I stumbled across the kickstarter for another steampunk game - Clockwork: Empire Roleplaying Game. It seems that steampunk is picking up some momentum with SteamCraft, Tephra, and now this game along with the others. With 26 days left for funding at the project at 150% of the goal it looks like another success for the genre and it will be interesting to compare and contrast the game with other offerings in the same genre. I downloaded the free quick start rules and will try to give them some proper attention in the next couple of days. More later....
ICv2 just released the analysis of table top games for the summer. Game stores are reporting strong summer sales with some describing it as the best summer ever. It appears to be a bear market, primarily bolstered by CCG. However, RPG sales are increasing. This is partly due to increased titles being in game stores. Those titles are being produced using Kickstarter.
ReplyDeleteSo, it seems that the gaming hobby (non-board games) is being turned around because of Kickstarter.
I am so glad to hear this! I know some that look down on kickstarter and claim that it just lets "anybody and everybody" put a product out BUT that is a GOOD THING. I remember the early to mid 80s when there was a ton of products on the shelves and it seemed like new stuff just kept getting released. I know there have been some kickstarter horror stories but I am glad the overall effect seems to be positive.
DeleteWith KS, you still have to get funded. But just because you are funded won't get you into stores!
DeleteI think there are vanity/semi-pro production via KS. In some ways, this might have a minor negative impact on things. Now that you are getting more quality projects by people who can get products into stores, I think it helps. There needs to be more products and more stores selling them, not less.
True, you still have to get funded. :-)
DeleteI really think what you pointed out has led to much of the increases. Why wouldn't a store owner not seriously consider stocking a product by people with drawing power? There was recently the Numenera game by Monte Cook on Kickstarter. I think it would be a no-brainer to stock some copies of that. The KS was a tremendous success & that should give an indication of store performance. There are other respected designers going the KS route so it should be interesting to follow for some time.
You are exactly right about KS being used to determine interest. It demonstrates to the distributor that there is an audience for your game. It is a mistake to think that almost all of your audience would just buy it from KS. Both Numenera and Fate Core have demonstrated that even with large KS success, there is still going to be a large audience wanting your game.
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