I’ve been working on a Kickstarter game project for the past few months. It’s an old school, endless horror game with new school technology where every playthrough will be a guaranteed unique experience.
I’ve never done crowdfunding before, so when I first started out it seemed like a daunting process to go through. However, I treated it like any other project I’ve worked on in my life, doing careful research and talking to as many people as possible.
I had the incredible good fortune to come across Kat’s Crowdfunder Meetup a couple of months ago, and what I learned there really boosted my confidence. Kat spent some time with me, and gave me really valuable tweaks to the Kickstarter plan I’d been writing. There were a lot of things I hadn’t even considered, so the help was a godsend.
I plan to write up a full postmortem at the end of my Kickstarter, but I thought I’d summarize some of the 6 key things that I learned from this experience.
1. Preparation
The most important thing I’ve learned is that the preparation is the key to success with Kickstarter.
Having everything ready to go on Day 1 is crucial, e.g. having a mailing lists, immediate backers, etc. If you plan to just launch your Kickstarter with no prep and expect backers to find you, you can expect your project to fail. I’ve seen this personally through some of the projects I’ve backed.
The bulk of my work in the last 3 months has been almost purely preparation leading up to launch day.
2. Have a Plan
In line with preparation above, it is good to write up a Kickstarter plan that outlines all the tasks you’ll need to go through. You’ll have a high level view of what you’ll need to do as well as being able to spot anything you’re missing.
3. Get as Much Feedback as Possible
Try to get as much feedback as possible for your project. It is possible to set up a draft project in Kickstarter, and send out the preview link to reviewers.
4. First Impressions
The first thing a backer will see from your project will be the thumbnail. The next thing they’ll probably look at will be your video. Make sure both the thumbnail and video are of the highest quality. Spend a decent amount of time on these and get as much feedback as possible. Having a poor thumbnail and video may cause a potential backer to skip over your project.
5. Have Day 1 Backers prepared
You will need to make at least 10% of your funding goal on Day 1 to have the momentum to succeed. As such, it is a good idea to get as many backers prepped and ready to back on Day 1. The easiest people to ask will be your immediate friends and family.
6. Observe other similar projects
Back and watch as many other similar projects as you can before launching yours. Look at the things that do and don’t work with other projects – i.e. are they responding enough with backers, are their updates interesting to read, etc…
Over and above the specific preparatory tasks, for me I think the key is being absolutely passionate about my project, and having fun with it. To be honest, I’d be happy to work on this project completely for free!
