Which model collection would you prefer?

[tucho]

Hi people, I'm an experienced 3D artist (9+ years working in the game industry) and lately I've been thinking on start a crowdfunding campaign to create a collection of good looking character models for indie developers.

 

I'm thinking on a polygon budget about 2500-3000 tris, to the models be usable on mobile devices, but they still have detail enough to look nice on PC or console games, so the idea is that the collection be really versatile.

 

If the campaign is successful I'll create the collection and the backers will obtain it (or just the models that they choose) at a very good price, but before start the campaign, I'd like to make a poll here to see which kind of models are more demanded for the developers.

 

My first option is a collection of medieval characters, because I already have a old one available for purchase on Turbosquid  and it work pretty good on sales, but the other options would be:

 

• Soldiers WWII

• Soldiers (modern)

• Zombies and zombie hunters

• Romans

• Normal people

• Orcs

 

Any feedback or more options for other collections are welcome as well 

 

BTW: you can see a sample of my work on my online portfolio, so you can have a more clear idea about the quality that would have the character collection if the campaign is successfully.

[Aardman55]

1, Zombies and zombie hunters (you can never get enough of those)

2, Soldiers (modern) 

3, Normal People (you can never get enough of those, either.)

4, Romans

5, Orcs 

6, Soldiers WW2 (its been done to death and theres probably more of those than there are zombies and zombie hunters)

[ZedHead]

Well knowing me I would always end up going with zombies/zombie hunters but I'm more interested in medieval since now I can find zombies everywhere.

[HeadClot]

Hey tucho,

 

Here is what I voted for and what I would like to see.

 

1. Soldiers (Modern) - What will these include character wise? (US Marines? US Army? Air force Pilots? Special Forces (Army Rangers? Navy Seals? First Recon? SAS? Delta Force?) Russians (Spetznaz? Russian Army? SMERSH?), Middle East Insurgents?)

2. Normal People - Are we talking modern people here or no?

3. Romans - Are we talking Roman Military or Roman Citizens? Would it be possible to do both?

4. Zombies / Zombie Hunters

 

Will these models be rigged or will we need to do that ourselves?

 

I would love to see some props/Vehicles included (Tanks, APC's, Drones, Aircraft, Ships, Small arms, etc.) as a stretch goal or two.

 

Same goes with the rest of the packs would it be possible to make the rest of the packs available as a stretch goal?

 

Thank you for your time,

 

HeadClot

[Fj45]

Ever thought about making some tf2 models? http://steamcommunity.com/workshop/browse?appid=440&p=1

Might be something a bit different and you could earn some good money.

[Walther]

why didnt anyone say swimsuit models?

[Kirrus]

why didnt anyone say swimsuit models?

Because it'd make me glare at them?

[tucho]

Thanks for so many feedback guys

 

@HeadClot: Good questions, my explanation about the collections was too short to you have a good idea about what I have in mind.

Soldiers (Modern) - What will these include character wise? (US Marines? US Army? Air force Pilots? Special Forces (Army Rangers? Navy Seals? First Recon? SAS? Delta Force?) Russians (Spetznaz? Russian Army? SMERSH?), Middle East Insurgents?)

 

I was thinking on high tech US soldiers like, maybe with customizable flags and different color and camouflage textures for their clothing to they can be used in a wide range of situations.

Normal People - Are we talking modern people here or no?

 

Yep, they would be nowadays common people, men and women with both sport and formal clothes, also with different color variations each to add variety. All collections would have interchangeable heads so with the color variations and changing the head would be easy to create different characters to create crowds, etc.

Romans - Are we talking Roman Military or Roman Citizens? Would it be possible to do both?

 

I was thinking on military ones if the campaign would be sucessful maybe I'd make another collection of civilians or add it as a stretch goal, but  so far this is one of the less voted collections, so I think that Romans won't be the chosen collection for the campaign

Will these models be rigged or will we need to do that ourselves?

 

Yep. they will be fully rigged and animated, I forgot to explain it in my first post. The idea is that the characters will be game ready. I'll provide it in both Max (source files) and FBX (compatible with many game engines) formats.

I would love to see some props/Vehicles included (Tanks, APC's, Drones, Aircraft, Ships, Small arms, etc.) as a stretch goal or two. 

 

Same goes with the rest of the packs would it be possible to make the rest of the packs available as a stretch goal?

 

I don't think on make any vehicle for now, but all the collections would have several props according with each one.

 

I'll make just one collection to start, because to prepare the campaing will take me some time, I'll make the first character of the collection to show the quality and I'll create concept art for the rest of the models, to the backers could know which characters want to purchase, if they don't want to purchase the entire collection, or if they want to purchase the whole collection to they be able to know if they're really interested on it.

 

If the first campaign is sucessful I'll make more campaigns to augment the original collection or create new collections.

 

@Fj45: thanks for your comment, but my idea is that the collection will be as most versatile as I can to it can be used in a wide range of engines and games.

 

@Walter: this is not a bad idea, but it would be a too specific collection, for the first campaign I want to create a much more generic one to it be usable for a large number of developers (I make this poll for this reason), not just for the ones who make beach or swimming pool simulators , if the first campaing is succesful then I'll try with more concrete collections to see if I get backers enough to create them.

 

I posted this same Poll in few more forums and I had 49 votes so far, for now the results are these:

 

medieval characters 9

Soldiers WWII  3

Soldiers (modern) 9

Zombies and zombie hunters 13

Romans 4

Normal people 10

Orcs 1

 

So at the moment the thing is between Zombies/Zombie Hunters and Normal People, I'll wait few days more before take a final decision, just in case I get some more votes which change the situation.

[Fj45]

Yes, mainly just a suggestion for the future.

[tucho]

Finally I found some time to organize the campaign, I created a specific new thread

[tucho]

Hi again guys, it has been a week since I've started the campaign. All this time I got decent traffic (specially keeping in mind that I just promote the campaign on sites directly related with game development), I had some good feedback on forums, a lot of likes on facebook, etc... but the campaign has't taken off, it raised $0 so far

 

I guess that this campaign is already a lost cause, but I'd like at least to learn with this experience, to make the things better if in the future I start any similar project.

 

So what do you think? which is the problem?  I know that it is difficult to get funds for any project through crowdfunding, but I thought that at least I'd get to raise $1000 or $2000 (in fact I won't got that amount, because I will only receive funds if at least the goal is reached and the final result would be the same), but I didn't got even a single backer in one week, so I think that there is a big issue with this campaing, and I'm curious to know your opinion.

 

• Directly there is no market for this kind of stuff?
  

• The quality of the models is not enough?
  

• Models are too highpoly for mobile?
  

• Models are too lowpoly for PC/console?
  

• Models are too expensive? if so, which do you think that would be a fair price for this collection?
  

• Others?
  

[HeadClot]

I would have been more than happy to contribute to the campaign but the models are too expensive.

 

Even just for one model it is 30.00 USD - I would if i were you lower the price for the whole collection down to around 100 USD for premium and 50 to 70 USD for non Premium.

 

You might also want to consider posting this on kickstarter opposed to indiegogo - Kickstarter has a better platform and a better funding model. You will also get more exposure for your Kickstarter campaign.

 

Also contact some press outlets (Polycount and CGhub)

 

As for your models - They are perfect the models are just too expensive for the average joe.

 

 

 

Just my thoughts.

 

- HeadClot

 

 

EDIT: Just thought I would say this - Some people just like to help so put a 1 dollar tier on the campaign. So yeah.

[EnigmaGrey]

Might have more luck just selling them on the Unity Store, and whatever other portals exist.

[harakka]

Even on a crowdfunding campaign you have to consider how you're "selling" your campaign to the prospective funders. Is there either a concrete market for what you promise to deliver, where people who want to get your product would fund it, or is there a "conceptual" market, so people who would just want your product to exist would fund it? What sort of people would get satisfaction by funding your campaign?

 

Ask yourself, realistically:

How likely is it that someone happens to be working on a project where they need exactly the kind of assets that you're producing?

If someone is in that situation, do they first want to chip in to fund the campaign, hope it gets funded, hope you finish the work in reasonable time, and then pay for the assets themselves?

 

I would imagine this was the key problem. When a party needs the kind of assets you produce, they usually have something specific in mind, and they have a budget, and a deadline. It is more practical to contract someone for it. I just don't see there being too many people around who would fancy supporting the campaign just to have the models exist and be buyable. I'm having a hard time trying to visualize what prospective group of funders your campaign is concretely appealing to.

 

PS. your work as such is excellent, good luck in your future endeavors. Maybe you'll discover a way to make a project like this successful.

[tucho]

Thanks for your feedback guys

 

I made the same questions on several forums and many people coincide that the characters are pretty expensive for indie developers or also some people don't find an immediate use for them, but they maybe purchase the models anyway if they were cheaper, just in case they need it in the future or just to make tests on their prototypes, etc. So I decided to drop the price of all the perks of my campaign; I'd need much more backers to reach the goal, but let's see what happen.

[HeadClot]

Hey - tucho, Thanks for dropping the prices on the characters expect a order soon

[Realmkeeper]

So I decided to drop the price of all the perks of my campaign; I'd need much more backers to reach the goal, but let's see what happen.

That last perk is looking pretty good right now

If I remember to drop by a day or two before the end of the campaign, and it needs the few hundred dollar boost, I might just do so.