It's a bit of a long story, but check this out. For the last two years I've been fully dedicated to the tabletop rpg industry. Apparently a very tough market to get in. People aren't s friendly and there's a lot of dedicated trolls. If that wasn't enough, you've to continuously monitor for misinformation. Things got so out of hand when I first started that I had to do a cease and desist on one website in particular, then deal with digital piracy of my products on another, etc...
I always asked myself, what's with the hostility!? I didn't do anything to these people why are they harassing me like this? Normally you welcome new people, not throw rocks at them. After a year or so everything became more clear. People were just too busy politicizing the contents of a game and attacking numerous authors for not delivering pro this, pro that products. I mean, these people minds were so twisted or their self esteem so low that they literally go off on you just because. Almost as if they want you to feel ashamed for something that you have no clue about why they're ranting to begin with. Do I really have to pick left or right when it comes to building a game? No, thanks!
Best policy was to ignore. Then I found a website with no censoring and dropped out from communities were these sort of toxic behavior thrived. My main worry during this process was to not lose my fanbase and potential costumers. Later, that turned out not be a concern because everyone followed me to the new website I was in. Not even 6 months after I started a thread about my tabletop games I had noticed I was one of the top viewed threads in that community. Sales picked up and naturally began decreasing after nearly a year or so. I managed to defend my name against misinformation, bullying, and shutdown piracy, all on my own while still thriving in that industry and making my main games best sellers 2 years in a row. But now I feel like I'm in a gray zone again, and I'll tell you why.
Since I started the crowdfunding for Knights & Legends: Dawn of a New Age, I spread the word in all communities I'm active in. I figured, some people would be excited to hear I was looking for funding, not only for one, but for two games within the same crowdfund. The idea was to boost the resources available to develop K&L: DNA and use leftover funds to develop a free tabletop rpg for the whole community there as a sincere thanks. To my surprise there's been 0 contributions, 4 days later! And that's something that as a responsible developer and an adult comes without saying. Do not flip out on your fanbase for lack of support. Honestly I'm not angry at them for not showing any support as of yet. And I could never justify being angry at the 3D gaming community because I've only been working in this project for a few months, and I know it takes a while to develop that confidence. Regardless if funding is met or not, K&L: DNA will keep moving forward. One because 95% of the work is done by me, and two, I'm confident I can deliver a pretty cool and fun game for people to play within the next 2 years. I may never get paid for all the time invested in it, but when you create something out of love and with the true purpose of sharing it with people the time you spend creating it really doesn't matter. That's what being an Indie developer is like for the majority of us.
That's also a good reminder for everyone seeking funding out there. If you look at a guy like me, with two best selling tabletop rpgs and a fanbase of over 1000+ subs on dtrpg, you can still not get funded. I personally was always very honest with my subs, all my products include previews, and I always offered freebies as a thank you for their continued support. Of course, I could always get friends and family to ship in on crowdfunding, but that's kinda like cheating. There's simply no joy in it for me, I could create an illusion but in the process also create a sad reality. If I can't get funded by complete strangers so be it. I'll work hard on this game and I'll turn it into another best seller in the next 2 years once it's published, and that's that. Ultimately, I think this is a good reminder to consider that you shouldn't rely on anyone for funding to deliver a project? :) You be the judge! I'm going to kickback and free my mind from negativism and then get back to my project. Enjoy your weekend!
