Crowdfunding Games
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Introductions
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Introductions
updated 1 year, 8 months ago
4 Members
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12
Posts
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Introduce yourself to the group! What are you working on, what’s your passion, what brought you hear?
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I’m Matt. I’m pretty new to the board gaming scene, but I have Google docs full of game ideas and bullet points, that I can’t stop thinking about. Unfortunately, my focus often changes and dances between them, so I haven’t done anything concrete yet.
I would have more time to develop things if I spent less time on Kickstarter and watching reviews, but I’ve learned a lot in the last few years just from doing that.
I did design some simple (but arguably fun games) a few years ago (they just popped into my head), which was mainly to do something different with my daughter, but again, my focus has shifted away from them. I think I might revisit them at some point now that I’ve learned more about different mechanics etc.
I would absolutely love to fully design and crowdfund a game… it’s my dream now, but I also notice that many Australian campaigns don’t seem to do well at all, which may put me at a disadvantage?
Anyway, I’ve already seen a lot of interesting things in this community in the short time it’s been live, so I’m hoping to learn even more, even quickly.
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HI Matt, this is awesome thanks for sharing your story!
I don’t know if running a campaign in Australia is a disadvantage, but personally running from Canada I found the displayed currency is the main issue. Folks in the USA are far less accustomed to paying for things in my currency than I am in theirs. I have to buy stuff in USD all the time so it’s second nature.
I chatted with the folks running Chai Tea (they operate in my neighbouring province), and they ran their campaign with help from a company in the USA so they could display USD. But they mentioned it’s incredibly complicated and they may not do it again. Now they now have a strong following, so I imagine if they run future campaigns in CAD, it wouldn’t be an issue for them.
Anyway, I look forward to seeing what you’re working on in future!
Rob
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Hi all, I’m Rob! My passion is creating experiences for others.
I have always loved board and card games for as long as I can remember. My brothers and I grew up with Sorry, Uno, Checkers and the Game of Life. I remember we didn’t have Monopoly and I wanted it so I went to my friend’s house and wrote down everything on a piece of paper, went home, and reconstructed from pink construction paper, with the help of my little brother.
I played Catan at age 12 and my mind exploded with imagination of what was possible. I designed alternative rules for it and started making my own games. 28 years later, I don’t love that game, but I will always appreciate what it gave me: a beautiful, interactive, and fun shared experience with other people. In my 20’s, I created other games and got deeper into hobbyist board games and tabletop role-playing as well.
Crowdfunding is a different beast but it has something in common with game design – in both you can create an experience for someone else. I ran a campaign in 2019 and didn’t fund, but the lessons I learned were invaluable. I relaunched last month and funded, and I’m now in the production phase. I’ve learned that none of it is possible without support and guidance of others, such as BGDL. No creator is an island unto themselves.
Thanks you for your community and your presence here.
Rob
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Hello my name is Chuck I only got into the board game scene in the last couple of years. When the pandemic started I really started playing more and getting involved in different discord groups. From here I decided I wanted to design a game and get it published with a big reason being something I can show my kids one day.
I am designing and in the early playtesting phases of my game called Robot Boxing League. It will be a arena fighting deck builder with inspiration from Real Steel. you can find a link to my group here: https://bgdlplus.com/groups/robot-boxing-league/
I am a little nervous about crowdfunding especially with all the VAT changes. Being in the US I have seen alot of EU customers on kickstarter saying they will wait for retail due to VAT costs. On the flip side I love the community and interaction with people who love a game and its design. Really looking forward to continuing this journey!
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Thank you for sharing Chuck! I understand the nerves. I just finished a campaign and I’m still nervous haha! It’s incredibly fun, challenging and stretching and I’m constantly learning.
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Any tips you would recommend to someone who wants to do it one day?
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Great question! I’m going to write what I learned from the process in a blog post once things calm down. Some quick takeaways for now:
– have faith that it is possible and you have what you need (not by yourself, but with the community)
– ensure every piece of the project adds real value (e.g. I stuck with a dice tower add-on for my RPG-like game, but axed the special map poster because it wasn’t adding much)
– know your limits (e.g. I shouldn’t have, in my case, opened the project for overseas backers this time round.)
– you can’t plan for everything but should plan as much as possible
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Hi Charles, in case you’re interested, here are some things I learned from my Kickstarter campaign: https://mindfruit.games/blog/5-lessons-second-kickstarter
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That was an awesome write-up. Thanks for sharing
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Thanks Matt!
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Tim Densham here.
I’m the Commander (owner) of Catastrophe Games, a very small publishing company located in the great state of Michigan. We make historical games (not necessarily wargames) and use a print-on-demand model for distributing games using Blue Panther out of Tennessee.
We’re finishing up our 3rd Kickstarter now, and our first to use Gamefound as a pledgemanager. We ship usually the month after the KS ends. Soon I’ll have a game of my own design on Kickstarter called Zurmat, Counterinsurgency in Afghanistan at the Smallest Scale, and if luck prevails will have Taylor Shuss’ Stonewall Uprising, the Struggle for Gay Civil Rights out late this fall.
I’m 50+, a Sagittarius, like long walks on a beach, and am scared to death of VAT collection for the EU.
