“The value of an idea is exactly what you are personally willing to give for it,” says Vladimir Malyshev of Fishnauts about working on the “Horror Filmoscope”

"Horror Filmoscope: Green Eyes"

Alexander Semenov, App2Top: You planned to raise a million. Instead, you raised three times less—287 thousand rubles. What do you think went wrong, especially given that you released a demo at the campaign's start, got featured in multiple media outlets, and hosted streams?

Vladimir Malyshev

Vladimir Malyshev, Fishnauts: People say that the success of a crowdfunding campaign directly correlates with the number of followers in your game's social media group and the activity level in that group throughout the campaign.

At the launch of the fundraising, our VK group had 775 members. Based on that social media hypothesis, we obviously had too few people to reach the stated goal of one million rubles.

Another factor that could have influenced the final result is trust. It's understandable. We are still unknowns, and anybody can make promises. People were cautious and might have feared being scammed. It's perfectly natural.

Meanwhile, I don't believe in the popular notion that "people in Russia don't want to pay." Although we didn't reach our target, 134 backers came forward to support and donate to our project.

We also launched pretty late. We started the campaign on December 24, a time when decent folks are already taking a break from work and dusting off their artificial Christmas trees, getting ready for New Year’s.

Honestly, we didn’t want to postpone to a later date as the post-holidays would typically be a "dead" period, and we'd be waiting another month for things to pick up. We took a risk, and we don't regret it.

"Horror Filmoscope: Green Eyes"

Interestingly, before the Boomstarter campaign, we had a period of media silence, despite participating in "RED Expo," where we were nominated for "Most Anticipated Game."

The launch of the fundraising campaign acted as a catalyst for a lot of events. Thanks to it, we met a lot of cool people, exchanged posts with other visual novel creators, and indie teams far more known and successful than we are.

One of the main discoveries for us was that many successful folks were eager to support "Horror Filmoscope: Green Eyes," and for that, we are incredibly grateful.

Overall, thanks to the surge of activity, the number of followers in VK grew by about 200, and we gained 1000 wishlist additions on Steam, plus we got funds for outsourcing an artist and a programmer. Thus, we consider the campaign more than successful.

Which perks were the most popular?

Vladimir: We initially focused on fun rewards [Mid-range pricing—between 10 to 25 thousand rubles.—Ed.] under the collective name "You in the Game." Buying these perks allowed people to appear in a school journal of class 4B, draw something on a staircase wall, or own a "Zaporozhets" car in the yard of the main character’s house.

Unfortunately, contrary to expectations, not many such perks were bought. Though we were overjoyed with those few purchases, especially when a girl bought the "Zaporozhets." That was very cool, as it was initially a joke perk, and we didn’t really believe anyone would go for it.

Sadly, even the cheapest perks with game preorders weren’t very actively purchased.

"Horror Filmoscope: Green Eyes"

You state that you didn’t collect the requested sum of a million rubles, yet Boomstarter shows you collected even more. How did that happen?

Vladimir: The main difference between Boomstarter and Kickstarter is that Boomstarter allows you to receive the collected funds regardless of reaching the funding goal. For this, there’s a special feature called "Author's Virtual Contribution." After activating it, the amount specified as the goal is added to the real amount collected, making the project seem "successful." No actual additional money is contributed. After that, your fundraising page becomes private, accessible only via a direct link, and is removed from all platform rankings.

It does look strange, but all this is described in the official Boomstarter guidelines. I suppose it’s a workaround in a system initially designed for the automatic return of funds to sponsors when the goal is not met. Regardless, we still have all our commitments to our sponsors, and we'll send everything out, as promised.

What will happen to the project now? Did failing to raise the required amount merely delay the release planned for May, or has it led you to reconsider its future more seriously?

Vladimir: The project will definitely be released. We’ll aim for May, but yes, the release might shift. Still, we’re planning to release the game no later than summer 2025.

Has this shortfall led you to adjust your sales expectations?

Vladimir: We had and still have no sales expectations. We’re not a serious business; we’re just making our game, which is more than retentions, DAU, MAU, wishlists, profitability, and daily activity.

If we were primarily business-driven, we would never have made a visual novel in a USSR pixel art setting, as everyone keeps saying visual novels aren’t games, the Soviet theme is overdone, and pixel art in indie games is nauseating.

We have an idea and a format that best expresses that idea. Opinions don't matter. If the game sells, great, we’ll make four more games in the "Horror Filmoscope" series as planned. If not, well, it was a cool period in our lives. Maybe someone will find it easier to tread the path we've paved.

"Horror Filmoscope: Green Eyes"

"Green Eyes" is a niche family project in the visual novel genre. Previously, in DTF blogs, you mentioned taking a loan of 700 thousand rubles for development. Considering almost a year of development and the challenges you've faced, how would you currently estimate the cost of developing a game in this genre? In rough terms, if someone were to follow your path, how much would they need to have on hand to bring a project to release?

Vladimir: Oh, guys, we're certainly not advisors here, nor should we be examples to follow. Normal folks would have made three games in the time and money we’ve spent. Plus, considering that we also sold a car besides the loan, profitability is no longer on our agenda. Here, foolhardiness and courage are our driving forces.

However, we did and still do marketing. Without it, no one would know about us, so it should never be ignored: always knock on every door.

In conclusion, I want to say that many have long said that an idea is worthless. That's not true. An idea has value. It’s worth precisely what you’re personally willing to give up for it, how far you’re personally willing to go for it. You are the chief appraiser of your idea.

Yes, it's better to try than to regret not trying your whole life. That's it.