Welcome back to another Kickstarter Conversation! Today I am pleased to be joined by Kevin from Cool Mini or Not to talk about their latest Kickstarter project Rivet Wars! Thank you for joining us today Kevin.
Thank you for having me. I am glad to be here talking about what has quickly become one of my favorite projects.
This is your fifth Kickstarter with all four of your previous ones being successful I think you’ve got this whole “Kickstarter thing” figured out. What brings you back for a fifth time?
We really like the opportunity that we have with Kickstarter. It gives us a chance to get a game almost finished, toss it out into the world and see if people agree with us that its amazing. On top of that it give us immediate feedback, at a point where we can still do something about it. All good things.
The other thing it does is allow us to take risks with designers with original ideas. We can know before we commit if something is going to work and take on a project that would otherwise never have seen the light of day due to the start up costs and risks involved.
I think it also helps with getting a new property established. In the tabletop industry, if you are not known it can be hard to get into stores or distribution. With kickstarter, we can show that a game has an established base that really want it and that the game has legs. It basically rushes the first 6 months of scary time hoping your game will pick up and run into a short campaign.
Welcome back to another Kickstarter Conversation! Today I am joined by Tammy McDonald from Heavy Water who is here to talk to us about their first Kickstarter, “Axis Game Factory.” Thank you for joining us today Ms. McDonald.
Thank you for having me.
The Axis Game Factory is one of those products that defies simple definition isn’t it? What’s the best description you’ve come up for explaining your product?
Yes. Axis Game Factory isn’t a new concept, but it does take the “Game Design Tool” picture that everyone has in their mind and turn it on its head! Axis Game Factory is an easily accessible creative tool aimed at promoting community, creative exploration, and education. Axis Game Factory could become a powerhouse toolset for game developers but first we want it to be a way for everyone interested in gaming, casual or hardcore, the ability to show what *their* dream games would be like if they were the game designer. Allowing anyone to become a game designer is what the Axis Game Factory is all about because, for us, that is the most creative thing you could possibly do: create an entire new world!
Welcome back to another Kickstarter Conversation! Today I’m bringing you a bit of local flavor by talking to Roy from Belton, TX who brings us The Beltonian’s Grand Vision: A Cinema/Comedy Club Hybrid. Thank you for joining us today Roy!
Hello and thank you for having me. It is great to be here.
Your title is quite a mouthful, would you care to expound on it and give us all the details?
When I first bought The Beltonian, I had a Grand Vision in mind for it. We would be a second run value cinema during the week and on weekend matinees and a professional comedy club on weekend evenings. This vision was based on the fact that the vast majority of discount cinema patrons are made up of families who would be more drawn towards the matinee shows, leaving the evenings available for more mature comedic entertainment. Unfortunately, as soon as I purchased the building, the funds that I had ready to acquire the digital projector got pulled out from under me, so we currently only run The Beltonian as the comedy club. With my history in movie theaters and the community’s wish for The Beltonian to be a cinema again, I felt it necessary to make that initial Grand Vision a reality by any means available to me.
Welcome back to another Kickstarter Conversation! I am very pleased to be introducing to you another old friend of mine, Chris Hazelton creator of the long-running Webcomic Misfile! He’s here to talk to us about his newest project Six Gun Mage now on Kickstarter, thank you for joining us today Chris.
Thanks. Glad to have the opportunity
Now for those who don’t know you, I think a bit of background is in order. You’ve been doing Misfile since February of 2004 which is quite the feat in the webcomic world. Misfile has also been put in print several times which proves you have a history of bringing comics to market. Would you care to tell us about your latest project?
Sure. I love doing Misfile, but in the back of my mind all these years I’ve always wanted to do sort of a more “epic adventure” sort of story. I came up with a few that were sort of high fantasy, but none of them ever really clicked. Then, back in 2009, I picked up an old hobby from my childhood I’d been out of for a long time; shooting sports. Suddenly everything just sort of clicked. Magic, adventure, guns. Why not do sort of a fantasy/old west sort of mixture. It’s a lot less trodden than typical fantasy stuff and I figured it would leave me more wiggle room to really have fun with the story. That kernel of an idea eventually grew into the 6 Gun Mage comic project. It’s the story of Kylie, who in this world would be referred to as a “gun mage”, a sort of wizard that uses their gun as a focus for their spells. The world she inhabits is very old west meets steampunk and is recovering from a series of wars. The story starts with Kylie being a bit of an enigma. Her backstory is revealed through her friends and backflashes which also bring out the ultimate direction of the story. That’s sort of book one in a nutshell.
Welcome back to another Kickstarter Conversation! Today it’s my pleasure to be speaking with Maggie Pajak the writer and mother behind the latest Kickstarter book project, “Jellybeans Morning, Noon, and Night.” Thank you for joining us today Maggie.
Thank you for having me. It’s a pleasure to get the chance to talk to you about my book. As a mom of boys, I’m usually talking about Nerf guns, Spongebob or Minecraft.
[Laughs] Well I’m normally talking about “My Little Pony” with my daughter so I know what you mean. With a name “Jellybeans” it’s pretty obvious you’re either a candy campaign or a children’s book, would you care to describe your project?
Although the name, “Jellybeans Morning, Noon & Night” is a sweet title, the book is more than about candy.
I wrote this book several years ago when my husband was deployed in Iraq. This story was the bribe that got my son to sleep in his own bed at night. Sleep was hard to come by as it was. Having a two year old rolling around all night in your bed didn’t exactly bring a restful night either.
So, to me this book is more than a story about two brother’s love for jellybeans and their plan to get Mom to let them eat them morning noon and night. It is more than a lesson of moderation and letting your kids learn a lesson on their own. To me it brought a few giggle filled moments with my son at the end of some very long and trying days.
Update: Kickstarter NOW LIVE!
Greetings! Today I am joined from down under by Darwin Games owner and creator Ben Boersma. He’s here to talk to us about his soon to be Kickstarted in America game “Dawn: Rise of the Occulites.” Thank you for joining us today Ben!
G’day James! No problems mate, thanks for the opportunity to do the interview. Much appreciated.
Prototype sample, NOT final production
The game you plan to bring to Kickstarter is called Dawn: Rise of the Occulites. Can you tell us a bit about it?
Well, Dawn: Rise of the Occulites is the first game in the Rise of the Occulites Saga which follows the evolution of creatures called Occulites (funnily enough). Being the first game in the Saga, it starts very early in their development. So Dawn is a small skirmish miniature boardgame. There is a pretty detailed backstory to the game on my blog which tells of a boy named Darwin who goes to live with his Pa on his property in the Australian Bush. Darwin finds a ‘window’ in a fallen branch that has blown down in a storm that he sees a strange creature through. Over time he begins to observe and study the creatures in secret.
In the actual game you control a Tribe of five Occulites throughout a variety of different scenarios. In the base game there are 10 different scenarios (with many more being available for download and in expansions later on) that have different objectives and goals. Most involve combat, but it is not the defining factor of many of the scenarios. Some involve collecting Sungems (gems that trap Sunlight and warmth for the Long Dark), others are Home Cave raids, in some you must catch Nymphlets for food and another you may temporarily ally yourself with your opponent to fend off an attack from predators. The scenarios are vastly different and can be played individually or as a full blown campaign where your Tribe evolves depending on the actions you take during games.
The game is designed in layers, so there are a basic set of rules that provides an excellent launching point for most players. You don’t ever have to advance from these Core rules if you don’t want to, however for those that wish to explore further, there are Advanced rules which introduce special terrains, more in depth decision making and actions to take during matches.
Welcome back to another Kickstarter Conversation! I am pleased to be joined by the creator of the documentary Cities in the Sky: Science Fictions Forgotten Visionaries creator Marisa. Thank you for joining us!
Thank you for having me James! I’ve really been finding all of your interviews quite informative, and it’s an honor to join you.
Flattery will get you everywhere, so would you care to give us a brief rundown of your project? Are there really that many forgotten science fiction writers out there for you to do a documentary on them?
Cities in the Sky covers science fiction writers from 100 and even 1000 years ago who wrote about things people will find absolutely astounding. The envisioned many technological advancements as well as themes we see in today’s sci-fi! My partner Issac has been researching this topic for years and he has found a ton of fascinating information. There really are a lot of interesting writers that have been forgotten over time. We want to bring their work to light so that viewers can appreciate it!
So why Kickstarter? You seem like you already have a well established community through HDFEST® couldn’t you have produced this film through your own site?
Well, yes, we’ve been running the HDFEST film festival for 12 years now, so we do have a good community built up. We selected Kickstarter because we wanted to get the word about this project out to people beyond just the filmmakers and artists we already know.
