interest so far, so I am not tempted to spend much time on this.

Weekly update is a way to summarize what I have done last week.

This is written pretty quick and without much revision, as I want to spend more time on the game’s development.

Feel free to ask for precision if some parts you are interested in are not clear enough.

A new presentation video and started working with Unity.

New presentation video

I did a three minutes video that explains the project more in details than the Gameplay trailer. It covers the three main features: battle system, story and collaborative mindset of the project. There is an error in the dialog that I am currently fixing, so I will upload a new version soon.

Unity development

I dig up my old Unity prototype and made it work. I read about best practices on the internet and search useful assets in the Unity store.

This week

• New Facebook ads campaign with the new video.
• If the ads work, I will continue marketing efforts and contact journalists/Youtubers.
• Have fun with Unity!

Weekly update is a way to summarize what I have done last week.

This is written pretty quick and without much revision, as I want to spend more time on the game’s development.

Feel free to ask for precision if some parts you are interested in are not clear enough.

I took half the week redesigning the About page, launched a new Facebook ads campaign and started receiving some feedback.

Weekly update is a way to summarize what I have done last week.

This is written pretty quick and without much revision, as I want to spend more time on the game’s development.

Feel free to ask for precision if some parts you are interested in are not clear enough.

New about page

The new about page is here. Even with the Facebook ads, people navigated through the sub-menus a lot less than I thought they would: but that is where the good stuff is at! So my plan is to make a longer presentation video that will present my new plan for the story and what the full game will include.

Satisfaction survey and Reddit AMA

I got a few answers and it is pretty constructive so far. Fill it if you haven’t already:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1GcITkBVhutfr7JfM19GL7aBE8c30xjRDaZL0HZgIMJA/edit

• Main concern is about the story.
  
• Some are concerned about all the religion stuff in the story. I must emphasize that the story will go toward a religious revolt and that you will be in the heart of it.
• A few Chrono Trigger’s fan don’t like I compare my game to their favorite game
• Some concerns regarding my English skills.

Another hypothesis for the Kickstarter failure is the project state: the game is not polished as well as other competing projects on Kickstarter.

Facebook ads

I made a new campaign linking to the new about page. Most people watch the game’s trailer and don’t navigate through the sub-menus.

This week

• New project presentation video.
• New Facebook campaign with that video.
• If that does not work out, I think I’ll just quit and have fun: continue working on the demo in Unity and see how much can be done in the amount of time I have left.

Kickstarter launch was a complete failure, I need to figure out what is missing in The Pilgrimage and adapt my marketing strategy.

Weekly update is a way to summarize what I have done last week.

This is written pretty quick and without much revision, as I want to spend more time on the game’s development.

Feel free to ask for precision if some parts you are interested in are not clear enough.

Satisfaction survey

Please fill this anonymous survey, so I can better adapt The Pilgrimage to your expectations.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1GcITkBVhutfr7JfM19GL7aBE8c30xjRDaZL0HZgIMJA/edit

Presentation video

I made a presentation video. If you haven’t already, you can view it on the Kickstarter page. Memorizing text takes too much long, so I cheated a little and only learned half of my text. If I had improvised, I would have hesitated too much, degrading the professionalism of the video.

Facebook ads

I stopped Facebook ads. They still have a low Cost per Click, but nobody supported the project on Kickstarter.

Press contact

Contacted a lot of journalists in English and French. A lot opened my emails, but no response or media coverage so far.

Kickstarter

Kickstarter launched last Wednesday. Only 3 supporters so far, which is really deceiving. Funny facts, I received so MUCH message regarding Kickstarter campaign’s promotion in the days after. Even one for my Indiegogo project!?

This week

• Ask the community what they like in the project and what should be added to Kickstart it.
• Improve the about page of my website and refer the Kickstarter project description right from the top. The page will be better organized by section of interest and explain more on a particular aspect of the game.
• Re-do some promotion.
• AMA on Reddit Thursday: https://twitter.com/Filcius/status/789099874725851136

Preparation for Kickstarter launch this Wednesday, finished first Facebook ad campaign “I need your opinion” and contact some Youtubers.

Weekly update is a way to summarize what I have done last week.

This is written pretty quick and without much revision, as I want to spend more time on the game’s development.

Feel free to ask for precision if some parts you are interested in are not clear enough.

Facebook ads

I did the “I need your opinion” marketing campaign. I spent around 150$ and a rate of 1.12$/click, which is good. However, even if people visited my site, I only got 10 contacts from this campaign. My facebook targeted audience is quite small, so I chose to stop annoying it with my ads for a while and start again a new marketing campaign in-sync with Kickstarter launch. This campaign will give more information on the game’s features up-front.

Press contact

Sent emails to a lot of Youtube channels that may be interested by my game, in the hope they try it and talk about it. A few opened the mail, but no response so far. I did not send to all of my list yet.

My girlfriend translated the press kit in French, but I did not integrate it yet, until I contact French/Quebec press.

Kickstarter

Kickstarter will launch next wednesday around 12:00-13:00 EST.

Kickstarter description is done and ready for preview here. Serve yourself: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/filcius/1095457962?token=6961194b

I will try to add a presentation video.

This week

• Integrate final art for the “I Need Your Opinion“ campaign
• Finally do the present myself video to add to Kickstarter description.
• Finish the “Kickstarter” ads campaign and launch it.
• Promotion of my game on Kickstarter
• If I have time, contact press and youtubers

Kickstarter in 1 week, gameplay trailer done

New graphic integration

I opened Gimp and helped Christa make some minor adjustments to existing assets. She also make some preliminary versions of everything, so I can make screenshots and video trailer. I removed worker’s variants for now.

The hardest part remaining was the male NPC walking animation, but it has been tackled. Remaining animations have been postponed, to prioritize boss variants for the Give-me-your-opinion campaign I want to launch this week.

Marketing

I attempted to make email submission form https, but it was too expensive (25$/month) and not necessary, so I canceled that.

I wrote some ideas for marketing campaign.

I wrote a press kit.

I started contacting Youtubers to talk about my game, but no success.

Facebook ads

I worked a bit on ads, but not a lot.

Gameplay trailer

It is done and published. It does not have all final graphics (finding the errors could be a good trivia!). I may re-publish it with alternate texts.

Kickstarter

Christa reviewed the texts. She has been a great so far finding error and criticizing the content.

This week

• Main goals is to gain some fans and to launch Kickstarter campaign in 1 week.
• Making ads material for Facebook
• Finish the “Give me your opinion” ads campaign.
• Start some Facebook ads
• Contact press and youtubers

Weekly update is a way to summarize what I have done last week.

This is written pretty quick and without much revision, as I want to spend more time on the game’s development.

Feel free to ask for precision if some parts you are interested in are not clear enough.