The funding of your pet site: fundraise or borrow money

[Bedouin]

I'll be honest and say that I don't really know of many fundraising techniques to raise money for starting a game. In the past, I've always just saved up my own money to pour into my games and while it's worked, I'd like to be more efficient with the next game I want to start. Do you guys know of any ways to raise money to start a petsite? I've heard of kickstarter.com, but I wasn't sure if that would be the best route to explore. Any advice?

[Gabby]

Thanks for the thread, Bed

I've heard of kickstarter.com and indiegogo.com. There are so many out there.
I've never personally had to fundraise anything, so I share your question :c
What project are you working on getting fundraised? Is that Project Z?

[cpvr]

I'll be honest and say that I don't really know of many fundraising techniques to raise money for starting a game. In the past, I've always just saved up my own money to pour into my games and while it's worked, I'd like to be more efficient with the next game I want to start. Do you guys know of any ways to raise money to start a petsite? I've heard of kickstarter.com, but I wasn't sure if that would be the best route to explore. Any advice?

It would be a good idea to use Kickstarter and pitch your project to investors. I also think it's a good idea to have some funds available so that you can fund your project just incase doesn't. If you have a good credit score, you could try to get some credit cards to help you as well. I know Ian from Marapets used CCs in the earlier days of Mara.

[Lauren]

Or you could get a job.

[Ardy]

I took out a big loan for my site, it's hard enough to get people to spend money on a petsite for cash items, let alone fundraise for a type of project that has a huge reputation for never opening.

[bauss]

Back when I started a pet site a few years ago, I never did any fundraising because I wasn't aware of sites like kickstarter. Another good fundraiser site is http://indiegogo.com, and you don't have to be from the US to use this one.

[cpvr]

One thing that I've noticed with the pet site development community is that some owners take extra jobs - such as freelancing, real life work, and other means to generate money to help fund their game. So, what has helped you with the funding of your game? Have you taken out bank loans? Borrowed money from friends/family? Opened up a fundraiser such as on Kickstarter or other sites? Sold old scripts to drive in some extra money? Have you artists draw things for other people to fund the site?

There are various ways to fund an upcoming project, but why don't you tell us what has helped you with the funding of your game?