I Failed
In July 2021, I failed at my first Kickstarter.
I had a lot of good people working with me at the time. We did many things right, like the artwork, game mechanics, and playtesting. Yet, I failed at the business, social media, and popularity required to succeed. I did not realize that Kickstarter would not sell our game for use. Five minutes on the internet could have told me that.
I had a great game with beautiful artwork, but the people were not there to back such an ambitious project. Sometimes, you don’t have an excuse. I wish I had known about Jamey Stegmaier's Kickstarter Lessons. Lesson #68, You Don't Need To Launch Today, would have stopped us.
Nearly three years later, I am ready to try again, but first, I will complete the steps Jamey outlines in his article. I am starting with.
Here I am with a shiny new website on which I intend to post a helpful or entertaining entry 1-3 times a week. I will also post entries with my progress as I complete all the steps listed in Jamey's article above. Thank you, Jamey, for the incredible and free advice! I will have a successful Kickstarter after completing your list. Be it a year or two from now.
You can view the Kickstarter here to see the game I failed at.
Here are the things that I failed at on my first Kickstarter:
I had a small following for the game. Kickstarter does not advertise your game for you. It is up to you to get the word out. I then had a fairy tale podcast and thought we could convert our listeners into board gamers. It was not a good idea. I should have done the work to create a following from the board game community.
The size of the game was too big for my price point. Those interested in my fairy-tale board game would not pay $59.00. I needed to decrease the size of the map tiles and the box, which would have lowered the shipping costs. I should have contacted manufacturers for a realistic cost for printing the game.
Speaking of shipping costs. I did not have a clue on what to charge. Therefore, I guessed on the high side, and that scared people. They were looking at nearly $100 for a game. Research your shipping costs, package size, and customs. Set a realistic shipping cost with the warning that shipping will be re-evaluated closer to the shipping date.
Ugh! The name needed to be more catchy. Again, I was trying to appeal to my fairy tale podcast crowd, so we came up with "Bedlam The Board Game." Workshop your name it will be the first thing people see.
Stretch goals should be unlocked after you reach your funding goal. Not before. I do not know what I was thinking here.
T-shirts! Most gamers are not interested in matching clothing for the game.
Reviews and playthroughs are essential. I had none. I should have reached out to other creators and sent them copies of my game to review. Giving those interested in my game a look at the gameplay and an honest opinion and creating some trust before backing the project.
I made many more mistakes, but it would take me hours to list them all, and my experience will be different than yours. Again, I encourage you to take full advantage of Jamey Stegmaier's free crowdfunding lessons.
I wish you the best of luck on your project, and if you have questions about my mistakes, list them in the comments below or email me at bricklebritgames@gmail.com.
