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Self Fulfilling Cancellation

Self Fulfilling Cancellation

Another good man down. Today I saw a good project that was on its way to a tight but achievable funding cancelled. Reasons were given that I don’t really understand, and again I saw the reactions on social media that Kickstarter is only for the big companies, that its only a pre-order system, that its not for the small or independent creators anymore. So, this is something of an open letter to small independent creators and something of a rant to the world at large, but it bo

Launch Exactly When Ready

Launch Exactly When Ready

I listen to the Board Game Design Lab podcast, but I’m pretty behind. I was recently listening to an episode about a game that I’d at one point tried to sign up for the playtesting of. I won’t mention its name, I apparently didn’t make it through the stringent playtesting selection criteria, but I did qualify to be signed up for a mailing list that I didn’t request to be put on. All of which meant I wouldn’t ever pick the game up, but that it stuck in my head. The reason that

Why Roll and Move is a Bad Idea

Why Roll and Move is a Bad Idea

That might sound like a weirdly simplistic subject for a Kickstarter/game design blog, but stick with me here. Every week I see a handful of Roll and Move games released on Kickstarter, they tend to fail pretty badly, but they keep coming. Generally, I write them off as being people who haven’t done enough research into games, or Kickstarter, or anything really. Then I got involved in a BGG thread from a creator who was about to put out a roll and move game, they were pretty

The Dunning kruger effect and Kickstarter creators

The Dunning kruger effect and Kickstarter creators

There is a psychological phenomena much quoted in relation to the worst kind of Kickstarters, its something called the Dunning Kruger effect, and if you intend to become a Kickstarter creator its probably a good idea for you to do a little self-analysis in relation to it. Strictly speaking the Dunning Kruger effect is a combination of two viewpoints of the world, namely that smart people assume that they are average, and so that by extension that around half of all other peop

Graphic Design for people who don’t know anything about graphic design

Graphic Design for people who don’t know anything about graphic design

Right off the bat, I want to make very clear, this is in relation to designing your Kickstarter page only. Unless you're a professional do not do your own graphic design on your game itself, the money you ‘save’ will be spent several times over with needing to re-do files over and over, and even when you manage it, they’ll likely not look up to standard. Your Kickstarter page is a different beast though, you can get away with designing it yourself, it has a real limit on what

Kickstarter Rules

Kickstarter Rules

Which is to say, the rules set by Kickstarter, rather than an exclamation that Kickstarter is very splendid (not to say that it isn’t). I’ve sat down to write this blog a couple of times now, and I find myself struggling. It was just recently that I realised that the reason I’ve been having a hard time with it is that those rules are themselves worryingly nebulous. Now, I’m a Kickstarter Creator, and I expect to be for at least the next couple of years. I couldn’t bring out g

Negativity exists – The tricky relationship of Kickstarter Creator and Backer

Negativity exists – The tricky relationship of Kickstarter Creator and Backer

Let me just open by saying, I believe in people. I think that on the whole they are smart and generous, kind and decent. Personally, I’m a pretty optimistic character, I think that to try to make a career in tabletop games and launch on Kickstarter specifically you probably have to be. That might sounds like an introduction that’s leading up to a but, and it sort of is, though not entirely. I also believe that it is when a person can do nothing for you or to you their followi

Things Learnt From SSO To Moonflight

Things Learnt From SSO To Moonflight

Hopefully with each Kickstarter, and each game, we’re learning a little something about how to do this right. As such, between our successful Kickstarter for SSO and the one for Moonflight we’ve picked up a few lessons. In actuality we’ve picked up a whole bunch of them but there are a few that I can offer as useful tips here, aside from the ones that I’ve previously mentioned in other blogs. Download eXtrudy Producing physical components for your game is extremely useful for

Dungeon Drop

Dungeon Drop

Players: 1-4 Age: 8+ Teaching Time: 2 mins Playing Time: 15-20 mins Setup Time: 1 mins Value For Money: Mid Luck: High Complexity: Low Strategy: Low Price: £15 Recommended: Yes Website: https://www.phaseshiftgames.com/dungeondrop.html There is certainly a genius to simplicity, and the undeniable success of Dungeon Drop is tribute to the value that it can bring. A relatively small campaign that funded at over $250k it is based on an idea that is both simple and very attractive

Sideshow Swap!

Sideshow Swap!

Players: 2-8 Age: 8+ Teaching Time: 2 mins Playing Time: 4 mins Setup Time: 1 mins Value For Money: Low Luck: Mid Complexity: Low Strategy: Low Price: £20 Recommended: Maybe Website: https://sideshowswap.com/ Kickstarter Edition Having Kickstarted in 2019 to the tune of $14k from around 350 backers Sideshow Swap was the sort of solid workmanlike success from an independent company that makes my heart soar a little. I backed it because it set itself up as a 2-8 player social d

Sumo Gnomes

Sumo Gnomes

Players: 2 Age: 8+ Teaching Time: 2 mins Playing Time: 1-5 mins Setup Time: 1 min Value For Money: Mid Luck: Mid Complexity: Low Strategy: Low Price: £11 Recommended: Sure Website: http://www.peculiarity.co.uk/p/sumo-gnomes.html Sumo Gnomes was a Kickstarter run by Robbie Munn as his independent design and publishing company, Peculiarity in 2019/2020. I’ll start by saying that I’ve personally met Robbie a few times, he’s a great and outgoing personality and I look forward to

Taco Fight!

Taco Fight!

Players: 2-4 Age: 10+ Teaching Time: 10 mins Playing Time: 5-6 mins Setup Time: 10 mins Value For Money: Mid Luck: High Complexity: Mid Strategy: Mid Price: £20 Recommended: Yes Website: http://eldorado.games/tacofight/ The logic behind the story of some games isn’t always obvious or, frankly, sane. Why did I wait until the middle of this massive storm to plunder this unstable sky platform? Why am I building an entire railway line just to get where I’m going? But Taco Fight’s

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