The objective of our interviews with Kickstarter project creators is to delve deeper into the interesting decisions and innovations they made to help other project creators. We interview all types of project creators, not just game designers/publishers.
You can see our interview guidelines here. Interviews are listed from new to old. If you’d like to see interviews or media related to Stonemaier Games projects, look for the “Media” button under each of our games’ dropdown menus at the top of the page.
2024
- The First 48 Hours: 5 Takeaways (Sam McDavitt)
2023
- Interview with a Literary (and Game) Manager (Allen Eckhouse)
- What Is Your Contrarian Idea? (Brandon Rollins)
- Creating Hundreds of Cards in Component Studio (Brett Sobol and Seth Van Orden)
2022
- Do It Yourself or Outsource: The Master List (Andrew Lowen)
- Is Old School Crowdfunding Still Possible? (Philipp Berger)
- This Project Creator Wants to Respect Your Time (Gorden Calleja and Eveline Foubert)
- Top 5 Takeaways from Running a $5M+ Crowdfunded Campaign (Ivo Kalburdzhiev)
- 3 Ways to Rekindle Kickstarter Buzz Upon Release (Jason Brooks)
- Building Something from Nothing: The Legacy of Thracks Story (Balazs Sveda)
- A Guide to Board Game Illustration (Jasper Burch)
- An Insider’s Perspective on Gamefound vs Kickstarter (Sami Laakso)
- Pay What You Want for This Kickstarter Project (Tamas and Krisztina from Lemery Games)
- Mixing Up the Game Design Formula: An Indie Art Studio’s Experience (Laurens Colson)
2021
- Customer Service Obsession: Kayenta Games (Dan Hallagan)
- Exploring an Alternate Future of Manufacturing (Andrew Navarro)
- 10 Actionable Ideas to Boost Your Kickstarter Funding Mid-Campaign (Andrew Lowen)
- Showcase Your Talents to the Game Industry via DoodleMeeple (Jamie Noble-Frier)
- Using Freight Marketplaces for Your Board Game Kickstarter (Brandon Rollins)
- Finding Your Style and Growing as an Instagram Board Game Content Creator (Carley Reinhard)
- Do You Support Small Content Creators? (Luke Hector)
- Tinder, Reddit…and Kickstarter? (Wonmin Lee)
- “Load-and-Plays”: The Next Generation of “Print-and-Plays” (Liz Kazandzhy)
2020
- Meepify, Matchmaking, and Knowing the Size of Your Audience (Gary Tsai)
- The Big Pivot (John Wrot)
- What This Video Game and Tech Veteran Learned from Marketing a Kickstarter Board Game (Dan Ackerman)
2019
- 4 Kickstarter Lessons Learned from The Ghosts Betwixt (Dustin Freund)
- A Heroic Attempt: A Close Look at a Current Kickstarter (Wesley Woodbury)
2018
- Tattoos, Sharpies, & Pancakes: The Power of Honoring Your Backers
- Kickstarter Lesson #249: The Frequently Asked Questions to Answer in Your FAQ (JR Honeycutt)
- Amazon: How to Survive the Biggest Online Jungle (Hasan Hasmani of SamePageBranding)
- A Beginner’s Guide to Facebook Ads (Casey Hill of Hill Gaming Company)
- Breadmaker Games: Would You Use a Tabletop Game-Specific Crowdfunding Platform?
2017
- Kickstarter Lesson #235: Surviving an Attack on Your Character (Jan from Underground Games)
- Do You Really Need a Website in 2017? (Dave Hewer)
- 3 Red Herrings I Experienced While Planning My First Kickstarter (Rob Radke)
- Fulfilling Kickstarter Rewards with Quartermaster Logistics (AJ Porfirio)
- Previews, Reviews, and Everything in Between (Denny Weston)
- The Methods and Perils of Creating a US-Based Company for Kickstarter if You’re Not in the US (Jan Wagner)
- Casting a Wide Net Post-Kickstarter with InDemand (Vojkan Krstevski at Final Frontier Games)
- Authenticity, Passion, and a Squishy Red Ladle (Marc Neidlinger at Orange Nebula)
- Everything Crowdfunders Need to Know About Advertising (Chad Krizan at BoardGameGeek)
- Can Indiegogo Bite into the Board Game Crowdfunding Market? (James Hudson at Druid City Games)
- What Makes Kickstarter Special for Game Creators? (James Hudson at Druid City Games)
- Kickstarter Lesson #225: Customer and Subscriber Acquisition Costs (James Campbell of Gut Shot Games)
2016
- Can You Afford to Launch a Kickstarter Campaign? A Guest Post About Pitching to Investors (Adam at Carpe Omnis Games)
- Shipping Innovations by Level99 Games (Brad Talton)
- Kickstarter Lesson #192: High-Priced Item Campaigns (Chad DeShon)
- When a Kickstarter Creator Goes on Shark Tank
- Fulfillrite: A Thorough (and Positive) Testimonial of a Shipping Service
- Top 3 Lessons from When Kickstarter Blew Up My Life (Gareth Everard)
- Top 20 Ways to Be a Better Reviewer (Dave Banks)
- Top 5 Mistakes to Avoid When Manufacturing in China
- Kickstarter Lesson #177: The “Everything, Forever” Reward Level (John Coveyou)
- Building a Project Page Together with Your Core Audience
- In the Thick of It: Thoughts from a Crowdfunding Novice
2015
- Brewing Up and Screwing Up: Lessons Learned from Cauldron Kickstarter
- Third Time’s the Charm: Lessons Learned from Failing Twice on Kickstarter
- What Defamation Means to Kickstarter Creators
- How to Put the “Fun” Back in Fundraising
- How to Build a Cloud Dungeon with 1,946 People
- Meepillows: Mistakes, Maturations, and Musings (a guest post)
- Send from China or Bend from China? A Guest Post by Brian Henk
- Kickstarter vs. Indiegogo: Which Crowdfunding Site Should You Choose?
- Interview with a Mega-Creator: Lisa Fetterman of Nomiku
- Top 3 Ways to Maximize Your Crowdfunding Project’s Reach and Potential Through Online Advertising
- A Key to the Stars: A Guest Post by Tau Ceti Designer Mike Strickland
- Top 3 Mistakes and Insights from the Transylvania Kickstarter: A Guest Post
- Kickstarter Lesson #136: What to Do If You Receive a Cease & Desist Letter Concerning Your Kickstarter
- Enhancing Crowdfunding Projects with Freelancers: A Guest Post by T.R. Knight
- Legends, Lore, and Insights About Creating Pre-Painted Miniatures for a Crowdfunded Game
- The Compelling Power of Solo Play for Tabletop Game Kickstarters
2014
- Kickstarter Lesson #131: Everything a Kickstarter Creator Needs to Know About Trademark Law
- Good Creator, Bad Creator: A Guest Post by Brian Henk
- The Curious Case of Overlapping Kickstarters: A Guest Post by Bernhard Hamaker
- From Obi-Wan to Mr. Miyagi: How to Select and Implement Advice from Your Kickstarter Sensei
- The Project Video: Research, Storyboarding, Animatics, and More
- Guest Post: The Top 6 Things You Really Need to Know
- The Gift Economy
- The Most Important Thing: A Guest Entry by Aaron Belmer
- Cellar Rats, Rahdo, and Early Birds: An Interview with the Creator of Forge War
- Lessons Learned from Filming the Bedtime Heroes Project Video: A Guest Post
- Risk Management and KickSure
- How to Form and Strengthen Bonds with Backers: A Guest Entry by the Creator of “Linkage”
- How to Build Backer Allegiance: A Guest Post
- Kickstarter Questions with Jamey Stegmaier (interview on the League of Gamemakers)
- Fate Won’t Decide the Success of Your Kickstarter Relaunch–You Will: Insights from Jeff Cornelius
- Fixing Mistakes Before You Make Them: Insights from the Meeple Source Kickstarter
- Building an Epic, Not-so-Tiny Kingdom of Backers: An Interview with Michael Coe
2013
- 3 Wrongs, 2 Rights and 1 Who Knows – Lessons from the What the Food?! Kickstarter
- How to Generate $450k in Post-Kickstarter Retail Sales: An Interview with the Creators of Boss Monster
- The King’s New Armory: Interview with the Creator
- Two Kickstarters and a Boom: Interview with the Creators
- Interview with the Most Prolific Game Backer on Kickstarter
- Daniel of the Ball: An Interview
- Triple Threat: The Tessen Rapid-Fire Interview
- Chaos and Alchemy: The Designer Reveals the Secret to Making Gold
- The Agents: The Interrogation Begins
- SoberDough: My Bread and Butter
- I Backed a Backer: Bluebird Man
- Interview with a Vampire: TC Petty III
- Galactic Strike Force: Interview with Greater Than Games’ Paul Bender
- Game Design Interview: Police Precinct
- I Backed a Backer: Michael Mindes of Tasty Minstrel Games
- I Backed a Backer: The Emperor’s New Clothes
- I Backed a Backer: Deck of Thieves
2012