What KICKSTARTER(S) are you BACKING and WHY?

You know, I didn't look at the more expensive options and so failed to notice that. I went with the mid level thing...can't remember what it was. That's too bad, because it looks like a fantastic and fun little game.

I hate it when bad marketing screws a decent product.

Notahandle wrote: In short, the Line for Life policy gets them sales earlier, at the expense of later ones.

/rant

That does suck, but in terms of Finance, money now is *always* better than money later. Assuming you invest, you can even take less money now and it still be better than more later.

It's a rough spot; you want people to get on board and support you, so you have to entice them--yet down the road, you have things that people want but if you give it to them, you piss off your original backers, but if you don't, you piss off your potential customers.

Ken B. wrote:
" That does suck, but in terms of Finance, money now is *always* better than money later. Assuming you invest, you can even take less money now and it still be better than more later."
But I'm talking within the duration of the Kickstarter campaign, so it's not money now or later because all the money is collected when the campaign ends successfully funded. It's merely *pledge* now or pledge later.

" t's a rough spot; you want people to get on board and support you, so you have to entice them--"
For my money, you don't 'entice' with a threatened price increase further down the line (i.e. when the first 50 Line for Life pledges have gone). Gaming has promos; let's leave aside the 'what makes a good promo' argument. Kickstarter has the same with the exclusive items. That's a positive enticement right at the start. Additionally there's the stretch goals, great for keeping the campaign on the boil. Everyone gets these; if one only applies at a certain level, you have the option of increasing your pledge. There's no penalty for joining early or late, so you can also wait and see and join at the end. D-Day Dice did that, and would have been better without the Line for Life pledges.

" yet down the road, you have things that people want but if you give it to them, you piss off your original backers, but if you don't, you piss off your potential customers."
But that's a self-created problem. If you promise something will only be available here and now and never again, then you've made a rod for your own back. Better to say you get this sooner than everyone else, or it's a limited edition card with a gold border and future versions will have a plain border. It is possible to make an enticement without alienating any potential customers.

I'd still been thinking about D-Day Dice and noticed last night that there was only one of the $140 Line for Life pledges left, so I grabbed it on impulse. A few hours later I noticed there was a $125 Line for Life available (presumably someone cancelled) so I changed my pledge for that instead, it saves $15 after all. Still not happy about the different prices tactic, but less so since I have the average price. Frankly, I think releasing three tranches at $125 would have been a better policy as it treats everyone equally. As for my freed $140 pledge, that was snapped up in about five minutes. Incidentally it only has about two days to run.

Anyone looked at Ghost Pirates?

EDIT- Ghost Pirates. Play cards to add crew to attack the other ship. Unfortunately the cards have to be played to your ship to form a location to put the new crew on. So your ship grows longer and longer, looking nothing like a real ship. I find this so bizarre and jarringly unthematic that I won't be backing.

John Clowdus has started a kickstarter project for Omen Second Edition. It includes a level for folks who already have the original version, so that they can get in on the goodies.

Backed for the new cards.

I noticed out of the eleven reviews cited at the end four are from F:ATties (five if you count Tom Vasel).

Thanks for supporting, guys!

We're going to be adding even more goodies to the Kickstarter package in the next few days.

Omen has just passed $23,000 with five days to go.

They've added card sleeves and thankfully they're not from Mayday:-
"We’re having a short run of custom Omen: A Reign of War sleeves manufactured by Legion Game Supplies. The sleeves will feature art from Omen: A Reign of War on the back side. The sleeves come in packs of 50.
Each pack of 50 sleeves is $3.00 (that’s our cost per pack to have them manufactured)."

In addition to getting the sleeves I upped my pledge from Grizzled Veteran (just the new stuff) to Grand Commander (the new stuff plus a whole new set).

How come no one has expressed much interest, it came third in the Readers Awards after all? Or has everyone already bought the original and don't want the new stuff? (Actually that makes no sense! Why wouldn't you want more?)

Completely agree - this game awesome. I'm glad it's going to hit its funding level, but I am surprised that there hasn't been more interest here.

The KickStarter haters may have something to with the subdued response, though this should be the type of game they should support on KickStarter (being already proven).

I'm admittedly sitting on the fence about Omen, having never seen/played the original and not really being big on card games in general. I could be nudged over the fence either way depending on what I hear.

cdennett: Yes, "already proven" does make Kickstarter more palatable. Two-thirds of mine have been safe bets: Castle Dash, Sentinels of the Multiverse + Rook City, D-Day Dice, and Omen. The remaining one-third was Carnival, which moofrank wants to burn, and Empires of the Void, which I'm now wondering what I've let myself in for.

As for fence sitting, why not pledge and see if you like it. If not you'll probably be able to easily trade it here.

Notahandle wrote: cdennett: Yes, "already proven" does make Kickstarter more palatable. Two-thirds of mine have been safe bets: Castle Dash, Sentinels of the Multiverse + Rook City, D-Day Dice, and Omen. The remaining one-third was Carnival, which moofrank wants to burn, and Empires of the Void, which I'm now wondering what I've let myself in for.

The funny thing is that I pledged on 3 of the games you listed above (Castle Dash, D-Day Dice, and Empires). I have similar misgivings about Empires, but crossing my fingers. GameSalute games aren't being carried by anyone in Houston, so my only option is to buy direct for MSRP + $12 shipping. Figured I'd roll the dice on that one. There's a reason I don't own Alien Frontiers...

Notahandle wrote: As for fence sitting, why not pledge and see if you like it. If not you'll probably be able to easily trade it here.

Well, I will probably never trade it, even if I don't like it. But I'll likely give Omen a shot. At the very least, I'm supporting an Indie that has a good reputation around here.

That's true, out of all the indies, I'd say smallboxgames probably has the best rep on F:AT.

Only $300 to go and Omen's funded!

Hmm, nearly a month and no one's pledged for anything?

Me, I pledged for Farmageddon a few days ago. Liked the name, good art, has Frankencrops and player screwage. It's a good price so I thought it worth taking a punt. (No link because it's ended.)

But before you ask me to hand in my F:ATcard, I also pledged for Gunship: First Strike; Escape Pod Games (and others) have commented about this here. You get a lot for your money and I like the visual style of the customisation. Hopefully it's a good game too. It currently has 19 days to go.

Also just pledged for Nature of the Beast: Prairie vs Polar because I own City Vs Suburb and Farm Vs Forest. A safe bet asI know I like this game. They have a pledge level to get all three sets, has 2 days to go, check it out.

Nothing, ever. For the reason that most of these games could have been submitted to VPG where there's a chance they'd be developed into better games. I'll consider a KS game only after it's released and reviewed.