Hello there,

I've been working for almost an year on an indie game of my own. I'm doing all the programming and visual art, the game being developed using the Unity 3D engine.

More information about the game is found here.

The game is a combination of Snake game (the kind found on old Nokia phones) and PacMan, combined with modern physics simulation and some cool mechanics that make it an interesting experience for the player.

The game is currently in alpha stage, with all mechanics implemented and almost all art added at various levels of refinement. The problem is, in order to complete the game, I need music and sound effects, which I cannot do myself. Also some of the game visuals would need the touch of a professional artist, and also having Unity Pro instead of the free version would benefit a lot as the game features a lot of lights and the lighting system in Unity free is very limited.

I don't have the resources to invest in such things, all I can do is invest my spare time in making this dream of mine come true. For the others I have opened up a fundraising campaign on IndieGoGo (similar to Kickstarter) here.

Any contribution would help a lot. If you cannot contribute financially, sharing this campaign link with your friends/colleagues/co-workers and spreading the word would also mean a lot to me.

Thank you!

Your marketing materials (in particular the video) lack pizazz - you need to show more personality, project more confidence. Your basic product looks solid enough at this point, but presentation is *everything*.

Some general advice: don't start the video out black with a voice-over, don't show the loading screen or the unfinished exit screen. Showcase interesting moments from gameplay, not just the general flow of gameplay. Make sure that your video is embedded at 720p by default. Consider writing a script for your video, so that you can speak with less hesitancy. Perhaps get a friend/classmate with public speaking experience to record the voice-over?

I'd recommend you look around at successful crowd-funding initiatives in games, and see what style pointers you can pick up (for example, Plotkin's wildly successful kickstarter, or Cards Against Humanity).

Thank you for your advice. As for any indie dev with non-marketing background, this is new to me, so any advice is welcomed.

I'm currently almost done with a new iteration towards a stable build, after which I plan to make a better video, following your advice and some others I have received along the way. Until then I'm pretty much stuck with this one, but I'll try to improve on the following ones.

I would help with music, but at the moment I'm working on an MMORPG. Maybe at a later time. Have you seen my blog and homepage http://manuelmarino.com ?

Nice music community you got there!

I have made another presentation video for my fundraising campaign (thanks again @swiftcoder for advices), featuring myself this time. Having that camera staring at me is not an easy thing to deal with, but in the end I think it is better than the old one. Please take a look at it http://www.indiegogo.com/A-Game-About-Wisps . And again, please contribute and share it with your friends. Thank you

Added a new video on youtube of my game dev progress, Wisps: The Redeeming Alpha 46.

New video showing some more progress and a facebook contest:
Wisps: The Redeeming Alpha 52

Only 60+ hours to go on my crowdfunding campaign, perks have been remade to have way better value than before, please check it out. Also, there is another gameplay video showing more gameplay and the control scheme I use: http://www.indiegogo.com/A-Game-About-Wisps (Last time I post about it, promise

Honestly, the game looks polished but very boring. You need to spot light an interesting mechanic which would spark interest. The control system is not very interesting.