After 30 long days the game that I planned to create was unable to fund on its first attempt on Kickstarter. One thing I have learned recently is that many games struggle in their first attempts now. The competition is getting better and better, which is great for gamers/backers, but hard for new designers trying to "break into boardgames".
As I gather all of the data, review all of the potential missed funding opportunities, and strategize a relaunch, I thought it also important to post here on my Blog.
Below was the final update I placed on my Novus Kickstarter, figured instead of retyping it all that this can summarize some things I believe my campaign was missing...
To be continued...
Hello everyone, as
many of you have predicted through the fairly reliable Kicktraq and
Bigger Cake trend graphs, Legends of Novus was not able to attain its
funding goal for this first attempt. It has been a very fun,
engaging, and educational 4 weeks going through this campaign. To
say this was a failure would be wrong, I feel what was learned this
past month will make me a better game designer and marketer for any
future endeavours. And to have over 400 people take interest, with
over $20,000 Canadian pledges, means that Novus was important to many
people!
The creatures that
have been plaguing Novus will not relent, and your support will be
needed when we get the chance to try this again! If even 50% of you
came back for Day 1 of the relaunch we could see a fantastic % funded
and interest in the kickstarter and gaming community.
Here is a quick
video, a temporary farewell...
Something does need
to change though, I cannot relaunch as it is now and expect it to
succeed. So here are a few of the things that will be considered
between now and the relaunch:
-
Reducing the minimum funding goal to a more attainable result early on. In order to do this there will need to be a game component to review, to determine what is a must have and what is a nice to have. The most costly component, for example, are the dual layer character boards. If these were playmats to begin with, and the dual layer turned into a Stretch Goal, then the initial costs would go down significantly while still allowing for that to become a component with enough funding.
-
Kickstarter game exclusives... there is some dissent on whether these are important or not, but I believe in a game like this they can be created/included without taking away from a potential retail game in the future. This would most likely be in the form of special characters, classes, and creatures.
-
Add-Ons instead of excessive Pledge Levels. Things like the Art Book and the Neoprene Mat are great things to have, but they may have deterred backers as they can make the pledge levels confusing, and feel that if they don’t contribute the highest level then they aren’t getting the full game.
-
Additional Game Reviews/Previews by more prominent people in the industry. By having these, the game will get more media exposure and views, which drives more traffic to the game and thus more people become interested. This comes at a cost, of course, which must be balanced carefully.
-
New art... The game is already loaded with some fantastic art, but the more there is the more visually appealing the game becomes. I will work with the artist to decide on some new pieces to gather specifically for the relaunch, rather than releasing it all before the launch.
-
New prototypes, using all of the new graphics, and inputting those new graphics into the intro video. You may have noticed the promo video used the older format of card graphics and the older character sheet. Although the video was still very appealing, it will match the game more with the newer graphics/images instead.
Here is an estimated
timeline of events to lead toward the relaunch. Exact date is to be
determined by the end of April, then will announce in the FB group
and to some of the Kickstarter awareness groups out there.
I am sure there will
be some other things to reconsider between now and the relaunch, and
anything you wish to recommend you can feel free to do so. Here are
a few ways you can:
Email me at
fundamentalgames@icloud.com
Join the games
Facebook Group and comment there (link at bottom of KS page)
Send me a tweet, or
FB message, I am Wesley Woodbury, should be easy enough to find;)
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