Patreon Wc3 Project, can it work?

[Spellbound]

Okay, so this is something I've been pondering for a little over a year now. I've devoted lot of time to Warcraft 3 modding, and since the advent and subsequent success of Patreon/Kicktarter/IndieGogo as crowdfunding platforms, I've been asking myself if it were at all possible to apply those systems to a Warcraft 3. I know that some modders have already made Patreons for mods for games like Skyrim, Cities Skyline and others, and from what I've seen, those have been somewhat successful. It's nothing like the funding that some of the Patreons we've seen for Youtubers and the like, but it's something.

Those who are familiar with me may remember an old project I was making called Dawn of Legends. This mod is sadly dead as the development was just not that well planned out. The code was messy and just not particularly good. That was also quite a while back, and I've become much better at modding, mostly due to spending time participating in the Techtree Contests here on the Hive Workshop. I want to make something new.

So what project do I have in mind? I love total conversions, so that's what I want to do. Initially, i'll only make something that can be played in melee games, but eventually, a campaign will follow.

Finally, I have thought about moving over to Starcraft II (especially since Carbot had all that success with their mod... but it's Carbot, so maybe not the best thing to use as an example), but the sheer difficulty of the editor and the greater skillset requirements (3D assets, for example, are harder to make for sc2 than they are for wc3) is relly putting me off. I've tried time and time again to make something for Sc2, but yeah. Difficult.

I need advice.

 

[Flux]

I believe @Zwiebelchen uses Patreon on his Gaias. You should ask him whether Patreon is a good idea for wc3 map (but note that his map is very famous and has a player base).

I also thought of moving to StarCraft II at some point but it is just not well supported by hive (there's a huge difference in the resource database and discussion compared to wc3) so I stick to wc3. Perhaps other forum site is better when it comes to SC2 modding.

 

[Zwiebelchen]

Depends on what your goals are. Patreon worked for me to get fundings for outsourcing art creation. I still have 150$ on my balance I will use to pay a Deviantartist for a new game UI and more hero skins once I need them.

If you plan to make a living with Patreon, forget it. Warcraft has nowhere near enough of a playerbase to make that work.

 

[Eagle XI]

Im not aware if anything has improved meanwhile, but getting your map noticed and played was an challenge in sc2 due to the popularity system. Basically people keep playing always the same mod-maps and only an handful people ever tries out anything new. Its nowhere near easy as publishing an map to hive and enjoying instant attention and gaining useful feedback in short.

 

[Chaosy]

Tons of doubt.

 

[LordDz]

Upheveal Arts, the maker of Starcraft Universe.. currently has 2 patreons.
Upheaval Arts is creating Video Games | Patreon

They made a indiegogo which somewhat was successful.
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/starcraft-universe-official-release#/

So yeah, unless you've got mad PR skills you're gonna have a tough time.

 

[Spellbound]

Hmm, that makes me wonder whether Indiegogo is better suited for a project like a total conversion + campaign rather than Patreon. Carbot's StarCrafts was also funded on Indiegogo, so maybe the recurring nature of Patreon is off-putting to people.

 

[LordDz]

Well Carbot does have a few patreons too:
CarBot Animations is creating Cartoon Parodies | Patreon

But yeah, I myself is much more into donating one sum at a kickstarter than doing a patreon.