I can attest that BackerKit definitely feels like a smaller pool with much bigger fish. I am currently running a campaign and while I've seen some success for sure, it feels significantly lower than previous KS campaigns I've done.
I absolutely love all the community stuff BackerKit does and KS could certainly take a few pages from them on that. But I'm definitely having a difficult time reaching the numbers I had expected to reach (and had in the past). Live and learn, I suppose!
Well this is reassuring to read, but sorry to hear your campaign is significantly lower than previous Kickstarters. Here's hoping Backerkits audience increases.
It's all good - something like 45% of my backers are previous backers (which Backerkit makes really clear) and that's a cool metric to be aware of for future stuff. In the meantime, I am soooo excited to get another chance at grabbing all your stuff in April - missed the boat last year.
While I understand your reasons for sticking with Kickstarter, I still feel, as a small author, incredibly fatalistic about the impact Kickstarter continues to have on our industry and community. The system is broken, and I don't think anything short of an industry-wide movement using other platforms, or properly informing readers/purchasers, will break the chokehold of Kickstarter's quasi-monopoly.
But yes, I can very much understand your reasoning and sympathise with the decision; especially the importance of things like the creation of that grant and paying your creatives properly. Hope it goes well; Cloud Empress' success has been inspirational so far.
Thanks so much Ewen, I'm optimistic things can change especially with some high profile successes on Backerkit and Gamefound. Hopefully those successes will build an audience for smaller publishers. I appreciate your understanding and support!
Love the idea of a box to hold all materials, and a tuckbox is a good compromise to offset shipping. I would love to see some of that gorgeous artwork on it though! Make it stand out on the shelf. I'm also wondering if the subtitle (lowlands waste) should be more prominent than the game title? Makes it feel like I have an incomplete product needing expansions yet to come.
Good idea! Always happy to rework the design or put some stunning art on the box! As for the Lowland Wastes title, Cloud Empress will be a trilogy of games set in three pretty drastically different locales, so the idea was to group the earthbound biomes together in a single box.
Cloud Empress continues to look great!! Thanks for having me on in the interview, watt!
I can attest that BackerKit definitely feels like a smaller pool with much bigger fish. I am currently running a campaign and while I've seen some success for sure, it feels significantly lower than previous KS campaigns I've done.
I absolutely love all the community stuff BackerKit does and KS could certainly take a few pages from them on that. But I'm definitely having a difficult time reaching the numbers I had expected to reach (and had in the past). Live and learn, I suppose!
Well this is reassuring to read, but sorry to hear your campaign is significantly lower than previous Kickstarters. Here's hoping Backerkits audience increases.
It's all good - something like 45% of my backers are previous backers (which Backerkit makes really clear) and that's a cool metric to be aware of for future stuff. In the meantime, I am soooo excited to get another chance at grabbing all your stuff in April - missed the boat last year.
Thanks for your support and looking forward to April too!
While I understand your reasons for sticking with Kickstarter, I still feel, as a small author, incredibly fatalistic about the impact Kickstarter continues to have on our industry and community. The system is broken, and I don't think anything short of an industry-wide movement using other platforms, or properly informing readers/purchasers, will break the chokehold of Kickstarter's quasi-monopoly.
But yes, I can very much understand your reasoning and sympathise with the decision; especially the importance of things like the creation of that grant and paying your creatives properly. Hope it goes well; Cloud Empress' success has been inspirational so far.
Thanks so much Ewen, I'm optimistic things can change especially with some high profile successes on Backerkit and Gamefound. Hopefully those successes will build an audience for smaller publishers. I appreciate your understanding and support!
Love the idea of a box to hold all materials, and a tuckbox is a good compromise to offset shipping. I would love to see some of that gorgeous artwork on it though! Make it stand out on the shelf. I'm also wondering if the subtitle (lowlands waste) should be more prominent than the game title? Makes it feel like I have an incomplete product needing expansions yet to come.
Good idea! Always happy to rework the design or put some stunning art on the box! As for the Lowland Wastes title, Cloud Empress will be a trilogy of games set in three pretty drastically different locales, so the idea was to group the earthbound biomes together in a single box.