Over the last 5 years, I’ve written and published around 500 articles on this blog, including 235 “Kickstarter Lessons.” Today I decided to go back through those lessons to see what I’ve changed my mind about. The subtle lesson for me in doing this is reminding myself that it’s okay to change my mind without […]
A few days ago, a creator (Jan from Underground Games) approached me with a difficult situation they had recently encountered on a live Kickstarter project. I’ll let Jan tell the story, then I’ll chime in with my thoughts. *** JAN Kickstarters are all about reputation and how people perceive the project and its creator(s), so […]
Every now and then, I receive a job application. Usually it’s someone who knows about Stonemaier Games and fancies the idea of working here. Sometimes it’s a generic, mass-emailed application. And twice I’ve received job request emails from the mothers of applicants. The problem is, Stonemaier Games isn’t hiring. That is, we’re not actively seeking […]
It’s video day on the blog! Just like earlier this month, I’ve added 3 new short videos about Kickstarter, crowdfunding, and entrepreneurship to my YouTube channel. You can find the previous videos on our website or mixed in with my game design videos on YouTube. The corresponding written entries are in the description of each video (click through […]
Dear gamer, Thank you for playing games, especially tabletop games. I’ve been playing board games since I was a little kid, well before I realized how important they were for an introvert like me. I’m incredibly fortunate that I now get to play more games than ever and that I’m able to design, develop, and […]
In this series, I highlight some of the interesting choices made by creators regarding their project’s reward levels, stretch goals, and overall campaign design (the projects themselves, not the content or product). This isn’t an endorsement or promotion. Tinkerbot Games I’ve seen nice timelines on project pages, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a detailed timeline after a campaign […]
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about why I buy certain products from some stores and not others. I’m specifically referring to products that are identical no matter where you buy them (e.g., board games), not products that vary from vendor to vendor (e.g., hamburgers). No matter how you buy an English-language retail version of […]
A reader recently asked me this question. My initial (internal) response was, Of course! Any creator or business needs a website. But I realized how woefully inadequate that response was. It’s a reaction, not a justification. So I turned to our web developer, Dave Hewer, to see if he had a more robust answer. Dave […]
Would Batman use Kickstarter…and only Kickstarter? Stonemaier Games’ final Kickstarter campaign was nearly 2 years ago. We now only sell our games to distributors, and they sell to retailers, and retailers sell to consumers. This is the traditional model of game publishing. However, the polar opposite of this method has been used with great success […]
There was a time when I had very little empathy. Then I stumbled into a way to learn it, and I’d like to share that method with you, as I think it may significantly improve your relationships with backers, customers, and people in general. Way back in 2007, I was just starting a new job […]
