Kickstarter Tier for Naming Rights in Belle of the Ball

Belle-Names
Assume the base price for Belle of the Ball is somewhere between $15 and $20. As a part of a future Kickstarter campaign, I'm offering the option to name all the Guests and Belles. There are 96 Guests and 8 Belles.

What is your suggested dollar amount for a tier with the following rewards?
  • A copy of the game.
  • Credit as a backer.
  • You can name a Guest.

Folks on Twitter suggested something around $50 for the Guests' names, a bit more than that for the Belles' names due to the rarity. If all the cards were claimed at that level, the total would cover the art budget! Very tempting.

When I put the idea out on Twitter, a few suggested that I name all the Guests and Belles to maintain creative integrity. If that's the prevailing opinion, I may compromise and simply list the backer's name in a fancy Victorian ribbon that reads something like "Invited by _____."

Also, if you have some other ideas for Kickstarter rewards, I'm happy to hear 'em. (Preferably rewards that won't potentially delay production, such as likenesses in art.)

Comments

  1. QuentinHudspethMay 4, 2012 at 12:18 AM

    I think you might want to at least reserve the assignment of surnames for yourself, but there's certainly no reason you couldn't offer forenaming rights as a reward. I'm not sure what to suggest for a price. I usually avoid those tiers as frivolous.

    ReplyDelete
  2. kaiguensterMay 4, 2012 at 4:17 AM

    I always think that the "name something" tier on Kickstarter should contain verbiage like "name a guest within sensible limits". Maybe it's just my bad opinion of humanity, but I'm afraid to see "Dicky McDickface" showing up without that restriction.
    If the $50 for naming a guest also include a copy of the game, then it's a very reasonable price, other projects have gone much higher for naming rights.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jesse PudewellMay 4, 2012 at 8:14 AM

    Get your pricing down, then have the copy of the game be about five bucks over that. So $20-25. I lean towards the 20, but we don't want worst case success here and $25 at least isn't the mentally much larger $30.

    Credit as a backer should start at like $5. I don't think you'll get a lot there, but it's worth mentioning. Possibly do a cool backer thing like you did for Do. At $5, you're in the credits as a servant, beggar, etc.

    I'd suggest you need something at the $10-15 level so it's not a jump from $5 to $20/25, but I'm not sure what would be a good reward there. If you can get a good bulk deal on buttons pins, just one here and throw it in with each other tier. Put the Belles on it.

    $20-25 - the game, 'nuff said.

    $50 - name a guest.

    $100 - name a belle.

    What are you thinking for your pie in the sky, deluxe 250/500/750/1000 tiers? Deluxe handcrafted box to keep your game in?

    ReplyDelete
  4. DanielSolisMay 4, 2012 at 8:38 AM

    What sort of tiers usually compel you to back a project?

    ReplyDelete
  5. DanielSolisMay 4, 2012 at 8:38 AM

    All good thoughts to consider. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  6. DanielSolisMay 4, 2012 at 8:40 AM

    Possibly! Possibly.

    I'll give every backer at any amount credit, but I've recently become a convert for keeping the actual product as the first tier.

    ReplyDelete
  7. QuentinHudspethMay 4, 2012 at 9:13 AM

    I tend to stick with the lowest tier that gets me the product at a reasonable price. I might go to a slightly higher tier if the extra incentives are actually something useful or tangible.
    As a couple of examples:
    I recently backed a Chuck Wendig novel at only the $1 level. The first tier, at a reasonable ebook price of around $5 was for the prequel novella, which I already owned. The second tier, at $25 offered the novella, the novel as an ebook, and the privilege of supporting the author and possibly unlocking more novels. I deemed the $25 too much for the nebulous tier description (none of the tiers or the goals of the 'Start were very transparent).

    I recently backed Fred's Dinocalypse stuff, which had a very reasonable entry level $10 tier for two novels, and the possibility of unlocking more. Then I took his suggestion to increase my pledge as more books were unlocked, and eventually increased myself into the next tier. Let me tell you, Fred knows how to run a 'Start.

    As a final example, I also backed the Shadowrun Returns 'Start, jumping straight in at the third tier. The first tier offered the game for $15 -- a very good deal. The second tacked on an original pdf short-story anthology and an in-game special ability (frivolous) for $30. The third tier added the game soundtrack, a t-shirt (frivolous), and a personalized DocWagon card (frivolous) at $60. I judged that a good price by considering not only the loot, but how badly I wanted to see the game made. The fourth tier was tempting, adding the book in hardback, name in the credits (frivolous), and a gold DocWagon card (extra frivolous), but was overpriced at $100. The $40 jump wasn't justified by the addition of the hardback.

    So, to sum up, the tiers don't get me to back a project; how badly I want to see it happen does. But the tiers can get me motivated to increase my funding. As you may remember, I declined to back your story dice. I couldn't justify the expense for a single die that I wasn't likely to actually use, and I wasn't very invested in the idea, so I didn't apply a token $1 pledge*. Frivolous benefits like getting my name on something, or getting a date with the person running the 'Start, just don't get my attention.

    Q


    * I was happy to follow the story dice 'Start because I learned a lot about the cost of making dice. Ai yi yi!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Elfito+disqMay 8, 2012 at 3:21 PM

    As a European, I would love to see reasonable shipping fees.

    Also, as a low level you could always offer a PnP version of the game (with back design, final images, and final names).

    Also, I recommend you start planning on overfunding goals. I always prefer when they are something to play with.

    Maybe a small expansion? More belles would seem to add more variety

    ReplyDelete

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