Crowdfunding new games?
With the recent big batch of new games only on the market for a month, it's time to look forward again to the next lot. The experience of producing the recent six latest games taught a few lessons I will apply for future publishing.
Having pre-order options and supporters who took up the discounted price was certainly a great indicator people like our games. A few delays and unforeseen hiccups arise in any large production but all in all it was a success. I'm still packing the last of the 48,000 dice!
Two new games that are nearing the playtest stage are Cycling and Gridiron. I've had a few responses on the Gridiron vs American Football issue, and which would be the better name. I'm leaning towards Gridiron as we already have Pocket Sports Football and Pocket Footy. There's certainly no need for further debate about which football should be 'Football'.
Both games will include dice and a set of counters for a specific team. I'm liking the use of counters in game for a little more strategy, interrupt plays and it's a cool little addition Pocket Sports can squeeze into the bags!
I'm also considering a Kickstarter campaign for these two games. The reason for this is to reach a wider audience as well as our pre-order supporters. With Kickstarter being deeply entrenched in the European and Nth American markets, Pocket Sports may finally start the summit towards being a recognized games publisher with a successful campaign.......if I can garner enough support!
What would I need to raise to produce these two titles? Approximately USD$5000 would cover the bare hard costs (dice, screens, plates, rules, counters, bags, packing).
Being an independent publisher, stumping up the money for production is one thing. Waiting for that to come back in sales is a grind which halts new games going into production. This is another reason Kickstarter helps support independent designers.
The con is obviously not reaching the funding goal. Kickstarter only release funds when the goal target is met. Anything less and all money supporters have pledged will not be charged to them.
This is the question. Can Pocket Sports reach a wider audience? Will friends and family support us? Will previous buyers support us? More importantly....will complete strangers support us?? We'll have to wait and see I guess.
*Both Cycling and Gridiron have beta rules and dice maps up on the website. These will give you a good idea on gameplay. If you can work with some plain dice and follow the rules, you'll be able to play through a sample game.
