4 ms·

Hey gang. I'm John Teasdale (author) happy to answer any questions you have about the write-up.

hibikir 10y ago
How many people with industry experience did you talk to about this before you kickstarted? The hobby game industry is very accessible: Go to the right convention and you get to talk shop with people with decades of experience printing and marketing games. Just two weeks ago I was talking to industry bigwigs about the changes that came to US publishing as part of Asmodee's purchasing spree of very different game studios. The kind of shop talk that describes the different choices you need when making a Fantasy Flight game, a Catan game or the first printing of Codenames are exactly the kind of thing you guys needed to know in advance. Also, why did you decide to kickstart yourselves, as opposed to talk to a publisher?
- JPTeasdale 10y ago
  Embarrassingly few. Justin and I have a background in team-building, and didn't have any connections in the tabletop space. We also didn't know what questions to ask, even if we knew who to ask them to. Everyone we have talked to since has been very nice. GenCon especially was a huge eye-opener for us. As for why we Kickstarted, the answer is pretty much the same. We had no reputation in the industry and wouldn't know who to talk to. However, it works out for us. We like being our own bosses. We'll stick with Kickstarter in the future, especially now that we know more about the pitfalls. Sorry about the delay. I have a new account and am getting comment-throttled. I'll get to everything as I can.
  - walshemj 10y ago
    To follow up on hibikir's comment word of mouth is key and have been to a few games cons in the UK and you do see people trying out alpha versions of games. Ill put this story round my contacts.
    - JPTeasdale 10y ago
      Thanks!
martin_bech 10y ago
couldnt you have ordered stock in batches? like 5-10k pieces pr. order? Or would that ruin margins?
- JPTeasdale 10y ago
  Indeed! And this is what we should have done. However, for producing in the US, the difference in PPU between 5k and 20k units was substantial. We got greedy and thought we'd continue to burn through the units.
jahabrewer 10y ago
Are you the same John Teasdale as @beaglerush?
- JPTeasdale 10y ago
  I am not. I'm @JohnTeasdale_ <- yes, I was that late to twitter.
rajacombinator 10y ago
Great article thanks for sharing.

How many people with industry experience did you talk to about this before you kickstarted? The hobby game industry is very accessible: Go to the right convention and you get to talk shop with people with decades of experience printing and marketing games. Just two weeks ago I was talking to industry bigwigs about the changes that came to US publishing as part of Asmodee's purchasing spree of very different game studios. The kind of shop talk that describes the different choices you need when making a Fantasy Flight game, a Catan game or the first printing of Codenames are exactly the kind of thing you guys needed to know in advance. Also, why did you decide to kickstart yourselves, as opposed to talk to a publisher?

JPTeasdale 10y ago
Embarrassingly few. Justin and I have a background in team-building, and didn't have any connections in the tabletop space. We also didn't know what questions to ask, even if we knew who to ask them to. Everyone we have talked to since has been very nice. GenCon especially was a huge eye-opener for us. As for why we Kickstarted, the answer is pretty much the same. We had no reputation in the industry and wouldn't know who to talk to. However, it works out for us. We like being our own bosses. We'll stick with Kickstarter in the future, especially now that we know more about the pitfalls. Sorry about the delay. I have a new account and am getting comment-throttled. I'll get to everything as I can.
- walshemj 10y ago
  To follow up on hibikir's comment word of mouth is key and have been to a few games cons in the UK and you do see people trying out alpha versions of games. Ill put this story round my contacts.
  - JPTeasdale 10y ago
    Thanks!

martin_bech 10y ago

couldnt you have ordered stock in batches? like 5-10k pieces pr. order? Or would that ruin margins?

JPTeasdale 10y ago
Indeed! And this is what we should have done. However, for producing in the US, the difference in PPU between 5k and 20k units was substantial. We got greedy and thought we'd continue to burn through the units.

jahabrewer 10y ago

Are you the same John Teasdale as @beaglerush?

JPTeasdale 10y ago
I am not. I'm @JohnTeasdale_ <- yes, I was that late to twitter.

rajacombinator 10y ago

Great article thanks for sharing.