Risk and Renders: "Kickstarter is not a store."

Store Closed. Found Love.
Many view Kickstarter as a new pre-ordering system. However, Kickstarter just updated their guidelines to reinforce their position that they are NOT a store. Towards that end, they've made two major changes to their guidelines. Here's how they affect game projects.


RISKS

Today we added a new section to the project page called "Risks and Challenges." All project creators are now required to answer the following question when creating their project: “What are the risks and challenges this project faces, and what qualifies you to overcome them?”

The intent of this change is to allow backers to judge the creator's likelihood of completing the project promised. This also forces the project creator to acknowledge the risks inherent in any project. For a board game or role-playing game, these risks are:

  • Delays in production
  • Delays in distribution
  • Rules errata
  • Staff changes
  • Margin of error in estimated costs
  • Components that are different than shown in early promotion
  • Different specs than initially promised

And any number of other unforeseen circumstances. If you're doing your project right, you should already be aware of those risks. Now Kickstarter requests that you be public about those risks with your backers.


RENDERS

There are also several changes to the Hardware and Product Design categories.

Product simulations are prohibited.
Product renderings are prohibited.
Offering multiple quantities of a reward is prohibited.

These changes do not yet apply to other categories, like games. So you can still show component renders and example box art in your Kickstarter promotions. In all honesty, you should have example of play videos with real people anyway. The more accurate a representation of your play experience the better.

Hardware creators are understandably crying foul at this restriction, though. Why can books and films show trailers, but hardware can only show their prototypes? Expect some fallout from that complaint.

And as for the quantity restriction, games are still unaffected by that new change. However, games are affected by another recent change: No bulk product orders. That means you're not allowed to set up a tier where backers can get more than ten of the same product. For most game creators, that's okay since few local game stores would order more than ten anyway. Still, it's a restriction to keep well in mind.


How else will these changes affect how you approach Kickstarter? Does it fit your perception of their service? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Comments

  1. JanusSeptember 21, 2012 at 1:20 PM

    What I'm curious about is what prompted these changes? What is the end result that they are trying to get towards? And what are they trying to move away from?

    ReplyDelete
  2. DanielSolisSeptember 21, 2012 at 2:02 PM

    I suspect they don't want to be liable for any failed hardware projects, especially the multi-million dollar campaigns like Pebble and OUYA. Not to say that those projects won't fulfill, but simply that if the goldrush continues, Kickstarter doesn't want to be responsible for refunds.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Louis PorterSeptember 21, 2012 at 5:08 PM

    I think in the long run this will be a positive move for Kickstarter.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ezra BradfordSeptember 21, 2012 at 6:24 PM

    Hardward -> Hardware

    ReplyDelete
  5. DanielSolisSeptember 21, 2012 at 8:01 PM

    Ha! Wow, how did I miss that? Fixed!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

5 Graphic Design and Typography Tips for your Card Game

Image
Chris Farrell of Illuminating Games just wrote a thorough critique of card games setting their body text to be so small that they cannot be read at arm's length, let alone across the table. Here's an excerpt, but the whole thing is worth a read for any would-be card game designers out there. (Myself included.) Break out your copy of the base set of Dominion, and look at the Chapel. This has a text box roughly 3.5cm by 4.5cm. It's got a single line of text. That line of text is 1 (one) millimeter high. 1mm! For me, it's only clearly readable at half an arm's length even in the bright light of day. (...) Compare this to a more sane game like Glory to Rome, where the font size is 2-3 times as large (text is 2mm high, keywords 3mm and usually highlighted). I can generally read Glory to Rome cards across the table, and can certainly see the important keywords. To heap insult upon injury, not only does Glory to Rome have far more legible text than Dominion it also has...
Read more

Low-High Dice Game

Image
A dice game inspired by the stock market (and playing lots of Martian Dice). Roll a bunch of dice and choose which sets to keep. Choose your strategy wisely! Stuff You Need Two-to-Six PLAYERS A PENCIL and PAPER to keep score Thirteen standard six-sided DICE How to Play The shortest player takes the first turn. On your turn, first roll all thirteen dice. Several dice will have matching results. These are called SETS. (A single die result is a set, too.) You must choose a set to keep. For example, your first roll results are 111124445555 . The sets are four 1 s, one 2 , three 4 s, and four 5 s. After keeping a set of dice, lock them up in a row. This is called the GOOD TRACK. For example,  you could keep the set of four 1 s, one 2 , three 4 s, or four 5 s . You decide to keep the four 1 s and line them up in your good track. After keeping a set, you may end your turn or re-roll the remaining unlocked dice. When you re-roll, immediately set aside any results tha...
Read more

One Thing to Avoid in Game Design

Image
When game designer Paul Peterson was interviewed for the upcoming Titans Series of games from Calliope Games, there was one segment at 1:55 that really caught my attention (emphasis mine): "A couple years ago I was teaching people how to play Guillotine and I hadn't played in a while. The first thing I did was say, 'The first thing you gonna do when you open your game is you look through this deck and you take this card.' I pulled out the Callous Guards card and threw it over my shoulder. Everybody laughed. I said, ' That's the biggest mistake I ever made as a game designer in my life.'" Oof. Those are strong words. What's the big deal? For context, the game Guillotine is all about collecting the heads of French nobles during the revolution. There is only one guillotine, with a line of nobles waiting for their grim fate. On your turn, you play action cards to change the order of the line, then take the Noble card from the front of the ...
Read more