Kickstarter Success!

I finally have a moment to breathe, about 3 days into our campaign.  I'm shocked and thrilled to say that we were able to meet our $25,000 goal within 12 hours, and our current pledge total is teetering just beneath $50,000.  I was telling Aili, my wife, the night before we started about those amazing KS campaigns where people press the button, fret, go to sleep, and then wake up to find that they've already met their target.  But I never imagined I'd be fortunate enough to be in that camp.

How did it happen?  Well, it's far too early to make any firm conclusions, and I'm not an expert in KS advertising and mechanics - but I have some ideas.  Obviously, having Eagle Games in my corner with their broad advertising outreach and stellar reputation (especially when it comes to strategy games and KS campaigns) helped enormously.  That's #1.  The professional artwork and videography we had done, I'm sure, also did wonders for us.  It's basically a necessity.  A large percentage of our supporters, it appears, wandered over to our KS page from the "Popular" projects area.  People clearly like to browse KS projects and are willing to check out what's currently trending well and looks interesting and shiny.  But how did we get on the Popular page?

First, I think our Eagle Games strategy bundle early-bird special was extremely attractive - and those 25 pledges got gobbled up very fast.  That's nearly $7000 right there.  Second, our international outreach and ability to have EU friendly shipping, especially to France and Germany, have brought in a LOT of international backers.  The design of the game, as I had hoped, also seems to cross boundaries and appeal to Americans and non-Americans alike (to be honest, I'm not even sure I believe in the Ameritrash vs. Eurogame distinction anymore, insofar as they suggest geographic differences in what appeals to gamers).  Clockwork Wars has theme, beautiful art, and lovely components.  But it's a hard-core strategy game at heart, with rules of steel and play that rewards intelligence and wit.  

What next?  Well, obviously I hope we can keep the momentum up and achieve as many stretch goals as possible.  I'm especially passionate about our $60,000 goal - where we would get to include plastic miniatures of all the unique units in the game.  This would greatly increase the value of everyone's game and play experience, and I desperately hope we get there.  If you're reading this and have backed the project, spread the word!  60K is where we want to go!

This has been an immensely gratifying and humbling experience.  I'm a pessimist at heart, so to see so many people legitimately interested in the design and asking great questions and showing enthusiasm for the campaign is mind-blowing.  The internet is an amazing place, and periodically, magical things happen here.

In celebration, here's a close-up of possibly my favorite piece of art in the game:  the Colossus.  What a great piece and what a great time to be into board games!