So the whole point in this kickstarter is to give me the funding to create an amazing game. If I am very lucky I may be able to cut back my hours at work ... And if I am really really lucky maybe even quit!
So like many creative people I do tend to jump into things with both feet and think that I will try to learn how to swim on the way down. Sometimes that works and sometimes that does not .. With Kickstarter that is a bit different for me. I just saw a good friend of mine who had an amazing project miss his funding goal by less then $3,000. This was very eye opening for me because I really like his work and much of his previous books have been AMAZING and successful. He posted some very insightful reasons why he thinks his project did not succeed. With this I started to take another look at my own project.
Now a few of these items are checked off my list .. and I have created a nice spreadsheet that calculates how many items I have to complete .. This spreadsheet does not put into account items that are more important then others. However these are just a few things that you need to think about before starting your kickstarter campaign. at first I was thinking about making comments on all these Items ... then I started to realise I'm not writing a blog about how to do a kickstarter ... I'm writing about MY Kickstarter... This is something that I might revisit . but for now I'm going to just work on my own project.
My Kickstarter preparation check list
Now a few of these items are checked off my list .. and I have created a nice spreadsheet that calculates how many items I have to complete .. This spreadsheet does not put into account items that are more important then others. However these are just a few things that you need to think about before starting your kickstarter campaign. at first I was thinking about making comments on all these Items ... then I started to realise I'm not writing a blog about how to do a kickstarter ... I'm writing about MY Kickstarter... This is something that I might revisit . but for now I'm going to just work on my own project.
Invoke Card Game Design Checklist
| Print and play version posted |
| Play testing 20-40 |
| All cards proofread |
| Cards uploaded to games crafter |
| Prototype ordered (Three Deck version) |
| Domain name |
| Blind play testing |
| Creative Commons licence (print and play) |
| Artwork for all cards |
| Box design |
| Instructions booklet |
| Create symbols for the three decks |
| Create suit for events |
| Re-create Cards for easy viewing |
Kickstarter Tasks
| Submit approval |
| Create kickstarter page |
| Shoot video |
| Calculate costs of shipping US |
| Calculate shipping Au |
| Calculate production of all reward levels |
| Reward levels |
| Submit press release |
| Proofread kickstarter page |
| Back 5 projects (others) |
| Interview successful projects |
| Listen to all "Funding the Dream podcast" |
| Make comments on on other projects |
| Help promote others project |
| Amazon payments |
| Have someone else view my project page |
| Create and calualte streach goals |
Marketing tasks
| Board game geek forum |
| Fiverr ad |
| Facebook ad |
| Host board game parties where someone brings a friend |
| Game con |
| Send out print n play versions |
| Contact local papers |
| Flyers at game stores |
| Be on at least 3 blogs |
| Get ads on 3 podcasts |
| At least 20 Blog posts. |
| Photo tagging promo on facebook |
Factors not on my list
These items I am going to talk about a little bit because they are more important to just put on a to do list.
My Dyslexia
By the time your eyes have come down this far you may have noticed a few mistakes. .. yes yes I know you have seen me write about this before .. but its a huge factor. Think every single step requires me to wait for someone to help me to insure that there are no grammatical or spelling errors ... these is not something that "Spellcheck" can fix. So a major part of my time is waiting. The problem with having Dyslexia .. I cant just post something and have a mistake overlooked because my brain works differently. This is the internet ... Where the Grammar Jackals are just waiting to rip apart a creative idea due to a misspelling or misuse of tense. So I wait .
Nobody knows me
All my social media has been focused on being an artist. This is fine and all but I'm not one of those game creators who have other games out there. Lets face it the Fine art community is not excited because I'm hand painting a card game. So I have started mostly on Twitter looking to actually connect with people who like games .. and I'm not talking about following them just to follow ... or buying followers I'm talking about actually connecting to as many people I can and have real conversations with them. I'm not focusing so much on facebook because I feel that its not all that great for businesses.
Playtesting
So I can come up with some crazy ideas now and then .. And I'm sure that Invoke is one of those. The problem with having really out there game ideas is that some of the things that I consider fun may not be so for other people. My wife has told me that as much as she likes the game there is a huge list of other games she would rather be playing. So I want to find out if others are going to like the game. I also want to make sure the game is easy to understand (or at least as easy as possible and still keep the theme of the game)
Print and Play
At the time of writing this the print and play version of the game is NOT ready yet .. At one point I had a version of the game out that was so bad that I am embarrassed that I even told anyone about it. My Plans are to make the print and play free for anyone who would like to play. Currently the plans are to keep it that way (Funding my change my mind but as of today ... its free). My hopes is that you are going to like the game and play it with a few friends. If I am really lucky then one of those friends are going to want to own the retail version :)
I only have one computer
That is not true ... I also have a phone and a cheep Android tablet ... but neither one of those will allow me to edit the cards. So when my wife is not using her computer is the only time I can work on the game. Sure there are parts where I don't need a computer like painting the creatures and such but that will not help me get the print and play version done in time. So I wait .
I get funded with Kickstarter ... now what?
Now here is a problem .. I have to start thinking longer term then getting the money to make the game.. I have to look into how its going to get to the stores ( if that ) .. and how much effort I need to put into it. So far its my dream to quit the day job ... stay at home and just do creative projects with my wife all day! with this comes planning.
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