The title of a recent thread, "We need to insure Bryce Survives", got me thinking. Many of us (myself included) profess our loyalty to Bryce and we are saddened by its demise. We wish we could do something to resurrect it--make it better than ever--see our dreams for it fulfilled. Bryce was my weapon of choice for many years, and I would love to see it come back as a major force in 3D rendering.

You've all read the subject line and clicked on the link, so many you already have an idea of where I'm about to go. I don't know if anyone has already proposed this idea, but I'm wondering if we could indeed ensure Bryce's resurrection/survival by convincing DAZ to try funding Bryce 8's development via a Kickstarter campaign (or other crowdfunding platform).

Assuming you know what "crowdfunding" is, just think about it. There's virtually no up front cost to Daz. They would evaluate the program's development costs and set that as the funding goal. If the project is funded they're good to go--the money is instantly available to them. If it doesn't make it...well, that would be on US. The Bryce loyalists. The "we" in that "We Need To...".  You gotta fight for your right to Bryce (8). Look at that, Daz--a free campaign slogan. LOL

One of the keys to a successful crowdfunding campaign is getting the word out. Daz already has a promotional mechanism in place--they send out email newsletters all the time. But we would also have to help. Not only by making a pledge, but by taking to blogs, facebook, and whatever else it takes to get the campaign on the public's radar--and not just doing it once, but constantly until the campaign is over and hopefully successful.

I mentioned Kickstarter right away, but I have to assume everyone reading this is not familiar with the concept. So, let me back up a bit...

Kickstarter.com is a crowdfunding website. People have an idea for a project--a book, a film, a game, an invention, just about whatever--and they use Kickstarter to raise money to fund its development. The public is the "crowd" that does the funding. There are usually multiple pledge levels, starting at $1.00. As the pledge amounts get higher, the project runners offer better and better "rewards". For example, a pledge of $25 might get you a Daz coupon worth X amount per year for three years, so in three years you'd have $50.00 worth of Daz credit. A pledge of $50.00 might get you a digital download of Bryce 8. A $100.00 pledge could get you Bryce 8 in a nice shiny box plus a lifetime Platinum Club membership. These are just some ideas off the top of my head. Daz would have to evaluate potential reward scenarios themselves, but the ones I'm suggesting are economical. A lifetime Platinum Club membership would, I think, make Daz money in the long run. After all, people would still be buying content to use in Bryce 8.

Kickstarter has an all-or-nothing model. If your pledge goal is $750,000 and you're a dollar short when the campaign ends, you get zip (if you reach your goal the money is deposited into your account when the campaign ends). But a website called Indie-go-go allows you to keep whatever you raise. So if Daz decided to use them and only raised half or 75% of the funding, that's still a major contribution to the project's budget.

I'm interested in receiving feedback on this idea. I saw the subject line of a thread and it jump-started my imagination, so it's possible I'm missing something obvious that makes this a ridiculous proposal. But I do know that WE could be the deciding factor if a crowdfunding campaign is launched. 

My apologies for any errors in sentence structure--I flew through this and didn't look back too much for rewrites.

Thanks for reading. And now...thoughts?

Regards,

Mark-Wayne Harris

http://www.facebook.com/MerlinRealm (please visit and give my page some "likes"!)