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- Опубликовано: 12 сен 2024
- The Team Star Kickstarter (this thing: www.kickstarte... ) is a pretty monumental failure so I'm gonna take a bit of a hiatus to figure out what I want to do next.
Who knows, maybe I'll actually make this a real RUclips channel that's worth subscribing to? Anything can happen.
Until then, thanks to those of you who still support me.
Much love.
PS: I am going to continue to write Team Star in my free time; that just means it's gonna take way longer to manifest, but hopefully it'll come out someday.
Lots of good comments here that help to crystalize for me why this didn't work - though some of you are just assholes lol. Definitely gives me a good idea of where to go next. Much love.
If your vision for the project was clear, that did not come through in the campaign.
???????? yes it was… you’re 20 iq
The smash audience from 2013 that still follows you is interested in smash. Your accomplishments are great for your portfolio and I'm sure you can do a lot with that, but you absolutely cannot expect to rely on donations to fund creative endeavors that people aren't interested in to begin with. The pitch was also super weak. I zoned out listening to the first couple of videos, then it was clear that your ambitions were very unrealistic when you started talking about a game. It seemed like an amalgam of ideas and gave the audience no confidence that there would end up being any cohesion.
Not really sure who the target audience was for this. People who subscribe to this channel are in their 20s and 30s, the book was aimed towards teenagers. And I don't know what you expected with a character named "Ballzack"
Teenagers do not have the attention span to read books. And Smash players are very ADD as well, very few read anything
If you don't like the name "Ballzack" you don't like high-literature.
a 36 year old man with the humor of a 14 year old
I don't think I ever got a single Team Star video in my sub box even though I've been subbed for years. Always disheartening to hear stories like this but I'm sure you'll bounce back.
I dont get it. This is a kickstarter for a book? Why dont you just write the book?
lol
I really wanted to like Team Star, but as more videos on it came out, I saw more holes. I think the YA novel is totally viable as a project, but I didn't understand what you could possibly be doing with $38,000. At least as a novel, it could reasonably contain your creative narrative vision. Then, as a computer science student who develops games as a hobby, I saw that your plan for the video game was to present your ideas and have people come to you to complete them. There were design ideas and mechanics, but no particular engine, frameworks, backend services, or any concept of dependencies at all. It felt like you were an ideas guy who was very naive about specialist roles in a dev team, and that even if you were to achieve your stretch goals, I think that developing a commercial multiplayer FPS game is really unreasonable without any real hiring strategy or software development experience.
I just read the description, and I'm happy to hear that you're still working on the novel. I'll pick it up whenever it comes out, however long it takes.
@@d3lta_p Right on the money, a guy like this is way too intelligent to say "I've tried everything!!!", so actual advice like this could boost a project like this
I wrote books as a kid, I finished a 100 page thing that was represented in my elementary school back in the day. You don't need any money to write a book, so I dont get the kickstarter
@@starfox300 were you also paying rent as a kid?
@@bigt5022 Bruh, you don't work 16 hours a day. If you want to write a book, sit down and write. You can do at least 1 hour every day, and if you cant then you really didn't want it that much to begin with
Sorry to hear it brother, hope you don't get too discouraged. Failure is the first step to success
There are incredible amounts of people who have similar ideas and have successfully written, published, developed, etc., like you want to. The reality is that a majority of them are working full time jobs to support themselves and their families while putting their hard earned money into their own projects. Not saying you couldn't get this done with the funding, but to expect inordinate amounts of money from people with basically just an idea? I think the docs have given you some unrealistic expectations. Figure out an income, work on this in your free time, and come back to the idea of funding the game when you have a book.
I think the first mistake was not releasing Metagame publicly.
I was originally going to make a comment asking hey where could I find metagame?
Upon researching a bit, I see it's on sale on vimeo. I hope it's done well financially
I will say though, the cultural impact is far less as a result of not releasing Metagame publicly. There would've been a lot more momentum if it had.
Don't mean to kick ya while you're down :( I loved the Smash Brothers doc, and I'll buy and watch the Metagame doc when I can.
Maybe it would've helped to have more of a trailer and clearer vision for this Kickstarter for us to see.
Much love Samox, hope you can still work on these passion projects as much as you'd like to.
(Side note, I do security and the jobs are SO lax. If you wanted to get into that type of job where you could edit on your laptop, lmk! It's super easy to get a security job).
I'm going to be fully honest. I legit could not make heads or tails of what the project was supposed to be. I wasn't sure if it was meant to be a book, a movie, or a game. The pitch was for a book, but it was described like it was a movie, and then the stretch goal of making an entire game is... a quick escalation. An entire competitive Counter-Strike game would have to be an entirely different project all together.
Also the AI 'concept art' didn't really help either. It gives off the impression the book itself would just be ChatGPT. Even if you say otherwise, it's just a bad association from the jump.
Basically, making sure the project has a very clear focused achievable goal. It's the difference between pitching the Smash Doc... vs pitching making the Smash Doc + an entire smash clone.
Sorry to hear this Samox. You're on the smash Mt. Rushmore for life dude, I'm sure you'll bounce back. The hardest part of being a creative is marrying your dreams to the harsh realities of life, but there are ways to do it - you just have to figure out your path.
I'm rooting for you man ❤
You mentioned working on this YT channel - I think that's a good start. Visibility is everything now, it just is what it is. If you are largely absent from the public eye and only show up when you have an idea, it's just not going to work.
You had mixed messaging. You kept saying you were focusing on the book but then talk about a game? Just sloppy stuff.
I am a game developer and I didn't have interest in the book but your expectation for the timeline and budget for a video game, especially one which you think will be run by you (as a collective too???) who has never run a game studio, sounded like an industry nightmare which would definitely fail. Probably wouldn't have even been able to make a prototype or vslice with your plan
Ive got the feeling that u "dogded" a bullet by failing your kickstarter. Imagine trying to deliver something that is new for you and your audience.. but with the pressure of delivering something great.
This could have easily been another drama kickstarter. But it gladly didnt even start.
Try something smaller with novel visions. Give us a taste what u wanna do and see if people like it. Dont try to go all in.
I dunno man... You don't even have a prototype
You don't need $38k to write a book.
I enjoyed Meta Game, and The Smash Brothers, but I don't personally read novels so there would not have been a reason for me to be interested in the project.
It's surprising you would call this your third failure in a row. I don't consider a failed kick starter to be a personal or creative failing, and I think your documentaries are great before and after any revisions. To me, you are a talented artist who can keep my attention for hours at a time. I have rewatched your documentaries more times than I could possibly keep track of.
Still wishing you the best Travis, I still think you have a great vision with all your film/documentary work from TSB to Metagame to the stuff with Razer. Just hope you know that even if not all your projects take off financially like you need them to, your art has still touched millions of people around the world.
Keep keeping on Samox. Seriously man you got this!
idk mang i watched the story section of your campaign vid and it just sounded like a scholastic book with cliche characters that i dont really care about. of course i was only given a surface level preview but its definitely not something id go out of my way to read. best wishes in all your future endeavors
Don't get too down Travis. Some perspective I think is important for you to consider:
- Coming up with an idea for a game or a book and expecting it to be funded from the audience you have garnered primarily from the smash scene is not a realistic prospect. You do have a following who appreciates and respects you but that's in your capacity as a filmmaker and documentarian, and largely associated with smash. Your initial TSB fund would not have been what it was were it not for the subject matter, and that's just being real
- I don't know if you're working a day job right now or not but I think you should consider it if you aren't. It will provide you with a degree of stability I think has been missing in your life for a long time. Do something menial but consistent so you can still spend neurons and nighttime hours in the day on your creative prospects. There isn't any shame in being responsible and taking care of business while you still chip away at your long term creative goals in the evenings and the weekends. That's what most of us creatives must do
- I don't know if you're smoking 🍁 regularly or just occasionally. I've seen you mention it here and there on Twitter. I highly recommend you stop. For financial reasons but most of all for clarity of thought and focus. I've been through this and it's very important to not let it become a regular thing you rely on
- I would love to see you make a short documentary or even a series on a subject you know will resonate with a crowd. If it's a series, you can drip feed the episodes and gather word of mouth. You can leverage that for merchandise, exclusive bonus content or an affordable paywall option. This is an area you have proven yourself in and something people will show up for
Love you Travis, and 100% onboard to work with you again in future. You're a talented guy. Dont beat yourself up
Love you, buddy! Whatever you apply your passion and talent and creativity to will be lucky to have it and you.
I didn’t even know you had something else coming out man. Where can I donate?
The project had some interesting ideas, but it's just so radically different from what you've done in the past. So I can see why it was hard for people to get on board with it. Regardless, I'm gonna check out whatever you put out into the world. Success or failure, I'm there
Loved the smash doc, hopefully you get to do something your passionate again and show your talent
Hello Samox! i was watching the Metagame doc but i was missing the last episodes, if you put the metagame up on youtube after the fund goal maybe it would be tempting for your audience and good for everybody.
Just something i was thinking about, appreciate you !
Travis, I’ll give you the cold hard truth because I do have a lot of respect for the documentaries you’ve made (even though there are some things regarding Metagame I don’t agree with) and I want to see you succeed. I don’t think people are particularly interested in a book like this. I could be wrong, but personally when I found out it was fiction (and a book in general) I checked out immediately. I’m personally interested in documentaries. Now idk if you have any desire to continue making video game documentaries, but you should start small and drop a 20 minute doc on StarCraft or something. Don’t spend years in the dark. And as we’ve seen, the Smash community the moment you deviate from their groupthink has no problem abandoning you, the guy who saved their scene almost singlehandedly. Think the Noclip youtube channel if you are looking for a model. This going away for years at a time isn’t going to work. You swung big with Metagame and I respect that, but I doubt it achieved the heights you were hoping for. This project funding model probably won’t work again. I mean do you even think if you funded Smash Doc 3 it would succeed in hitting the goal? I somehow doubt it. That’s the cold, hard, real world truth. I have no idea how you make money, what your day job may be like, or even what your goals are in terms of the content you want to make, but these are things to consider.
I completely understand having passion projects that seem to garner no money or interest from the public. I’m in the same boat. I think you should feel proud of the smash docs you made and consider what it is you truly want to do and stick to it no matter what. That’s my opinion
Sorry to hear about this, Samox. Hope the break offers some clarity or at least gives you some worthwhile R&R. Good luck with whatever comes next.
You have the support. Just a small road bump keep moving
noting agreement with the comment that mentions how metagame would have a bigger cultural impact if it were released on youtube for free like the last one. that maybe gets you more reputation points too in case you ever wanna try crowdfunding again, esp. from smash people for smash things
Good luck with your future endeavors, I'll stay subbed on Patreon o7
Originally I had written a comment directed at the moronic comment section of this video. But I had better judgement...
Instead Samox, I'll wish you good luck! I'll stay posted for future projects from you. I'm still very grateful for what you've done.
I hope you ignore the Bozos down below.
I've been a big fan of the smash doc since it released, I even had Juicy Fruit as my ringtone for a couple years. So I'm sharing my opinion from a place of wanting to see you succeed. To me, the biggest issue was that nearly all of the marketing I've seen for this is about the game, not the book. So it was strange to see that the kickstarter is for the book and the game is a stretch goal that requires many times more than the base campaign goal. I think the campaign would have benefited by sticking with one or the other. Also I noticed that I didn't see this advertised much on reddit or elsewhere, I feel like you might have been able to reach more of your smash community in places other than youtube. Good luck with the book and whatever you do next!
I bought Sand Stacking and think it's a great product!
I've been writing fairly consistently for a few years now. Doesn't take $38k and over a decade of work to put out a novel, not even close.
I really wish you the best man!
Hey I just want you to know that the smash brothers really had a major impact on my life as well as the lives of the 10 friends who I play melee with. None of us would have gotten into melee without your story telling prowess, and we are only as close as we are because of how great you are at your craft. A lot of people are being critical in the comments, but you did something no one had really done before for that kind of community. And it mattered. It mattered to me at least. Deeply. You deserve success, and I hope it finds you someday.
RUclips never showed me your team star videos for some reason. But this one they did
I've spent like 10 minutes trying to figure out what this is even about. 😭
I'm sorry this didn't work out man but I'm rooting for you
Sorry to hear this. First off, fuck all the negative comments, it takes guts to put yourself out there and make stuff you're passionate about. Show some respect.
The Smash Bros doc was what got me into Melee and changed my life for the better and for that I'm super grateful.
Do what you gotta do to support yourself, but I hope you don't give up on creative endeavors, cause even if some of them don't work out, you still know at the end of the day what your vision is and that you're making art that's valuable to the world.
I wasn't sure what Team Star is. Is it pre-existing content being added onto? Is it entirely new? Is it more than one type of media? Which media was going to be created first?
I don’t like to read but if it turned into an actual game I bet it would be awesome.
How much time do you spend reading social media posts?
"Sultan immediately grasped the profundity. " should have just not included that excerpt holy...
I literally have never heard of this as a smash subscriber. Not once.
A lot of negative comments in here. I wasn't aware of your most recent project, but unfortunately it doesn't really sound like something I'm interested in.
Regardless I want to spread some gratitude as it seems like you could use it in these trying times. I'm incredibly grateful for the effort your put into the Smash Doc(s). It's because of you and your work that I started practicing smash, which honestly turned the course of my life for the better. I've been competing for 10 years now and that passion all started with your work on the first smash doc. Most of my closest friends in college, and now post college are due to competitive smash. I don't know if I ever were to have found it without your doc sparking the passion inside me. So I am forever grateful
I didn't know there was a 4K version of The Smash Brothers! Nice!
The concept for the game is actually neat, it could be a fun project. The thing is when it comes to game design and game development you’re gonna have to get your hands dirty and actually learn game design and build a functional demo or prototype yourself. Did you plan on hiring others to make the game for you? What if you get all the funding you wanted and then the game comes out and its awful? Its very challenging and time consuming to make a game, let alone a good game so i see why it might be difficult to get people to back you up on this when you dont have much to show for it
Another thought - if you feel you have a book in you, start there. Writing a book costs absolutely nothing beyond time and dedication. You can then self publish it and charge for it. A man of your skills could whip up an audiobook for free or very cheap and sell that too. Merchandise as well. And if you have visions for spinning it out into a game or other media, your material for that is already done and ready to work with. This is much easier to sell to people than an idea
I AM DOWN TO SUPPORT THIS THOUGH
I understand that this is disheartening, but I hope that you can shake off the disappointment and hold on to your ideas for future projects, because I don't think this campaign was really representative of the potential your ideas have. I supported the project because I like your work, and I think that whatever you set out to do you generally do well, but having the game as a stretch goal on a kickstarter that is ostensibly for a book is an odd decision. People who are just interested in the game will be less likely to support because what they want is a stretch goal two-thirds of the way down the list, and there's a high chance funding would never reach that goal, in which case they would be stuck paying for a book they didn't want in the first place. On top of that, every successful game Kickstarter that I've ever seen has started with a version of the game that is not only functional, but pretty far into development. I don't know if things are different now than they were back in the early days of the site, but I feel like nowadays Kickstarter is mostly just for funding the production and/or sale of already-proven and developed projects. And finally, it seems like you basically just used your RUclips channel for advertising, which I think only works if you have several hundreds of thousands or millions of subscribers.
All this to say that I don't see this as a failure of ideas, but a failure of packaging and presentation. I hope you keep at least some of what inspired you going forward into whatever you do next.
Good luck going forward :)
I think we're all still feeling a little burnt from panda controller, sorry we failed you.
Thank u for the transparency
You win some you lose some
this the first time im seeing this
Ignore the morons. Your last documentary, because you went to a purchase model, frankly the prices were too high.
We love your content, i look forward to eventually seeing your last one.
But it is best to see what's working on RUclips, people tend to just patreon and release free. I hope you the best
Extremely well said.
"ignore the 99.9% of your viewers who didn't want to fund your Kickstarter reality checking you". yeah, no, negative feedback is the most important feedback to heed
The prices were fine, it was an incredible doc, all the big streamers watched it on stream when it came out. People pay for content all the time and metagame is well worth it.
i didnt know about any of this tbh
maybe dont rely on donations to make things u want come true
what did you expect after removing part of the story from the smash documentary lmfao trust doesnt come free you gotta earn it
I don’t disagree with this, he shouldn’t have done this, but I don’t think that’s the reason it wasn’t funded.
@@water0000 It was an unfortunate situation, he was caught between alienating the community buttering his bread and his artistic integrity. It’s a good lesson about intertwining the financial element of the production with the subject you are capturing. Comments like yours are useless, however. When you make a tough call like he did, it’s totally normal for people to come down on the other side of a contentious issue like censorship.
what part did he remove?
@@Barsee23 Leffen launched a media smear campaign against him and Travis ended up removing a section of the doc demonstrating Leffen’s past behavior.
@@Barsee23 A part about Leffen’s past. He removed it after a smear campaign by Leffen.
unsubbed