The Player-Funded Development Process

Artist's interpretation.

How many times have you applied to participate in the beta testing for a game you were excited about? How many times have you actually been chosen? If you have my luck, the answer is zero. What if all you needed was a credit card to get into the beta testing for Blizzard’s next MMORPG? It sounds crazy, but I’m noticing a new form of funding being used by independent developers that could very well be the future of beta testing and preorder bonuses for AAA and indie devs alike. Several independent developers have taken a new approach to getting the funding they need by allowing players to pay to play early builds of the game before it’s released. It’s basically alpha/beta testing that requires a credit card instead of an application with your computer specs attached.

I bring this up because it turns out if it’s fun and playable, players are absolutely willing to pay to play a game that isn’t finished. Think about all the beta testing opportunities you’ve submitted an application for. Chances are they were for a game you just couldn’t wait to play. Would you have paid ten bucks to guarantee your spot? I know I would have, especially if that was ten bucks off the final price when the game was released. That’s certainly a better preorder bonus than a piece of in-game content you’re probably going to forget to download. I still haven’t downloaded the armor that came with my Halo Reach preorder.

Then there’s kung-fu bunny brawler Overgrowth from Wolfire Games. Anyone who preorders it (for the full game price of $30) is given a code to download and play the game in its current alpha state throughout the development process. Every week preorderers can download the latest build of the game and fool around with what is basically a set of placeholder environments with some characters to run around and fight with freely complete with a set of basic mod tools. Why would anyone pay for that? Well, Overgrowth has some very impressive mechanics in place. Having preordered myself, the hand-to-hand (with some weapons thrown in) combat system is very fast and fluid and unlike any other game I’ve played. It’s surprisingly fun to just drop into my favorite level and spawn some enemies to cripple with my mad martial arts skills.

Amazing artwork by Aubrey Serr.

My point is that Wolfire Games has given its customers a mighty delicious taste of what they’re working on in exchange for their support in funding the game’s development. Over 7,000 preorders have been sold and it’s popular enough that the weekly development diaries end up on Gametrailers. Over $200,000 is a damn good budget for an indie game.

Developing an independent game is tough. Your average indie dev probably has a day job and spends his evenings chanting “Minecraft” over and over again while he cracks away at his unique game about a sentient, self-propelled flyswatter on a morally ambiguous quest of fly genocide. When done right, player-funded development can be exponentially helpful. You get constant player feedback, you’re basically getting free testing, and with the right management development costs can be covered. This kind of transparency is exactly what modern-day gamers want. We live in a world where the relationship between player and developer is becoming progressively more personal. With message boards, Facebook pages, and Twitter feeds players can communicate directly with the magicians that craft the magical experiences they spend their hard-earned money on. For the most part, this is a good thing.

Of course, this method won’t work for everyone. If this gets big we’re most certainly going to see projects with paid beta options that don’t really have much direction, but if you pay just $1.99 you can move the placeholder gradient sphere around the placeholder gradient environment before anyone else! Or worse yet, a promising concept that has had enjoyable alpha builds for several months could lose momentum and end up in vaporware hell. There’s also the debatable issue of whether this will put test teams out of work once more people discover that people are willing to pay to perform duties they used to pay other people to do. The danger is there, and until there’s a more structured and streamlined way to develop in this manner there will always be people attempting to take advantage of this rising phenomenon.

Oh hello Kickstarter! Didn’t see you there. This wonderful website is actually one of the best outlets for developers that need funding from interested players. It’s also a much more organized way to gain funding for a game or any other creative project. Kickstarter has all the bells and whistles set up for budding creative minds to set a funding goal, create incremental rewards based on the amount of money pledged, and post updates on the project’s progress. All obligations are called upon only if the goal is met, so it helps weed out any dubious attempts to scam people out of their money. I wouldn’t be surprised to see future game projects on this site offering early builds or beta keys to their more dedicated supporters.

As a quick aside, here’s a few games that have become a reality thanks to Kickstarter:

Dashkin
If you’ve ever been on Newgrounds, you know who Bitey of Brackenwood is. Did you know the little satyr is getting his own game? This project is actually still looking for extra funding in spite of meeting its quota way ahead of schedule for the sake of rebuilding it from a free Flash game to a console release.

CreaVures
This little gem is a gorgeous platformer about little creatures that must venture deep into the forest to rescue their friends and save their home.

Orion: Prelude
Dinosaurs. Jetpacks. Mechs. I haven’t played this one myself, but it looks awesome.

And what about the AAA developers that are going to take notice of this practice eventually? This is where things get negative. I love me a good high-budget game like Halo Reach and Mass Effect, but these developers don’t need support from their customers. They have good relationships with their publishers. So unfortunately the idea of charging for the priviledge to play an incomplete game is going to be seen as, well, wrong by the gaming community and industry both. I think positive execution is possible here, but it will have to be handled in a completely different way. How? I’m still working on that. How about we talk about it in the comments?