Crowdfunding: Crafting the Future of RTS Together

(Originally posted on Reddit Nov 21, 2023)

Hello, Stormgamers,

Today, we want to talk about crowdfunding and why our studio is launching a Kickstarter campaign.

We’ve come a long way since Frost Giant Studios was founded and we’ve assembled a world-class development team. The technology we’ve built is truly cutting-edge, and we believe it sets Stormgate up to be the most responsive and fun-to-play RTS to date. Now, with the help of our playtesters, we’re making incredible progress in the game and will be kicking off the first stage of our closed beta testing this December.

So why are we doing a Kickstarter? Is it because that’s what all the cool RTS games are doing these days? Not quite, though we love to see growing momentum for our beloved genre.

We already have all the funding we need to release our game. This Kickstarter campaign will enable us to offer our players these two highly-requested “extras”:

1. A unique Collector's Edition

Many have asked us to sell a Collector’s Edition of Stormgate. Quite a few of us enjoy having the Warcraft III and StarCraft II Collector’s Edition boxes on our shelves at home; they reflect our love for those games and universes. Collector’s Editions are challenging and expensive to produce and are largely a labor of love dedicated to the game’s most passionate fans and supporters. Kickstarter will give us an accurate count of exactly how many Collector’s Editions we need to make.

We’ve already started the process and prototyped a Vulcan mech statue. Check out this preview. We hope you'll love it.

2. Founder’s Packs and Beta keys

There’s nothing we’d like more than to invite everyone to playtest our game. The fact is that the servers and equipment required to bring in additional testers can get expensive and we’re already at capacity.

We want to reward our earliest community members by selling a Founder’s Pack with exclusive perks, including beta access as a bonus reward. Valve is an important partner for us, and their policy for Early Access games only allows us to sell Founder’s Packs with a limited number of Steam beta keys as part of a crowdfunding campaign.

Through Kickstarter, we can sell Founder’s Packs and expand our beta testing program before Stormgate goes into Early Access. For those of you already playtesting and providing valuable feedback, we hope you will find the other rewards exciting and consider backing us.

As an independent studio, community support means everything to us. We see crowdfunding as a continuation of what we’ve been doing from the very beginning—making Stormgate together with you. Your input, passion, and support have been invaluable in getting us this far. Thank you for being an integral part of our community.

-Your friends at Frost Giant Studios