Mango is gaining momentum and sponsors. What I am wondering is how much more could be brought in if it were listed on Kickstarter? Why isn’t it? I actually think this would really work for Mango or a future blender project.
Enough work needs to go into the initial video introducing the project in order to promote it successfully. I think that if we (community + BF) focused on producing a pitch video of sufficient caliber (something like this), the project could really gain some steam there. Set the goal really high, like a million dollars. If our community pitched in and backed the project there as well, it could easily provide the momentum to get the project pushed up and over the top from the rest of the world. Think of how many non-blender users that could be reached by a spotlight on Kickstarter. I think money would flow in from lots of new sources.
It would be important to pitch not just the film’s creation, but also the fact that the money would be supporting Blender. We need a sensitive, emotional video that shows the thousands of people that Blender helps, the awards Ton has recieved, the past work produced by BF. Tell them about the big companies Blender competes with, and how shoestring the budget is. Then we need a cool, funny pitch-man like Cessen to come in and get them excited about it all. (that would work for sure)
Anyway it may not be the right timing. I just recently learned about the site and wanted to share. It is exciting to see the successful projects, and I think BF has the history and reputation to be one of the big ones. Sorry if it has been suggested before.
@ton -Why not try this with the next film? Go for something longer perhaps? Or make a game…
everybody without a credit card wouldn´t be able to " back this project " due to missing standard online payment methods(eg paypal) in kickstarter.
so every kickstarter project is doomed to a SMALLER mayority of people,(outside of the US) which also means that it isn´t a choice to consider for a fruit which is better consumed worldwide
For Kickstarter you need US residence, the Blender Foundation is in the Netherlands. Apart from Kickstarter there is also Indiegogo, which is a very similar site, takes both Paypal as well as CC and also works for European Projects - it is however less known.
Funding is working as-is right now so I don’t see the immediate need to use any of these platforms, but I’d welcome it.
Couldn’t a US office be opened, in name only? I’m sure there are many willing people ready to offer their address. But thanks I didn’t know that. I suggested KS simply because of the incredible dollar amounts I saw going to much less worthy causes. I.E. don’t just fund a film or game, fund a project that will help empower you to make your own film or game.
Yeah I’m sure it could be worked around, it’s more a technicality. Also regarding PayPal, the Wasteland 2 guys have a PayPal-Sideportal in addition to their Kickstarter page - it accounts for about 3% of pledges. But even with PayPal some people will complain that they don’t want to use it…
I don’t see a real benefit - and opening an US office and stuff’s just not worth the efford, or better yet, the efford is unlikely to pay off.
Kickstarter hosts 1000000000000000 +1 projects from “i paint images rolling my nutella soaked cat on unicorn parchment” to “I build an interstellar harvester to retrieve moon cheese from all over our galaxy”.
Some selected few which get media attention right from the start are lucky, or the project pulls the right strings in the community and suddenly skyrockets with donations and thus gets media attention and more donations.
And there are plenty of projects that do not meet their goal day by day. If a Blender project does not meet the goal it’s unlikely it will not be done.
And there was e.g. the Oceansim, which we saved by something similar, money was raised, it was ported. Could be done without kickstarter and that’s that.
Rather invest the time and possibly money to sound the drums and attract sponsors rather than investing time in kickstarter.
The Blender homepage has a donation button and the donation subscription. People can just put their money there.
I rather see 100 people donate 10 USD to the BF directly for Ton to put to good use than 1000 people donating, not reaching the kickstarter goal and the BF getting no money at all.
I also think blender doesn’t need a kickstarter, as long as we purchase blender merchandise or donate on the blender website itself blender will keep going.
If you do want to have a kickstarter then you’re better of creating it to form a team to make a specific feature that the BF is not working on. It’d be a smarter investment without these 2 getting in eachothers ways.
Yes, you do. There needs to be one person to fulfill that requirement, the project can still be international in nature.
And there are plenty of projects that do not meet their goal day by day. If a Blender project does not meet the goal it’s unlikely it will not be done.
Indiegogo has a “flexible” backing option model, where the funds will be transferred even if the goal is not met (if the goal isn’t met, the fees will be a bit higher).
Portals like these may help in getting some attention from other people than blender regulars. I personally browse them occasionally, looking for cool things (usually game-related stuff, though). Also, setting up a KS/Indiegogo page is not much extra work compared to pitching it the way the BF has done in the past.
