Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is the practice of raising money from a large number of people rather than relying on a few larger investors or donors. Funds are typically collected via the internet from people all over the world that are convinced by the potential of a project.

An incentive may be offered to potential funders to entice them into investing in the project. In the context of visual novel development, the incentive is usually a reward.

Advantages

• Obtain capital without taking on personal debt or giving up any intellectual property rights
• The campaign acts as advertising for your project and generates interest early
• Allows you to check if your idea has an audience before investing more resources into it

Disadvantages

• Requires upfront investment in promotional material (art, trailer, etc)
• Creating and shipping physical rewards will eat into the funds collected, so you need to account for that
• A failed campaign may demoralize you and kill the project
• Scope can grow larger than anticipated with stretch goals

Typical rewards

Digital

• Digital copy of the game
• Digital copy of the OST
• Digital art book
• Development book (behind the scenes content)
• Allow funders to shape the game
  • Add/design a character
  • Add/design a piece of art (background, CG)
  • Add scenario
• Access to updates, mailing list, discord server
• Early access
• Special credits

Physical

• Physical copy of the game
• Physical copy of the OST
• Physical art book
• Buttons, patches
• Postcards
• Poster, wallscroll, tapestry
• Plushies, figurines
• Clothing (t-shirt, hoodie, jacket)
• Pillow cases (dakimakura), bed sheet

Stretch rewards

Many projects will offer stretch goals to give the community new targets to reach once the initial goal has been met. The base goal will typically be enough to just create the base game, but stretch goals allow the project directors to add nice-to-have features. These features can include:

• Additional assets (music, CG, backgrounds, sprites, etc)
• Additional platforms (console, PC, mobile)
• Additional scenarios

Popular Platforms

• Kickstarter
• Indiegogo
• GoFundMe