For the most part we have had great successes with the Kickstarter campaigns we have backed. What I would like to do is review briefly some of the things that we have like and some things that we haven’t liked about various campaigns. Mind you that the COVID pandemic did affect ALL aspects of the process which caused delays in manufacturing and shipping but the praises and gripes take into account that.
Two Praises
The biggest praise for 90% of all the campaigns is the open communication and (typically) monthly updates that are provided. ThunderGryph Games is an excellent example for me as to having GREAT communication throughout their campaigns. During Tang Garden with all the delays in production, shipping, etc. etc., I felt that they did a good job with keeping us updated on progress.
Yes, sometimes it was a bit slow but I totally understood that this was the company’s biggest and most complex project to date and that the delays were needed in order to bring forth the best product they could. They were not going to settle for fast and cheap in order to get the game released, they settled for a production that would last for 100s of plays. All of this is part of the second praise, quality over quantity.
Most of the companies, often through stretch goals, plan for component upgrades that will make game components such as cards, player boards, and game pieces higher quality from just the basic production level. One game in particular that just blew me away was MYRACLIA.
MYRACLIA had just under 400 backers, reached 5 stretch goals (a sixth was known but not reached plus others unknown to us), and raised just shy of $18K USD. Part of the process of production was delayed and we got the game just a few months after the estimated delivery date because Rudy (the creator and publisher) had spent extra time giving us the last announced stretch goal that we did not make, unique artwork for each tile, and had upgraded some of the other components to make the game higher quality and better designed. These added extras solidified our choice to continue to back his next project which just completed the funding period a few weeks ago.
Disaster Avoided
I do want to mention something that happened to a game (not naming it) that could have resulted in something drastic and potentially could have put a full stop on the game but the company bounced back to keep the project rolling.
Again, it is a small company and because of the COVID crisis they had to cut their staff in half from four to two people. The project was not halted because of this but the next thing that happened to them could have delayed the project by a long time. The artist who was hired to paint all the artwork left an incomplete project but was paid in full so a new artist had to be found to finish the work in the style of the original artist. I wish I could say that this was it but there is something else too.
The manufacturing company who they used for a previous project was sending sub-par samples that were full of errors and not meeting the standards for the project and from what it sounded like they did not want to correct their mistakes. At the time of the last update they found a new manufacturer and was signing the production contract.
I applaud this company for sticking with the project and doing what they can to keep their dreams and passion for board games alive.
I have heard a few stories from other backers that had the unfortunate experience in which the project funds were essentially stolen by the project creators and the backers got nothing. In another instance, the company went bankrupt and aa different company had to pick up the pieces and complete a project.
Bad Campaigns
This section I will discuss two campaigns that have totally made us not want to back the companies again. One of them my wife and I did back the expansion to the game (details coming) and the other one we decided not to back the follow up game and will probably not back or purchase anything else from them.
Let’s dive into the game that we did back the expansion and the reasons behind our feelings towards the company. In all, and I do mean all, of the previous Kickstarter campaigns we backed and the campaigns since this one I am talking about, if a person wanted to make a pledge and then double that pledge level to get a second copy of the game the creators had no issues with it and gladly took our money because they wanted to ensure that the game got funded and that stretch goals could be met.
We decided that we would like to pick up three copies of the game in order to keep one and gift two to our mothers for mothers day and/or birthday. Fast forward to when the pledge manager opened and we wanted to make sure that we got the three copies of the Kickstarter version (upgraded components from retail). I go to fill out the form and it would only let me add one copy of the game and the additional funds was going to be a “donation.” Umm… NOPE!
Nowhere in the campaign page said that you are limited to one copy of the game unless you did the retail store pledge. That got me wondering how many other people had pledged to get additional copies only to be told “thanks for the additional donation.” It took almost a dozen emails back and forth for them to refund me the additional funds that we backed (it almost got to the point where we were going to report them to Kickstarter for the shady practice).
Long story short, we got the one copy and pledged for one copy of the expansion even though my mother loves the game and still wants a copy of her own. In the expansion pledge they did say in the shipping section that “each additional copy adds $3 shipping.” We only pledged for one copy because the expansion does what my mom wished the game would have done to begin with.
Now for this other campaign. After talking it over with my wife, I backed the campaign for the expansion of a game which also had the pledge level that was for the Deluxe edition of the base game as well. Yes, COVID did cause some issues but we don’t take into account for that because it is not an isolated problem but had global implications. The major issues with this campaign was the lack of regular communication, the “beat around the bush” and/or non-responses to legit questions from backers, and wait for it….. they UNDER PRODUCED the amount that they sold.
Not even half the backers got their orders and the rest of us are still waiting for answers and the company is being non-responsive yet again. They have said over and over the past 6 months that the additional copies are coming and will be shipping in a few weeks. Well, those of us who are still waiting from what I have read online in the campaign comments and on various FB pages did NOT back the follow-up 2 player version of the game since we have no product to even see if we like the game play.
How could a company under produce what people pre-paid for? How did they not look at all the numbers before submitting the quantity to the manufacturer. Here is what I am thinking they are doing….to attempt to “fix” this huge mess, they started the next campaign to pay for the mistake on this one. It is only going to be a “trickle-down effect” to all the future backers of their games.
If nothing gets resolved soon with this campaign, I will join the hundreds of others and request our money back. And you better believe that we will never back another project or directly support the creators again. If any of their future games wind up at a thrift store for five dollars or less brand new, I might look into it but until then I will keep my “tea seeping in my own cup.”
What’s Next?
With every Kickstarter project there is a learning curve for the backers. You learn from experience who to back and who to not back in the future based on how you were treated and how good the project turned out.
I know of a lot of people that were disappointed in how long Tang Garden took to get our hands on it but with the beauty of the game and the quality of the components the ill feelings subsided and from what I can tell, most (not all) of us are still on Team ThunderGryph and have continued to back the rest of their games. Heck, I am not sure exactly how much my wife and I have spent supporting ThunderGryph Games because we have purchased and given away as gifts a lot of their games. In my family alone we own 4 copies of Tang Garden Kickstarter editions (we own three and my sister now has her own copy).
In future posts I am sure I will be discussing more games we got from Kickstarter and what we liked and don’t like about it.
The best advice I can give you when it comes to backing any project is to check out previous projects and read the updates to get a sense of how well the backers reacted to them. If it is a new company or a smaller one, trust your gut. I am glad I did with MYRACLIA and I will continue to support Rudy on his projects.
Taking a quote from the infamous Red Green… “Remember, I'm pulling for you. We're all in this together.”
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