While I haven’t used Kickstarter as a creator since 2015, I still learn so much by watching the techniques, methods, and strategies employed by crowdfunders. Here are a few inspiring concepts from recent projects.
Planting Trees (Canopy)
Over the last few years I’ve seen several creators–among them, Thundergryph and our manufacturer, Panda–seeking to plant trees to counter the effects our games have on the environment. Given the theme of Tim Eisner’s game, Canopy, I think it was great that he decided to plant 11,347 trees as part of the project through the Treesisters organization. That’s something Stonemaier Games will be doing in the future too (we need to decide if it’s something we do on an ongoing basis or tied to specific projects as we did with Wingspan Oceania and Red Rising signups).
Tim also started a Facebook group for those in the industry/community who are interested in making tabletop games more sustainable through practices like minimizing the amount of disposable plastic in and around the box (at Stonemaier, we’re starting to use only plastic bags made of biodegradable material). My membership to the Green Board Games Group is pending as I write this!
Localization Stretch Goals (Block and Key)
Inside Up Games runs great Kickstarter campaigns, so it was no surprised for me to see this compelling twist on their recent project:
“At launch, we will only be offering the English-language version of Block and Key. However, if we receive 150+ backers from any other country, we will make a digital version of the rules in their native language available. If we receive 200+ backers from a country, then we will include printed rules in their native language in the game box.”
How cool is that? I love that they’re acknowledging the hidden cost of rule translation and the not-so-hidden cost of printing a second rulebook–this is a the type of stretch goal that truly makes sense. With the project over now, it looks like they unlocked both French and German translations. I wonder if this goal proved to be a rallying cry in social media groups for gamers in France and Germany.
Trust Metric (BiggerCake)
Whenever I consider backing a Kickstarter campaign, I’m subconsciously looking for reasons to trust the creator to make something awesome. I go over this in detail in this post, so I won’t repeat it here.
However, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone try to analytically measure that trust…until I noticed that BiggerCake has a trust metric (among many other useful tools for project creators and backers alike). The link above goes to their analysis of the newly launched Keystone North America project.
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What do you think about these concepts, and what are some inspiring or interesting concepts you’ve seen on recent Kickstarter projects?
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4 Comments on “3 Inspiring Concepts from Recent Kickstarters”
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Out of these, I feel like the most interesting one is the trust matrix. But looking at the data points they’ve gathered, as a kickstarter backer, I don’t really care? Then again, I’m not the type of backer who engages heavily with the project after I press the pledge button.
The reason for this, is I have trust that the game is going to be delivered. Shamefully, I’ve backed over 80 board games on kickstarter and not one has failed to yet.
What I do care about – at least recently – is am I going to get a good game? Out of the games I’ve backed, I’d say 75% of them are sold off. So while a good looking kickstarter page, and a trust matrix, might get me interested. What gets me to pull the trigger is a good review from someone I trust.
the trust metric seems like a great idea but its a bit buggy on my end, i don’t see half of the data on that chart
As a French person I would say that Localization Stretch Goals are something we would like to see more. :) Especially when there is only the rulebook to translate.
I would add the “Strategist Pledge” of Chip Theory Games. It’s an expensive Pledge which allow you to the main get “A copy of each future base game Chip Theory brings to Kickstarter” (Read crowdfunding platform instead of Kickstarter and read main content for base game as it could be a core box or an extension depending on the KS)
They did a genuine mistake (or a well planned one ^^) this time with Hoplomachus. Instead of having only 10 pledge available like every campaign. They forgot to set a limit for a few minutes and like for every campaign it’s a real war to try to get one. In a few minutes they got hundreds of them already and they had to set a limit quickly. In a few minutes they had 300 pledges ($650 each) taken.
I was lucky enough to get one. It creates a feeling of being a kind of VIP and you feel a bit part of the “family”. Like your Stonemaier champion actually.
And they know those people will order add-ons so they won’t lose too much money with that in the future I guess.
What do you think about it ?
Thanks for sharing! I didn’t know they made that mistake with not setting the limit. :) Here’s my article about this type of reward: https://stonemaiergames.com/kickstarter-lesson-177-the-everything-forever-reward-level/