Ive seen a lot of these sorts of things fail. And the main reason is lack of proof of concept, no design documents and no playable demo on launch. Cool ideas might buy a few people into the project but there is no guarantee of funding

This.

By this point I see 'I want to make a game' as 'I'm going to utterly drop off the face of the earth and bilk some cash as I go.'

I suppose that makes sense. I obviously stake the integrity of my profile, but people might not see it. (I mean, If I steal the money, all the credibility and profit generation associated with my FA profile is at stake.)

But maybe I have to just save up some money, work on it by myself for a while and after I can show something, people might be really interested.

I definitely think that's the way to go. Put some work into the project before you ask for funding - show people (really, potential investors) - that their money has a chance to actually produce something good.

Do you have any ideas for the kind of game you'd want to make? Nothing super-detailed, but a broad overview of the game type, and/or how your artwork would integrate with it?

To be clear, it's nothing against you, just... I can't think of a single one of these games that has actually come out in a finished form.

Yea it's fine, and it's all true.

the important thing you have to figure out is how big(or small) you want to make this game. you're only one person and game development isn't the easiest thing to do alone unless you have alot of free time on your hands. I've seen alot of promising games fall apart after failing to meet their Kickstarter goal because they didn't have enough money to finish the game.

I want to start with the simplest build that is already fun, and polish that until it's awesome. Then expand.

Doing it alone is hard, and I think the others have expressed my sentiments too. If you want to do it, the one thing you can do at least is make a working demo. It should help gather some interest, but the hard part is maintaining the project to the end :)

We'll see! I'll try to at least scrounge together a few 'proof of concept' "screenshots", as in not actual screenshots, but drawn images that would show what the gameplay would look like.

Having done crowdfunding before, which essentially that's what you are asking for, just a "slower" version via Patreon, I can advise you of a few things.

First off, I think you could do it, assuming it's a game of moderate size and scope. You don't have enough details to go on yet though.

Some people are reacting negatively because these things tend to fail- big time. That's why you should do this via Kickstarter and not Patreon. KS has some built in protections, templates and remedies that make people feel much safer about investing in such things.

Second, you need to define what you want to do and then make a reasonable cost estimate. How long will this take? You might actually do it in stages, for instance the demo stage costs say $100 to fund. But once you build the demo with that cash, people will see you mean business and won't "fall off the Earth" as one person put it.

Next stage would be marketing and increased funding. Set a reasonable limit here too. When you reach it, great, you have the money to make a great game and you have outlined what you want to do with your demo.

Third stage might be adding new things to the game, new "levels" or stories.

I know you to be a reasonable person- been watching for a long time. I think you can do this. But there's a lot of marketing you would need to do. Unless of course you are talking about something pretty small.

Can you put a bit more flesh on the Mare's bones here? Hard to exactly imagine what you are seeing in your head.

Yeah, that is logical.
I'll try to conjure up something to show the idea off better than just a post.
As I replied before, I'll try to make a proof of concept image, to sell the idea I have. (I don't think words would describe it as quickly as an image will.)

Exactly.

As a writer, I don't have that ability.

But I would still consider a small crowdfund like KS, as opposed to Patreon.

Sure thing. I'll keep that in mind.

Sounds fun, a lot of ways to go with it

Having some kind of demo or gameplay to show potential doners that the project 1) exists and 2) the creator has some competency. The "my dream/passion" used to work, but people have been burned so many times that most are much more skeptical at this point.

Like others have said, it's nothing against you. It's just generalized cynisim and rational caution of doners nowadays. If you can show them something that looks good and works, it's much easier to find success. If you have to delay the Kickstarter until you can actually show something off, that's better than diving in with nothing.

Yeah, that sounds correct. I'll start cobbling something slowly together in my spare time as inspiration hits me. : )

Out of curiosity, what genre you would go for? Any idea what you would like to try to do?

Yeah, I'd like to create something simple fire emblem style, where you'd do some tactical fights on a grid map and then have the sex stuff in between.

Sounds actually great! Consider me curious.