I’m Jake, and I’m a 17-year old indie game developer. I’ve been working with the Unity engine for 3 or 4 years now, and I recently released my first FPS, Dogs of Combat.
It was originally on the PlayStation Mobile platform, which we all know is now closed. So now, I’ve decided to switch to iOS, but I don’t have a Mac, and I need to upgrade Unity. I have a crowdfunding campaign running on Indiegogo to help me raise funds so I can develop for iOS.
What I want to do with Dogs of Combat is make a community around it, and the best way to do that is to make it available on the App Store, where there’s a much bigger audience than on PSM. I’m also offering player accounts in the iOS port.
I know this isn’t really the place to promote a crowdfunding campaign, but its been my dream to do iOS programming, and I want to pitch my idea to the right audience. The campaign has only 5 days left, so if you want to make a contribution, the link is here:
If you have any questions, my email is in my signature. It would mean so much to me if you supported my campaign. Thank you!
I’m confused. You have a mostly finished game already, right? I mean, you released it on PlayStation Mobile, so I assume there’s a complete game there.
Your budget breaks down like this:
Hardware: $588
Software: $2,009
Licenses: $2,058
Fees: $245
So it looks like you’re planning on picking up a used Mac Mini or older MBP to build from, which is great. But what are the other items actually for? What software do you need to buy now that you didn’t before? And what licenses? Who is charging you those fees?
I’m always put off by a KS/IGG campaign when I feel like I’m being misled. The fact that this campaign seems to be just porting a finished game to another platform along with vague suggestions as to why this amount of money is needed and where it’s going would make me shy away from contributing.
It looks like most of the few backers you have are friends and family. I think you probably understand that you waited too long to be promoting the campaign (promotion should be a full-time job the entire time the campaign is running, and should start several months before at a minimum).
You haven’t asked for advice on what you could do better, so I don’t want to bombard you with it unsolicited. I’d be happy to offer more input, though, if you’re interested. Good luck in getting your game brought to iOS, however you do it!
@Schneider21 To answer your question about the budget, here is the exact list:
Used/Refurbished MacBook Pro
2 Unity Pro 5 upgrades (To stay updated with the latest software on both Windows and OS X)
Apple Developer License (Needed to test apps/games in Xcode and put them on the App Store)
iOS Pro license (needed for image effects and splash screens)
Indiegogo charges a 5% fee and payment processors also charge a fee.
I already have Unity Pro 4, but in order to stay up to date with the iOS SDK versions, its a good idea for me to upgrade. I’m not porting just Dogs of Combat to the App Store. My plan is to put my future games on there as well.
I’m working on an update based on user feedback, so what you see in the campaign is still a work in progress. If you have any input, I’d be interested to hear about it.
