Building Something from Nothing: The Legacy of Thracks Story

Ten years ago, I was in the research and planning stage for my first Kickstarter campaign (Viticulture), which would launch later in 2012. I had zero backers–literally no one other than a few friends knew about Viticulture.

A story that I never tire of hearing is that of a creator who builds something from nothing. No funding, no fans, no experience. Yet they work hard, they research and plan diligently, and they execute a project in a way that delights backers.

Today that story is of Balazs Sveda. At least, this is the first part of his story. Legacy of Thracks launches this week, and based on what he shared with me in the guest post below, I’m rooting for him to succeed.

***

Hey fellow Creators! 7 years ago when I just had an idea I started to read this blog, and learned so many useful and essential things. And now, after so many years, I’m finally launching my first Kickstarter. Now I will try to write some hints and advice from my perspective. Don’t forget, this is my case as a first timer, maybe it will be different in case of you or if you have a proven history and audience.

The result of the 7 years:

Kickstarter followers

I start with the most important thing: The number of followers on the KS pre-launch page. Fortunately I set up my page quite early so I could start to increase the number of followers there in time which is important because of 2 factors:

1. Statistics say ~10% of them will back at the start and the early funding is crucial.
2. But what was a surprise for me is how important it is for partnerships. Imagine this as the indicator of your potential success. And people want to work with successful projects. I experienced that it matters for some previewers or BackerKit also wanted to work with me because I already had many followers (so I did my homework). My licensing agent (MOB Vanguard) always asks this number, when talking with publishers they look at this number too. So the number of the followers will influence many things far beyond the early funding.

I collected followers on my KS page from several sources: I posted in Facebook groups (THE BOARDGAME GROUP, Board Game Revolution Community, Board Game Design Lab Community, Solo Board Gamers just to mention the biggest ones), but there are so many others and specific groups too, for example if you are looking for TTS players/testers it also has its own dedicated group…etc.

I also posted on Reddit too (/r/boardgames/ and /r/kickstartergames/) where it gained high visibility. And I think people started to share it and it could grow organically, because after some popular posts I could see the increase in numbers for weeks (I did nothing at that time). But posting on these platforms is not easy because I tried not to be spammy but to share personal stories and post appealing images, also be engaging, ask relevant and interesting questions.

Besides the social channels I ran ads on Facebook where I collected email addresses, and I sent at least 1 newsletter per month to them about the game/project. There I tried to write about how the game works and involve them (for example I asked them about what would be a good 1st day gift during the campaign, from which reviewers would they see any videos…etc.)

Know your numbers and timeline

This is a very important and complex topic, so in a nutshell: I wish I had contacted the potential manufacturers earlier, because knowing the manufacturing cost is essential and it could give me ideas with the potential stretch goals / add-ons too. After receiving the manufacturing cost I was a little bit shocked with the high fixed cost (due to the miniature and other 3d components, the molds’ cost is around $15,000. This is only the fixed cost, so if 1 copy is manufactured, then the unit price + this will give the total manufacturing cost). If the game is smaller and/or it doesn’t have any miniatures then this can be less. So I learned that I have to be aware of it as early as possible.

After receiving quotes, I could calculate with this and it determined the required number of backers, which determined my funding goal, and this gave me a clue about how big audience I need. Because I couldn’t afford to spend a lot of money on ads, I reached this goal slowly (see 1st point) and finally it took years for me. So I knew that I needed a lot of backers. To reach that, I assumed I needed 5000 followers for the start. This is a high number, and I was absolutely uncertain when I would reach this. That’s why when people and friends asked me “when is the launch?” I just couldn’t say anything. I always said: “When I am ready”. :) And now, 2 years after starting to build my community I think I am ready.

Besides this, I made a list of what I needed until the campaign and tried to figure out the needed budget. For example my budget is very limited, so I learned from the internet how to build a web page with WordPress, so I could build one and there I shared information about the game and also collected emails. Besides this, it turned out that outsourcing the 3d printing is very expensive, so I learned the 3d printing from YouTube and bought a 3d printer (Elegoo Mars is cheap and has super quality) for creating the prototype 3d components myself (it took 2 months:). Probably if you are a first timer like me, you will make wrong decisions too but this is how we learn.

For example, I wanted to do everything but I just realized that I can’t do that… for instance I wanted to make the box and I spent some money and a lot of time on it and finally it was a disaster, I put everything into the bin. Finally I acknowledged I can’t do it and contacted a professional prototype-maker. Viktor from Kartyagyar (it’s a Hungarian word meaning “card factory”:)) did a really good job and I was happy to send those prototypes out there to reviewers. You can contact him here: http://kartyagyar.com/

Game development

Here I could say many things, but I would highlight 2 things what I will do differently in case of next project:

1. I wish I had waited until I had a really solid game before spending money on art and graphic design. I tried to have an appealing prototype (I thought it’s better for the testers) from the early stage and I spent a significant amount of money on graphic design but along the way it changed so many times, so it wasn’t worth it at all.
2. Instead of spending money on early graphic design I should have used and paid for professional testers much earlier. After I discovered, I used Kicktester’s service, where a group of hardcore geeks tested my game and it was fantastic. They just didn’t say “this is good…this is bad..” but they also figured out and suggested solutions. They created new cards and they balanced the skill paths of the Heroes. I was very happy because of this, and it is really worth it. It really speeds up the creation process and makes the game better.

Working with Reviewers

I really hope that other creators / publishers have better experiences, but unfortunately I have a lot of bad ones. There are some reviewers with whom I really loved to work and cooperate, but there are some where I suffered. For example, I sent a prototype to a reviewer who accepted it, but after that the reviewer just disappeared…they didn’t answer to anything and since my prototype is expensive (~$320) and I had only 2 copies in EU, where it happened, this was a serious problem. And they are quite famous. Or another reviewer forwarded to another reviewer and components were totally broken/missing. The next reviewer couldn’t make their video, so I had to send them the files so he could print the missing sheets and cards. I learned that I need to make polished prototypes and start cooperating with reviewers as far in advance as possible.

Trademarks

Regarding trademarks I also had some surprises: I have a long story book (60 pages) and there I call a mysterious race “Anduril”. I don’t know Lord of the Rings so well and a fan highlighted that this word is trademarked (this is the name of a Sword). Or another example, as an add-on I am considering using a specific word for a wash effect on miniatures, but I learned from my manufacturer that the word is trademarked. So I just can’t use it on the KS page until I have their permission. Next time I will check everything in time from this aspect too.

That’s it for now, if you want to check what I have created, the Kickstarter will be live this week.

***

Thank you so much for your story, Balazs! I wish you all the best on the Legacy of Thracks Kickstarter campaign.

If you are (or were) first-time creator, what are you doing to build something from nothing?

• Tweet