Let’s get real for a moment. It’s been challenging to juggle all of my responsibilities, even before starting this very exciting Kickstarter project. Part of the reason I want to start early is so my body can get used to the idea, to help manage my anxiety a little better.
One of the things that terrifies me about this campaign is marketing.
For years I harbored a very dangerous idea: create something good and they will come. This unrealistic notion argues that if your content is good enough, it will be discovered and shared by everyone. Just post it somewhere and the internet will do the rest. Right?
Well…
It didn’t work. Not for me at least. For years I thought that meant my content simply wasn’t good enough. But then I had an auspicious internet encounter with a great man who I truly look up to. A few months later, he suggested that we meet for mentoring sessions, and I felt like the most privileged, fortunate man alive.
Prior to one of those sessions, I sent him Sparkless. I expected him to butcher it, but he said it was among the best adventures he'd ever read. I was elated. Utterly bamboozled. Imagine my shock a few weeks later when I received a freelance job offer (that project is under NDA for now, but it’s coming very soon!)
Only then it truly dawned on me: having good content is just a prerequisite.
It’s my responsibility as creator to share my work, to make it accessible and discoverable. So I started promoting Sparkless, going out of my shell and placing the studio’s banner out in the world for everyone to see, knowing that some of you will see the same beauty that we find in our work, and be inspired to bring it into your games.
This is what I needed to finally take a leap of faith and start a Kickstarter campaign.
See you beyond the screen,
~Aviad