It’s been a couple of months since my last crowdfunding catchup, so it’s perhaps time for another look at some of the many campaigns I’ve covered on the blog.
Success Stories
I won’t deny I’m a fan of Earth Express (though not actually enough of a fan to back the project—I’ll be waiting for retail, because of the shipping plus VAT hit, since there’s no way it won’t hit retail), and I’m pleased to see that the combined crowdfunding campaign for Earth Express and Behind the Lens has done very well, reaching its funding target in under half an hour and finishing at 10× (whatever real meaning those figures have, as I’ve discussed elsewhere) and near enough 3,000 backers. The campaign was well handled, building up excitement (or hype, depending on your point of view) with gradual reveals before it opened and then full information when the campaign started, and the team behind it seem to respond to backers’ queries fairly promptly. There were some complaints about deluxe components, neoprene playmats and promo cards, but none of those are necessary to enjoy the game (well, maybe the promos…). The deluxe tokens are actually the existing pack for Earth even though the token counts don’t quite match, which I can see would be irritating. I also wondered why this project was taking the crowdfunding route rather than heading straight to retail: looking at the number of people backing Earth Express only vs Behind the Lens only, 659 vs 156 at time of writing, might it have been to allow the latter game to be carried along with the more recognised one?
Restart is another game that’s had a successful campaign, getting close to 1,000 backers and over 5× funding. The creators, Teetotum Game Studios, popped out regular and frequent updates, and seem to have answered questions in the comments quickly. As I noted in my earlier article, this was the game’s second outing, after the designers cancelled the first campaign, despite hitting its funding target, because of feedback from players—I’m actually quite impressed that they took all that on board and changed the game instead of hammering on, and the improved game does look rather good.
David Falla de Acebo’s lovely-looking civilisation building game Ashes & Amber is another success story, particularly noteworthy for being his first published game. Once again, there were frequent updates and prompt comment responses—I’m sure there’s a pattern here, if only I could put my finger on it! Unlike the previously mentioned campaigns, this one has entered the manufacturing phase, and it’s nice to see that updates include (pre-)production information. One interesting aspect of this project is that David has stated that he has made use of AI tools in the production of the game’s gorgeous looking artwork, but no one seems to have made much of a fuss about it, unlike another game I’ll mention later…
These are all very nice games, ones that I’ll absolutely snap up if/when they hit retail, but I’m trying very hard to limit the number of crowdfunding projects I’m backing because they’re so expensive.
Hidden Realms: The Mummy’s Tomb is a much smaller project than the ones I’ve already mentioned, but it’s still been successful for first-time crowdfunders Spyros Kallos and Myrto Gkizli, who have also been posting frequent and regular updates as well as responding to backer queries. A nicely managed campaign.
Stalls
Last time, I reported that DinoGenics: New Arrivals was delayed because of the annual Chinese New Year factory shutdown. Alas, there have been more delays (and grumblings about that in the comments section), but creator Richard Keene said in a comment response, ‘The scope of the project increased beyond the original intent with backer requests for add-ons that were not already in planning. That is always a risk for a small company like Ninth Haven Games, and I will own the fact that it may have been more prudent to NOT include them.’ In a May 20 update, he added, ‘Manufacturing is supposed to be wrapping up in the next week or two, and freight will start soon after,’ so fingers crossed.
Similar news for Endeavor Deep Sea: Uncharted Waters, though the latest update indicates that things should start moving again soon.
At least the creators of these games are letting people know what’s happening… EcoLogic: Europe Expansions went worryingly dark for about 3 months after a February update saying that there’s been a delay, and (some?) manufacturing is moving to a different factory, but they’re ‘currently aiming to begin shipping in early May.’ It wasn’t until almost the end of the month before Borys Bińkowski, the designer, finally posted an update, in which he talked about delays in multiple parts of the process as well as ‘transportation [having] to take a detour, and President Disruptor isn’t helping by extending the supply chain.’ I wonder what he could be referring to—but it’s certainly true that recent world events have been causing problems for a lot of folk.
Creators need to learn to release regular updates, even if there’s no news. Fraudsters are few and far between, but backers do get nervous and reassurance is important to distinguish between delays and rip-offs. Tangentially related to that, creators (and backers) ought to dip into this gobsmackingly huge list of unfortunate campaigns—projects to avoid (or at least examine closely before jumping in), as well as examples of what not to do when running a campaign.
Talking about problems, I also stumbled across this list of dubious crowdfunding projects—if you want to see how wrong crowdfunding can go, take a look, and possibly also avoid any of the creators mentioned in the list. I did get a bit of a shock to see EcoLogic on page 12, but it turns out that wasn’t anything to do with Borys, instead someone else trying to steal his idea and pass the game off as their own.
Miscellanea
Pretty bird-based game Flockers is doing nicely, hitting its funding target within a couple of hours, and currently sitting at 3× funding with a few days to go. I like this game, save for the extravagant player tokens. It’s interesting to note that a fair few of the comments on the campaign are complaints about the price, and asking if the tokens could be replaced with something cheaper. Mark Swanson, the game’s designer, always responds to those comments (all comments, in fact) politely, but reiterates his ‘desire to create a premium tactile experience’ and states that ‘[p]art of what sets Odd Bird apart is a focus on how the game feels in-hand and on the table, putting care into both the gameplay and the physical components, even when that means taking a more handcrafted approach.’ It’s also somewhat depressing that comment posters seem to have been incapable of searching through the existing comments before asking the same questions or making the same points—but Mark always patiently took the time to answer. While he did reduce the cost of the base game, he’s sticking to his guns that the expensive tokens are staying, but there’s maybe some hope for cheapskates like me: ‘I am listening carefully to the feedback, and if Flockers continues to grow and reaches a broader audience over time, alternate editions or production approaches are certainly not impossible in the future.’
The biggest campaign I’ve been watching with interest is The Legacy of Mars, which hit its funding target within minutes and currently stands at over £2.3M. That would normally put it in the ‘success’ section above, but the thing I’ve found most surprising about this campaign is the hate being flung in FryxGames direction, so felt it needed a special mention. As I outlined in my recent write-up, a few people are pouring vitriol on them for calling it a legacy game (which, technically, they didn’t really), use of AI in the artwork (unlike David Falla de Acebo above, they’re definitely not being let off the hook for it), and transphobic comments made by the designer some time ago. These are addressed to some degree in the campaign FAQ and responses to comments, but clearly not to people’s satisfaction. The negative sentiment has spread to the game’s BoardGameGeek forums too, with the game itself having a very low rating (although almost no one has experience of playing it yet). Still, despite all that, it has over 12,000 backers and a lot of money, so make of that what you will.
I can’t leave without commenting on a few games which I haven’t written about myself. First, there’s the Cyberpunk Trading Card Game. This raised north of £20M, a truly mindboggling amount; some of that was off the back of a few dozen £6,000 ‘Night City Legend’ packages with various numbered exclusives. My brain just can’t comprehend £6,000 for a game! Sticking with the theme of Cyberpunk, I also came across Cyberpunk 2027—The Board Game, which has pulled in over £8M. It’s an understatement to say this is valuable IP!
The level of investment here makes me scratch my head regarding how crowdfunding is used. It sort of feels like crowdfunding ‘ought’ to be used for smaller creators and/or niche-appeal projects, such as is the case with Ashes & Amber or Decko, for example, or to provide an ‘artisanal’ product you just won’t get in shops, perhaps like Flockers. There’s clearly huge demand for the Cyberpunk games, Earth Express and Legacy of Mars, so did they ‘need’ crowdfunding? Some games would certainly have done extremely well if they simply headed direct to retail, and the publisher could have afforded to pay up front, but then again, for others, the crowdfunding hype was essential for building up the phenomenal level of support. It’s quite a complex tangle, and who am I to say what’s right and what’s wrong?
Moving on, another game I haven’t covered yet is the Zoo-ography Extended Edition reprint and expansion. This is a cute, fairly lightweight zoo building game where you draft tiles to score points through patterns of animals and visitors. I first became aware of the game in the middle of last year, and in October’s campaign update, designer Caitlyn Brynn Greene said she expected to launch the campaign in January or February this year. Sadly, that’s the last that’s been heard, and various links have broken. There are no guarantees in crowdfunding, but I do hope this one reawakens.
Finally, Possess Me, Satan hit the headlines recently. The story goes that the creators submitted an ad to BoardGameGeek and received a somewhat ill-considered response, which they posted on Reddit. As is frequently the case on Reddit, that blew up dramatically, with some folk asking for alternatives to BGG since they intended to boycott the site. This culminated in the BGG ad manager being fired and the Possess Me, Satan crowdfunding campaign hurtling past its funding target and the game soaring up the BGG trending games list (Streisand Effect, anyone?). I won’t go into the gory details, but if you’re curious, there are pointers in the game’s BGG forum. I can’t say a huge amount about the game (beyond that’s it’s an amusingly themed escapade revolving around possession and exorcisms), because I’m not a fan of social deduction games, but reckon the drama around it doesn’t show anyone in a particularly good light. Anyway, the relevance of the game to this article is how its treatment compares with Legacy of Mars: fickle social influences, not game ones, are directly responsible for Possess Me, Satan topping BGG’s trending list and Legacy of Mars’ low BGG rating.
That’s a Wrap
As before, I’ve covered a bunch of crowdfunded projects in the past and have space to talk about only a few of them here.
Sometimes I wonder if I should ignore Kickstarter and Gamefound, avoiding all the FOMO and impatience at delays, instead simply waiting to be surprised when new games are actually ready to purchase. I know that campaigns take ages to deliver, and that there will be delays, but even so, several are exceeding my expectations. (Cf. Hofstadter’s Law: it always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's law.) On the other hand, I do like keeping an eye on what’s coming—or perhaps I should say, what might be coming—even if I have no intention of backing the projects myself. As I’ve explained elsewhere, even if buying via crowdfunding is a sure thing, it’s always going to be expensive.
I suspect I’ll continue watching and waiting, and being impressed at the creativity of the people behind many of these campaigns.
About the author
When not playing boardgames or blogging about them, L.N. Hunter keeps himself occupied writing fiction: a comic fantasy novel, The Feather and the Lamp, sits alongside close to 100 short stories in various magazines and anthologies, and on websites and podcasts (see https://linktr.ee/L.N.Hunter for a full list). L.N. occasionally masquerades as a software developer or can be found unwinding in a disorganised home in Carlisle, UK, along with two cats and a soulmate.
