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First time designer on Kickstarter

5 replies [Last post]
Wed, 09/28/2016 - 10:17
UplinkUnderground
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Joined: 09/05/2016

Greetings! I am Arthur Franz IV, co-designer of a new game out on Kickstarter called "Breakaway Football." Earlier this year we started an indie publishing label called Uplink Underground Games. What a ride so far!

Anyway, I wanted to introduce myself and say how exciting it is to be part of this community. Since starting the new label, I have completely changed my perspective on games in the hobby industry. I am looking at box durability, card quality, etc. I am looking at mechanisms differently as well. How can I immerse players in the theme? How can I simplify the gaming experience while simultaneously deepening the fun-factor?

Creating an engine for fun using only cardboard, for people I don't know and have never met, from a distance, in perpetuity...man, what an exciting challenge!

We are here to make the world more fun. Thanks for listening!

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Thu, 09/29/2016 - 21:35
#1
The Professor
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Joined: 10/25/2014
Welcome and best of luck!

First time creators face many challenges but I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors and if it fails to meet the goal, come on back and chat with us as many of us have experienced success on KS.

Sports related board games don't perform particularly well and you'll need to have 65%-70% in the first 72 hours.

Cheers,
Joe

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Thu, 09/29/2016 - 21:52
#2
radioactivemouse
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Agree.

The Professor wrote:
First time creators face many challenges but I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors and if it fails to meet the goal, come on back and chat with us as many of us have experienced success on KS.

Sports related board games don't perform particularly well and you'll need to have 65%-70% in the first 72 hours.

Cheers,
Joe

I totally agree. While board/card game design seems like a low entry point, the challenges you'll face are very muted and can easily bite you in the butt.

My advice: Do a lot of research. Like The Professor said, sports games aren't particularly popular, so try and learn from the sports games that actually worked. What made them successful? Is it even feasible to DO a sports game?

Also, it's even more risky to run a Kickstarter on your FIRST game. You will be learning a lot creating a game, let alone try and get it to sell. You will need your game pretty much done, blind tested (this one is key), and ready to go before even launching because so much effort is spent trying to run the campaign that you'll have little to no time to work on the game itself.

If you need advice, feel free to ask. Like The Professor said, there's many people here that have done Kickstarters.

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Fri, 09/30/2016 - 01:23
#3
The Professor
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Joined: 10/25/2014
Echoing some excellent advice

Just to underscore a few things noted by radioactivemouse:

1. Running a KS well will require all of your attention...do not ignore your Backers.

2. If you haven't playtested your game at least 100 times, you're not ready for prime time. To ensure that you've worked out even more potential issues, I highly suggest that you have the game blind playtested by individuals who can provide ample, specific feedback.

Cheers,
Joe

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Mon, 10/03/2016 - 00:13
#4
HPS74
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Joined: 01/06/2009
Plenty of room for sports games

I hear sports games don't do well.....but there is certainly a market for them outside the tradition B&M boardgame stores.

Gift markets, sports affiliations, licensing opportunities. Like all games, it'll be about marketing to the right people, having a solid product and an attitude to keep on keeping!

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Mon, 10/03/2016 - 05:53
#5
radioactivemouse
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Sports games

HPS74 wrote:
I hear sports games don't do well.....but there is certainly a market for them outside the tradition B&M boardgame stores.

Gift markets, sports affiliations, licensing opportunities. Like all games, it'll be about marketing to the right people, having a solid product and an attitude to keep on keeping!

I can't argue with your logic...certainly there could be that one game that breaks into the market. We have certainly not seen it yet.

But it's a tough market. I went to E3 this year with a simple game (Welcome to the Dungeon). Even explaining it to actual gamers...they were highly disinterested in playing. Getting a sports crowd to play your game is definitely going to be a challenge...maybe you can market to the Madden crowd...

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