Last Kickstarter Post (sort of... For a while, anyway)

I know you guys didn't sign up to pay for the privilege of me telling you about my Kickstarter, so I'm going to shift communications out and into a mailing list, because that's what all the cool kids are doing (I mean, that's what all the blogs tell me I should do for Kickstarter).

I've set up a landing page for subscribers on my website, which is here. Absolutely no more than one email a week, I swear.

I will still be talking about Kickstarter here, but in a more abstract sense. This is where I'll be sharing my feelings on the experience and thoughts on what I'm learning and how it's going. Whereas the mailing list will be more "Ooh, look at the shiny thing!", "Here's some concept art!", "Let me tell you about my character!" and "By the way, there's also this game; some people think it's OK; you should totally check it out..."

Anyway, I've had my first midnight anxiety attack.

I think it was technically more like 3am, but I was definitely staring into the darkness while my brain went through an infinite loop of rewards and add-ons and panicked about shipping costs.

I'm fine, though. This "landing page" thing is kind of new to me. I hate being the guy who's always sending stuff that clogs up people's in boxes (no, really, I am - you guys don't count because you pay for the privilege of hearing my thoughts!)

[T̶̸̜̐ͮͫ͋̀̀̑͡ḩ̨̧̠̯͖̜͙̣̠͚́̆e̖̮̩̻͓̱̥̠̎ͫ̎̃͞ ͓̼͕̘̩̦ͧ̂͛̓ͬ̍ͨ͞d̳̻̪̓ͩ̽̓͢͟å̶͍̱̥͋ͦ͛ͭ͞ȓ̨̟̹͔͙͕ͯ̄ͪ̏̐̎͜ͅk̢͙̝͉̞̖͂̈͂͐̆͑̈́̀n̫͎̰̳̻̙̯ͩͧ̇e̷̤͔̾s̢̛͎̝̫̟̆ͬͥͅs̸̗͈ͪͫ̏́̀̀̚ ̴̰̳͎͔̥͓̙ͥ̊̍̀ŝ̗͍̣̪̳̯̳̘̉̏̾̽ͬͥ͢p̹̜͙̖͗͆̏̈́ḛ͍̖͈͔͒̈́̾̏ͤ́a̬͚͚͇̳̯̦ͤ͋̈́̋̔͛̉ͯ͘ͅͅk͇̑ͩͧ̌̅̓ͤͧ̚̕͝s̛̫̦͙̳̹̉͐̆̐̊ ̳͍͙̰͑̆ͅa̋̍ͪͭ̃ͭ̈҉̵̗͎͔n͍̞̫̘͍̤̑̇̌̿̓̒̂͊́ͅd̞͎͖̫̜̟̹̑ ̛̝̼̫̖̀͂͛̓ͯ̄̐ͩ͟͝y̵͖̻̮ͬͬ͑ͮ͝o̶̢̟͛ͥ͐̽̇̍͟ũ͙̬͍̘̃̕͝ ̍̐̄҉̵̲͉͈͍͎̟̺̰͕͡w̯̻̘̤̭̍͗ͨi̴̤̠̱̼̝̼̦̬̯͑͡l̐̑ͤ̈̋̃̄̚͏̼̥̲̯̘̠̱ͅl̢̗̭̦͚̻̥ͬ̃͗̋̈̍͢͝ ͨ̈́͡҉̥̬̝l͈ͬͮị̴̧͋ͨ̽͑ͪͣ͝s̸̤̩͙̳͎̞ͧ̐̚ͅt̝̤̲͗̔ͧͣ̀̃ͨͭ͘e̷̗̯͎̬̭͓͍ͬ͆͋ͬ̃͢ņ̠̩͔̥̙͖̽͐̋́͡ͅͅ]

Anyway, marketing is one of those tasks in running a business that doesn't come naturally to me. I'm not particularly diffident. In a job interview I will happily tell people how awesome I am. Giving my team-mates credit? Not a chance! But it feels a bit different when it's product marketing. Compiling lists of all of my contact points at which I can tell people about my Kickstarter feels... kinda dirty. Sure, I can stick it up on my Facebook page and cross-post to there, but just making lists of names and working out how I can target them with TeH PrOduKt...

It feels a bit like a grubby version of Deathnote.

But then I think about the people who've already run successful Kickstarters (like Tomas) who I know must've already done this, and I think about how bothered I am that I'm on their list and I think that, actually, I'm thrilled that they want to tell me about the cool stuff they have created and which they'd like my help getting to market. I may not always necessarily want to throw money at them, but do I mind being part of the team that makes it happen, by spreading the news, sharing the links and staying up to speed with what's going on?

No! Absolutely not.

So it's that kind of thinking that helps me keep plugging away at this effort.

I've also signed up to the Backerkit page. I've heard mixed reports as to whether you need a fulfilment centre like Backerkit for small projects like mine. Kickstarter now offers you the ability to include add-ons in your campaign management, and you can do shipping and all that as well. But... honestly, I'm not 100% convinced by the Add-ons section on the KS page. It does stuff I don't want it to do, for no good reason, and with now way to stop it doing that. Also, getting shipping costs right is super-complicated and Kickstarter itself is... surprisingly basic when it comes to offering solutions. So I reckon I'm going to swallow the costs of Backerkit... if it looks like I'm going to hit more than, like, two stretch goals.

Oh, one last thing before I go:

Kickstarter lets me share a preview of the actual page with people before it goes live. Now, I've got a bunch of tinkering to do and I'm not expecting to be doing that with anyone until we're comfortably in July at the earliest. But I thought I'd ask to see if any of you would be interested in seeing that preview when it's available. If there's lots of interest, then I'll post a link on here at some point in early July. If it's just, like, one or two of you I'll send you the link privately rather than put unwanted KS content onto the main Patreon page.

I'll be getting back to game design posts next. Operation Kurgan is nearly ready for some love.