Saturday 10 November 2012

The GF On: Yesterday, I backed my first Kickstarter

Kickstarter - http://www.kickstarter.com/

It was through the board-gaming hobby that I stumbled across this sleek website. I had not been aware of 'crowd funding' on the internet before, which is admittedly surprising as the concept has been around since the early 2000s.  Kickstarter itself was launced on April 28, 2009 and has since then purportedly funded more than 30,000 projects.

Losing my Kickstarter virginity... 

Anyway, yesterday I backed my first Kickstarter. Actually, I backed my first two. (Though Lesbigamer doesn't know about the second one yet....shhhhh......) I thought I might reflect on the process and thinking behind each backing.

Eight-Minute Empire

I first heard of this game on BGG, I believe it was on the 'Hotness' menu. What got me interested in the game was the short length ... supposedly, a mere eight minutes. Short games are hard to come by in our collection, as most of our games are 90-120 mins in length. I think this reflects our gaming habits of playing a game before or after dinner, where we typically want a decent-length, engaging game and where we only really get to play one game. 


However, recently, we have been really busy with our university exams. Hours and hours of work and study. But we can't be studying all the time, so we take breaks together. 2 hours of study = 30 mins of break time. Hmmm, I suddenly have a better appreciation of short games...

The other advantage of a short game is that we could finally have some 'filller' or 'warm-up' games. I think the diversity of games in a single session would be really nice.

On the strength of the short play-time I was sold. Pledged $20.

Boss Monster: the Dungeon-Building Card Game

Me: "Oh my gawd, there's a game here called Boss Monster."
Lesbigamer: "I know what you're thinking..."
Me: *GRIN*
Lesbigamer: "Don't buy a game called Boss Monster."

I stumbled across this game as I was backing Eight-Minute Empire. The theme immediately caught my eye, story-wise it was Dungeon Lords i.e. I could play as a cackling evil boss trapping hapless heroes in my dreadful dungeon of despair. But on top of that, it was a throwback into the hey-day of 8-bit gaming. Yummy.

I read the rules, watched the gameplay video supplied on the Kickstarter page. And hey, you know what, I was actually not blown away by it. It seemed simple, and the strategies were not infinitely deep. I thought, MAN this game would be fun to play once and then I'd be done with it.

And then I thought, HEY this fills exactly the same niche that Eight-Minute Empire would fill. I love the theme, I love the evil cackling, and I think it would be a quick play for us.

On the strength of the theme, the card-driven gameplay and the short, happy-fun-times play time I grabbed my second Kickstarter backing. Pledged $30 - the POWER-UP PACK.

Exclusive cards? I've never paid for those before. I'd be interested to see whether I thought they were 'worth it'. Time will tell.   

The 'did I waste my money' moment

After these purchases, Lesbigamer and I briefly talked about whether it was worth the moolahs. From where she was coming from, she straight out pointed out that for that money, she would much rather buy other games. Ora Et Labora, Stone Age, or maybe save that money for that far off day when we can afford Eclipse.

But here's the problem. Buying those heavier games would be great. I mean, I'd really love those too. But then we'd be stuck in our initial problem of not having short 'filler'-ish games. But buying those short games almost always never feels worth the price-tag, because they are so darn high already in Australia, and then we usually have to add shipping cost... $$$.
 

Welp, time to wait for those games to meet new stretch goals... and eventually when they get here!

I am most looking forward to seeing what kind of production quality the games have, as I'd like to compare with other games.

What kind of experience have you guys had with Kickstarter?
What are your thoughts on crowd-funding v. companies producing?
How many projects have you backed? How many of them bombed out on you, how many are brilliant gems? Any regrets?

5 comments:

  1. In principle, Kickstarter is fabulous. In practice, I've tried to get rid of every game I've backed.

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  2. A funny dichotomy there. This bodes ill for me, but let's see how it turns out anyway.

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  3. If you are so proud to say lesbian gamers, why do you have to hide your face in shame? Show the wolrd your lesbian face. . .

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  4. I've backed 3 games so far(Ogre, Flash Point 2nd Story, & Dungeon Roll), but only received one- Flash Point. Very happy with that, another great product from Indie Boards & Cards) though as an expansion to a game I'd already purchased through retail, I wasn't likely to be surprised, and as the publisher is local he'd be easy to track down if he went AWOL.

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