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Get your own private Spaceteam in new funding 'experiment'
The developer of Spaceteam is creating a funding club, of sorts, for fans sucked in by the game's exuberant blend of starship management and verbal gibberish. The iOS and Android hit hinges on loud cooperation, with players getting just a section of the ship's control panel on their screens and bellowing orders that would barely make sense on Star Trek. That bold spirit of cooperation is being sought for the "Spaceteam Admiral's Club," a Kickstarter that seeks to ensure a year's worth of free games. Dubbed an "experiment" by Spaceteam designer Henry Smith, the Admiral's Club is asking for $80,000 CAD to create several free games – for everyone, not just backers. "I want to continue making interesting, accessible games but I don't want to charge money for them," Smith says. "I want them to be free, for everyone. By joining the club, you're making it possible for me to keep working on free games for a whole year." Smith proposes two games to start with: a locally cooperative treasure-hunting game called Blabyrinth, and another spaceship game, Shipshape, in which players pilot ships crafted from modular components. Those will take up the first year, alongside a few upgrades to Spaceteam, like additional languages and adjustable difficulty. There are several Kickstarter reward tiers, as usual, but these are strongly focused around Spaceteam merchandise, like embroidered patches, and customizations of the game itself. Smith is offering not only custom commands ("Incentivize core competency!"), but a fully personalized, private Spaceteam made from the graphics, words and sounds you send over. After you send $5,000 CAD over, that is. [Image: Sleeping Beast Games]
Spaceteam might not have been made had money been a priority
Spaceteam creator Henry Smith revealed in a recent retrospective piece that he believes his iOS and Android game, which has teams of players coordinating tasks on a spaceship a la Star Trek, would not have been made had making money off the game taken top priority. Smith discussed his game's success - and the many ways he defines that word - in the retrospective due to a Twitter discussion that arose after he posted the game's sales numbers. Smith wrote that the numbers were not "bad news" as some had claimed, and clarified that his goal was never to make money. He wrote that, "Worrying about how to 'monetize' effectively might have compromised the game design and almost certainly would have hindered ... getting my name out because there would have been much more resistance to sharing and spreading the game." Smith repeatedly stressed dissatisfaction with current business models and claimed that he wants his future projects to be free, like Spaceteam. However, Smith still needs to earn a living, so he plans on holding a crowdfunding campaign. "This feels more honest and sustainable to me and the pay-what-you-can model seems fair for everyone else," he wrote. Smith closed with the promise he'll be sharing more details about the crowdfunding campaign soon.
