Friday, December 2, 2011

How not to handle Kickstarter

Chris Norwood over at GamerChris has a detailed takedown of a project he recently supported via Kickstarter.  The details are in his post, but it sounds like the company in question made two bad decisions - first, they sold copies of the game to random convention attendees before sending them to their Kickstarter supporters, and second, they included materials that were supposedly "exclusive" to Kickstarter supporters in every game of their initial 5,000 game print run.

The game got funded, and a 5,000 print run is terrific, especially if it sells out, but I'm betting their next Kickstarter project (running now) might not draw too much support from those who, like Chris, feel justifiably betrayed.  Part of the fun of supporting something on Kickstarter is being in at the beginning and feeling like you're doing something special; Chris' post is a great warning that the perks, though usually minor, are still really important to those who've done you the great favor of supporting you.  He's got some good advice for others who go this route, too.  Something to keep in mind if I try a Kickstarter-funded project in the future.

3 comments:

  1. Great tip, thanks for the link to Chris's post about Kickstarter. I started working on a game for the NaGa DeMon and it has gained enough momentum with my friends that I too am thinking about getting it on Kickstarter (when its ready). This will be very helpful when the time comes.

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  2. I have some interviews with early successful Kickstarter game project creators on the site, from back when Kickstarter for games was more of a novelty - you might be interested in those:
    Inevitable
    Alien Frontiers
    Gentlemen of the South Sandwiche Islands

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  3. This is fantastic, thanks Dave. I will check them out. Alien Frontiers is my favorite Kingsburg alternative and I always forget that it got its start on Kickstarter.

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