Applying for CMF grant. Exp and opinions?

Alex_J

Hey guys, just looking to gather some opinions here. Anybody applied for Canada Media Fund before? NatGeo grants? Any others?

Im working on a kid targeted educational adventure game about wildlife and wilderness conservation, and my main decision is, how much to build and showcase before attdmpting to apply for grants?

The questuon isnt just "whats my bsst chance at getting the money?" But also whats best way to be ready to start when i get it.

So i feel like i need a proven vertical slice ready so that i got workflow figured out for all departments. This means if i hire help, i have clear plan for what they should do. Dont want to waste time.

But... getting vertical slice ready solo requires exfra time for me to cope with unfamiliars like coding and animation. Stuff that would be faster and better with hired help, and maybe it doesnt need to be great to apply for grant anyway.

One idea i think is good is to first get a kickstsrter page up. That should be good vindication, assuming it gets some backing. Any wisdom for succsssfull campaigns there?

Thanks!

Ashervisalis

I think before applying for a business grant from the Canadian government, you'd need a solid business plan in place first, and maybe a short demo? Have you looked through the various programs the CMF supports?

Also, aren't you American and in Alaska? Or do you have Canadian citizenship as well? If you go for it, keep us updated, it would be interesting to hear about the process and such. Good luck man!

Alex_J

Yeah part of the requirement for it is written business plan. They actually have very specific guidelines to follow, so that makes things a bit easier there.

My wife is Canadian. I think the main stipulation is that we would be employing Canadians. There is a graph and different things give you different points towards an aggregate score.

Specifically I'd like to employ some Native American musicians. I think that along with the educational and conservationist theme of the game may make it attractive for that specific fund.

I've reached out to some developers who've used the fund before, too. I'll let ya know whatever I learn. CMF is just one of many I'm looking at right now. Main thing is I am just trying to plan out what I need to build myself. There's a lot to learn and a lot to do so if some stuff can wait that would be a big help.

Basic plan right now is get enough content to showcase one environment and have enough of a character controller built to show player running around in environment with thematic music and then I can give brief talk about what the things gonna be. This starts a kickstarter page, and then I use this kickstarter as reference to apply to various grants with. Any money the kickstarter earns would hopefully build some sense of legitimacy.

There is at least one grant I am pretty certain I can get, and it may be enough. I just gotta hire a reliable programmer at the minimum. Do you know how hard it is to find a reliable person? It's hard!

Ashervisalis

I always thought it would be cool to create a game using native american art, that would be wicked for sure. If you start a kickstarter, make sure to search the subreddit Data is Beautiful for what kind of Kickstarters fail and which kinds have a higher success rate. I'd search for it but I'm at work right now.