Ghost of a Tale’ Funded, Dev Talks IndieGoGo Sucess

‘Ghost of a Tale’ Funded, Dev Talks IndieGoGo Sucess
With his IndieGoGo funding campaign for Ghost of a Tale safely over the goal line, veteran Hollywood animator and first-time game developer, Lionel Gallat talked to IGM a bit about his experience using crowd funding to help complete his game.

safely over the goal line, veteran Hollywood animator and first-time game developer, Lionel Gallat talked to IGM a bit about his experience using crowd funding to help complete his game. Gallat had previously spoken to IGMin the middle of the campaign, shortly after IndieGoGo gave the project additional time to attempt complete funding.

IGM: With the campaign behind you, what are some of the things you wish you had done differently?

Gallat: I wish I had prepared more material to be able to show new things more often during the campaign’s run. As it was I had to take time to create assets (models, textures, etc…) and new visuals at the same time I was managing the campaign. And that was a source of stress of course. On the other hand, besides secretly developing half of the game beforehand (which didn’t seem an entirely valid option somehow) there’s not much more I could have done on my own.

IGM: How did you go about pitching the campaign around?

Gallat: I created the alpha trailer because I thought it would be the only way to convince people to back up the project. And Jeremiah Pena composed a wonderful music for it. So I was fairly confident about the quality of the video. I’ve seen many crowdfunding campaigns along the lines of “hey, look at this color sketch, we’re going to make the most amazing game ever!”. And for some video-game big names that might be enough, but I was well aware that I had no contact with gaming journalists and no game credits. So if I could manage to capture the mere shadow of the game’s spirit within one video, that was the best I could do.

The first step was to gather some email addresses on the web, but only of sites that I thought would be interested. It was hard work, as several sites don’t make themselves readily available, probably to avoid the onslaught of solicitations.

Then I started sending emails. Or rather filling in forms on websites (since I didn’t have that many email addresses to start with). I had prepared a PR release and wrote a simple, short email (about 5 lines) explaining in a couple of words who I was and where to find the project’s page. At that point I knew that if the glimpse offered by the video wasn’t enough to capture people’s imagination, me boasting loudly about my “Hollywood creds” would amount to nothing anyway.

I just sent maybe 5 or 6 emails on the first day. Then almost as much a couple of days later. It definitely was not bulk-spamming or any viral campaign attempt. After that, some of the campaign backers started adding their voices and provided a tremendous amount of help in spreading the word. Which I actually hadn’t anticipated. You need to understand that prior to launching this campaign I had no Facebook page, or Twitter account or any experience with social networks whatsoever. So it definitely was a crash-course.

Then after a while, journalists started asking me for interviews and I became aware that there was a genuine interest for the game. If people were willing to donate their time as well as their money, it meant that they truly believed in the project. And that in itself felt fantastic. I never could have bought or engineered so much genuine good will.

In the end the media coverage was ridiculously generous. I would be hard-pressed to come up with many major sites that did NOT mention “Ghost of a Tale” at all.

Finally of course I can’t overstate the support of my friends and family during the campaign. I’m convinced it was their myriad of little suggestions and nudges in the right direction that led to the campaign’s success.

IGM: What has been going through your head, these past few days?

Gallat: A little anxiety, but a lot of relief. I did what I could in regard to managing the campaign (which is actually far from being an example to follow), but I was also convinced that my control was somewhat limited; at some points I was perfectly aware that I had to trust in the appeal of the project itself. I’m a control freak, so it was a good lesson for me, to take a step back and appreciate the process, however scary it may seem. Surprisingly, it’s a fine line between not doing enough and doing too much.

Ultimately, as I wrote on the latest campaign update, I won’t think of this little success as a heavy pressure weighting down on me as I work on the game, but rather I should think of it as a huge mark of affection for the project. And I can certainly breathe easier when thinking of it this way!

Follow Gallat on Twitter