Fund a Game Development Goal as an Indie Developer

Indie developers can fund a specific game-development goal — a contractor, an asset pack, a Steam Next Fest build, or a marketing budget — with Brillay's Goals: one page, one dollar target, a public progress bar, no all-or-nothing threshold, and no backer reward tiers to fulfill. A Goal is one named goal with a progress bar: followers make one-time contributions and every contribution is yours whether or not the goal is reached — no deadline unless you set one, and nothing to ship.

No monthly fee, you only pay a small platform fee when you get paid. 8% platform fee when a follower pays for work, 5% platform fee on tips and goals. Card processing is separate. pricing

Not every funding need is a full Kickstarter campaign. As a hypothetical, a solo developer might need roughly $1,500 toward a composer or $3,000 toward a contract programmer rather than a public reward-tier campaign built for a much larger ask; those two figures are illustrative scoping examples, not quoted vendor rates. For a public wage anchor, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median annual wage of $73,710 for music directors and composers as of May 2025 (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook). A Goals page lets a developer name the goal, set the target, and let existing devlog readers, Discord members, or stream viewers contribute cash directly toward it — one option among the offers covered in how gaming creators can monetize their audience. The same mechanic works outside game development too; a solo software founder funding a specific milestone can follow the parallel setup in how indie hackers fund a goal. The goal sits on the page your followers already visit, and they chip in as guests, with no account to create between deciding and paying. The same link can carry your other offers, and there is no community to moderate or keep warm. You do not need a finished game to sell first; the Goal can fund the contractor, asset pack, or build needed to make it.

What does it mean to fund a game-development goal on Brillay?

Funding a game-development goal means turning on Brillay's Goals offer, naming a specific target — "$2,500 for a composer" or "$800 to cover a Steam Next Fest demo build" — and sharing that one page link. Supporters send cash toward the stated goal; a progress bar shows how close the goal is to fully funded.

A Brillay Goal gives the developer cash toward one named target, and the developer decides what to buy with the money (how it works). Goals fund the work itself, while crowdfunding a finished game copy as a backer reward functions as a pre-order. A developer running a charity marathon or subathon stream instead of a development milestone should use the marathon-specific setup covered in funding a charity marathon stream goal, which is a separate goal type from funding the game's actual development.

How is a goal different from a Kickstarter campaign?

A goal has no all-or-nothing threshold and no reward tiers: every contribution is kept by the developer whether or not the target is reached. A Kickstarter campaign collects pledges only when the stated goal is fully met, and campaigns generally promise backers a reward such as a finished game copy.

"Kickstarter uses an all-or-nothing funding model. If your project doesn't reach its goal, then funds don't get collected, and no money changes hands." — Kickstarter, Creator Handbook: Funding

Kickstarter's published US fee schedule lists a 5% Kickstarter fee on total funds raised plus payment processing of 3% + $0.30 per pledge, with a discounted micropledge rate of 5% + $0.08 on pledges under $10 (Kickstarter, Fees: United States). Each Brillay mechanic in that comparison is stated separately below so it can be quoted on its own:

• Brillay applies no all-or-nothing threshold to a goal, so contributions are kept whether or not the stated target is reached.
• Brillay Goals has no backer reward tiers for a developer to design, price, or fulfill.
• A Brillay Goals contribution pays the developer cash rather than shipping a purchased item to them.
• Brillay sets no follower minimum on any offer, including Goals.

Campaign-based crowdfunding plainly works at scale: Kickstarter's own Features page states, "With over $8 billion pledged, we're proud to say we've been true to that mission," and the same page credits creators with having "launched over 600k projects and counting". That $8 billion figure is a cumulative lifetime total on an undated marketing page whose footer reads "Kickstarter, PBC © 2024," so it should be read as an approximate running total rather than a current-year statistic. Campaign structure is simply heavier than a $1,500–$3,000 milestone usually needs. For the full fee breakdown against storefront cuts, see how indie game developers make money.

What should an indie developer actually set as the goal?

A fundable goal names one concrete deliverable and one dollar amount rather than a vague "support the game" ask: "$2,000 to commission the title's original score" tells a contributor exactly what the money buys, while "help us make our dream game" does not. One deliverable, one number, one public progress bar.

The table below pairs common goal types with a published cost anchor from a primary source, so a developer can size a target against something verifiable instead of guessing.

Two caveats belong with that table. The BLS medians describe annual pay for employed U.S. workers in those occupations, not freelance or per-project contract rates for indie game work, so a BLS median is a reference point for scale rather than a quote a developer can hold a vendor to. Engine, storefront, and Next Fest figures come from the vendors' own published documentation and apply exactly as written, but Unity's and Valve's terms can change, so a developer should re-check the linked page before setting a target from it.

What does it cost to eventually list the funded game?

Funding a development milestone through Goals is separate from the cost of listing the finished game on a storefront. Valve charges a one-time Steam Direct fee of $100 per app, recoupable after $1,000 in adjusted gross revenue, while itch.io lets the seller choose the platform's revenue share. Steam Direct and itch.io revenue sharing are storefront costs that apply separately from Brillay.

Valve's Steamworks documentation states that a developer pays "a $100 USD (or equivalent) fee for each new app you wish to distribute on Steam," recoupable once the app reaches $1,000 in adjusted gross revenue on the Steam Store. That $100 fee is separate from Brillay's platform fee, so a development-goal target such as "$2,000 for a contractor" should not be assumed to also cover storefront listing costs. itch.io sets no fixed platform cut at all:

"itch.io utilizes 'Open Revenue Sharing,' a system where sellers can decide what percentage of their revenue is shared with the platform." — itch.io, Accepting Payments and Getting Paid

Some developers set the itch.io share to 0%. Neither the Steam Direct fee nor an itch.io revenue share comes from Brillay, and both apply only if the developer later distributes the finished game through that specific storefront.

Do you need a finished game or a big following to start a goal?

No. Developers can start a Goal while the game is still in progress and before creating a Steam page; Brillay applies no follower minimum to any offer, including Goals. A developer posting devlogs or work-in-progress clips can open a goal the same week.

That matters most for solo and early-stage developers, since most audience-building happens before there is anything to sell: devlog posts, gameplay clips, and Discord activity often start long before a store listing exists. Direct support lets that early audience fund the next concrete step — a contractor, an asset pack, a demo build — instead of waiting for a finished product to sell. A demo build is a realistic first target, because Steamworks documentation describes Steam Next Fest as "a weeklong event focused on promoting upcoming games with playable demos" that "occurs three times a year, in February, June, and October", which gives a pre-release developer a fixed, calendar-anchored deliverable to fund.

What happens if the goal isn't fully funded?

A goal keeps every contribution a supporter makes even when the total never reaches the stated target, because no threshold has to be cleared before funds count. A developer who sets a $2,500 composer goal and receives $1,600 in contributions has $1,600 in funding toward the project, with no all-or-nothing cutoff.

The developer, not a platform algorithm, decides what happens next — cover the gap personally, scale the deliverable down, or leave the goal open for more contributions. Keeping partial funds is a structural difference from Kickstarter's all-or-nothing model, under which a campaign that raises 80% of its goal collects nothing. Neither structure is better for every project: an all-or-nothing campaign protects backers of a large public ask, while a kept-contribution goal suits a single milestone.

What other Brillay offers pair with a development goal?

A Goal for game development pairs with two other Brillay offers: Tips, for general one-time support separate from the stated target, and Paid Questions, for one-off supporter questions about engine choice or art pipeline. Both run on the same page without becoming a second funding campaign.

• Tips — a way for a devlog reader or stream viewer to send support without the amount counting toward the specific goal.
• Paid Questions — a supporter pays to ask about engine choice, art pipeline, or another development question, and the developer replies privately in writing.
• Custom Work — useful later for a defined deliverable, such as a paid one-shot or lore document for tabletop-adjacent projects; see dungeon masters selling paid one-shots and lore.

Keeping the goal focused on one clear target, rather than folding tips and paid questions into the same page section, makes it easier for a supporter to see exactly what a contribution supports.

How do you set up a goal?

Setting up a goal takes four steps: turn on Goals, write a short project story, name the specific deliverable, and set the dollar target. Sharing the page link with an existing devlog, Discord, or stream audience is the fifth step, and the one that mostly determines whether the goal fills.

A practical walkthrough of that setup — including what a goal page needs to actually convert a supporter into a contributor — is covered in a companion setup guide. The same steps apply directly to a game-development goal: name the deliverable, state the target amount, and explain what happens once the target is reached.

Create your free Brillay page and turn your next devlog post into a funded milestone instead of an open-ended ask.

Frequently asked questions

Is a goal the same as a Kickstarter campaign for my game?

No. Kickstarter uses an all-or-nothing model in which a campaign collects nothing if it misses its goal, and campaigns typically promise backers a reward. A Brillay goal keeps every contribution regardless of whether the target is reached, and has no reward tiers to fulfill.

Can I fund a goal before my game has a Steam page or any followers?

Yes. Brillay has no follower minimum for Goals or any other offer, and developers can start while the game is still in progress. A developer can start a goal while still posting devlogs or work-in-progress clips.

Does the 5% platform fee apply to Goals contributions?

Yes — the fee line earlier on this page already gives the exact split between Goals/tips and paid work.

What if I need money for a Steam listing fee specifically?

Set the target at $100, because that is the entire required cost: Valve's documentation states a developer pays "a $100 USD (or equivalent) fee for each new app you wish to distribute on Steam," recoupable once the app reaches $1,000 in adjusted gross revenue (Steamworks). A developer who prefers a round $150 goal should say so plainly on the page: $100 is Valve's required fee and the extra $50 is an optional buffer the developer chose, not a platform cost anyone charges.

How large should a composer or QA goal be?

Size it from published wage data plus a written vendor quote. BLS reports a median annual wage of $73,710 for music directors and composers and $104,300 for software quality assurance analysts and testers, both as of May 2025 (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook). Those medians cover employed U.S. workers rather than freelance project rates, so treat them as a scale check on a quote, not as the quote itself.

Should I run a development goal or a marathon/charity stream goal?

They are different goal types. A development goal funds a concrete deliverable such as a contractor or a demo build. A marathon or subathon goal funds a specific charity stream event instead — see funding a charity marathon stream goal for that setup.