The Launch!

Well, launch day came and went in a blur.  Feb 19th, 9am, was 3.5 days ago now.  Thought it would be a good time to share a few thoughts.

First, how was the competition?
Pretty substantial.  Before I launched my game there were about 6 titles launched in the tabletop boardgame category.  After I launched, within another 2 hours, my game was no longer on the front page of the New section, as another 6-8 games had launched afterwards (which pushes you down the New list).  2 of those games were a similar theme as mine (fantasy adventure).

How did you do on launch day?
Day one resulted in just over 100 backers, and just over $5,000 CAN (about $3,500 USD).  For a very new person to the industry, and someone who has not been to any major conventions, I felt this was a reasonable result.

How are you advertising?
Mainly Facebook targeted ads, as well as discussions on social FB groups, Twitter, Instagram, and a small bit on Reddit (very difficult platform to share on FYI).
I spent about $50 on FB the first 2 days, and will continue to use their simple services to Boost posts.  I also attempted to use a social influencer, someone who has hundreds of thousands of contacts/followers, to see if that has any impact.

Do you talk to your backers?
Yes, I reply to every single comment/question on FB, Twitter, IG, and of course the Comments section of the actual KS.  I feel it is extremely important to be personal with the groups, and let them know how important it is for them to enjoy your game.

How often do you post updates?
I have made the decision to do one post per day, at around 11 or midnight.  This is for two reasons...
1- To thank and appreciate all new backers, as well as backers who have stayed with the campaign.
2 - To showcase specific parts of the game that I feel players would like to know about.
I am doing these updates with just a paragraph or two of text, accompanied by a 3-5 minute video of the two points above.  Thus far it seems to be liked by the backers.  This also allows me to share the video on YouTube, and other platforms via linked youtube video posts.
Some people may say a post per day is a lot, which is why I am trying to make sure each post serves an educational purpose towards the game (not just backstory, but actual gameplay).

Do you think you will get "funded"?
At this point, I honestly don't know.  I can tell you I have put a lot of time and energy into creating this project, sharing it, playing it, and now advertising it.  The artist has done a fantastic job, with minimal compensation (focused on the Funded result).  No matter what, the plan is to keep at it until 2 days prior to end of KS, if it is less than 60% funded then it may be time to quit, regroup, and relaunch in the future once additional prototypes and plays have taken place.

Updating my Prototype

I never imagined, when first creating Legends of Novus, that I would put together so many versions of the cards and game.  I thought I would get it right the first time, then once I was given some feedback I thought it would be done the second time.
Well... lets look at some of the card versions again...

I had no idea what I was getting myself into, or how many hours I would spend revising and retyping and reconfiguring the components of this game.

From the map layout, to the card configuration, to the text / rules, to the *shudder* rulebook (6 complete retypes!).

I want Legends of Novus to truly strike home with the fantasy gaming community.  I have loved fantasy my entire life, and don't want to create a game that people don't even want to consider playing after looking at the components/rules.

With some amazing support from the lead artist, Andrea Butera, and much feedback from the game design community, the game is truly eye catching now.  Is it perfect?  no, I don't think there is any way to please all fantasy fans.  But does it do justice to the fantasy setting it inhabits?  Absolutely.  When I printed out the most recent versions of the game cards/components I truly felt like this was something that looks polished and professional.  After a few more validations of grammar, spacing, and graphic layout this game is ready for production (plus the final artwork replacements of course).

Printing out the new material this morning was an exciting moment, and using them to play some games at some games stores over the coming days will be the perfect leadup to the KS launch on Tuesday (with some photo ops of course).

Here is a pic of some the most recent prototype components of Legends of Novus...

and a few digital images for higher quality viewing...

PnP Decision

When making a game with a ton of cards, and unique pieces such as the dual layer character sheets, it may seem odd to offer a PnP as it would be expensive for gamers to assemble.
After some discussion with the PnP community, and observing other game KSs, I decided that LoN should still have a pledge level for PnP.  If you think about it, the cost can be kept relatively cheap as there is zero production required for them (other than making the PDFs, which is not complicated).

So LoN will have a PnP tier, for $6 USD, in the KS.  But prior to that the PnP community had a few people willing to create my game from scratch , so I made the files and sent it off to one of them.  This person, Martin Gonzalvez, had some great feedback on how to better alter the PnPs to meet the basic needs of the community.  I figured it best to share a few recommendations here:

1 - All card files should be on a 9card grid, with 1pixel wide cut lines running between them all.
2 - If you are including backs, they should be on the second page.  All cards will print best if they are centred with same size space around cards.
3 - Reminder cards and standees, and similar things with two sides, should be set so they can be printed and folded (with a dotted fold line).
4 - Arrange tokens so that two sided print images will line up perfect when cut.
5 - If making a game board, segment it into letter size sheets or smaller, and safe those PDFs.  You can still make a large PDF in case someone wants to print that way, but no required.

The game is ready for PnP, and one player already has it made.  Hope this helps create some more buzz about Novus!

Here is a sample of the PnP made by someone:

The Kindness of Strangers

One of the harder things to find, well without spending a ton of money on manufacturing, shipping, and pay to play... Is good reviews.
If you are a very new game designer, with rough ideas for games, finding reviewers and playtesters will be a challenge.  Once you have your game polished and made, it can still be tough to find people willing to get your game, play your game, videotape themselves, and give a decent review.
I am using this blog entry to tell you about John Galvin, he was an unknown backer to me on my first KS, Duel of the Dragons.  He mentioned he had a youtube channel, but didn't say much beyond that and I completely forgot about it during the production and shipping times of my game.
John actually did not get his original KS game, somehow it was lost between here and NY.  So after a few email chats I sent him a new copy of the game, this time tracked just in case it was lost/stolen again.  He got the game and had it played at a game store with a few guys.
He not only taped and showed that video, but also an unboxing video, a how to play video, a game setup video, and a review video.  Then one more video after that.
I can honestly say I was surprised by all of this, and he does it for all kinds of games that he buys/backs at no expense to the game maker and actually doesn't even tell the maker when or how many videos he is posting.  You would only know if you are subscribed to his channels and look at it regularly, or get push notifications.
So, in summary, just wanted to thank John again for the kindness of strangers.  His reviews were very positive about my first game, visually entertaining, a pretty accurate about the gameplay.  Check it out in the link below if you like:

Duel of the Dragons Review - 2 Gun Pixie - John Galvin

Driving Awareness

The challenge from six months ago continues on today, how to get people interested in a game they have never heard of from a person they don't know and a company that has no history.  This is very difficult to do in such a broad and exciting hobby world.
One thing some games and other businesses like to do is contests and giveaways.  I have mentioned giving away a copy of Duel of the Dragons, and will be doing that again.  That can get expensive though, and only gets a prize to a few people.
In Legends of Novus the best visual to the game is the art.  Andrea Butera continues to amaze me with his character and creature work for Novus.  Boris Turano is doing a magnificent job with creating eye catching locations that capture this amazing world we have now created together through story, game mechanics, and art.
So it makes sense to try and share that with people while advertising the game and trying to earn email subscribers (who may end up backing the game later on or sharing the game/links with friends).

This resulted in a decision to offer 12 photo posters, just 8x10s, to give away to random people on the email list the day before the Kickstarter.  I will be promoting it for a full month in hopes to gain more and more email subscribers who like the art and want a chance to win one.  The cost of printing an 8x10 is fairly low (compared to giving away a game or other physical item).

I will share a post stating how many more subscribers this helped bring in during the next blog entry.  Hoping this can gather at least 100 more people in the coming weeks.  That may not sound like much, but again this is an unknown game in a well populated game setting (fantasy).

Here is the Ad Poster....

Updated Components and Art

The past week has been a tremendous time of improvement for the art and graphics of Novus!  I have been working on fine tuning wording and mechanics, playthroughs and social media exposure while Andrea has been working day and night at graphic design for the map, cards, and icons in the game.

The result is a new and improved look to nearly every aspect of Legends of Novus that we feel players are going to fall in love with when they see it, both on their screens (via website, FB, and KS), and when it hits their tables if they choose to support it.

This is not a project that has gotten this far overnight, it has been almost 12 months of daily commitment, from 1 hour on busy nights to 5-6 hours when time is available.  And its not over yet, the next four weeks require even more time and energy to create awareness of the KS campaign, develop video content, make sure rules book is fully understandable one more time, amongst other things.  Then there's 30 days of KS madness, a fun and critical time where I will get to interact with backers and reviewers, and maybe even some media depending on how it goes over.

Here are some updated images of icons and components to see how it is progressing!

Happy New Year!!! The Year of Novus!

It's the beginning of a new and exciting year, 2019 is here!
FunDaMental Games had a small game launch via Kickstarter in 2018, and all backers have now received their game copies.  The game is considered successful in my opinion, in that it was manufactured to the identified quality/specifications, communications were maintained via KS comments/updates and regular emails with the backers, and the product was delivered on time (a rarity in the KS gaming world).

Legends of Novus is less than 50 days away to its KS launch now, and time will feel in very short supply as I attempt to finish the KS campaign pages, conduct a new live playthrough with four players, get a video of the KS completed with a professional photographer/video editor, and finalize details on the core components of the game with the manufacture.  A lot to do, but I feel it is very important to get this completed in the early part of the year and aim for the Feb 19th launch date so that the artists can finalize their work and aim for a December delivery date again to the backers.

To support communication I have launched a new Game Giveaway, of some extra copies of Duel of the Dragons I had made just in case their were shipping/damage issues for the backers.  This will help gain some new email subscribers and awareness of FunDaMental Games prior to the LoN launch date.
Also, very new to me, is the function of paid advertising via FaceBook.  Right now just doing Boosted Ads with links to the email subscription for the game, then closer to KS the ads will be based on Legends of Novus awareness targeting gamers in highly populated areas of the US and Canada (and a little bit in Europe as well).

To anyone reading this post (whether now or months from now if you happen to look back on it), I hope that this year marks a new and fantastic journey as a game developer and producer in the coming year(s).  Creating this small company, investing countless hours of time and energy, and investing in Adobe, art, advertisements, and videos, and creating all of these groups/sites is a big risk to take if nothing comes of it down the road.  Nothing comes without some form of risk though, and there is quote that says you miss 100% of the shots you don't take, so this is my big shot this year.  Lets see if it can score!