The Game Whisperer

Funding the Dream Ep 24 Jumping into Kickstarter with Mark Baker

In Ep 24 we chat with Mark Baker, creator of 5 to Close, a word lover card game. Mark brings an interesting insight to his Kickstarter experience. He read about Kickstarter, looked at their website, and launched his campaign all within a few weeks. For 20 minutes we talk about the full experience of Kickstarter to someone new to the market.

You can find Mark's Kickstarter project at 5 to close

Listen to Funding the Dream Ep 24 here

Funding the Dream Ep 23 Kickstarter growth in 2012

2012 Kickstarter campaigns are off to a fast start. Already funding at $128,211 in the first few weeks. For comparison, last year it wasn't until May that Kickstarter games passed this mark.

Laurence O'brien and I discuss Kickstarter growth in 2012, the year of the RPG. 

Only 20 minutes long and a great conversation. Join us for Episode 23 and the 7th Ep of Season 2.

Listen to Episode 23 here

Ep 22 Funding the Dream with Howard Tayler from Schlock Mercenary

Episode 22 Season 2

Success can cause anyone to change. In this case Howard Tayler, creator of Schlock Mercenary, freely admits that his impression and expectations about Kickstarter were completely wrong. Rather than being a poor man's way of funding random projects, Kickstarter is a path to success for anyone looking for funding their dream.

Schlock Mercenary Board Game project started out with a goal of $25,000. An amount that was on the high end for board game projects. Within 24 hours more than a third of their goal was realized. Schlock Mercenary went on to fund more than $80,000 and set a record as the 2nd most funded board game project ever.

In this episode Howard and I discuss the changes that Kickstarter is bringing to the industry and how it is definitely not a bubble.

Listen to Episode 22 here

Schlock Mercenary Kickstarter Page

Schlock Mercenary Web comic page

Funding the Dream Ep 18 - How Kickstarter is fundamentally changing the board game industry

If you listen to our podcast, you know there is a lot of discussion about how Kickstarter found board gaming in 2011. In this episode, #2 of our 2nd Season, the topic is in the details of how that change is coming about. If you haven't read The Innovator's Dilemna by Clayton Christiansen, then you may want to find it on Amazon and take glance through it to understand the shifts that are happening.

Listen to Ep 18 here Kickstarter as disruptive innovation

Funding the Dream Ep17 2011 Year in Review for Kickstarter with $2 million funded

2011 was a great year for independent board game designers looking to get their projects funded on Kickstarter. 110 projects for a total of $2 million in funding.

This episode covers a lot of the statistics for the past year. In depth coverage is provided on Purple Pawn with lots of pretty graphs.

Enjoy listening to our 1st episode of Season 2 of Funding the Dream

Funding the Dream Kickstarter Podcast Ep 16 with Crash Games

As 2011 came to an end, Crash Games ended their Kickstarter campaign by succesfully funding Rise!

Their project ran 60 days and faced numerous obstacles and challenges. At the 30 day mark, with only 30% funded, Patrick Nickell decied to switch tactics and make adjustments. Those changes paid off as they funded at 116% of goal on December 31st, 2011.

Listen to our last podcast of 2011 as we discuss with Patrick the challenges faced and the steps to recovery and success.

Listen to Episode 16 here

Funding the Dream Kickstarter Podcast Ep 15 with Dice Hate Me

Dice Hate Me and Monkey238 join me to talk about the year of the Independent and the changes in Kickstarter over the past year. 

We also reveal the secret identities of Dice Hate Me and Monkey238.

Listen here to Episode 15 of Funding the Dream

Funding the Dream Ep 14 Creating a Video for your Kickstarter project

One of the key elements of a successful Kickstarter project is developing a great looking opening Video for your project.

Cammon Randle, co-founder of BluFire Studios, shares his insights into creating a successful video. 

He identifies four key elements:

Lighting

Sound

Camera

Editing 

The other key element is Content, a topic we will revisit on a future episode. 

Enjoy listening to Funding the Dream Ep 14

Funding the Dream Episode 13 Lessons Learned with Michael Mindes from Tasty Minstrel Games

Every Kickstarter project has it own set of challenges to overcome. Oftentimes you can look to others and their experiences to help learn how to avoid some of the common missteps or unanticipated roadblocks.

Tasty Minstrel games was the first mega successful board game project on Kickstarter raising more than $40,000 in 2010. The success was hard won because they were the first and had to find all the pot holes and roadblocks on their own without the help of anyone going before.

Michael Mindes and I discuss some of the lessons learned from that early experience.

Listen to Funding the Dream Episode 13 here

Funding the Dream Ep 12 Self-Publishing with Byron Collins

You put your project out on Kickstarter, you raise a bunch of money, now you are faced with the prospect of producing a lot of games for your Kickstarter backers. 

Byron Collins, owner of Collins Epic Wargames, has successfully published his own games. He shares the challenges that an individual must overcome in order to successfully produce their game and get it shipped to their backers.

You can listen to Funding the Dream Ep 12 here

To read the extensive information that Byron has compiled for first time publishers, read here on Boardgame Geek