I’m prepping to launch a new Print-and-Play (PnP) board game soon, and I know Kickstarter had released a digital file distribution feature recently. I’m curious if any fellow creators here have used it for your campaign yet?

My co-founder and I launched our first campaign (a word card game) on Oct 1. The next night we ran a demo night and small tournament at a board game cafe in Chicago. Some lessons for anyone considering a live event:

What worked/got people engaged:
- Teaching the game to individual tables and interacting face to face.
- Asking if they played similar games for reference on how to play
- Letting them win amoungst their own friend groups

What we'd change:
- We didn't have enough people (just me and my co-founder) going around demoing games. We should've had another person who knew the game well also be available.
- Getting the word out or making an Eventbrite would have probably been a great idea.

We also added a custom secret tier for people to buy in person and we ended up selling 15 copies!

Creators who've done live events: Was it worth the effort? Anything you'd tell us before the next one?

In your opinion, should a landing page have a popup that asks for one's email address before entering the page? I feel like that might turn some off. However, not having it might cause some not to put their email address. Your thoughts?

Hi, I was hoping someone here could give me some advice. I backed a mini speaker, and it was shipped to me, but they sent it to the correct address with the wrong ZIP code instead of the one I supplied. Ever since then, I have tried every means of contacting them, including “directly,” but I am getting no response. The best I got was one automated reply. Does anyone have any suggestions? I would supply the link to what I backed, but I wasn't sure if that was allowed in this group.

Hello, All! I was all set to go and launch on October 6, but my list building was anemic at best. I’ve moved out to early 2027. But every day I see a list builder, marketer, “we’ll help you launch” ad and I don’t trust any of them. Are there any that you might recommend. It’s a small card game with a $2000 goal.

Thanks everyone.

The game is called Don’t Lose Your Head and it is about 2 skeletons trying to climb out of a cave with one of their heads missing. 

After several months of work the Kickstarter has finally started!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/asedev/dont-lose-your-head-0?ref=nav_search&result=project&term=don%27t%20lose%20your%20head

Hello. I am planning to start a campaigh for the editing, cover design and maybe audiobook of two novellas that are already written.

What are the best strategies for somebody thast start from zero?

I need to make a video I think but i don't know how to draw ata all so I will use internet found images that are coherent with the stories.

Is the fact that i already have one failed campaign going to affect the validity of the new one?

Last year the US utility patent was issued and this spring the China patent was also issued. The product revolves around the Mason Jar. I’ve been working the marketing materials and having a finished product that’s retail ready. i’ve got a manufacturer that is on board and ready to have that retail ready package in production. I really want to launch on Kickstarter because the product could be sold right next to every Mason Jar in stores. I hope the successful launch on Kickstarter will drive the demand to get the product in the stores. I intended to work with foodie influencers since the product is very visual and totally new. How would you structure an arrangement that works for the influencers and the Kickstarter campaign?

I run a non profit organization that supports artists, and we have built a great community in the past 15 months. It's my first time running KS and ofc a npo's resources are limited, but given the circumstances, I had hopes it would get funded within a day. Unfortunately we're nowhere close with less new backers everyday. I don't doubt that we will get funded before the end, but I genuinely want to do better for our future campaigns.

Our instagram:
- 16k+ Followers
- Kickstater teaser post (20 days before launch) got 18k views and 1000+ likes, 160 reposts, 73 saves
- I consistently shared progress and had around 300-500 story views avg
- Kickstarter announcement post also has 18k+ views, 45 reposts, 35 saves so far

Kickstarter:
- Main item (enamel pin) was set at a price of $10, which I think it's very reasonable from research
- Shipping is around $8-12 depending on location, with tracking
- There are a variety of add-ons and rewards tiers of different combinations. Each reward tier has some backers other than the lowest one, so I think the configuration is ok.
- Reward tiers go from $4 to $42.
- The goal is $1200
- We're 3 days in and have barely reached $500. With help of many people promoting it.

What I know I did wrong:
- I set up the pre-launch page only 2 days before the campaign, basically thought about not making it, but then decided against that last minute.
- Maybe I should've asked for more help in promotion before the campaign.
- I set only 1 stretch goal at $2700. It was purely based on calculations, that is the point we would make enough to add something new. But I think I should've figured out lower effort stretch goals and added more goals at lower $$.

It's really baffling because I thought we had great traction before the launch, and this is a one person run non profit that helps human artists, it should feel rewarding to back? Please let me know what you think I did wrong, is it the pricing, or release timing? I'm going to work hard to promote the campaign during the active period (25 more days), any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated 🙏

I’m launching a hardware product in about 3 weeks from now on Kickstarter. The price per unit is on the lower side of $40+. Our funding goal is not too high too, at $10K. We had a full, complete reservation funnel with email automations set up as well.

The first few weeks of pre-launch ads cost around $4 CPL, which is relatively good, but our CPD (cost per VIP) was on the higher side at around $40. After 1 month of running pre-launch ads, the CPL improved to $3.70, but the CPD only improved slightly to $33, which is still relatively high.

So, we decided to stop the pre-launch ads and instead spend it to increase the budget on live ads, where we should have a better conversion rate and can focus more directly on ROAS. We decided to be more conservative due to our limited overall ad budget. We have to be careful and spend where we believe the money can have a higher impact. We did manage to gather a small email list of 400+ people in just one month of pre-launch, so we decided to go all out on the live ads for the project and hopefully get fully funded.

What do you guys think? It’s a little bit more risky, but the economics just don’t add up for the pre-launch, and due to our limited budget, we decided to transfer the funds to increase the live ads spending instead.

Let me know your thoughts

Hi! I'm launching my first kickstarter campaign next week. I'll advertise it on friday as stated in the rules. Yet, I'd like to ask some advice about per-launch Ads.

Mine it's a really small campaign (target 100€), digital files for 3d printing (so no production costs), and it's really just an experiment to see how kickstarter works...

I watched some videos with tips on YouTube, but they all focus on large-scale campaigns; I don't think they apply to my situation.

Do you think some pre-launch Ads are unevitable to succed? And if you had previous experences on small projects, which channel do you think works the best?

Thanks

We are a little over halfway to our goal for Steve Says No. Hope everyone’s campaigns have a great weekend!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/drdenisejohnson/steve-says-no-a-board-book-that-teaches-cat-body-language/

Hello again! If you have any questions on how I made the video, please feel free to ask. I'm more than happy to share what I've learned and point you toward the right resources.

Also, if you have any questions about consumer psychology and how the brain responds to marketing, ask away!

I'm running this Kickstarter as a one-man army: lead illustrator, art director, and video editor (and a self-taught marketer). This campaign is basically project-based learning in action.

I used DaVinci Resolve Studio to edit the video. They got a free software version. They actually offer great free training lessons if you're interested in learning.

Hope you all enjoy the video! :)

Hi everyone,

After 15 years of product development experience — mostly working for others, including clients like NATO and US Special Operations units — I've finally pre-launched my first Kickstarter project, and it feels completely different from anything I've done before.

During my career, I always dreamed of building something of my own. I've been developing a much better product than what's out there, and I saw a clear problem that I was already solving for years. After months of prototyping, endless samples, photo shoots, and everything in between... here I am. Honestly, it feels a little like having your first child — I don't have kids yet, so maybe I shouldn't say that 😄

I've seen campaigns hit 100K+ in pledges and I'd love to understand what drives that. I know the product is strong — what I'm still learning is how to get it in front of the right people.

I'd love to hear what worked for you — whether it was community outreach, social media, press, or something completely unexpected.

Anything helps. Really. 🙏

-----
Hi everyone,

The amount of knowledge and experience you've all shared with me means so much. Thank you.
As a first-time creator, it feels like I'm heading out to the streets with a stone to fight Goliath... but I know my stone.
-----

Edit: Here's the page if anyone's curious: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/leskar/leskar-large-head-cap-engineered-around-fit-not-just-size

Afaik this is not allowed but I often see the "funded in <5 minutes" posts and badges on marketing materials - are these legitimate or is it generally a marketing tactic of having a friend or family member or secondary credit card drop money onto the project immediately after launch?

It seems like there should be a distinction between 1 purchase of $X within minutes of launch vs 100s of $5-10 purchases within minutes of launch. That said - what kind of following do people have that folks are waiting to buy asap...? Are the early bird offers really that good?

Happy to report I had a successful Kickstarter campaign that ended back in Late July! This is my first time using Kickstarter and I'm struggling to fully comprehend how the post campaign process works.

I have 9 orders that never filled out the mandatory survey so I can't fulfill their orders and send out the comics they backed. I clicked "close pledge manager" and it says it's closing on October 4th. Should I manually go in and refund every one of those 9 orders? Or hope they eventually recognize their mistake and fill out the survey so I can get their autograph preferences, shipping address, and tax info?

Hello!

We’re Redmaw Studio, a tiny team of two making dark-fantasy tabletop miniatures.

Our first project, The Seamstress, is a small encounter set built around two original miniatures: the Seamstress herself and her Stitched Abomination.

The rewards:

• Digital STL files for the miniatures

• An encounter booklet with creature stats, lore and hooks.

Or

• A limited physical reward with resin-printed miniatures and a printed booklet for people who don’t own a 3D printer

We kept our first campaign intentionally small because our biggest goal was to actually learn the whole process, finishing a project, test printing, making the booklet, figuring out Kickstarter, packaging and shipping… basically all the stuff that comes after making the 3D models 😅

And this week we hit our funding goal!! 🎉

From here we’ll be sharing the rest of the process on our profile and instagram @redmaw_studio

Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/redmawstudio/the-seamstress-encounter-stl-miniatures-dandd-compatible

Thanks so much to everyone who has supported our first little project.

If you know Poppy Playtime game, you probably know the GrabPack.

The GrabPack is a wearable backpack equipped with two artificial hands connected to long cables. In the game, these hands can be used to grab and move objects from a distance, interact with the environment, conduct electricity, and more. Later versions of the GrabPack also introduce abilities such as grappling onto objects and swinging across gaps.

So I thought: what if the GrabPack actually existed?

I’ve been working for 7 months on a project called The Playtime Projects (TPP), with the goal of bringing Playtime Co. technology into reality.

My first project is the GrabPack V1 — a real prototype that I’m building, designed to reproduce around 95% of the GrabPack’s functionality from the game, including grabbing, hanging, swinging, pulling objects and interacting with the environment.

The GrabPack isn’t just a tool for grabbing things — it can be used for many different purposes, from climbing and pulling yourself up to moving heavy objects and interacting with the equipments. The goal is to create more than just a replica: a symbol of what a truly multifunctional tool could be.

So his isn’t just a concept or a 3D model. I’m actually working on the systems needed to make the GrabPack function.

I’ve now launched a Kickstarter campaign with a $4,000 goal. Reaching that goal would allow me to continue the development and build the functional prototype.

The project is still relatively unknown, so I’m trying to get it in front of more people.

If you’re interested in seeing the project develop, you can check out the Kickstarter, join the Discord, or follow the project on social media.

Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thegrabpackv1/the-grabpack

Discord: https://discord.gg/XfmUBu9RA

X: https://x.com/TPP_Studio

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@playtimeprojects.official

Thanks for checking out the project!

One thing I’ve been thinking about lately is how getting past backers come back for a second, third, or fourth time. This campaign machine is a beast to deal with at times.

For those of you who regularly back projects on Kickstarter: What makes you come back a second, third, or even fourth time?

For creators, I’m curious about your experience as well. I know there are times most of us feel like we’re climbing this mountain alone. But, what have you done between campaigns to turn first-time supporters into returning backers?

If anyone’s curious about Critical Ops: Task Force Vol. 1, I’ll leave the campaign link here for your review and support:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/akoma/critical-ops-task-force-volume-1

Hi, I'm RZ Li, founder of Petoi and creator of the open-source OpenCat quadruped framework (started 2016). Quaddle is our third OpenCat-family robot, live on Kickstarter now.

I filmed the complete build, start to finish: raw components, assembly, calibration, and walking — screw-free body, just 4 screws for the legs, no soldering, done in under 20 minutes. Then it keeps going: an optional Raspberry Pi Zero, Arduino sensors, an optional AI vision module, and a full programming path from block coding through Python, MicroPython, and Arduino C++, all open-source under OpenCat. I've used an AI coding agent to vibecode new move and iteration demos.

Quaddle's Kickstarter campaign is ending on Thurs: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/petoi/quaddle-open-source-desktop-robot-kit

Happy to answer anything about the build, the campaign, or the open-source side.

The Alliance is back! Picking up from the explosive ending of Astro Alliance #1, the man known as Stareth Gaten has attacked Captain Saturn and has come to take Princess Eclipto-Zarra to The Pillars of Creation, the mythical birthplace of the cosmos, against her will! Is he friend or foe?! Will they come together before the terrifying Cronos finds them?! Find out in this 28-page action-packed, thrill ride!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1052635632/astro-alliance-2