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Star Army

Star ArmyⓇ is a landmark of forum roleplaying. Opened in 2002, Star Army is like an internet clubhouse for people who love roleplaying, art, and worldbuilding. Anyone 18 or older may join for free. New members are welcome! Use the "Register" button below.

Note: This is a play-by-post RPG site. If you're looking for the tabletop miniatures wargame "5150: Star Army" instead, see Two Hour Wargames.

  • If you were supposed to get an email from the forum but didn't (e.g. to verify your account for registration), email Wes at [email protected] or talk to me on Discord for help. Sometimes the server hits our limit of emails we can send per hour.
  • Get in our Discord chat! Discord.gg/stararmy
  • 📅 January 2025 is YE 47.1 in the RP.

Kickstarter Project Brainstorming

I am on the "... Why?" boat, personally.

A map is the only thing that is thinly possible as a candidate to me, and even that is extremely questionable. If we made and "bought" a map, then... How... Would we update it? Stuff changes rapidly, flags, etc. Jiyuu can't possibly be deprecated forever out of plot reasons alone, for instance.

Now. I do think it'd be nice to have a map of some sort with added functionally because god knows it's kind of a pain, especially trying to go from the wiki article to map. I do seem to recall a Google maps program that basically did what you wanted a few places elsewhere, so try looking at that...?
 
Kickstarter is a bit of a fad: People won't pay for something SARPly if they're not already invested in the game.

And usually with a kickstarter?

The whole idea is you go into debt MAKING something and then WITH A FINNISHED PRODUCT you hold your hand up and say "Now I need monies to cover the debts I went into making this and the distribution".

If you don't have a concrete product READY and WORKING that PEOPLE OUTSIDE OF THE SITE WOULD WANT then you're flat out not going to do well on Kickstarter.

Seriously, Wes. Don't bruise your ego over this.

I think our best option is to produce a map and maybe some way of viewing objects in three dimensions - like a really simple flash app where you can dump screenshots or sketches with specific names into a directory then have the embedded flash read the directory - then you drag to rotate around the object. You could literally do this with anything. Ships, starbases, weapons, items, components... Anything you want to.
 
What about a model where our site is funded through KS and for each level of funds we reach, we unlock new projects (eg art, site improvements, etc)? Penny Arcade did it; we could so something similar but smaller.
 
If you're just using KS as a way to collate donations and interest within the site to one visible, easy to manage location, I suppose that would work.
 
Try it if you want, Wes.

I find it a bit silly to have you go for that, since it's a bit like succumbing to a fad. You could've just kept it to a donation drive and put some graphic gauge on the top of the site for visibility.

More importantly, the reason I'm recommending against it is not because I'm trying to be contrary so much as wanting to spare you disappointment. After all, it's no skin off my back if you do go for it. But I've seen how the last nomination/voting for the 2012 awards went. That just doesn't give me much faith in thinking something like a SARPstarter would really lift off.

And, regarding the map thing... let's be honest: it's something the people whom were working on it could probably do on their own if they found the motivation to finish up on each portions. You yourself admittedly to being well able to do imagemaps and likely could implement it for the clusters.

Maybe you were eyeing for something loftier, but right now we don't even have that. We'd probably be happy with this since it'd already be a huge upgrade over what we've already got. And we'd be able to update it without needing to go through an intermediary.
 
When I donate something to a kickstarter, I do it because I want something out of it. Some kind of gadget, toy, software or something. This is probably true for most other donators. I honestly don't see what we can provide to contributors that would warrant them wanting to give SARP money.

So unless we're giving people like real, physical, ship models or something, I don't see how this is going to succeed. Even something like a book has a very limited scope due to the genre we tend to write in.

What exactly does SARP have to give to a person in exchange for cold, hard cash?
 
This is very WIP, but for your input/consideration:

Being an only RP site, we don't have a lot of physical goods to offer.

Star Army: 2014 Projects

Rewards:

$10: more special thanks mention on our wiki, forum title
$25: Patch (new design) + above
$50: Twitter and SARPtalk thanks from @StarArmy plus the above
$75: Name a star system plus the above
$125: Wes will commission art of your character + above
$250: Wes will commission art of your character and get it sent to you as a signed, framed print + all $75 and below rewards
$500: Wes will commission a detailed scene of your choice from the SARP universe + all $75 and below rewards
$1000: Wes or Nashoba will help you create an alien faction and run a plot featuring it. Includes 5 art commissions for your faction.

Goal: $1000 to fund the site for 2014

Stretch goals:

$1500 A new chibi art project for when the current one runs out
$2000 Make the site ad-free for 2014
$2500 We'll commission a new forum theme

($15,000 Wes will resign his job to run SARP full time ?)
Click to expand...
 
Alternatively, we could just have the site be funded through subscription donations and begging (like it is now) but move all art into KS projects so we don't spend on it unless there's enough support. Rewards would be prints and such. Thoughts?
 
I don't think moving the art projects to KS accomplishes much. Most art is for individuals, unless you're talking broad projects — even then, it's mostly individual (even setting stuff benefits only a group of people, not all).

Paying for the site, and using rewards as enticement, I don't see working. The only thing avoided by doing this, I think, is you (or others) having to pitch and then gladhand people into paying for the site (or an art project). Basically, Wes, you avoid becoming a fundraiser by using rewards to entice people instead of ideas, vision or pressure.

Which is great! I don't want you to be a fundraiser. I want you to be the thinker.

If the point is to pay only for art projects with support of the community, that's easy to do, Wes — stop spending money without a vote AND cash-in-hand from the community. Just stop spending money. It's that easy.
 
About the only thing I'd kickstarter would be the commissioning of a SARP comic written by a community member and drawn by a professional artist. Maybe a pen and paper RPG sourcebook with full art and design.
 
I'm in agreement with the general vibe here; kickstarter funding 'normal' SARP functions (art and map) does seem a little iffy, and Doshii's statements regarding tightening the purse strings could do well to ease the strain on the coffer.

In my opinion, I think that the current map project that has been underway forever (like Duke Nukem Forever, pardon my gaming joke), would still work perfectly well, especially if a little bit of HTML trickery is used to make each part of the proposed grid-like map into a link for the wiki. That, or even just retooling our current map page, to have a listing of systems and 'points of interest' beneath it, which would work perfectly well. A suped up map in flash or some such would just produce too much bandwidth demand.

Meanwhile, if we were to do a Kickstarter for something, it is going to have to be a product of some sort, something to get SARP out there into another media. Some sort of ebook, or comic would likely be the best bet. It is an attainable goal, and if we do a digital comic, the overhead would be minimal. Games require devs, designing, testing, marketing, too much fuss. A comic downloadable from Amazon would incur the least monetary investment.

As for motivators for in-house donations, Wes, you got a nice solid list there. I like it. Though, for people to commit to throwing money at a kickstarter, you need some stuff that has a universal appeal. Like... promotional prints/posters, pins, shiny things like that. Not to mention, if it is a comic or ebook, it is usually practice to give donators over a certain amount a copy of the product that is being developed, and that in itself is often a good motivator.
 
Wes, what about raising funds to develop a smartphone app for SARP? It notifies you via phone when somebody posts on a subscribed thread, all favorited threads are available for viewing via app rather than using a browser, PM messaging available, etc.
 
I don't think the app idea would have enough rewards, wide appeal, or usefulness to be worth doing. We can already subscribe to threads by email. If we made an app, it'd have to be a game and that's a bigger project than we can take on right now IMO.
 
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