Finalizing my Kickstarter page and prepping for my first convention!
In my previous post, I’ve described how I’ve adopted the Agile development methodology to keep my focused and maintain my productivity as I churn through all the tasks needed to launch a successful Kickstarter campaign and start my publishing journey.
With the holidays slowing me down I pushed this to a 3-week sprint. It also helped me out since I realized I should’ve broken my Kickstarter page finalization into multiple stories since the whole thing was too much for a 2-week iteration. Yay for sprint retros!
- Finalize Kickstarter preview page: This took a fair amount of time since in reality it was a ton of subtasks – design headings; visuals for components, tiers, etc.; writing section descriptions. I did all the graphic design myself, but referenced a lot of other campaigns to get ideas for visuals. This made my previous work of finding Kickstarter campaigns that I like very worthwhile.
- Deciding on tier pricing: Again a lot of subtasks here, namely sourcing my deluxe add-ons so I could understand my costs. I had decided on a playmat and art prints as additions to ground out the deluxe tier since they are relevant to my game, shippable as a unit, and show off one of the key aspects – the art. Just like when I comparing manufacturers for the actual game I compared multiple sources for the playmat and the art print taking into consideration volume pricing, shipping logistics, quality, etc. Once I determined which printers I would go with I plugged conservative cost estimates into a basic business case model for the Kickstarter. That let me compare costs and margins so I could set prices that would scale well and would be market appropriate.
- Order playmat: Several of the playmat printers came back with similar costs so I ordered multiple in order to compare their quality and make the final decision. Once they come in I’ll do a side by side but for now I’m happy I got one that I can take to the Convention this week. It’s really amazing seeing all these components finally come together in one place.
- Prep for Midwinter Gaming Convention: To accompany my excellent table presence of my game with the play mat I also put together a simple sign, just an 8 by 10 little stand, that I can add to my demo space to draw attention. I added a QR code on the back since I determined sending people to my landing page via QR code would be the best workflow for getting email signups. I thought about business cards but realized that wouldn’t really be the best use if I’m mostly looking to gain followers. If I do connect with someone for professional partnering I’ll be ok without a business card. To make the best use out of the convention I also am planning to take pictures and maybe record video (with permission) to get some actual play content to make my presence look less sterile/isolated.
- Update and check in on reviewers: Since I sent prototypes of my game out before getting the final artwork I wanted to update my reviewers with updated print and play files that have all the final artwork. I also used this to check in on the timing and make sure the reviews would be coming out near my launch date so I can include them on my Kickstarter page and also have them drive momentum from other sources.
- Final stretch marketing plan: With my launch date being just three weeks away, and with social media being my known weak spot, I decided to put together a day by day plan for what I wanted to post when and where to make sure I’m keeping up momentum heading into the launch. Getting the most amount of people to subscribe on day one of the Kickstarter is the best thing I can do for its success. I’m focusing on posts that I think will be informative and interesting and staying away from things posts that are just thinly veiled ads.
- Continue to moderate Discord challenge: I’ve had two people so far take up the challenge and design their own teams and I’m more than happy to ship them free games for their effort as promised. I’d love to see community momentum continue in the Discord but that has been a challenge.
- Post Paddle Pals design: With some free time over the holidays my friend and I designed a imperfect communication co-op game where you are try to paddle down a river without losing any of your hedgehogs. Not sure if it will ever become anything, but it’s always fun to submit to a BGG contest. Go checkout the game here!