Over on Twitter I launched my public quest for an artist for my card game for a Kickstarter launch in the first quarter of 2020. You can listen to the companion podcast episode here.
I then reposted the link to that Twitter thread across my social media. You can read the entire thread below this article.
I find that I prefer interacting on Twitter, mostly because I have a growing following on Twitter that is approaching 900, and I expect to be over 1,000 by the end of April. I curate a positive atmosphere and mute and block nonsense and those who spread it. I prefer to talk about games and fun and be supportive of the fun and efforts of others.
There have been several re-shares on Twitter, but my first response was on MeWe.
I want to give it some time before I narrow down to an artist or artists. A cool idea is to have multiple artists so I can have multiple versions of the deck, with a newer artist for the base funding level, and more well known artists at higher funding levels. This is only at the idea stage, and the realities of time and base funding available pre-Kickstarter.
Target Date
The first quarter of 2020 means that I want to launch sometime between January 1 and March 31, 2020. Since January is the bulk of my busy time at work, I will probably avoid January. It all depends on how well things come together and how well a hopeful new hire is at dealing with the chaos of our busy time of year. One of my colleagues resigned and their last day is this coming Friday. Hopefully we get a new person hired that is a former user, so we only have to teach them the support tech stuff. That’s a wrench I wasn’t anticipating and has thrown off my pacing on some of my blogging, podcasting, and publishing efforts.
Planning & Research
For my first Kickstarter, I am focused on doing all I can to maximize success. I am fully aware that any major misstep or miscalculation on my part will have a major impact on whether I can hope to have future Kickstarters. I have ideas for more things to Kickstart, including more card games, board games, and RPG supplements.
I have backed 69 projects and have learned what I like and don’t like about how a Kickstarter is handled. I want to emulate Kevin Crawford [Affiliate Link] of Stars Without Number [Affiliate Link] and other successful Kickstarters. I want to plan adequately and have the work done ahead of time so that I am merely waiting for the funding to arrive so I can pull the trigger on initiating production, etc. Kevin has graciously shared his checklist and method and the spreadsheet he uses to track art from artists. I plan to put all of that to use.
I have studied the top ten card game Kickstarters as of a year ago to see what pledge levels they used, how many, and which ones yielded the best results. I have sought advice from others who have ran successful Kickstarters, and read all I can find online.
My plan is to have all the work completed that is needed to begin production. I hope that the amount I have set aside to buy art is enough to have the art done and ready to go. The Kickstarter will pay for production, editing of the rules, layout of the rules and the cards to be print ready, and bonuses for the artists. Plus any other costs I identify. Shipping will be a separate charge that is applied once the cards are ready to ship.
Stretch goals will be directly related to fulfilling a production of a card game. If you want T-Shirts, you can get them from my Teespring store. If it isn’t part of the end result of holding a card game in your hand that you can play, then it will not be a stretch goal.
It should be clear that I plan to avoid all the things I know have sunk or greatly delayed Kickstarters full of promise.
If things don’t come together for a first quarter launch, I will only launch in a later quarter if my time line allows for completed production and delivery by November. My busy time at the day job starts in November and runs into and even through February. I don’t want the headache of dealing with work and trying to juggle a Kickstarter. Of course, if I hit a million dollars, I can quit my job and put all my focus on games. I’m not yet sure how much it would have to be for me to quit the day job, but that’s my dream to make my next job more about fun and doing things I love.
Play Testing
Between now and launch of the Kickstarter I will be tweaking the cards for the third iteration of the test deck and play testing as often and as much as possible. My plan is to have this iteration of the deck in my hands before the end of April, by mid-April if possible. I’ll then set up play tests at nearby game stores and take it with me to conventions. Ideally, I’ll have more than one deck and have multiple groups playing on their own without my having to explain it. After I used my new short rules at Gary Con XI, I learned that I have the rules pretty tight, I just need to re-arrange the order of explaining a couple things. Players picked up the game with minimal questions from those rules.
Suggestions
I am always open to suggestions from those who have been there, done that. Anything to help me avoid faux pas is welcome.
To all who have played my card game and made suggestions, I have noted all of them, and applied them where they make sense. My game is the better for it, and I thank you for freely offering those suggestions.
To all who have offered help with things, I will be contacting you soon to discuss the things you offered your assistance.
Some suggested that one of the cards for which I did the art, that it should stay in the game. Others suggested I should have a stretch goal of a Larry Art Version. My concern about that is it might hurt things, but I might consider it. What do you think?
Thanks!
I want to thank all the play testers at all the cons and other locations I’ve played my card game. In some ways, I still can’t believe I made a game that works, AND that people actually like! Also thanks for keeping certain details under wraps to help build suspense.
Many thanks to all those who are interested and shared on social media all my mysterious postings about it.
Local Artist
The picture used in the blog header is from artist Lindsay Poulos from Grand Rapids, whom I interviewed on Episode 86 of my podcast. She is under consideration for doing one version of the art for the card game. You can see her share of the picture on Instagram. Lindsay has experience doing art for board games.
My granddaughter is obsessed with Elsa & Frozen and I commissioned an ink drawing of Nikola with Elsa taking a selfie. Lindsay colored it to give it that last bit of punch. Nikola loves it.
And Now for Something Completely Different
I launched my newest PDF for March, No Really, It’s Me.
This is the first adventure of my monthly PDFs published on DriveThruRPG.
The player characters are doppelgangers who have replaced an adventuring party and must go back to town and convince other adventurers not to return to the dungeon.
Are you looking for a quick scenario idea that you can easily craft to your own style?
Check out my first adventure PDF which is a quick overview of an outline for one of my four hour convention games.
If this does well, I will eventually add all of my existing convention scenarios to my growing list of PDFs.
Twitter Thread Below
I have the entire thread below after the link to the thread on Twitter.
My plan is to Kickstart my card game in 1st QTR of 2019, so I need to work on arranging the art now. I’m interested in artists who are obviously good and experience with card art is a plus. If interested please add a comment with a link to your portfolio, and your rates. 1/n
It is a fantasy theme. I’ll discuss details of number of pieces, payment terms, etc. via Direct Message/email. References for timely delivery is crucial. My plan is to have art and details of production ready so can deliver by Nov. 1st. My preference is for a single artist. 2/n
This is so it all looks like it goes together.
Also needs to be digital so ready to layout the card it goes with. Please ask questions for clarity and cure my ignorance if needed. I want to do this right, since a flop will ruin chances of future Kickstarters. I have ideas for more, so there is a chance of future work. 4/n
You can do original in physical media and scan, whatever your best workflow. NOTE: I set aside part of my annual bonus so payment is available before the Kickstarter. I want to be fair and exposure is a bonus, not payment. 5/n
If you are within a couple hours of Kalamazoo, MI I would like to meet to show the game. Otherwise we can do an online meeting. I work a 9 to 5 job in Eastern time zone, so meetings around that. 6/n
There will be an NDA until the KS is about to launch. You’ll be free to say you’re working on an upcoming KS for my card game, but no details. I think those are the pertinent details. I look forward to having to make a tough choice between multiple artists. 7/n
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