Over the last 10 years, I’ve written over 1000 articles on this blog to share my thoughts, observations, mistakes, and insights with my fellow creators. That’s a lot of content to go back and read for someone who is navigating the crowdfunding process for the first time, so in this series I continue to revisit my Kickstarter Lesson posts in chronological order, highlighting the core elements of each.
Don’t Quit Your Day Job (and How to Quit Your Day Job)(#81): When I wrote this lesson I had been running Stonemaier full-time for 2 months (a very short time) and a number of months before that decision, the Kickstarter world was rocked by a particular project that failed to deliver. That creator said this to backers: “Unfortunately I can’t give any type of schedule for the repayment as I left my job to do this project and must find work again.” My personal journey towards quitting my day job may be a small sample size, but perhaps the steps I took could be helpful to you. The first and most important step is to do both your day job and your Kickstarter job as long as you possibly can. If you’re interested in later steps, check out the full article.
Contests (#82): Kickstarter guidelines prohibit “contests, raffles, coupons, and gambling” on their platform. After some discussion with Kickstarter, the key things to avoid are randomness and confusing backers as to what they’re actually backing. But that doesn’t prevent you from using puzzles, mysteries, and/or games to promote your project and engage backers. Additionally, you can hold contests outside of the platform, for instance on Board Game Geek or Facebook.
Custom Meeples and Review Prototypes (#83): The first version of Tuscany (an expansion for Viticulture) included multiple custom meeples for each player to represent “special workers.” Here’s how those custom meeples became a reality. After we designed and tested what each new worker meeple does, I sent their names and descriptions to my graphic designer who created 2D versions of each meeple. Then we sent those to the artist who created 3D art versions of those meeples to seamlessly fit on the reference cards. Next, I sent the 2D outlines to the manufacturer to make sure they could work. Finally, I had a local laser cutter make wooden prototype versions for us to test out. When you’re running a Kickstarter, the visuals of each step in this process are incredibly important to engage backers.
Coordinating Staggered Launch and End Dates (#84): I would recommend not launching on the same day as another project in your project’s subcategory. In fact, I wouldn’t even recommend ending your project on the last day of another project for the same reasons–lots of backers will click the “remind me” button during the project and will show up to make their decision on the last day or two. To help coordinate launch dates, here’s the link to the Kickstarter Launch and End Dates Google spreadsheet for tabletop game projects.
Card Frames (#85): You know from experience and from other KS Lessons that art has a huge impact on a tabletop game project. What I’ve come to discover, though, is that if you have great art in a poorly designed card frame, the art is overshadowed by the card frame. However, the converse is also true: a great card frame can help people overlook mediocre art. Thus I would like to posit that if you have a limited budget to spend on art and design pre-Kickstarter, high up on your priority list should be the card frames. I recommend hiring a professional illustrator and designer to create a truly beautiful, functional card frame. It will be some of the best pre-Kickstarter money you spend.
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If you have any questions or thoughts about these topics, feel free to share in the comments!
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3 Comments on “Quick Kickstarter Lesson Recaps: #81-85”
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I think the card frame is (only) useful if its coloured perhaps and serves a purpose (can be handy when in your hand to know you can quickly sort them and others know roughy what type of card you have when they look across the table (like 7 Wonders) – colour blindness /symbols is another consideration
I finished your excellent Crowdfunder’s Strategy Guide book last week and am now going through and taking notes specifically related to our project. I can’t tell you how pleased I am to find such a knowledgeable source and a step-by-step process to follow. Just wanted to say THANKS JAMEY!
Thanks so much for checking out the book, and I’m glad it was helpful. I’m here for you in the comments whenever you have a question. :)