Sometimes a board game Kickstarter has to die in order to rebuild

Many companies wait months before releasing the button that will make a crowdfunding campaign live. The companies build excitement on social media and pay for previews and playthroughs from board gaming tastemakers. They also host live streaming events to meet potential backers before the launch. Then it’s up to the board gaming public to make a game’s concept become a reality. Sometimes things can go wrong. This was the case for a number of projects recently launched that were cancelled within 24 hours.

Most notable was the campaign for Restoration Game’s Thunder Road: VendettaA reimagining the classic 1986 story about deadly car races, set in a Mad Max-style post-apocalypse. The campaign was launched on October 12th and had already raised more than $278,000 of the total $500,000. Restoration likely would reach its goal. But, limping to the finish line in a prominent crowdfunding campaign isn’t a good idea. On October 13, the campaign was cancelled.

Image: Restoration Games

Justin Jacobson, cofounder of Restoration Games left the community a note explaining his decision that day. “This is a fantastic game. It’s just that I need to make it easier for you all to see this. And that’s precisely what we’re going to do. So we’ll get back to work.”

An industry in which sales are increasing on crowdfunding platforms is where a boardgame’s success depends upon a successful launch. But it isn’t always a question of how much is being raised when a Kickstarter or Gamefound campaign launches, but what is being created alongside of it.

“The more folks you have backing early, the more vibrant your community is,” explained Jacobson in an interview with Polygon. “This creates a general level of excitement around the campaign that can encourage folks to spread the word about it on social media.” On the very first day that the campaign went live, Jacobson discovered that the buzz just wasn’t there. Rather than fanning the flames of hype, his team’s time was instead being spent on a much more onerous task.

“If you fumble the launch, you’re spending more time responding to questions and criticism, which doesn’t add backers,” Jacobson explained. “More folks were asking questions than telling us what they liked best. That was the red flag for us.”

Restoration’s last crowdfunded success, Return to Dark Tower Isaac Childres, designerGloomhaven) and Rob Daviau (creator of the legacy system and a co-founder of Restoration Games), earned over $4 million dollars by campaign’s end. Return to Dark Tower certainly captured a following, so much so that Barnes & Noble will be offering the game at select locations despite its hefty MSRP ($190).

It is important to remember that crowdfunding campaigns are not just about building fanbases but also about raising millions for games that are often in development. If you don’t have one, you won’t need the other. Jacobson made this a part of his decision to end the contract. Thunder Road: Vendetta

“First and foremost, what do we actually need to make the product viable?” Jacobson said. “That’s particularly important for something like Return to Dark TowerThis is where there are high development and technical costs. [It’s]This is more than just how much money you have to pay for a print run. It’s the viability of your project. Often it’s more important to determine what backer count works and then extrapolating the goal by estimating the pledge per backer.”

Photo by 25th Century Games

Different publishers may have different reasons for ending a campaign within a short time after its launch. Sometimes it is a matter of pricing and public perception of what a pledge amount nets them, as many of the commenters in 25th Century Games’ recently canceled GartenbauIt was. Founder Chad Elkins noted in a post on the pledge site that “There are a ton of components with two large boards and a mountain of tiles, tokens, and constructs… it weighs in at over 5 pounds! That’s a lot of cardboard. We never really showed the magnitude of the components for the price point.”

Jacobson and Restoration also considered the quality of component components. Scott Miller, a backer on the campaign, posted: “We didn’t really know much about [the components]This is all that’s needed, with the exception of a brief description and a list containing components. It is impossible to imagine that. [expansion content] Carnage at Devil’s Run It is not worth $40 for just a few tokens and game boards, but it is worth $40. If the base game is worth $60 (which I agree that it is), then all the expansions combined are also worth about $60.”

“The main thing [for the relaunch will be] to get more polished graphical elements and compose them better to tell a more complete story of what the game is and how it plays,” said Jacobson. He has pledged to work with illustrator Marie Bergeron and graphic designers Jason Taylor and Lindsay Daviau to improve those aspects ahead of a relaunch to also demonstrate the price point’s fairness.

Crowdfunding is often based on offering a lower price for backers but also providing incentives like upgraded components or stretch goals (such as expanded content) to encourage people to pledge. Both Elkins and Elkins were available for pledges on Gartenbau, He told his backers about it in his cancelation post. “[W]You could have more value by pledging to KS and having some stretch goals. This was not available at launch […]This led to many backers not being interested in the deluxe. [edition] to decide on simply waiting for retail to purchase.”

Jacobson is in agreement with this view. “We look to see what we can add for the Kickstarter to make it appealing to folks to come back rather than wait for a retail release. It’s important that the game stand alone from a retail release so that folks who get it then don’t feel like they’re getting an incomplete game.

“That’s mainly [through] stretch goals,” Jacobson continued. “We can offer a discount of MSRP, and we can offer earlier access. We don’t do exclusives, as we really don’t want to feed into the potentially manipulative sense of [fear of missing out]This can be a driving force for some people [to participate].”

This all amounts to a campaign which, for most publishers is better served by a retool that improves its perception.

“We look at how the funding goal might impact a potential backer’s view of the project and how it impacts the stretch goal cadence we’ve set for the project,” explained Jacobson.

Thunder Road: VendettaIt is aiming to relaunch the site sometime around January 2022. However, this will slow down any launch of Restoration crowdfunded projects. Crossbows & CatapultsJacobson feels responsible. Jacobson feels responsible.

“In retrospect, I was rash and didn’t do the legwork on what pushing back [the first launch date] would actually mean,” he said. “As it turns out, our delivery date isn’t changing. We’ll just be further along at launch, which is where we should’ve been to begin with.”

GartenbauThe project was able to relaunch on Kickstarter Nov 9th with a much quicker turnaround and reached its $12,000 fundraising goal within 24 hours. In a more upbeat and promising post to the Kickstarter page, Elkins wrote, “It’s been a long and winding journey for this game. This is a very special moment. Thank you for being here and helping make it happen.”

It’s the same feeling that Jacobson is hoping for when Thunder Road: Vendetta Next year’s relaunch.