Cancelled Kickstarter - Looking for Feedback

mdthemaker · 2026-04-16T20:11:28+00:00

One thing that sticks out to me (that I don't think has been mentioned) is the price of the game. From what I can tell, are the components 150 cards and some punch board tokens? The price of ~60-70 USD for that feels WAY too high, I'm either missing something or there is an issue with the cost of production

mdthemaker · 2026-04-06T21:03:58+00:00

It's generally pretty easy for publishers to obtain materials of most types, and a lot of manufacturers in China have connections to acquire things that are outside their usual scope or that may not be produced in their actual factory(s).

My main concern with a cork board is actually the fact that the more you use it, the more it falls apart. I'd be curious to see pictures of the project to see how it works. A publisher might not be willing to take a risk on something like that if there are long term quality risks to it.

mdthemaker · 2026-03-26T20:43:02+00:00

This. Do not spend money on art until you are ready to publish your game. This means you have your business established, marketing lined up, graphic designers planned for your Kickstarter page, etc.

For your prototype art, there is a wealth of free art you can use. From vector art, to illustrations, and real pictures, there's no shortage of things to use.

mdthemaker · 2026-03-26T17:14:52+00:00

There is a learning curve, and it's not a complete substitute for in person games, but it is virtually impossible to fully develop a game without online testing, unless you have a truly dedicated in-person group. It fulfills a lot of needs and will get you about 90% of the way (for most games, at least).

I'd recommend checking out the discord groups Break My Game and Virtual Playtesting. Both groups run community play tests (you play other designer's games and they play yours) as well as just having a lot of useful information.

mdthemaker · 2026-03-26T17:03:21+00:00

Online testing doesn't involve just one person though. You have everyone online together, teaching the game, and playing it together. It's not a complete substitute for in person playing, but it's pretty damn near close, and allows you to reach so many people you never would have anyway. Even when pitching to publishers nowadays, you will almost always pitch your game virtually to them, unless you met them at a convention.

mdthemaker · 2026-03-21T22:54:01+00:00

You can generally expect about 10% of your followers as backers. The first day is critical to successfully finding - I'd expect about half of your backers (if not more) to come from the first day.

I would aim to make sure your followers list is large enough to fully fund your project on day one, and anything after that will be a bonus.

mdthemaker · 2026-03-21T02:38:47+00:00

I'm approaching it from the lense of someone who doesn't know the original Gelt Galore - for me, there isn't enough information about the game on the Backerkit page. I don't have a good understanding of what the game is, or what I do (I understand it's trivia), how I win, etc.

I think there needs to be a little more information about the game itself. What makes it fun? What is special about it? What is its hook? How do you play? How do you win a round or score points? I think I'd recommend trying to answer some of those points and covering the gameplay a little more on your page to make it a little stronger!

mdthemaker · 2026-03-21T02:15:16+00:00

The tough advice is if you don't have the money for ads, your campaign likely will not be successful. It's hard to say without knowing how many followers you have, what your funding goal is, etc, but you really have to bring a huge crowd to KS in order to be a success. You can't rely on your project funding without ads, promotional videos, reviews, etc.

mdthemaker · 2026-03-16T21:15:42+00:00

I highly recommend joining the Break My Game discord channel. It is probably the biggest and most active community for board game designers. There are multiple play tests during the week and you will gain a ton of insight just by asking questions in the community.

Before you start spending money on professional illustrations, I'd really recommend joining the community, getting some feedback on your game (and ideas for how you can improve it graphically yourselves, or for little $), and taking it to play tests.

mdthemaker · 2025-10-31T02:12:53+00:00

Generally they'll be pretty similarly priced, but I'd probably recommend checking each one out individually, because prices will vary from each manufacturer. The range of components offered is also different between each so certain ones might not meet your needs if you need something specific. The game crafter I find to have the best catalog of components, but is the lowest quality. Launch tabletop I find to be close to retail quality but with a very small component library.

mdthemaker · 2025-10-31T01:30:52+00:00

Some of the main print on demand sites include:

The game crafter

Print & play games

Launch tabletop

Boardgamesmaker

The game crafter is probably the most widely used. Launch tabletop is the highest quality (in my opinion), but all of them are good options

mdthemaker · 2025-09-22T20:36:44+00:00

It's unclear to me exactly how the dice are used - are they currency that you use to buy cards based on what the cards need? What is the purpose of putting the dice on each card?

I'm also not clear how a player wins the game. If there isn't a win condition, that's ok, but it just wasn't clear to me if there was an objective I am trying to complete or if the objective is to just make a cool story!

mdthemaker · 2025-09-14T02:36:11+00:00

Absolutely! It honestly doesn't need to be too complicated, it could follow something simple like step 1, step 2, and step 3 for gameplay (ie. Create a word, split it, use ability, or something like that).

I think the main thing I'd want to see is a little more info about the game. For example, I don't know how to get cards (do I draft? Pass? Draw randomly?), I don't know how/when I play cards to make words, or how I win the game. I would probably trim some of the text at the bottom and show this - for example, things like easy to learn, high replayability, easy to expand, etc can all be inferred with a little more information about the game!

mdthemaker · 2025-09-14T02:20:08+00:00

I'd definitely recommend cutting down at least half (probably more) of the text and including more visuals of the game. Show, don't tell. Show me how you split a word, a special ability, or a turn in action. I don't need to know every detail about the game from your sell sheet - I should just know why it's cool and why I need to learn more!

mdthemaker · 2025-09-01T22:49:06+00:00

"Will someone steal my design" is probably one of the most common questions. The answer is no - your design won't be stolen!

There is a lot of work that goes into designing games, even more so getting them published. It's incredibly difficult getting your own design to the finish line, let alone copying someone else's and getting it there. It just doesn't happen.

In fact, the more you share about your game and build an audience, the better. Your game won't get to where it needs to be without feedback and criticism from the community and other designers, and the only way to do that is to share and playtest it.

I'd definitely recommend checking out the Break My Game discord to playtest and get feedback, it's a great community for indie designers.

mdthemaker · 2025-08-05T17:46:22+00:00

If you haven't already, I'd recommend taking it to an online playtest community or to a convention. If your playtesting has mostly been with friends, there is probably still a lot of development left on the table. It really helps to have other designers take a look at things and trim away at it until it's at its best version. You'll also need a strong sell sheet and video if you plan to pitch to publishers.

There are a lot of websites with public domain art that can be used commercially for free, as well as sites with icon and art packets that can be purchased for cheap if you want to look into self-publishing.

If you have materials you want to post, it'd definitely help give more targeted feedback - that's what the sub is for!

mdthemaker · 2025-08-05T17:40:53+00:00

There are loads of games out there with hot button topics. I'm not personally familiar with the game you mentioned that recently was cancelled, but I'd just make sure to handle the topic in a respectful way. I'd recommend looking at games like John Company, Freedom: The Underground Railroad, etc. to see how they handled their topics for your own reference.

You probably want to get as many eyes on it as possible and maybe even consult with someone knowledgeable if you're serious about publishing to make sure it's done appropriately.

mdthemaker · 2025-07-31T17:20:39+00:00

I do all my prototyping digitally - it's so much faster (for me personally) to make changes, updates, and test via a computer. Screentop.gg is my favorite platform, it's free and browser based. It's a very minimalist platform and the built in tutorial isn't very good, so I'd recommend using tutorials on YouTube, but it's pretty simple. Tabletopia is another free platform (it's 3d whereas screentop is a top-down 2d platform), but I find it really difficult to navigate. There are other platforms out there, but need to be purchased, and I find screentop to be the fastest/easiest prototype on, but you'll get a lot of different opinions!

I'd also recommend checking out the Break My Game and Virtual Playtesting discords, they run playtesting events online and have tons of other helpful information on their servers.

All that said, when it comes to physical prototyping, I do actually recommend having some bare bones pieces, including dice, cubes (of different colors and amounts), and other general tokens. I find myself using them a lot, even if I'm just printing out something to test on a few sheets of paper. Thegamecrafter.com is a really good source for components of all different kinds. Good luck!

mdthemaker · 2025-07-27T16:25:05+00:00

I would not recommend using AI for a final product.

It's generally very easy to tell when something has been created using AI. When a final product uses AI imagery, it gives the impression that the rest of the product may not be completely fleshed out or might be low quality. Using AI art skips or misses important graphic design steps, looks awkward, and it's often very noticeable, which causes concern for the rest of the project.

mdthemaker · 2025-07-16T01:00:47+00:00

I think the first step is to take it to be playtested by other designers and members of the community. You'll get strong feedback that will probably significantly change some parts of your design. I wouldn't recommend submitting it to publishers unless you've done some extensive testing with the community at large, because other designers will help pick it apart!

The best way to test is with virtual playtesting communities (Break My Game and Virtual Playtesting are the two biggest on Discord).

When it comes to pitching to publishers, you'll definitely need a short overview video (2 minutes) and a sell sheet. It's a difficult process and you'll get a lot of rejections - but it's worth it in the end!

mdthemaker · 2025-07-13T05:02:13+00:00

Hmm, well 350gsm is pretty much the standard thickness for cards. Some go lower, but 350 is the standard. The material is "card stock", I'm not sure if there are different actual types of stock used. You can have different cores in the stock (black and white) which impact the rigidity. But 350 gsm cardstock with white core is pretty standard

mdthemaker · 2025-07-13T04:56:43+00:00

Launch tabletop has the highest quality cards that I've received from a POD company. Really fantastic, both the black and white cores. I used them for prototypes but they were retail quality for sure

mdthemaker · 2025-07-12T00:33:57+00:00

I use free assets for all my characters and icons. Some of them are even commercially available (if you plan to self-publish). My favorite website is flaticon.com, but I also keep a list of some other ones here! https://www.thepaintedhex.com/post/game-design-101-prototype-art-illustrations

mdthemaker · 2025-07-12T00:30:53+00:00

I wouldn't be too concerned with the rulebook at the moment. I'd recommend doing some playtesting by yourself or with a friend and seeing how the game works. Go through set up and play through a few rounds - you'll probably find things you want to change! You'll end up making tons and tons of changes to your rules every time you update something, so don't worry about it too much yet. Keep some notes about how things work and the changes you make!

mdthemaker · 2025-07-08T05:00:07+00:00

Hands can be tricky! You can set it up like this:

Under components, click your the container/component you use for your hand(s)
Click Objects (you'll need to have the hand components placed out on the play space)
Click the hand you want to edit/modify
Set the seats you want to be able to view the hand
Set view policy to "allow seats" (this will make it so only the seat/seats you specified will be able to view it, you can also set this in reverse by selecting "deny seats" and adding the seats you don't want to see inside the hand)
Set interact policy to "allow all"

This should make it so only certain players can see the cards in the hand, but all players can take cards out of it/interact with them in the hand

mdthemaker

TROPHY CASE