Kickstarter - Zero Dark Miniatures

As promised earlier: actual news!

Right, it's finally going to happen. 18 months later than planned, but there you go. Target launch date is mid-July.

My main objective here is to raise the money to pay the sculptor the balance of what I agreed to pay him. But if it's possible to also raise the funds to create some new designs from my as-yet-unpublished additional concepts, this would also be good. But the Big Picture is to try to use this as an opportunity to raise the profile of Precinct Omega games as much as it is to create miniatures.

With all of this in mind, I've finally decided that the primary product will be digital: STLs of the miniatures we worked on together that people can print at home. But, recognizing that not everyone has a printer (I don't, yet), there will also be an option to get physical resin prints of the minis instead.

However, as well as additional minis and accessories, I will include stretch goals to turn the designs into cold-cast resin and, then, white metal casts as well.

Reaching this point has been a challenge.

To start with, I'm conflicted over Kickstarter at all. I feel like it's given a lot of people the chance to bring products to market that otherwise might not have existed but, at the same time, it's done very little to, y'know, kickstart actual new enterprises. There are a lot of minis projects that are just pre-orders or tax-avoiding marketing platforms (because you aren't technically buying the minis, so the income from the campaign is taxed differently).

However, it is the best-established and most appropriate platform for this kind of project. Gamefound might be better if I were releasing a new game, but Kickstarter is right for a project that is, basically, just objects (albeit mostly virtual ones).

I've also been conflicted on the subject of manufacturing new miniatures and whether it was even ethical to be adding new projects to a market overflowing with unpainted stockpiles of minis driven by FOMO.

Digital products at least don't add to a long-term storage problem until they are printed and should only be printed as needed (yeah, right - but the principle is sound at least). Resin and white metal casting is all sorts of problematic when it comes to the sourcing of materials and its long term environmental impact.

But - and this is the big one - at the end of the day, I'm running a business. I need to sell stuff to make money to survive and grow. And as games alone aren't cutting it, I've got to embrace the fact that miniatures need to be a part of my business model, even if I intend to keep the games at the front and centre of the philosophy of things.

I'm watching SioCast with great interest, but I can't get in on the emerging opportunities offered by thermoplastic casting without the capital to invest and, without a fairy godmother bestowing unconditional cash upon my undeserving head, I have to create that capital from somewhere.

And, finally, I have a podcast (yes, in hiatus, but coming back soon) where I throw a fair amount of shade at other companies for their bad decisions, including an over-reliance upon Kickstarter as a source of income. And, frankly, I need to walk the walk if I'm going to talk that talk.

Whether or not the KS is successful, patrons will get access to some of the STLs if you want them, and the chance to get your hands on prints if you don't have your own printer.

Oh, and as a reward for those of you who read this whole post, here's my first animation of Abdalla: