The Day of Dragons Kickstarter exploded in popularity and reached $533,938 of its $12,000 goal — that 4,449% — following a fortuitous coincidence with a recently-revealed event for Harry Potter: Wizards Unite.
"Game called Day of Dragons launched their Kickstarter campaign to raise $12,000 on the 2nd of September," began Ico Crowdfunding CEO Thomas Bidaux on Twitter. "First two days, it raised $1,300. Nothing crazy, but decent."
"September 7th, Harry Potter Wizards unites launches the Day of Dragons event," Mr. Bidaux continued in subsequent tweets. "The KS campaign through SEO is the first result on Google... and raises $13k that day alone. As the campaign goes, and the Harry Potter related traffic explodes, the project keeps increasing the amount raised... To end up just north of $500,000. Not bad for a video game campaign without a video."
What is Day of Dragons, Anyway?
So, what is this Day of Dragons game all about? The Kickstarter campaign bills it as an "online creature survival sandbox game" where you can play as a dragon. Players can go it alone or in multiplayer, beginning as a hatchling and growing into a fully-fledged terror of the skies. Each of the dragons will have their own special abilities like breathing fire or spitting acid.
The developer also promises an end game where you'll be able to become an Elder dragon, unlocking the mysteries of the world. One of the said mysteries is the "elemental" playable character that is the enemy of the dragons who would ultimately seek to destroy them, bringing in a PvP component of sorts.
Day of Dragons Kickstarter Creator Reacts
Thanks to some handy SEO work, this particular Kickstarter topped Google for searches of the term "Day of Dragons". A quick glance at the subsequent backer updates shows a gradual descent into greater and greater disbelief from the developer.
- We reached our goal! We now have a stretch goal!
- 30K Stretch goal reached! Amazing!
- 40K Goal Reached! AMAZING! Introducing the Hybrid Dragon Kickstarter $50k Stretch Goal Reward!
- $50k??? Is this a dream?
- $100k? I'm Speechless.
From there, it's creator decided to shoot for the moon and set a $500,000 Stretch Goal.
And then he got it.
"Thank you all so much for your amazing support to our game," developer Beawesome Games said in a backer update. "Wow. $500,000 dollars?? That's unbelievable. We only asked for $12,000! We never asked for this! You all are so incredibly generous. Thank you so much."
"Today is the last day of our campaign, I thought by this day we might reach $12k, I wasn't even sure if $12k was asking too much but that's what I needed to get 3 new dragons added to replace the current 3, each of which was made by a different artist," the developer continued." This is our first game, we never thought there were so many people out there who shared our vision, our desire for a game like this."
"I didn't start this project to make money, I started it because it was something I always wanted to do. After my Dad passed away of cancer during Christmas of 2016, I decided to chase after my childhood dream of making a video game. A lot of friends and family thought I was wasting my time, I'd work 10-16 hours each day learning the engine and coding while time just passed me by with no pay. But I was determined to get it to a playable state, and release it on Steam in November in Early Access, then let gamers decide if it was a waste of time or not. A friend of some of the Devs (Shepherd) suggested I try Kickstarter. I had already made a Kickstarter campaign almost a year earlier, had it already to go, but at the last moment decided not to do it. I got discouraged. He said, you should make a Kickstarter, people will love this game. I said, I thought of it, I'm not sure anyone would back it. My friends said, 'I would.' That's all it took to give me enough faith to try it. And here we are, over $500,000 USD. Amazing."
So what's next for Day of Dragons? The developer says that beta keys for the game will be going out to backers in mid-October 2019 and Early Access keys will be going out in November. Presumably, the game will be on Steam Early Access shortly after that and hopefully before the end of the year.
It'll still be a little more than a month before Day of Dragons launches on its release date of November 21, 2019. In the meantime, you can add the game to your wishlist on Steam.
What do you think of the good fortune of the Day of Dragons Kickstarter? Do you think it looks like an interesting game? Let us know in the comments below!
