We think Sol Avenger is becoming something truly special- What do you guys think?

Friends, gamers, peers, lend us your ears! We are a small indie and we can’t afford expensive marketing; For the past year the Quantum Forge team has developed a game called Sol Avenger. The Kickstarter has been live for days! Although we’re excited about the project and we’ve worked very hard for over a year on it, we’re averaging just a handful of unique visits a day on the campaign page! Our team has is passing out flyers around local college campuses and community centers to boost public awareness because that’s all we can afford to do! Without any significant marketing budget, it’s difficult to get this thing off the ground! The people who have seen this project say good things about it overall. We think you’ll love Sol Avenger because:


It’s a space shoot'em-up action arcade game… Think Star Fox without the rails!


There are quests: Looting and leveling on planets and in space!


Skill, Stat and Ship Customization, RPG goodness! A different experience with every ship!


It’s an endless adventure! Our local solar system with a procedurally expanding universe beyond to explore!


A cross-platform release - We can build the game to multiple platforms provided the appropriate licensing!


Satisfying boss battles: Feel the rush of surviving in combat while also solving a fun puzzle!

No loading screens!



Support this indie project and come check out the Sol Avenger Kickstarter right here:


https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/661243298/sol-avenger-a-3-d-space-shootem-up-action-adventur

 

Are you looking for critique on the game - and KS campaign or are you just here to announce?

 

Does the player ever actually do anything in the game? Watching the video I can see it has a very nice presentation but seems like all we are doing is watching a battle or something going on up ahead. Meanwhile "our" fighter seems to just drift around sightseeing and occasionally doing a spiral or whatever. There is no feeling of intensity or challenge at all. I would expect the player ship to be obliterated if it just sits there watching never engaging anything.

 

So would you say the Kickstarter creator failed to do his/her job for what should have been obvious reasons as to why that video isn't as good as he/she thinks it is?

 

I don't know what the video creator's goal was exactly. I just think (assuming there really is a lot of action and blowing things up, collecting power ups and so forth in the game) the video is doing a very poor job of illustrating that. I think there is probably a lot of action and fun in the game but I never see it in the video. It looks like basically take this craft out and fly it around sightseeing. And do a spin or two if you feel like it. At least that is what I got from watching it. I expected within seconds of the video starting I would be in the middle of an intense fight watching the player obliterate enemies and narrowly escape death themselves. Obviously, this is only my opinion and others might not see it the same way. It seems like a lot of people only care about how good everything looks as far as raw graphics quality. In that aspect I think the video does a great job of showing the game has an excellent presentation. So the video may do well attracting funders and customers if that really is all people want these days.

 

I was going to reply earlier with a similar critique but I was hoping @Schneider21 was available to give us - the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The sticking point for me was there was 1:30 of video before it looked like the player finally interacted with anything. There was a lot of - like GarBenjamin said - flying towards stuff and looking at things, but no interaction.

I'll admit I didn't read any of the ks information, but the other thing which I found confusing was the concept art representing a bunch of interesting looking creatures and characters, but those weren't represented in the ks video at all. Maybe the character / creature aspect hasn't been created yet or maybe it was just showing the creatures and characters that are in the ships, but I didn't get the connection.

It's an interesting approach to the star fox type game, and I like how the ships warp into the area, that was cool. But it really still feels like it's on rails - speaking strictly from viewing the video.

 

"Obviously, this is only my opinion and others might not see it the same way."
I totally see it the exact same way.

 

Please show more of this action and what you call "space shoot'em-up action arcade game".
You have a lot of information in your KS which is great but need to show why I want to invest. The ships flying in circles or around a planet is really not showing off the game. Sorry I have something very similar with a Warthog. Not exciting.
Your beginning video, your company name is very grainy. Not sure why but it should be clear and sharp. Music is great. But I want to see fighting, shooting the lasers, getting hit, etc. Flying around really isn't showing off the game. And please pick a date. Don't have it as 21xx.
The views of the ships spinning around makes my eyes go nuts. Slow it down, show them more. Or better yet, show a video with you using the ships in battle.
The sketches of the main protagonists is fine.. do you have them as models in game? Show them off if you do.
The same for the aliens. Nothing would show better then them fully rendered in game doing something.
The music is fantastic. Very nice work there.
I wish you luck.

 

As you command, @theANMATOR2b.

The visuals of Sol Avenger are very well developed. Lots of pretty colors and flashing lights. And it looks like there's plenty of action going on. But I agree with the other comments that the videos you've provided don't necessarily give a good indication of how the player is involved.

Some games have a deep story/history. If yours does, you need to include something about that. If yours doesn't, and it's really just about the gameplay, make that clear, too. It kinda looks like there's no GUI in the game, due to the semi-cinematic way you've presented the clips. Where's the targeting system, the HUD, the mission objectives? Show some of that type of stuff.

As far as marketing goes, the one thing I tell everyone is that you need to have a fan base before you launch a Kickstarter campaign. Once that timer starts counting down is not the time to begin acquiring interest in your game. Fliers are definitely an... interesting way to spread the word. But Twitter, Facebook, and message boards are your best bet, I think.

I think the two things that are working against you the most are:

• What you've chosen to show of the game compared to the feature list - You mention an upgrade system, secondary weapons, all this content... yet only show a portion. Don't call stuff features if it doesn't exist yet (it can be "planned features" though) as that seems like a lie.
• Content Organization - As I stated in a previous thread, there's just sort of a wall of content on your KS page. It's tough to read through it in a sensible way. Weirdly, it might be useful to include LESS information when getting people initially interested, and then revealing more info through updates as you progress.