It’s not uncommon for big AAA games to have enormous budgets that are often bigger than blockbuster movies. Consider the budgets for Destiny, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and Grand Theft Auto V. Respectively these games have budgets of $500 million, $275 million and $268 million.

With budgets like this these games have to be big hits that appeal to mass audiences. They need to be flashy, action-packed adventures that appeal to anyone. In essence, they need to be the summer blockbuster material.

But games like this do not appeal to everyone. Just as some have tired of the endless supply of Marvel Comics movies that dominate summer release schedules, many want games that appeal that take risks with both the narrative and gameplay. Convincing a big studio to take a risk and fund a game like this isn’t the easiest of tasks — impossible if you don’t already have the right connections — which has given rise to the Kickstarter gaming economy.

Rise of the indies

The perception that big studios are drowning out creativity and leaving the industry with a creative deficit has led to a strong Kickstarter-backed gaming community pushing out indie games. These are games that aren’t pushing to have the cutting-edge graphics, or multi-platform releases. These are games that push the envelope of narrative and interaction creativity.

“Working in independent games right now, it feels like there’s infinite potential in any direction,” indie game designer Robin Arnott is quoted as saying in the trailer to new video game documentary GameLoading: Rise of the Indies.

Kickstarter developers are not constrained by the need for their projects to become massive commercial successes. While some games utilize cutting-edge engines such as the Unreal Engine 4 or the CryTek engine (made possible by the indie-friendly license fees both have), others take a step back and incorporate retro-style 8-bit graphics.

Big studios taking notice

The rise of indie gaming has not gone unnoticed by big game studios. While initially some indie developers were ‘refugees’ from creativity-starved studios, now studios are developing publishing brands to give indies a wider release. In many ways this is like how major studios such as Fox (NASDAQ: FOX) have developed spin-off brands for indie films like Fox Searchlight Pictures.

Consider the case of Valiant Hearts, a 2D-side scroller set in the trenches of the First World War with a strong anti-war message. Neither the First World War nor side scrollers are very marketable when compared to Call of Duty style first-person shooters, but the game’s developers, who work at Ubisoft (EPA: UBI), got the publishing giant to greenlight the game and release it earlier this year.

Yoan Fanise, the game’s Content Director, explained to Kotaku, explained he got the game approved by Ubisoft’s CEO after a successful pitch meeting.

“Our luck was that Yves Guillemot, the CEO of Ubisoft himself, was emotionally touched by the story. He was a constant support for us,” Fanise explained to Kotaku. “The First World War itself is not a theme with a very wide appeal. It’s even less appealing in 2D, and even less again with no gun in your hands, so we had to constantly be knocking on doors to even exist alongside Ubisoft’s blockbusters.”

Fansie believes that eventually the game industry will evolve to incorporate more challenging, indie title as gamers’ tastes mature.

“The movie industry has the exact same problem, but is more mature and is often willing to take bigger risks. I think it’s time for our industry to grew up and be less scary about original ideas, or trying new things,” he explained.

The future of the industry

While examples like Valiant Hearts show that big studios are taking note of the rise of indie games, in many ways the indie game industry is fine without them. It used to be that big publishers played a key role in game development: you needed access to their capital to develop the game, and without their distribution network you couldn’t get your product to customers.

But Kickstarter and digital distribution platforms such as Steam have changed that; they have democratized the industry and leveled the playing field so that merit — not connections — matter when getting an idea for an indie game off the ground.

There will always be cases such a Valiant Hearts where a big studio steps in, but there are too many cases of successful game developers doing just fine without them to say that big studios play a pivotal role in the future of indie gaming. Now, it’s all about artists and developers.

The post The Rise and Rise of Kickstarter Indie Games appeared first on VR World.

Eric “Wingman” Peterson and crew at Descendent Studios have been pretty darn busy building content for its 6 axis of freedom game Descent Underground.

The developers have released new level design test footage. Bear in mind this is very early work and more polish will be added with time.  Still, it is most impressive for such a small but talented team.

Looking back at Descent

Back in 1994, the FPS genre was a very two-dimensional place, literally! Games like Wolfenstein 3D and Doom were 2D sprite-based games played, for the most part, on flat 3D maps, jumping wasn’t even an option! When Descent released it literally changed the playing field bringing with it fully rendered 3D players and enemies and abandoning flat, linear maps for twisting, turning subterranean levels featuring full six degrees of freedom of movement.

Descent placed players at the controls of their very own spaceship as the Material Defender, a mercenary hired by the Post Terran Mining Corporation to combat the company’s mining robots which have been infected by a mysterious computer virus. Players fought their way throughout the solar system until finally reaching the source of the computer virus and vanquishing the boss.

Upon release, Descent was critically acclaimed, lauded for its innovative gameplay where players flew with no regard for up and down, thoroughly lost through full 3D environments. The game spawned two sequels, the spinoff series Descent: Freespace, a trilogy of novels, and countless ‘clones’.

Kickstarter

For years the masses of Descent fans yearned for a modern sequel. That time has come. Descent is back in the form of a Kickstarter project. Descendant Studios is shooting for a goal of $600,000. Currently they are near $260,000 or over 43% of the goal. With 18 days remaining they have a very good shot at hitting the goal. Most Kickstarter donations occur at the first few and last few days.

The post After 16 Years Descent Returns: New Footage Unearthed appeared first on VR World.

Smartwatch maker Pebble has set a new crowdfunding record, raising at least $1 million in the first 49 minutes of launching its latest Pebble Time. Kickstarter originally cited 34 minutes, but this has since been corrected.

Pebble Time actually reached its funding goal of $500,000 in 17 minutes, and has, so far, raised $6.8 million in less than a day of launch. To compare, the first Pebble smartwatch reached $1 million in 27 hours. Even the Veronica Mars film, considered to be a fan favorite, took at least 4 hours to raise a million.

Update: As of 10:00 PM National Standard Time (Taiwan), or about 24 hours after the Pebble Time project launched on Kickstarter, the crowdfunding campaign has raised $8.7 million in pledges from at least 40,000 backers. That’s about $362,500 per hour or $6,041 per minute on average.

Focus on the Timeline

The new device builds upon the success of the original Pebble smartwatch, adding in a few key features aimed at improving the user experience. In particular, Pebble Time brings a new focus into the timeline. “You already plan your day around time, so it makes sense for your Pebble to be organized around the same principle,” the team says. So the watch’s operating system now lays out notifications according to chronology, rather than separated in distinct apps.

The buttons now take on a “past, present and future” functionality. The center button brings you the current time (and any current notifications). The upper button lets you review previous notifications. The bottom button lets you scroll through upcoming events.

Pebble Time retains the use of e-paper, enabling the watch to have a 7-day battery life. The new device features a color display, however. It is also 20% thinner than its predecessor. And within this thinner package is a microphone, which lets users dictate responses to text messages and emails and save voice notes.

Backers can pre-order Pebble time for $159 through the completed Early Bird promo, and currently goes for $179 apiece. The company also has other options for bundles of two, three, five, 10 and 30 watches (the latter for “distributors”).

Why crowdfund?

Pebble is not exactly cash-strapped, having received $25.7 million in three rounds from investors that include CRV, ACE & Company, Tim Draper, Draper & Associates, Paul Buchheit, Mark Friedgan and Y Combinator. Pebble Technology says it is going back to its roots, “where it all started,” in launching the new product on Kickstarter. “The Kickstarter community and our early adopters believed in us before anyone else even knew we existed. You blew us away with your support and kicked off a worldwide movement!”

The underlying reasons may be deeper than this, however. It does make business sense. For one, Kickstarter has been Pebble’s most successful sales channel so far, apart from sales on its own website. The first Pebble crowdfunding campaign raised $10.26 million from almost 69,000 backers.

Secondly, pre-selling on Kickstarter means better margins for Pebble Tech. Kickstarter only gets 5% of proceeds. Payment processor Stripe gets 5%, too. This means only a 10% margin from this retail channel. Selling goods on brick-and-mortar retail channels would mean a margin of 35 to 50%, which will severely dilute Pebble’s profitability.

Meanwhile, selling on established e-commerce services like Amazon might result in reasonable margins, but it means Pebble will have no control over when it receives the money. Kickstarter lets backers pay up-front, which means more working capital for any startup, compared with having to source funds elsewhere and then marketing goods once it is already produced.

A crowdfunding bubble?

Still, 30,000 backers are not such a big market, especially considering that many of these are early adopters — people willing to pay just for the privilege of being considered on the bleeding edge. The more mainstream consumers are likely to buy products either at established retail outlets (tactile experience in buying watches, is after all, powerful), or through e-commerce giants like Amazon.

If anything, launching on Kickstarter enables the company to position itself as an underdog — especially compared with technology giants like Apple and Samsung, and it is probably hoped that doing so will endear the company to technology users hoping to see an indie effort succeed amid such competition.

For now, Pebble will have to enjoy the advantage of being able to get the funds with the exchange of a promise to build the product and ship months afterward. It’s a good way of raising capital, without necessarily being bogged down by the common investor concerns on equity and control.

The post Pebble Time Crowdfunds $1M in 49 Minutes, $6.8M in a Day appeared first on VR World.

Crowdfunding, while having its detractors and disadvantages, remains to be a viable means of funding projects, especially for startups that need to validate their business ideas. In 2014, Kickstarter, one of the foremost destinations for crowdfunding creative projects, reports having funded a total of 22,252 projects. This is a 10% growth in the number of successfully crowdfunded projects, compared with 2013.

In a year-end report, the crowdfunding platform saw a total of $529 billion in pledges, or about $1,000 per minute in promised funding from backers. Of this amount, funded projects amount to $444 million — the platform only charges backers for projects that successfully meet their funding goals. 2014 also marks the year when Kickstarter breached the $1 billion pledge level.

Kickstarter showcased several highlights in year-end feature, which included innovations like a working hoverboard, an Oscar-nominated film, music album launches, Chinese language learning program, a Raspberry Pi-based DIY computer kit and various design works. The company also showcased partnerships, interactions and human connections made along the way.

Successful projects are not limited to technology, but this category dominated in terms of pledge amount with $125 million in pledges. However, the tech category only had 1,124 successful projects, while others dominated in number, such as music (4,009 funded projects), film & video (3,846) and publishing (2,064).

Kickstarter made project submission easier in 2014,  no longer requiring pre-approval for projects. That move opened the possibility for more innovative — sometimes downright crazy — projects, although the platform still adheres to three basic rules: that a project creates and shares something, that it must be honest and clearly presented, and that it cannot involve charity, financial incentives or prohibited items.

In 2014, 3.3 million backers pledged funding, a 10% growth from the previous year’s 3 million. According to Kickstarter, a clear majority, 2.2 million, are first-time backers, which indicates that the crowdfunding platform is gaining more interest from new users. However, it may also indicate that more experienced backers may already be experiencing what is known as “backer fatigue”.

Top-backed projects include the Reading Rainbow project, a “21st Century” Cooler and sandbox game Kingdom Come: Deliverance. Kickstarter also offers a few statistics, including the time of the day when most pledges are made (early afternoon), top day of the week (Wednesday), and others, which potential project-starters may find interesting.

Featured image: Tony Hawk rides the Hendo Hoverboard, a hoverboard and developer kit project, which was successfully funded as of December 15, 2014

The post Kickstarter: 3.3M Backers Funded 22K Projects in 2014 appeared first on VR World.

Mota, a successful company founded 15 years ago, is hawking a Kickstarter project aimed at GoPro owners. GoPro’s stock price isn’t affecting Mota’s enthusiasm for developing an accessory for the adventuresome camera wearer. The already established company wants you to help it develop a wireless battery charger for the GroPro Hero cameras. The new product would allow you to recharge your camera without removing it from its housing.

You probably are already familiar with Mota founded by Michael and Kevin Faro. The company makes imaginative products for mass marketing in wearables, portable power, and playful flying objects, such as drones and helicopters. Don’t forget its SmartPhone Anti-Lost Companion  that fits on a key ring. Already known for its external power battery the MOTA 4,000mAh power block which includes 5 different USB cable connections for Apple 30-pin, Apple Lightning, Micro USB, Mini USB, and Sony PSP, Mota is looking to connect to GoPro.

Kevin Faro, co-founder of Mota, discusses its proposed product

GoPro itself sells extra batteries and battery chargers. You wouldn’t want to be caught near the summit of Kilimanjaro with a dead battery in the video camera that is capturing your treacherous ascent. However, that extra battery you plan to replace a depleted one with requires you to open the device, risking dropping the battery in the snow or fouling the inside of the equipment with greasy fingers that just changed the spark plugs in your motorcycle right before the big race.

Mota GoPro’s battery charger is designed for action in the field.

You might ask why an established company is using Kickstarter to raise money for a new product. You could say they are doing test marketing. The company explains their reasoning in its FAQ’s. They need to make new tooling for the new design. “That’s a significant cost that we can’t justify unless we know there’s significant demand. Your backing will show us you want us to manufacture it.”

The wireless receiver technology that makes the Mota Wireless Charger compatible with Hero 3 and Hero 4 batteries has a pending patent.

As a reward for backing the Mota Wireless Charger for GoPro, you can get one at “a very special pre-release price”. Yesterday, Mota launched their Kickstarter project. Today, as this article is being written, two more backers have signed on, bringing the total to 65 for $4055 pledged. The goal is $15,000 by January 7, 2015, so if you are interested, don’t get caught up in Christmas Shopping and forget to pledge.

The intended release date is March/April 2015 when assembly, batch testing, complete and Reward fulfillments begin. In the meantime, you can buy completed Mota products at several retailers, including TigerDirect, Newegg, Walmart, Staples, and Best Buy.

The post Kickstarter Mota Project is Aimed at GoPro as Stock Slips appeared first on VR World.

Mionix, a Swedish company that makes quality gaming peripherals has taken to Kickstarter to fund its Quantified Gaming mouse project.  The mouse has heart rate and galvanic skin response sensors and track that data in real-time allowing players to analyze their data.  The company hopes to raise $100,000 for its project by January 13th, 2015 so that it can make the project a reality.

The NAOS QG is a gaming mouse that has sensors that track heart rate using an optical heart rate sensor and a galvanic skin response sensor that can help monitor a user’s stress levels.  Data from the mouse is also collected to provide information on actions a minute and movement data.  All of these monitored data streams can be selected in the NAOS QG’s software to select what will be logged and shown on an on-screen display.  The recorded data will allow the users to go back and analyze their game-play. and the software will automatically take a screenshot when a peak in the data is logged.

The early-bird special for this mouse was at $79 shipped but all 300 of those have been snapped up already.  The current lowest that one can be reserved or bought for is $89 shipped.  The suggested retail price when the mouse hits the market will be at $129, so if you are interested in saving some money and being an early adopter get over to Kickstarter to buy one.  And what really is icing on the cake with the new technology is that the company will have free and open APIs.  They are encouraging other developers and hackers to have fun with seeing what they can do with the tech.  Mionix thinks it would be awesome to have sweat  running down a character’s eyes in BF5 when the mouse sensors detect that the user is perspiring.  That does indeed sound like something awesome, and linking it to a VR device would make possible even more in game quirks.

The post Mionix Goes To Kickstarter With Its Sensor Packed Mouse appeared first on VR World.

Inspired by 1930s sci-fi tv shows and comic books, Rocket Ranger was a game from 1988 that set player in a post World War II scenario where Nazis and Axis Forces won. Armed with a rocket pack and a set of retro futuristic weaponry Rocket Ranger would hunt Nazis all over the world, infiltrate their bases, foil them at every turn and finally locate and destroy their ultimate source of power. Something like The Rocketeer:

In Miami on Thursday Cinemaware, the team behind Wings! Remastered Edition announced the immediate launch of Kickstarter funding campaign for their new project Rocket Ranger Reloaded. Within 10 hours they have managed to collect 10 percent of the required amount.

This fresh new take on the classic Rocket Ranger will feature new gameplay sequence, more detailed story and tons of strategic modern game elements unseen in previous version. All this will be coated with 1930s inspired stylized graphics and retro design.

The Player will have to shoot, engage enemies in fisticuffs, spy hard, engage in dialogue and do lab research to achieve his goal. With a sufficient amount of crazy weapons,  retro tech and finally a working rocket Rocket Ranger will travel to the hidden Nazi moonbase and put a wrench in their evil plans.

Cinemaware promises a lot of exciting twists and turns, fun gameplay and a high replayability value.

In honor of Rocket Ranger’s return, the original Amiga and PC-DOS version will be available on GOG client service. Windows PC, Apple MacOS, Apple iOS, Android and several console platforms are the target for Rocket Ranger’s return.

All the needed info can be found on Cinemaware’s website. Anyone interested in supporting the Kickstarter campaign can check this site out and offer help.

The post Rocket Ranger Reloaded Launches Kickstarter Campaign appeared first on VR World.

The worlds smallest, quietest, and least expensive 3D printer is trying to become a full fledged product on Kickstarter.  The resin printer is 3lbs and a diminutive 4″x3″x8″ in size.

The iBox Nano is 10 days away from completing its Kickstater campaign, and is currently at $288,752 of a $300,000 goal.  The 3D printer takes things to a whole new level, offering a very affordable printer that is a very small size.  The early bird price was $189, which is a pretty amazing price for a 3D Printer.  The current lowest price that the printer is offered at is $269, which is still a great deal.  These printers use liquid resin as the printing medium which is cured by a UV led.  The Build area for the iBox Nano is 40mmx20mmx90mm which is pretty small but it will still allow for printing some truly unique items.

The iBox Nano is constructed out of laser cut acrylic and houses the printer and the Raspberry Pi that controls it.  The claimed noise level is an impressive 29db which should be near ambient levels wherever it would be used.  The biggest surprise is that the printer can be used by any device that has a browser, via Wi-Fi or Ethernet.  This means the user can use whatever OS that they have, which is one of the other novel items about this device.  The printer will be very economical to print with since most items that it will print would likely use a low volume of resin.  There are various aftermarket UV-curable resin that could be used to allow the user to change colors to their preference and even use more durable. This could be used with castable resin to make some interesting jewelry or other metal items.

If the Kickstarter can reach its funding goal within the next 10 days these are sure to shake things up with what is possible for 3D printers.  This looks like an ideal purchase for those who want to try out 3D printing but are not comfortable with the initial cost of decent full sized printers.  It also seems to be that it could be a good purchase for those who want to use 3D printing in their teachings, but need to have something that is affordable as well.

The post iBox Nano: The Itty Bitty 3D Printer appeared first on VR World.

A controversial Kickstarter project that promised anonymity for web surfers has been axed.

The Anonabox was a Kickstarter project that was supposed to offer its backers the opportunity to help fund and own a small and portable device that allows for the private and anonymous browsing around the internet, from virtually anywhere. The problem with this Kickstarter was that its founder, August Germar, was claiming that they had spent vast amounts of time developing the software and hardware in order to reach the point that they were at before the Kickstarter. Germar also claimed that his team needed Kickstarter funds in order to be able to propel the project forward and complete the software as well as the hardware and ship it out to consumers. In fact, they even talked about how they had made multiple hardware revisions and had ultimately reached the little white box design.

The only problem is that this device which Anonabox and Germar were promising had already been designed and sold by a bunch of Chinese manufacturers well before the Kickstarter had even begun. Some of the first discoveries of Anonabox’s false claims came from Reddit, where people had found a Chinese-made router that was identical to the ones shown by Anonabox selling for $20 on Aliexpress. If you look at the images of the Anonabox router and the Aliexpress router, the similarities are shockingly striking, and the teardowns of both also look freakishly similar, because they are.

Now, however, the project has been officially suspended by the Kickstarter staff and all of the pledges that were made have been cancelled. This is a great win for consumers because it means that nobody lost any money on this bogus Kickstarter and that serious scrutiny is finally being put on new technology projects by its own backers well before it even closes funding. This project was going to get nearly $600,000 and they were charging $45 for a device that they were probably going to pay $10-$15 (because you can always negotiate volume discounts on Aliexpress) for. They would have very likely walked away with more than $300,000 in profit on this project without actually having had to create anything. Since they broke the rules, Kickstarter has indefinitely suspended their Kickstarter and given notice to all its backers.

This is without a doubt a win for consumers and Kickstarter, but there’s also caution here for anyone looking to back a new technology project. Kickstarter also needs to do more work on vetting their projects and at least trying to do some research to see if these projects claims are somewhat legitimate or not, after all, they’ve already been lampooned by South Park for their exact approach towards crowdfunding.

The post Kickstarter Suspends Anonabox Campaign for Lies appeared first on VR World.

Continual use of HMD’s (head mounted displays) can be rigorous.

Frequent users can be plagued by the all-too-common ails of “sweaty Rifts”, not to mention cheekbone chafing from the tight fit.

But an aptly named Kickstarter called About Face aims to make strapping a virtual reality headset to your face a lot more comfortable.

Crafted by neuroscientist and VR developer Eric Greenbaum, About Face is centered around two main goals: to make extended use ofvirtual reality more comfortable and clean.

Using an ergonomic foam accessory that’s molded to fit HMD’s like the Oculus Rift, the product provides a padded barrier between the user’s face and the peripheral.

It also wicks sweat from your face.

As Greenbaum states in the Kickstarter, About Face was something that was “born out of necessity” to meet a very real need of the VR community.

“The About Face project was born out of necessity.  My first foray into VR development was a mountain biking exercise simulator called Project Singletrack.  While experimenting with that system I quickly ran into issues with my Rift getting sweaty.

” Around the same time, I founded the NY VR Meetup and noticed that sweaty Rifts were not just a problem for VR exercise but for the VR community at large.  

“In thinking about the problem, I realized how important HMD ergonomics and hygiene were going to be for widespread adoption of VR technology.”

The liners themselves are made of “microfiber encapsulated dual foam layers” that are scientifically designed to ergonomically distribute pressure evenly to the major points of a person’s face. As for comfort, the foam inserts provide “soft, luxurious wicking contact surface for your skin” and are washable.

The project is a great leap forwards for virtual reality in terms of ease of use and accessibility. With products like these on the market, users will see the peripheral as a more inviting experience, rather than a daunting tirade of fatigue and discomfort.

The project is also pioneering a movement to meet the “unmet human needs” of the VR community with the ergonomic system, and is directly contributing to the growth of the emerging platform.

Form factor and ease of use are major elements to the launch of any interactive product, and About Face looks like it ticks all the right boxes.

So far the Kickstarter has met half its $12,000 goal with 29 days remaining, proving that gamers and VR developers are keen on the idea. It’ll be interesting to see how much funding is raised over the next few weeks and whether or not About Face will adapt a solution to other HMD’s in the future.

About Face is currently compatible with the Oculus Rift DK1 and DK2 models. For more information be sure to drop by the product’s official website.

The post About Face Aims to End Sweaty Oculus Rifts Once and for All appeared first on VR World.

This is a follow-up to The ROCKI ROAD series Part 1 – Life After Kickstarter Shall Begin at CES, published on the day ROCKI’s Kickstarter closed successfully on December 20th, 2013. The intention was to blog about the ups and downs of start-up life as it happens. A glimpse into ROCKI making its transition from Kickstarter to a start-up with the ambition to be a major technology company, grabbing the opportunity to change the world of music and technology.

Running a successful project is one thing and running a successful company is another. Will ROCKI be a one hit wonder? Or is there more in its DNA that will propel it into a major company? That was and still is the intention of this series.

Where we left off in Part 1 was how ROCKI was going to handle CES 2014 (6 Jan) fresh from Kickstarter (20 Dec), as the pre-startup new kid on the block. About 2 weeks to plan and implement. Actually less, since there’s Christmas and New Year holidays in between. As we head towards Las Vegas, I wrote Part 2 on the plane, with a sense of satisfaction that the team including the designers, app developers, even the companies producing marketing stuff – Drukwerkdeal and Pro-Merchandise thanks!! – all came through when others turned us down. Everyone worked through the holidays to get everything ready, and here we are on the plane equipped with our tools to take on CES and the world. A state of anticipation mixed with excitement and nervousness.

Will the press who said they’ll come see us actually show up? What will they think of ROCKI? Will they write about it? It is afterall the first time ROCKI is presented publicly.

Lost
====

I was actually quite happy with what I wrote in Part 2, including the small details of making sure that we thank the marketing material producers by mentioning them in the article (carried forward the “thank you”s here above). And also happy that Part 2 is just 2 weeks after Part 1 which is great timing. After proof-reading it a couple of times, I decided it was done, and put my computer in the seat pocket – and sigh, that’s where it stayed. Life tends to throw a curve ball when you least expected it, isn’t it? That’s where the story for this Part 3 begins. Yes, long story short, the computer together with Part 2 is lost, and not found.

I never recovered from that in terms of writing, until today. On hindsight, like any loss big or small, I went through the 5 stages of grieving : denial & isolation (pretending it’s ok), anger (why was I so careless), bargaining (if only I had…), depression (well, this loss is not so serious as to cause depression, but certainly created a negative association with writing) and finally acceptance.

Every start-up is filled with successes and losses. Each loss hits home because passion is one of the biggest asset of any start-up. It’s a double-edged sword – that passion drives success but also hurts with losses. Perhaps the loss of a client, loss of an opportunity, loss of an accelerator application – some loss will hit harder than others. What’s important is to remember how to recover, how to find yourself. Acknowledging and working through the 5 stages of loss is a good start. The start-up (entrepreneur and team) who is able to heal every wound faster and better would be stronger.

Admittedly, the loss of the computer and an episode of THE ROCKI ROAD is not a loss of big magnitude. It is a good example of how EVERY loss, big or small, has the 5 stages of healing. Remember to heal.

CES 2014
========

So what happened at CES 2014? Luckily we intentionally arrived 2 days before our press event Digital Experience by Pepcom. That gave time to absorb unplanned surprises. While we’ve done many events before this, separately as well as together (the 2 founders Nick and Dennis), it is our first ROCKI event and with new team members. Arriving 2 days early meant, we had ample time to prepare, buy some stuff that we forgot, (and deal with denial of the computer/story loss), enabling us to roll into the event on very calm and relaxed mood.

By now you might already have seen some of the press reports – ROCKI was showered with love. Engadget (thanks) and The Verge (thanks) both dashed to ROCKI’s demo table once the doors opened, and both published their ROCKI coverage immediately, within minutes of each other. A barrage of media coverage of ROCKI followed during CES and the next couple of weeks. A big thanks goes out to all the journalists who made the effort to check out ROCKI.

Image from ROCKI at CES 2014 Digital Experience

The rest of the CES week, the team was dashing and hopping through every hotel on The Strip with meetings after meetings, demoing ROCKI with our mobile speakers on coffee tables, lounge chairs, lobby – there was no place where we couldn’t meet-up and demo. So the plan (as a start-up) to go mobile, meeting people where they are worked out very well. The enthusiasm from the media on Day #1 was followed very well with enthusiasm from potential partners, including some very good and respectable names among them.

And to wrap up an amazing CES week, a message came in from a friend with a link on Techradar : Have you seen this – CES 2014 Best Audio Accessory : ROCKI. Thank you.

Post CES Dip
===========

After CES, most of the time and energy was spent on the unglamorous tasks of focusing on production and getting ROCKI PLAY shipped to backers. With Chinese New Year at the end of January, the production schedule and preparations took a break. We made use of the time and did a press and music partners tour in New York and San Francisco, meeting up some awesome people from press and music. The musicians’ input on how they see and expect from technology was very refreshing. We’ve incorporated the mindset in our development planning and I’m sure we will all benefit from it. Because stripped to the basics, it’s not about streaming, it’s not about the speakers, it’s about the music.

While the trip was very fruitful (including a chance encounter with Sylvester Stalline – yes Rocky Balboa, the man himself), our minds were still preoccupied with that task of getting the ROCKI PLAY’s shipping. In the swirl of travelling, meeting schedule and obsession to get ROCKI PLAY shipping, we (and I) have lost our way in communications and messaging – the writing and the mingling on social media that has been a signature of ROCKI and myself.

Found
=====

When did I find myself and my writing pen again? Crowdsourcing Week Global in Singapore.

Image from Crowdsourcing Week Global

I was invited to speak at Crowdsourcing Week Global way back in January. I gladly accepted it without much thought as I firmly believe in paying forward. The crowd community gave ROCKI its life, from development to Kickstarter. It’s natural then to “pay it forward” by sharing the first hand experience with everyone. Little did I know that the Crowdsourcing Week Global is actually supercharged with over 50+ speakers from every corner of the earth, every sector of business and every walk of life – all prominent leaders in their fields. Kudos to Epi Ludvik Nejaj and team for the great job. I sat and tweeted through the speeches – learnt a lot and emerged with a new perspective towards Crowd (People).

How to Raise a Million Dollars on Kickstarter

Thankfully, my speech about “How To Raise A Million Dollars on Kickstarter” (by not thinking about the Million) was rather well received. Being the last speaker in the week, I’ve had the chance to see how great all the speakers are. And knowing that my presentation is a little bit off the beaten track, it was quite unnerving – especially since I’m speaking from a first hand experience perspective rather than that of a professional crowdfunder. The nerves showed through including a “false start” as I headed to the stage way before my turn lol. Nerves or no nerves, the show must go on, I went through my speech, including some planned crowd interaction, and then racing through the second part of the presentation as time ran out (you can see from THE ROCKI ROAD that I do have the natural born inclination to rattle on in a one thing leads to another type of rolling story hehe). Something must have hit a chord, as questions followed beyond the session. The response from fellow speakers has also been very encouraging. I’ve since accepted 3 Mentorships and 1 Advisory Position, and also agreed on 1 collaboration. Great Crowdsourcing Week Global!!

The Power of One
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But it isn’t via this new found speaking confidence that I found my lost self. It’s one particular speech, one particular person – I’m very sure everyone at the conference would agree the most inspirational speech of the Crowdsourcing Week Global – “Insights from a Homeless Guy” by Mark Philpott. Mark was a successful corporate management executive (Aerospace Strategic Development Director, DHL Asia Pacific) when he gave up his executive position and perks, sold everything to begin a homeless life in January 2013.

Image by Humaneity

He put his life into the hands of people with the theme of “2013 Humaneity Global Sports Challenge” – one year travelling the world competing in as many different sports challenges with no planning, crowdsourcing his life to people who came forward with the challenges, as well the means to execute the challenges. The underlying message is the power of crowd, and it starts with one – “i” (the “i” in “Humaneity”). He stood up and change his life, in the process also changed many lives, one at a time. When people put trust in people, things happen and the world is a better place. Sounds like pure idealogy? It is, if we just speak about it on a grand scale. Put that aside, don’t sweat the “everybody” and start with one, start with “i”.

I’m putting on my writing hat.

The post THE ROCKI ROAD Part 3 – LOST & FOUND appeared first on VR World.

Hi there, welcome to ‘The ROCKI Road’, a blog about life as a start-up – the excitement, the disappointments and also the blood, sweat and tears. I?m Nick, Nick NM Yap, CEO and Founder of ROCKI. Thank you for coming onboard The ROCKI Road journey with me. Instead of a long intro about the start-up (ROCKI), we?ll plunge into what?s happening now – real-time – true start-up style, no time to waste. And if necessary we can always do a Spielberg-style Prelude Episode #0 later that explains everything before :-). With thousands of things popping up everywhere all the time screaming for attention, there?s always that one or two main topic that captures the day – CES.

CES Las Vegas is from the 7th to 10th of January, 2014 – what do we do with it? It is the first major tech orgy that?s up on the calendar. An excitement hangs in the air while ?every body? tries to hook up with ?every body? else – every tech guy be it journalist, technopreneur, hardware geek, app guy, money people all mingle to create magic.

We hadn?t booked any booth because we couldn?t afford it. Now thanks to the backers on Kickstarter, we can actually afford to make that trip. The backers gave the ROCKI Kickstarter a wonderful start with successful funding on the first day, and the campaign closes today, Friday December 20th with over 400% funding. With the start-up firmly secured, the new challenge now is to maximize this kickstart wisely to propel us forward faster and bigger than the original plans. It is a ?luxury problem? – a new dilemma that surfaces because of newly acquired abilities. It?s like levelling up in a game to be faced with new weapons and new quests. The challenge here : It?s too late to book a booth.

CES will be the first chance we?ll have to show ROCKI in real life to a sizable audience. So what do we do? I had earlier set my mind on taking a suite in one of the hotels, set up our demo?s and draw the press there with one-on-one invitations. Many have done that (including myself) and it is quite effective. However, ROCKI is new, too new, and in a genre that is not exactly a headlines-grabbing hot topic. You see, ROCKI seeks to revolutionize music and it seems (tech) people forgot about the music. If it?s streaming, it?s all about video. Even Google abandoned it?s Nexus Q giving it out free to those who pre-ordered after pulling the plug. Thankfully I?ve met many people including editors who are totally excited about what we are trying to do. But to the general tech press, innovation in music is not quite in the same group as easy buzz words like ?Smartwatch?, ?Kit Kat?, ?Android vs iPhone? etc. We would need brave press. It would be hard to draw these top press away from the convention center and away from their busy schedule hopping from one suite to another suite – they would need to hop through every single one of those big guys? suites, and maybe just maybe have some left over time for some small start-up?s suite.

image credit: Clément Bardot

Maybe if we could get a suite near the convention center, it could make it easier for them to squeeze us in. But alas, the suites near the convention center are all full. Oh wait, oh wow, The Bellagio is still available. Who doesn?t love The Bellagio! It?s grand, it?s beautiful, it?s classy. Everything about it is amazing! I?ve had the honor of having done a CES suite there and absolutely loved it. But it is in the middle of town rather than next to the convention center. While it?s only a 20 minute cab ride away with CES traffic, it might still fall through the cracks in the often over-packed schedule of the journalist. It?s an option, but I ain?t liking it. My heart would so love to but my mind?s saying : ?Doesn?t look promising. Too passive.?

Just when I was going to give up on CES, I remembered the email I got from Pepcom earlier. They organise this pretty cool press event on 6th Jan, the eve of the show a.k.a. ?The Big Press Day? where all journalists scramble about to catch news of the coolest gadgets BEFORE the show opens the next day. Pepcom?s Digital Experience is well attended by media. Google it and you?ll see press reports done at past Digital Experience.

So here’s the idea : instead of trying to get media to come to us, let?s go to the media. Two phrases come to mind : a classic one ?If the mountain will not come to Muhammad, then Muhammad must go to the mountain?; and a more modern one, advice from Dr. Phil, ?Always put yourself in a target rich environment?. Yes, I watch Dr. Phil. More specifically, I have TV on in the background even when I work otherwise I can?t focus. Dr. Phil is quite often on TV in my background. I guess my subconscious is picking up some proper wisdom

So a quick reply to Pepcom?s email, an agreement came back, printed, signed, scanned, emailed back, got confirmation reply – done. That?s how we like it – fast and fuss-free.

The good thing about these type of events is that it?s a ?demo table? style event where you can focus on the product and talk to the people one on one, without spending too much time and money on fancy setups. It puts the focus back on the product and the people, rather than the fancy booth.

Great that?s settled. That?s our media focal point. Gotta draw up a media plan. So in the next few days we will work on focusing our ?Life After Kickstarter? around this one evening, this one event only. Alas, the thought process doesn?t stop there. It?s a great event but it is a one evening event. So what do we do for the show days? Hit the casino floors? Nah, I?m not the gambling type – I prefer win-chances higher than that – start-ups have higher win chances!!

image credit: PObrien

Having dropped the suite method as too passive for our start-up phase, let?s continue this proactive approach. As an early stage start-up, we don?t have weight and power but we have speed and agility. We need to zoom through the universe like comets or at least a hurling meteorite. In time, when we have more weight, we can grow into a planet pulling moons around us, or even a star gravitizing a planetary system. That?s right, we need to comet ourselves through the CES show floor.

Our products can go ?mobile?. Simply with a small boombox and we could do a ROCKI demo from anywhere, even standing in a lobby. Have two boomboxes with a two person tag team (or a one man show with one boombox in a backpack one in the hands), we could already show ?multi-room music?, from any phone. We could just hunt down journalists, go wherever they are and show it to them right there. Hmmm I admit this sounds a bit ?guerrilla?, a bit of a ?stalker? – it might be frowned upon. We?ll have to do it right, so that we come across as pro-active, creative and disruptive rather than pathetic and buggy.

Time to cook up something ? to the Hall of Justice. I love cracking our collective brains. I wonder what we?ll come up with.

The post The ROCKI Road Part 1 – Life After Kickstarter Shall Begin at CES appeared first on VR World.