tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20500360353740442402024-02-21T01:18:09.574-08:00Kickstarter ConversationsA place to discuss Kickstarter Projects and find out what makes them work or not. James Yeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16637699486755915238noreply@blogger.comBlogger287125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050036035374044240.post-37444682492667185392015-02-11T08:00:00.000-08:002015-02-11T08:00:05.303-08:00What Kind of Books do YOU Have on Hand? <iframe frameborder="0" height="480" scrolling="no" src="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ironmaus/bring-your-own-book-the-game-of-borrowed-phrases/widget/video.html" width="640"> </iframe><br />
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-4e11b7b5-769a-3a3d-5835-496817c100c0" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Welcome back to the Conversation! Today I’m joined by Matthew Moore who is here to talk to us about his project </span><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ironmaus/bring-your-own-book-the-game-of-borrowed-phrases" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bring Your Own Book</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, the game of borrowed phrases. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hello, I’m Matthew, game designer for </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bring Your Own Book</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. I’ve been a professional video game designer for a few years now, but this will be my first published tabletop title. I’m excited for it to happen and happy to have a chance to chat about it.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">By the title alone one might think you’re creating some kind of book club with your project, but that’s not right at all is it? Can you tell us a bit about Bring Your Own Book and what kind of shenanigans you have waiting for us? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sure! Bring Your Own Book is somewhat inaccurately described as a card game, because what we provide is cards and a timer, but really it’s a book game. In order to play, every person at the table needs a book. Different books make for different experiences, so you can challenge yourself with textbooks, have good clean family fun with children’s books, or enjoy a raunchy game with racy romance novels. It is what you make of it.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The core activity is taking text out of context. If the prompt asks you to find “A line from a teenager’s diary,” you’ll need to search through that detective story you brought and pluck out something that works. It can be any amount of sequential text, from a whole paragraph to a single word, and it can ignore existing punctuation. For example, a player recently tweeted at us their find for “The name of a beauty product.” They proposed “Pledge: For Her,” which they extracted from “‘I will not take a pledge for her,’ I replied.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The mechanics are simple and not unlike other popular social games. Players take turns drawing prompts from the deck. The player who presents the best selection receives the card as a way to keep score. Any time any player gets to three cards, everyone passes their books to the left. The first to get enough cards wins, and it’s time to play all over again with different books.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="235px;" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/5UcrYdhtA37k2c9MRTzmhRfF-_D_rz3VxeI207ly5_vQxiMNTExYgDDLB2tB32QGldfvOCtMc8mT8dMgJ1ZNaUpl3z7oaSOhA5aRi4He_kS-8RfqunYcIXWJ9nTM6MpdWtw" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">From the sounds of things I’m not the only one who heard about your game from </span><a href="http://www.giantbomb.com/drew-scanlon/3040-82142/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Drew Scanlon</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> during the </span><a href="http://www.giantbomb.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Giant Bomb</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> panel at </span><a href="http://south.paxsite.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">PAX South</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Does this mean your trip to PAX South was worth it? Do you think events like this are required to do well in the board game space? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When we found out we were selected for the PAX South Tabletop Indie Showcase, it was staggering</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> It let us meet hundreds of attendees, and it got us notice from guys like Drew and Pat Baer (404ing It), who in turn directed even more people our way. There was certainly a cost involved in getting our four-person crew from Seattle to San Antonio, but our Kickstarter campaign funded the following Monday, just under five days after starting. I don’t think it would be unreasonable to say PAX South was key to the surprising speed of our success.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Since this is my first foray into tabletop games, there are more seasoned designers who can better speak to the importance of these events to a game’s bottom line. That said, as a long-time PAX attendee and Enforcer, I’ve experienced firsthand the reciprocal excitement shared by creators and fans at conventions. Even if the financial return isn’t great, the experience certainly is...provided you can afford it.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Well as far as your Kickstarter is concerned you’ve definitely done well as you’ve blown well beyond your $13,000 goal and are now past the $30,000 mark. Are you surprised by how well you’re doing? What do you think is driving your success? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was floored by the initial response, and continue to be touched by the enthusiasm of backers and supporters. It’s not just the financial success that’s so amazing, but the intensity of people’s passion for the game. I think a great deal of that is fueled by its use of books. I mean, we’ll take credit for crafting good prompts and honing engaging mechanics, but we’ve heard a similar refrain from a large number of readers: “You made a game for me!”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I sent releases and inquiries to game blogs before PAX South, I received very few replies, and they were mostly polite declinations. I think that may be because, when placed in the context of other tabletop games, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bring Your Own Book</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is easy to frame as “yet another CAH-like.” And while I’m not implying the communities don’t overlap, because they certainly do, there’s just this instant connection with people who love books. PAX attendees came up all weekend long, pulling novels out of their bags, ready to play. Since then, we’ve had a number of write-ups by book bloggers, with headlines like “</span><a href="http://medusaslibrary.com/2015/01/27/i-went-to-a-video-game-convention-and-found-the-books/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I went to a video game convention and found the books</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.” Teachers, librarians, tutors, and writing instructors have all expressed their sincere happiness and I think it’s because, though the game requires irreverent retooling of an author’s work, it has an innate respect for books as a form. It celebrates the written word, and a lot people gravitate toward that.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What gave you the idea of bringing random books together to play a game with? Have you noticed any kind of books being better or worse at playing with? I have to imagine it’d be kind of hard to find “a line from a teenagers diary” in a math text for instance. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The idea for the game sprouted from a social media meme. I used to see these posts that said something like, “Grab the nearest book. Turn to page 42. Type the third full sentence. It will predict your future for the next year!” Sometimes they produced funny results, but often they were just </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">non sequiturs</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. I thought it would be more enjoyable if you were given the target and got to find a phrase that met it. That turned into competing with others for the best selection, and eventually it became the game we have today.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Your experience with </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bring Your Own Book</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> varies depending on the source material, but that’s part of the fun. A group reported that they recently played an entire game using only children’s board books with delightful results, and they planned to do another night with all Heinlein. I’m often surprised at which books provide more challenge than others. In playtests, I saw people really struggle with Jane Austen. At PAX, many people found amazing selections in Tom Clancy. Some of the real heavyweights though have been books that span many topics and tones. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To Be Or Not To Be</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, a pick-your-path take on </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hamlet</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, by Ryan North was an early favorite. Recently, I’ve heard some killer picks from the short-story anthology </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Machine of Death</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, pun intended.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If new players want to have an easy time getting into the game, I’d recommend starting with general fiction from the late twentieth century forward. Nothing too technical or packed with jargon. Once you’ve got some experience with the game though, try at least one round with that math textbook. You might be surprised.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m sure you’ve done plenty of playtesting on this game, what are some of the funniest moments you’ve had? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Okay, mild content warning. At the first playtest with anyone other than just my wife and me, I was explaining the rules. I held up a card and said, “For example, you might be asked to find a line from a bird-watching guide,” and in a blink, my friend Megan, who’d brought </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Snow Crash</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, had opened to a page and replied, “Like ‘Don’t fuck around with Raven’?”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My all-time favorite is the selection my wife, Miranda, found for “Something you could hear Arnold Schwarzenegger say”: “Tell me everything you know about the Chicago Symphony!” I want to see that movie.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As an Australian board gamer I am disappointed that you don’t ship overseas, but given the costs involved I am not surprised. I’m glad you’ve setup a </span><a href="http://goo.gl/z6DtGt" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">mailing list</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> for those interested from around the globe, but in your current campaign was there any thought of creating an international print and play level for the complete game and not just the demo? Or did you feel print and play would cut into your physical game income at the moment? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I too am disappointed we don’t ship overseas, but it’s not just the costs that make that a tall hurdle to jump. When we started this, we thought we’d barely scrape past our goal. We also figured that we’d hunker down in a friend’s garage when the shipment arrived, throw everything in flat-rate boxes, and send it out the door.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When your team is four people with full-time jobs and you’re looking at the expense and logistics of shipping, easier equals better. We could charge overseas backers an exorbitant cost for shipping (literally four or more times the U.S. postage rate to ship even to Canada), but it would also mean different boxes, different labels, customs forms, and a separate shipping flow. And that’s not counting the work on the campaign side—determining proper regional rates, setting up different reward levels, cross-referencing backer’s pledges and addresses to make sure they’ve selected properly and paid enough—none of which the Kickstarter system makes easy.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As much as I want to bring this game to everyone, I need to be practical and respect our limitations. This is our first time designing, manufacturing, and fulfilling a physical game, and I don’t want to set up the team for failure or set up our backers for disappointment. However, we are looking into a number of options for bringing the game to international players. Anyone who’d like to know when we’ve got something put together should definitely sign up on the </span><a href="http://goo.gl/z6DtGt" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">international notification list</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. We hope to have news for you all soon.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The demo was limited in size to encourage people to actually print it out. Anyone who’s intrigued is just three sheets of paper away from trying out the game with their friends. We have no plans to charge money for a full print-and-play, but I encourage interested parties to back us at even the lowest level so they’ll receive word whenever we expand the free version (which we’ve already done once during the campaign).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As Kickstarter has matured so has the backer audience, they have become more savvy and </span><a href="http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/ThomasBidaux/20150129/235340/Kickstarter_in_2014_across_all_categories.php" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">some would say</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> more jaded as the years have gone by. To that end, one thing I’ve always suggested creators include is a budget breakdown. This basic business tool allows potential backers see there is a full plan in place to make your project become more than just pretty pictures and words. Is there any particular reason you haven’t included one in your campaign? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We’re very lucky that the experience of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bring Your Own Book</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> can be fully contained in a print-and-play demo. Unlike a film or video game project, we don’t need to prove to people that the game will exist because it </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">does </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">exist; they can try it out for themselves right now. The only real questions left on the table are whether we can get it manufactured and shipped, and we are exceedingly confident we can accomplish that given our funding goal.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I respect that some people won’t feel comfortable backing Luke and I based on the information we’ve provided. If they’d like, they can sign up for our mailing list (by downloading a copy of the demo from bringyourownbook.com), and they’ll be notified when the game is available at retail, so they can buy it risk free.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="272px;" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/L9KMTXBTpCsAjE_Tx0OSFQlGQVFGtWVurFm1ac8YG2pJ3VjJwBZNb5g2dLYYF9meRx2Vm240Nhmw2tGjSwt70GUP99ZUysPKZU975m5Q7c9hdh8nsYMMx19i9WyMabMqxM4" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How did you discover Kickstarter?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I just checked my backer history and, wouldn’t you know it, my first pledge was for Double Fine Adventure. So, I owe my thanks to Tim Schafer and crew:</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thank you, Tim! Hi, Double Fine! I loved </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Psychonauts</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Costume Quest</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">! Come check out our game!</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A key part of successful Kickstarters is backer participation and how to convert a potential backer into a full backer. How are you engaging your backers? What kinds of things do you have planned for updates to give notice to those who just hit the “remind me” button and surf on? Interviews? Videos? Stories from the project?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Conversion sounds so Borg-like. We had a number of ideas for contests, scavenger hunts, polls, and such, but they’ve turned out to be mostly unnecessary. Anyone who is uncertain about the game can download and print the demo. One game session with friends and they’ll know if </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bring Your Own Book</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is something they want to support. After that, they can join in the fun on social media, where we have </span><a href="https://twitter.com/DoBetterGames/status/560913757040164864" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">impromptu search-and-tweet sessions</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We’re working out the final details of a few more in-person events before the campaign closes, but we’re quite fortunate to have backers who are already engaged, ready to share the love, run </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm1WeCmci3o" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">live streams</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and help us knock out stretch goals. Our success is all thanks to them.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What kind of media attention have you received with your project? How are you spreading the word? Facebook? Twitter? Google+? Youtube? Advertising? Are you using</span><a href="http://www.kicktraq.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kicktraq</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to track your progress? </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">PAX South definitely took center stage in our early efforts. From there, it was a mass e-mail to every friend, family member, peer, and connection in the address book. We jumped on </span><a href="https://twitter.com/dobettergames" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Twitter</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/DoBetterGames" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Facebook</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and </span><a href="http://dobettergames.tumblr.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tumblr</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, where we interact with fans and curious passersby. For the most part, I avoid looking at Kicktraq so as not to get alternately overconfident and despondent. I’m not saying their projections aren’t interesting or valuable, just that I could easily obsess over them in an unhealthy way.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We’re working on getting a mentions page up on our website. Until then, if you want to see a shoutout from Ryan North or a video feature on CNET, social media is the place to be. Occasionally we put big mentions that will be exciting to backers in our </span><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ironmaus/bring-your-own-book-the-game-of-borrowed-phrases/posts" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kickstarter updates</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do you have any tips/advice would you give to anyone looking to start a Kickstarter?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s like having a second full-time job, unless you don’t have a full-time job, in which case it will be your full-time job, probably more. Also, be 100% ready to fail. No joke: There are so many factors behind unfunded campaigns that it’s just not worth losing your mind over or catering to every odd request. You will also meet the biggest supporters your ideas have ever had, people who are willing to gamble on your dream, and you should cherish that.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thank you for spending your time with us! Do you have any final thoughts for our readers?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m happy for us to be a part of the growing number of crowdfunded projects showing that community support can make great new things that wouldn’t otherwise exist. Thank you for your time and patronage!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thanks again and I hope to hear good things from your Kickstarter!</span></div>
<br /><br />James Yeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16637699486755915238noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050036035374044240.post-1543259335558373222015-02-09T08:00:00.000-08:002015-02-10T13:07:38.185-08:00Our Last, Best Hope... <iframe frameborder="0" height="480" scrolling="no" src="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wickedgringames/last-starfleet-cooperative-board-game-relaunch/widget/video.html" width="640"> </iframe><br />
<b id="docs-internal-guid-bb31cde0-640b-43d4-2b25-ac21f06b8837" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.15; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Welcome back to the Conversation! Today I’m joined by </span><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wickedgringames/last-starfleet-cooperative-board-game-relaunch/creator_bio" style="line-height: 1.15; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sam Oplinger</span></a><span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.15; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> who has come back to Kickstarter for the relaunch of his </span><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wickedgringames/last-starfleet-cooperative-board-game-relaunch" style="line-height: 1.15; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Last Starfleet </span></a><span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.15; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">cooperative board game. Thank you for joining us today! </span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hi there, thanks for having me. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The name “Last Starfleet” brings up images of wandering space ships containing the last remnants of humanity, was that the plan? Can you give us a quick overview of the game? </span></div>
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<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Right on target, yeah! In the distant future… players take up the helms of their very own starships, and together, form the Last Starfleet. You’re trying to establish a colony for humanity after you all learn that Earth has exploded! You have to choose what world you’ll try to populate from a meager selection. If we’d known of any ideal choices, there would already be another colony. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, that’s the story. All the ships and planets are unique and you can change the story significantly by playing with a different combination of decks. It is super easy to pick up, but as you get used to playing, you’ll begin to see many more layers of complexity. The plot thickens! I’m very proud of what we did with that. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="516px;" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/mXet9CtsGX3vX1guJQCNEj5XH6fNylVzRutkyeRMLf7LMv1euJDEMbqU3grrzBNhhuF5dAgGan6lITdP69pUAfaUDDdQQ4AwqrfLIyuN6ofpiUH04ijheGieUB7Zpl0nQ_g" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Is this a completely cooperative game or is it a “co-optional” game where I can try and beat my fellow captains? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Absolutely not! We all win, or all is lost. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I kept that out, because the spirit of the game is in teamwork, sacrifice, strategy, and the good of the community. So, you gotta play nice. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.15; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The base set only has four ships/captains what kind of replayability do you have with only that limited selection? Does having all the extras seem like too many options? How are you avoiding </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analysis_paralysis" style="line-height: 1.15; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">analysis paralysis</span></a><span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.15; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">? </span><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">First off, base copies are only available through Kickstarter or the <a href="http://www.wargamevault.com/product/142862/Last-Starfleet-Print--Play" target="_blank">free PnP</a>*, which will remain available on wargamevault. We unlocked a new orbit deck for the base copy that is KS Exclusive. That gives you 4 permutations of “bad guy,” and don’t forget, you can toggle difficulty. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You’re spot on that there’s a lot of content unlocked in the campaign. I did not expect to unlock it all, but I’m so glad we did! Deluxe KS copy is going to have over 400 cards! </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Next to my desk, here, is one of the complete playtest copies. It has everything I’ve offered in the campaign. It doesn’t seem too much. I have an idea as to why that is. You see, the expansions don’t work like others you may have seen. They don’t add rules and make the game more complex, change difficulty, or extend play time. You have to “explore” the new decks, one at a time. The first time you play any planet, it will probably best you. The verity of the situation is clear… and you learn. That’s a good part of the fun! </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img alt="b23dece307e032983bc1c05c7863e883_large.png" height="372px;" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/VnwTDphX1LuBu7zPa_1-843MOsUp-u_iGM4uC5CQ8iQNpALicSJ8SVn41iZDGu2L_4E4qoA8WA1jbWgYXd-opsH5cIeQWYNVSUQh-6cGLtsSKeNYufYdvmkTNxEYczDMyTI" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As an Australian board game player I’m used to paying more for shipping, but at the same time that means I have to be a lot more selective on what kinds of games I can buy. What do you say to those with limits like mine to get us to invest in your game?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ah, my far away friend... that’s tough. I know HOW to get global availability to work, but this is our first game. We will have to grow into a global presence. When I start placing 1,500 unit orders for Wicked Grin Games, I’ll be able to solve this problem. But, until that day, two things; </span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You’re the reason the print and play is available and will remain available. Also, why I spared no quality in the artwork, etc… I know that is small concellation. </span></div>
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<ol start="2" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We bundle! If you can gather some friends that are interested, either in your own network or through BGG forums, that’s a great way to get around the high shipping cost. </span></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As I mentioned before, this is your relaunch of this campaign with a goal of $6,000 which you’ve handily beaten congratulations! That said, last year you tried Kickstarter you were asking for $38,500, that’s a pretty big swing of $31,500 and even with going over your current goal you’re no where near that original goal. What have you changed to allow for a lower goal? What did you learn from your first attempt that you’ve brought into this campaign? </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How long do we got? Hehe. Kidding. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On the page I mentioned contingency planning for distribution and production. Last time I had one plan built around a target quantity that I didn’t realize was phenomenally high for a first time publisher. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I knew when I hit the launch button the first time, I was stepping off a cliff. But, I’d researched and conceptualized and blogged myself stupid. So I leapt... and landed flat, taking a huge monetary loss (to complete the metaphor). </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now, I know what I didn’t know. The difference between my first campaign and this one, even just looking at the two campaign pages, is squarely worth every bit of woe from the first launch. Trial by fire. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="164px;" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/T9WaEw4McXODENmmLvdeaqx8X5ACcfPcOSvav46tICHKEUua1v_hfS50DVFQQTEEqhnqPdA9c29OYkNRt5aXL1zIXxGQGGpsBLaJDbKIUM1aG7Z3A9R_IE5MQtxD3GxcTeo" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As Kickstarter has matured so has the backer audience, they have become more savvy and </span><a href="http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/ThomasBidaux/20150129/235340/Kickstarter_in_2014_across_all_categories.php" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">some would say</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> more jaded as the years have gone by. To that end, one thing I’ve always suggested creators include is a budget breakdown. This basic business tool allows potential backers see there is a full plan in place to make your project become more than just pretty pictures and words. Is there any particular reason you haven’t included one in your campaign? </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Interesting. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I guess, I’d say “necessary ambiguity.” I’m not being smug. Those aforementioned contingency plans mean that I don’t know what company or factory will produce the game yet. So, I don’t know where it is coming from... I also don’t know the backer country mix yet, so I don’t know where it is going to. That will play a part in determining the distributor. I do have a relationship with every partner that I’ve built into the plan. Those estimates determined where in the contingency plan, they fit. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hopefully, the fact that it’s a finished product already helps with consumer confidence. That seems to be a requirement for board games on KS, these days. No napkin sketches! Although, I’ll bet a napkin sketch from The Oatmeal would go for thousands! Haha. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How did you discover Kickstarter?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Oh, boy. ...honestly, I can’t remember. I met the founder of indiegogo at a entrepreneurs conference in Chicago. But, I think I knew KS before that… you have stumped me! :)</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Maybe, I was born with the knowledge?! ...Maybe, it’s Maybelline? Hahaha. :P </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A key part of successful Kickstarters is backer participation and how to convert a potential backer into a full backer. How are you engaging your backers? What kinds of things do you have planned for updates to give notice to those who just hit the “remind me” button and surf on? Interviews? Videos? Stories from the project?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Oh, I like this question very much! </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I could have raised $1M and still the metric I’d be most proud of is that I had 35% daily engagement from current backers for the first ~13 days. It’s the surveys. Backers own the campaign and the game along with me. And, they’re having fun. And, so am I. :)</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The wisdom I received, time and time again, was that my following drives my KS and not the other way around. But, I chose not to follow that wisdom, entirely. I’m using Kickstarter as a platform to engage people and develop a following for Wicked Grin Games. I measure the success of that plan by the increase in FB and BGG following throughout the life of the campaign. Check out the Spread the Word Goals and you’ll see how I encouraged that accounting. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And again, most importantly, it has been a LOT of fun. And we get to mass print a game that we are SO incredibly proud of!~</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What kind of media attention have you received with your project? How are you spreading the word? Facebook? Twitter? Google+? Youtube? Advertising? Are you using</span><a href="http://www.kicktraq.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kicktraq</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to track your progress? </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yes, to all of those things. I’m more sparing in my advertising dollars these days. But, if you head over to a Google search bar and type in Last Starfleet, you’ll see that I took pains to be EVERYWHERE on the web. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The only thing that I’ve found that doesn’t make sense for this sort of project… is Thunderclap. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thunderclap, for board game campaigns on KS, is “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do you have any tips/advice would you give to anyone looking to start a Kickstarter?</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At least for board games, it is cheaper to finance this thing yourself. But, Kickstarter can do more for you than controlling risks on minimum quantities from manufacturers. If you make it fun. Have a good time with your backers. As with anything in life, good fun always pays dividends. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thank you for spending your time with us! Do you have any final thoughts for our readers?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sure. I’d like to say something to game designers. I just wrote an article on meepleroast.com about this, so it is top of mind for me... </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Make GOOD games. Fun always pays dividends, but as a designer, you are also a teacher. With that great power (I think thats’ my third reference, haha) comes your responsibility to encourage people to be better. So, make GOOD games. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thanks again and I hope to hear good things from your Kickstarter!</span></div>
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<br />James Yeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16637699486755915238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050036035374044240.post-23223950623252560282014-09-22T08:00:00.000-07:002014-09-22T08:00:04.513-07:00Pre-Kickstarter: Valiance Online with Ben Jones<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Greetings friends and welcome back to The Conversation. Today I’m performing a bit of a preemptive strike on a Kickstarter by talking to my friend and coworker </span><a href="http://benjonesart.deviantart.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ben Jones</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> about his work on the upcoming </span><a href="http://valiance.shogn.net/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Valiance Online</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Thank you for joining us today Ben. </span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-f6d24e76-9804-f6c7-1d75-701762e1ed04" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Glad to be here James, it’s an exciting time for me personally and the team as a whole.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lets start off with how a NASA satellite controller can end up working on a videogame like Valiance Online while still working for NASA? That seems like an odd combination of jobs. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Well video games are very technical from the guts out, most things that people see are the artistic side but there is a huge amount of technical expertise that goes into game creation. Being a comic book artist at heart I was able to merge the technical and artistic sides fairly seamlessly.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How I came into it was just a bit of luck. I was originally hired on as a freelance concept artist and moved up the chain as de facto Art Director. Little luck and a little talent can go a long way it seems. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Can you tell us a bit about Valiance Online and why should folks be excited to see it?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Because we say so, isn’t that enough? </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yeah didn’t think so. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> People should be excited because this is a game built for the people and by the people. While as a successor game from the now defunct City of Heroes, we are building on what they did right and innovating what they did wrong. Creating a game within this genre hasn’t been done often and even fewer times done well so its a great opportunity for Superheroes and Villains to create a home for themselves. Like many people we have sat back and said we should create something better than what’s out there, but unlike most people we are actually doing it and doing it well if i must say so myself. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="734px;" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/790Jjgm8vpQjyNAd3KYLox77bulzSsjQpl7fdJzKawVO03dKbR_dDIG53uQUmoOK7JDuuiSL4b394KJ5j9SxPcDm68zBgHmZLbVnkB2tj4DrEjDJtq2gsQr5fT2UDoR4HA" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="474px;" /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What got you into drawing comics in the first place? How is your 2D art effecting the 3D game world? </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Well I’ve always been into comics from a very early age, something I would have to blame my father for, but in highschool something sparked in my mind to attempt to draw comic book characters. Once I started getting the hang of it, it became the most addictive drug on the planet. I went from jock to artist almost overnight and its stuck with me till this day. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Well the 2d side is the foundation of most 3d art when working in a pipeline of different artist all with different backgrounds and expertise. Im affecting the entire game with my designs and general art direction for the world of Valiance Online and It can be a bit scary to be thrust into this position with so many people relying on your creativity and talent level to deliver something special. What everyone will see in the game visually will have my fingerprints all over it, the good and the bad.</span></div>
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<a name='more'></a><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It sounds like you’re wearing several hats at Valiance Online, how many different jobs are you performing or have you finally narrowed your work deffinition down? </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">With such a small group of people its a requirement to wear as many hats as possible but I started off as a concept artist, then lead concept artist, then design director and now art director. But, I still have input on the writing, and design stuff for the game like many of us do. Being the only 2d artist my hat on that side of the house is mine alone, my only little kingdom of insanity and rainbows. As the Art director I have my hands in most of the creative asset creation, animations, buildings, characters, costume parts, character creator, GUI, and whatever else they can throw at me. I'm a versatile thinker and attempt to approach things logically for the most part so I can be in the mix even on the things I don’t know particularly well but know enough of the language to conversate with the different sides of the house.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="683px;" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/0YyBqNh5yyiM_PwOG7sKsrjJPNjEmp7vobkN67ujXYiGafj77e_a8VYmPlRQ_kF-p6ZFiSnRyllDflN1dysKnjsk674s64cCxd5G8dtMEY-n7g5jfvegED25hgrXjMZOrw" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="442px;" /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How important is it to you that Valiance feels like a comic book? That visually it says “comic book” more than just “cel shaded video game?” </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Huge, huge and huge. Did I say Huge? I think we as a team should really pay attention to the source material because in the end players will be creating superheroes and villains for their own enjoyment. Our visuals won’t be overly comic though since we are splashing a lot of Scifi and cyberpunk things into the mix but at its core its going to be comic characters. Its a subject matter that I know and love very well so even if I tried not to have it as comic book characters I don't think I could. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What would you tell young artists looking into becoming professionals? Do they need to specialize? Generalize? What’s the best way to get noticed? </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Learn as much as you can to really be successful as an artist in the professional market versatility will lend itself to your gainful employment. I got lucky in finding a place where my style lends itself perfectly. I don’t think I would do as well at Blizzard or some other company that is doing something completely differently. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Getting noticed is the easy part these days with the internet. Places like </span><a href="http://www.deviantart.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Deviantart</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><a href="http://shadowness.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">shadowness </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and </span><a href="http://drawcrowd.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">drawcrowd </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">are just a small segment of places to show your stuff. I know we recently just hired a 3d guy from the stuff he had on Deviantart so the chances are out there.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="750px;" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/EucmrTYUBHOksCV6ahgwXwIJL1WItKhl3efDm_0pduBWgapF_wtfRza1PHEqPuJOiV_x_hfQX4-V-jb-6g8TihGQ7SIkQEa-aqSSRTb_cNKM43qxEvF2UNmNxZhfb98hpg" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="485px;" /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Where can folks go to learn more about Valiance Online and be ready for the upcoming Kickstarter? </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We do most of our releases on Facebook but we also have our website </span><a href="http://www.valianceonline.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ValianceOnline.com</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and our Youtube channel that will be seeing a load of activity over the next few months as our pre alpha release is up and running. </span></div>
James Yeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16637699486755915238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050036035374044240.post-50853465866648503362014-09-15T08:00:00.000-07:002014-09-15T16:24:58.136-07:00An Extrasolar Adventure<iframe frameborder="0" height="480" scrolling="no" src="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lazy8/extrasolar-season-2-be-a-part-of-the-story/widget/video.html" width="640"> </iframe><b id="docs-internal-guid-da9fc1e7-6c15-25dc-68de-5656d0add32d" style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Welcome back to the Conversation! We’ve completed the move to the other side of the planet and now I get to take you even further then I went with the </span><a href="http://kck.st/1wehPKz" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Extrasolar </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">team. Joining me today are the team from Lazy 8 Studios to talk about this interesting exploration experience, thanks for joining us today! </span></div>
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</b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Glad to join the conversation! I’m Dr. Rob Jagnow, the founder of Lazy 8 Studios in San Francisco. I wear quite a few hats for Extrasolar. I’m the producer, the main programmer for our rendering software, and also the actor who plays in-game character Robert Turing.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Extrasolar is a bit hard to classify, even though you guys are calling it a “game” having actually “played” it I’m not sure that’s entirely correct. I think of it more of an experience, can you explain it as best you can? </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For a long time, we avoided using the word “game” because it’s so different from any other game out there that the word comes loaded with the wrong expectations. We prefer “interactive story,” but that’s such a broad term that we’ve gone back to describing Extrasolar as a game.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The story of Extrasolar plays out entirely through a Web browser -- through written messages, videos from live actors, Websites, terminal systems, and beautiful photos from the surface of an alien planet -- no two of which will ever be the same.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The premise is that a private space exploration company, XRI, has launched a mission to an alien planet with life. They’re looking for volunteers to help drive the rovers that they’ve put down on the planet’s surface. You can apply to the program, and if you get in, you use a Web interface to tell your rover where to go, what time of day you want your photo, and what direction you want your photo. Hours later, when you arrive, you get back a gorgeous cloud-rendered image from that location on the planet. On average, it takes our players 27 days to play through season 1. During that time, you’ll find yourself wrapped up in a conspiracy, searching for answers both on Earth and on the planet Epsilon Prime.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="468px;" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/H2bESi7PVRUAsbQLADoN7kjChfSCFwYzYfRLWMAM60wrBmiTJlOBRmT4tIw1ISrtP_4wvEtexfK8c-47PYE9NC8KKBwaycPOIxgCho6yqsCEN7ji362qMQEdU9lTsHZyHw" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now I discovered Extrasolar way back June when you showed up on </span><a href="http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/218855/Extrasolar_postmortem_Game_design_at_00003_FPS.php" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gamasutra</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and promptly shared it with my fellow NASA coworkers. What do you think of people who actually talk to spacecraft and rovers playing your game and enjoying it? (Note: All pictures in this interview are from my own personal playthrough) </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s been totally amazing having fans at NASA and SETI. We’ve tried to keep the science as accurate as possible, and so far, we haven’t had any major complaints from our players about scientific fidelity.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To allow the story to happen, there are two major places where we broke the rules of physics -- first, we have faster-than-light communications so that it doesn’t take 20 years to send a round-trip signal to our planet, which orbits the real star Epsilon Eridani. Second, we claim we used a near-light-speed propulsion system to reach our planet in just over a decade.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Beyond that, we aim to keep the science as real as possible and even hired a biologist to give realistic commentary as a character within the story.</span></div>
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<a name='more'></a><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now I could go into the communications issues we have with your game since we’re all satellite communication specialists, but I’d much rather know how you’ve been using the game to educate and inspire future explorers. How are you explaining your game to the uninitiated? Are you finding that once people try the game they “get it” and play it to completion? </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Getting new players to try the game has been </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">really hard</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. It’s almost impossible to explain the experience in a tweet-length description. You just have to try it for yourself.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Once players get started, our retention rates are through the roof. More than one quarter of the players who create an account finish the game. We’re also fortunate that, even though you can play the entire first season for free with no penalty, 15% of our players voluntarily choose to upgrade their accounts.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">These are the sorts of stats that any free-to-play game would kill to have. But unfortunately, it’s still been tough attracting new players, which is why we’ve turned to a Kickstarter campaign to help raise the funds needed for season 2.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As you pointed out, the real science behind Extrasolar gives it clear educational potential. Prompted by teachers, we’ve created an educational version of the game on the Edmodo platform, you can learn more about it at </span><a href="http://extrasolaredu.org/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ExtrasolarEDU.org</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="468px;" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/B1loMiiu_siXvJhzQkZMy0ASHz3lx_T_DZ--fLSfUjlhLl4OjtCBcLEz2MIzahYUB6G-ptjAR3-ab0Qp0nvwaB9D3Vf8yenb1jUU4BILiIEt5mZV_ZOx3e9LvRXSpiQxfA" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How important was it to have a fully working version of the game up and running for a few months before you came to Kickstarter? Do you think having some sort of working demo is important for gaming Kickstarters from lesser known studios? </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Since we have a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">huge</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> demo, it helps demonstrate that we clearly have the ability to follow through on the project. Thankfully a lot of folks already know us for our previous hit indie game, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cogs</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, but </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Extrasolar’s</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> scope is much bigger.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As you’ve seen in the pitch video, the first thing we ask players to do is go play season 1. We’re pretty confident that if we can just get people to take that first step, they’ll understand why we’ve been nominated for so many awards.</span></div>
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</b><span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">What can you tell us about chapter two without spoiling things for those who haven’t played the first chapter? How much content are we looking at? </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br />
</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The amount of content for season 2 will be about the same as for season 1, but spread out over a larger, more densely populated area. You’ll be operating on a volcanic island with entirely new sets of plant and animal species -- plus some mysteries that I can’t really talk about without spoiling the experience.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Season 1 focuses largely on the story taking place on Earth and only at the end do hints start to emerge about what’s taking place on Epsilon Prime. In season 2, the story on Earth will continue, but the mysteries of the planet will really take center stage.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="468px;" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/X8BjdsYwY7-qPWv3QEZfLPI-7K2EknomydBlEeLLdV37EGsJXp4Cs4J1NflqycljDzwsNFuTbO_1XTY8RhXB1wcSwd6pWtmE_yor9yEcnGW4pZ85LScXKQnp9ID0BMGWnw" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You’ve offered a support option through your website for some time now, how does this Kickstarter effect those who have already supported the project? Are there any backer levels you’d suggest for early supporters who’ve already completed season one and backed for all three seasons? </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We never want anyone to regret a purchase, so if you’ve already purchased at our highest XRI Pioneer tier on the website, not only will you get season 2, but you’ll get every bit of content we ever release in the future. If you love Extrasolar and you’ve already paid for it, please consider some of our higher tiers, like early access to season 2 while it’s still in development -- or, since all our our tiers are giftable, get a pass for a friend.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Did you guys play </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majestic_(video_game)" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Majestic </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">back in the day because Extrasolar definitely seems like it is ringing many of those same bells? </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We didn’t know about Majestic when we created the concept for Extrasolar, but we researched it quite a bit during production. The way we see it, there are two games that preceded us that have tried to create a similar experience -- EA’s Majestic and Mind Candy’s Perplex City. Sadly, both were financial failures. And to be honest, if we can’t make our Kickstarter goal, we may end up right alongside them as spectacularly fun, innovative games that just couldn’t find the audience they need to survive.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="468px;" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-n175m9Rh3Z9t4BuKcuLt5EpoTdzFVpxR8QDNMJCMd97EkCtf8UiLosM7teTyjkJ9ta-2_ptar8LtZXL1cwEnM7bJ_Iy7oHROWHVMaN0cEdrSsF02P8wku3LlOVawI81wA" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of the things I suggest every backer look at in a Kickstarter project is the budget breakdown. These basic business tools let people get a look at how the creators are approaching the project and to see if they’ve got a plan for the money. Why don’t you have a budget listed on your campaign page? How is the $85,000 going to be used? </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We shied away from posting our detailed budget because we assumed that season 1 gives more than enough proof that we have the ability to follow through. Almost all of that money will go directly to the creators -- writers, programmers, artists, creature modelers, sound designers. The professionally produced videos for season 1 cost $30,000 alone -- and that’s a discounted rate. If we can exceed our goal by even a little bit, we’ll bring the same production studio on board so that we can have a similar quality level for the season 2 videos.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How did you discover Kickstarter?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As someone in the indie game scene, I’ve been following Kickstarter projects since the early days and backed projects on Kickstarter and Indiegogo since 2012.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="468px;" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/9fXS4y_3WOMERvNXGLlacFBvJgtLuLEzckArl9mGDEmyo7cg8IDf9nHbOGn6vaukeTI3soqoCODcL_8lFkuMQjEPpfNl8xemDJWAZVnSr_dItS8TgZZ8-wxxRnQ7ed6RJA" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A key part of successful Kickstarters is backer participation and how to convert a potential backer into a full backer. How are you engaging your backers? What kinds of things do you have planned for updates to give notice to those who just hit the “remind me” button and surf on? Interviews? Videos? Stories from the project?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For those who have already watched the video to the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">very </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">end, you know that we’ve hidden a fun little extra puzzle in our campaign. There’s at least 1 more puzzle planned to launch mid-campaign. In addition, we have some update posts already written. They’ll cover some serious topics -- not just fluff or a rehash of our progress so far.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What kind of media attention have you received with your project? How are you spreading the word? Facebook? Twitter? Google+? Youtube? Advertising? Are you using</span><a href="http://www.kicktraq.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kicktraq</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to track your progress? </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So far, we’ve had great coverage at several media outlets, including CNET, Destructoid and GameFront. Hopefully that translates into more backers. We’re of course using Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ to get the word out.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A warning to those who are just about to launch your first Kickstarter campaign -- you’ll be immediately inundated with offers from services that promise you more backers. If you know any of these services that are actually worthwhile, I’m all ears.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="468px;" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/fijy5nOauieDejsmWrMtNi0nYfhUuBDVEJJai_d9O6JV-CZAaPYrd00NeTRDpTnP2LSWuy01JqEkH3tkM2_HY36WT_el1GL1HtLJXc2a0LKJycFxL-7wPLM0Vepk4F5OGg" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do you have any tips/advice would you give to anyone looking to start a Kickstarter?</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Everyone warned me: Running a successful Kickstarter campaign is a full-time job and an emotionally draining experience. Even though I’ve heard it, I wasn’t quite prepared for just how tough it would be. We’re only 2 days into our campaign, and I’m already worried about our progress. I suspect there will be a lot more sleepless nights this month.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To be clear, this doesn’t mean that doing a Kickstarter is a bad idea. Even if we fail, I’ll have no regrets.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thank you for spending your time with us! Do you have any final thoughts for our readers?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I want to encourage your readers to think about the Extrasolar Kickstarter campaign as more than just a way to raise money. For me, as a developer who’s spent a small personal fortune developing a risky, innovative game, this campaign is my way of reaching out and asking, “If I craft a genuinely new experience, is there an audience to help support my team financially?”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The fans who have already come on board have been phenomenally supportive. I just hope we can continue to grow our audience.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thanks again and I hope to hear good things from your Kickstarter!</span></div>
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James Yeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16637699486755915238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050036035374044240.post-61135465754502132772014-07-28T13:38:00.002-07:002014-07-28T13:38:52.142-07:00Kickstarting Game Devlopment training in Unity<iframe frameborder="0" height="480" scrolling="no" src="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bentristem/complete-unity-3d-developer-course/widget/video.html" width="640"> </iframe><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Welcome back to the Conversation! Today I’m joined by Ben Tristem who wants us all to</span><a href="http://kck.st/1sCyLse" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"> Learn to Make Video Games Through Unity 3D</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. Thank you for joining us today Ben. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Thanks James, I really appreciate the opportunity to share something we’re so excited about! </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It seems a bit of congratulations are in order as you have already surpassed your £3,500 goal, well done! Can you tell us a bit about your project and why you think you’ve hit your goal already? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In fact we’ve just passed our SECOND stretch-goal at £7,500 so we’ll be adding Xbox One deployment to the course. We’re heading towards Oculus Rift at breakneck speed!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In terms of why we’re successful, I think we’ve hit on a highly demanded topic and approached it in a unique way. We will not only be teaching complete beginners to create games, but now including the process of publishing to many other popular platforms like iOS, Android, Xbox One and more to follow if people keep backing us!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What kind of user are you aiming this tutorial series toward? Will I already need to know my way around a 3D modeling environment or will this start at the newest of the new designer? How bored will more advanced students be? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Our core focus is to teach people to make games. We’ll teach as much coding, </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">importing 3D assets, physics and other required skills necessary to achieve that aim.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The idea is that if you can read, and you’re motivated, you can complete this course. You will need to be highly computer literate, and have a positive attitude towards learning and pushing yourself. We’ll take you from there to being a confident indie game developer.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">If you are an artist, we’ll show you how to bring your assets alive inside a game. If you have coding experience, we’ll show you how to translate this to game development. If you have no prior experience, we’ll show you everything you need to know, and point you in the direction of appropriate art, music and sound resources (people and asset stores).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">For more advanced students we have a lot of value for you. We will be including the principles of fun, and game design (ludology). We will be touching on topics such as shaders, good code design, extending the editor (custom inspectors, editor windows, etc), and more.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img height="468px;" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/wHsUlXH-bDeHNLHl_t3mFeWHV6wwe4mrJH_vlPrYYzZF80f2TUdjZSiR5QEwvzNjg-mCDQm1cAWIoovxIK_ZMnd2rpdPiaTcf70_TQ6qblDJkdquyMufwcEsSaSYCgfmgA" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Will the entire tutorial be completable with only the free version of </span><a href="http://unity3d.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Unity 3D</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> or will we have to buy some sort of licences or add-ons? Will it all be done with Unity or will we need other programs like </span><a href="http://www.blender.org/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Blender </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">or </span><a href="http://www.gimp.org/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">GIMP</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">You will only need the free version of Unity to complete the course. We MAY add a stretch-goal that includes Unity Pro as a bolt-on to the course, or we may make a separate course for that in the future… to be decided. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We have specifically designed the course so that you incur no additional costs. All you need is a machine capable of running Unity, and a web connection. You may, of course, choose to purchase art or sound assets to make your own games even more awesome.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Ben will be using a Mac to create the course, and he will use a free 2D and 3D editor to create some basic “placeholder” assets. We will provide you with suggested alternatives for PC too, but we will not be going into detail about how to use these programs on Mac or PC. The focus is on creating games, again consider buying art assets or getting some help if that’s not your strength.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What drove you to create this program? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Some time ago we wanted to get into game design, and were frustrated with the resources we could find. They either unsuitable for beginners, advanced but just plain boring to listen to, or didn’t cover deployment to platforms like iOS, Android, XBox, etc.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">When I complete your course will I be able to immediately sell the tank game to everyone? What are the commercial limitations of this training? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Any assets we create for the course will be Creative Commons for you to do with as you like. Now we’re hitting stretch-goals, we’ll be releasing some of the games as part of the course so we’ll be first-to-market with these. Anything you create from this (however similar) you are welcome to release.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Bear in mind most of the games we build for the course are created as learning tools, and will be well built and full of useful learning, but small in scope. For example they may only have a few levels, where a full commercial game would have a lot more.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">How valuable beyond game development do you think programing and game design knowledge is to our young? Do you agree with those who think programming should be part of our general education? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It’s FUNDAMENTAL, the modern world runs on code! Yes I think code literacy is hugely important, and the great thing about game development is kids tend to be highly motivated to learn.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">One of the key things I tell people to look for in a Kickstarter campaign is the budget breakdown. These basic business tools are a great way to show backers that there is a plan in place for the funds. You’re asking for $3,500 yet you say in your risks section that, “We will not be spending your money up front...” does that mean you don’t really need the money now but are using Kickstarter to register interest? Some of your stretch goals mention needing to spend money like on Oculus dev Kit 2’s how would that affect your budget? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Brice and I are throwing ourselves at this project full-time until it’s done. Most of the budget is to ensure we can afford to live during the production! Beyond that there are some significant costs for things like the Rift, and other dev kits. There are also other costs involved in publishing games. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We really do need the money, and perhaps more importantly the feedback has been invaluable and will ensure the course aligns with what our students want. All this interest is giving us so much more energy to put into the project!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">How did you discover Kickstarter?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We’ve both been backers of previous projects, and a friend of ours used it recently to launch an online course in iOS development with Swift.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A key part of successful Kickstarters is backer participation and how to convert a potential backer into a full backer. How are you engaging your backers? What kinds of things do you have planned for updates to give notice to those who just hit the “remind me” button and surf on? Interviews? Videos? Stories from the project?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We check comments and messages a couple of times a day. We’re releasing information such as a Trello board of the games we will include, and getting their vote for the games they want in the course. We try and release a project update every 3 days or so, in fact we’ve had to recently because we’re hitting stretch-goals that often!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">You’ve given us an idea, we’ll use more video in the future updates too… thanks!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What kind of media attention have you received with your project? How are you spreading the word? Facebook? Twitter? Google+? Youtube? Advertising? Are you using</span><a href="http://www.kicktraq.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Kicktraq</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">to track your progress? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Yes we use Kicktraq, it paints a pretty rosy picture :-) We’ve very active on Facebook, fairly so on Twitter, less so on G+ and not done much in the way of YouTube or advertising yet.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The local press here in Cambridge, UK have been incredible at helping us, we have a radio interview coming up next month. If it keeps growing like this the national press may even become interested… fingers crossed!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Do you have any tips/advice would you give to anyone looking to start a Kickstarter?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Just do it.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Thank you for spending your time with us! Do you have any final thoughts for our readers?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Kickstarter is a WONDERFUL way to test your business idea, get hugely important early feedback, and get some money to get things rolling. I wish I had found out about it earlier. Start now, start imperfect. The fear won’t go away but the opportunity will.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Thanks again and I hope to hear good things from your Kickstarter!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Thank you James!</span></div>
<br /><br /><br />James Yeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16637699486755915238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050036035374044240.post-84872806472451716812014-07-22T08:00:00.000-07:002014-07-22T08:00:02.441-07:00This Game Sounds Like Utter Nonsense! <br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Welcome back to the Conversation! Today I am joined by Tim Swindle who is here to share his party game </span><a href="http://kck.st/1wE1AoI" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Utter Nonsense</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. Thank you for joining us today Tim. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Thanks for having me, James, and thanks even more for showing interest in the Utter Nonsense Kickstarter project. We are three days in and </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Dave and I can’t wait to see this game come to life.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Party games come in all shapes and sizes to fit any kind of group, what kind of party game is Utter Nonsense and who does it appeal to? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Utter Nonsense is the perfect late-night party game, meant for playing with friends, fueled by alcohol and ideal for people with an overall enthusiasm for laughing really, really hard. My co-creator Dave Mazurek and I have seen even the most introverted people get into the game. You can’t help but laugh hearing peo</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">ple say these ridiculous phrases in different voices, like orgasm or pirate. And the phrases speak for themselves, so the players don’t have to think too hard or try too hard to be funny, it happens pretty naturally.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Accent & Phrase Cards" height="401px;" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/cbL7ixkIMQ-XwmQHAVjOa90uGHj2nfPDuXt67shfvqYlNGzZUsSqKwXXmk3zejtI6y9AbkPJLlbTtxKmHGMepafj_XA5NO1Ie2YlQDb_3t-a5ljPplVxGOtyiPJAlmvR2A" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Do you think this is one of those games that just gets better the more drunk the group gets or is there a happy buzzed medium you want to reach for maximum enjoyment? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We’d like our players to still be conscious, but having a little extra lubrication from the sauce can help make the more self conscious players come out of their shells a little faster. But we just played a round of the game completely sober on a radio show, and everyone was dying laughing. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What do you say to people, like myself, who are </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">horrible</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> with accents? I’m talking turning a Texas accent into a Japanese one mid-sentence bad! </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">That is exactly what makes this game so amusing. Sure, one player might nail a redneck voice, but if in the same round someone totally bombs an accent, it makes the game even more ridiculous and sometimes the “worst” player ends up winning. We’ve been in tears listening to terrible accents. It’s sort of the beauty of Utter Nonsense - the outcome is almost always funny.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img height="255px;" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/RcKUI8Lv9IXFkel0speimaHIkx-GEHhVd9B3O8LxwQswwll9GSKdjvznMmtzrNuzwrUq5tdd5FweECDCsWqXLxOpyc8NVtiTgoC__U_H3nG910A2gOFoAz-Xb_TszQRXqg" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">40 different accent cards? How did you come up with so many and what are some of your favorites? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We used regional dialects to get us started, like New Yorker and Bostonian. Plus we’re Chicago guys, so obviously we needed to include something Ditka-related. But for the other accents, when we went beyond just regional dialects, we looked to well-known characters for inspiration. For example, the orgasm accent was totally inspired by Meg Ryan in </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">When Harry Met Sally. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We tried to think of as many stereotypical things we could and actually have way more than 40, so it wasn’t easy to narrow down.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">You mention the game will be made in the USA, what made you decide to go with a local manufacturer versus say China? What are the advantages and disadvantages to using a US manufacturer? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">There is something to be said for buying local. We are proud to be from Chicago, proud to be from the </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Midwest, and want to support our local economy any small way we can.</span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Plus, it helps us to reduce manufacturing lead times, we want to get this game into people’s hands as soon as possible.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Team Utter Nonsense" height="416px;" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/GDcOgFYHav4NftToPbfN86BR4s_CeXkNqA1q4Ps0L4iK1AG5PbX6eU9wtF4pOYq_Y-QP9oTQvnsncrwzGPqnopD0CktSenjiuVCxOSNdreZEEUz2xrPioKU0iL6IqWK8FA" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Your campaign mentions economies of scale for why you need the $15,000, does that mean you’re using the Kickstarter funds to pay for a full print run beyond just what is ordered through the campaign? Will I be seeing Utter Nonsense on store shelves next year? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We are definitely using economies of scale. The $15,000 minimum allows us to pay for 2,000 units which is enough games that we can cover costs at the $25 price point. Our goal is to have the game be delivered by October, just in time for the holidays. As for store shelves, we’ll see about that. Right now, the first step is to print the initial game set and get people talking about Utter Nonsense. But any excess product will be available for sale on our website right away.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">One of the big things I look for in every Kickstarter campaign, and one I suggest every backer and creator look for, is the budget breakdown. These simple business tools help show potential backers that there is an actual plan in place for the funds and let them know that all basic things are accounted for like the Kickstarter and Amazon fees. Why don’t you have a budget breakdown for the campaign? Is the tight budget the reason why you’re not offering international shipping options? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">That’s a great question. We literally examined every single financial aspect of bringing this project to life, absorbing as much of the upfront costs as we could. We designed the packaging and received hard costs for printing the first 2,000 games, then factored that expense into the $15,000 goal. We also built in all Kickstarter and Amazon fees, factoring in the fulfillment and shipping expenses. We have 40 accent cards and 460 phrases, written and ready to print, so it’s only now a matter of placing that first order. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As for the international shipping, it definitely is an option, we are working on that as we speak, and should have an update to the site as early as today.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">How did you discover Kickstarter?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I’ve been a huge fan of Kickstarter for years and have donated to a handful of startups. After seeing games like Cards Against Humanity and Monikers come through the circuit, we knew this was the right place for us to get started. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A key part of successful Kickstarters is backer participation and how to convert a potential backer into a full backer. How are you engaging your backers? What kinds of things do you have planned for updates to give notice to those who just hit the “remind me” button and surf on? Interviews? Videos? Stories from the project?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We are engaging backers through regular status updates that will continue until the game is in their hands. As for those who haven’t converted into full backers yet, I guess you will have to wait and see.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What kind of media attention have you received with your project? How are you spreading the word? Facebook? Twitter? Google+? Youtube? Advertising? Are you using</span><a href="http://www.kicktraq.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Kicktraq</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">to track your progress? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">So far the attention has been pretty awesome for just three days in. We were featured on Real Teen Mom Talk Radio on Friday night and that was so hilarious - we picked an accent, then Tweeted out the phrase, and listeners would call in say the phrase in that accent. We did redneck, stoner, pirate and then orgasm. We were all crying from laughing so hard. On </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/utternonsensegame" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Facebook</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, </span><a href="https://twitter.com/NonsenseUtter" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Twitter</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, </span><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/100393160614894272237/100393160614894272237/posts" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Google+</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> and </span><a href="http://instagram.com/utternonsensegame" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Instagram</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, we have been showing off our card pairings with images and just starting conversations. In just a few days we’ve gotten over 1,000 Twitter Followers and almost 700 people on Facebook. We’re just trying to have fun and get people laughing. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Do you have any tips/advice would you give to anyone looking to start a Kickstarter?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Let’s see how we do first. We did a ton of research up front, but it’s totally nerve wracking, probably more so than we could have predicted. And we still have over two weeks to go!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Thank you for spending your time with us! Do you have any final thoughts for our readers?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Thank you for taking the time to learn more about our game. I guess that the best piece of advice I can give your readers is to go onto our </span><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/timswindle/utter-nonsense-the-inappropriate-accent-game" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Kickstarter</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> and download the sample game. It includes a pretty substantial variety of accents and phrases, so you can see how the cards match up. Play a few rounds - we guarantee you will be laughing.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Thanks again and I hope to hear good things from your Kickstarter!</span></div>
<br />James Yeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16637699486755915238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050036035374044240.post-69268052206888031032014-07-21T07:42:00.001-07:002014-07-21T07:42:48.530-07:00Are you ready to RUMBLE?!<iframe frameborder="0" height="480" scrolling="no" src="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/davywagnarok/n30n-city-rumble/widget/video.html" width="640"> </iframe><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Welcome back to the Conversation! Today I get to talk to someone closer to my home, from just the other side of White Sands Missile range comes Davy Wagnarok to talk to us about his Kickstarter</span><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/davywagnarok/n30n-city-rumble" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"> n30n City Rumble</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. Thank you for joining us today Davy! How are things over in Alamogordo? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">*Looks outside and watches tumbleweed slowly careen past the window.*</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It looks like a whole lot of desert out there, Mr. Yee. But it’s home, right? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">For now at least. So n30n City Rumble seems to be an interesting looking card game, would you tell us about it? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Oh man, it’s pure unadulterated fun! Mechanics-wise, it’s deviously simple in that just about any gamer of any age can sit down and learn how to play the game in under 30 minutes. But at it’s core, NCR is a hardcore, highly competitive game. It plays a lot a fighting game, wherein players must practice with Fighters in order to become more skilled with them, but above that, they must learn to </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">play the other player</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. This isn’t original thought on my part; I have David Sirlin’s theories on competitive gaming and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Yomi</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> to thank for this. Dynamically, this Poker mentality, coupled with a rock-paper-scissors style of attacking and a hot-potato-esque system for countering, makes for some intense and interesting gameplay. The gritty retro 90s look and feel for the game helps sell the fighting spirit behind N30N City RUMBLE.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img height="496px;" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/qf-zlae_EkE00QeAuOJ_CsYYZ12L_hjL_h-D0Q-bF_AGVTxL8Vu2UzeL8cxytuNQuTh9bFZbwZJxc2u891s6hHayrml6dXf9iFku74EkPrmzCrbNe7KG-P32gglxo4xGLQ" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="620px;" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">How much do those old brawler games like </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_City_Ransom" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">River City Ransom</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> and </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Dragon" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Double Dragon</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> affect your themeing and gameplay?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I have loved brawlers and fighting games since I was a kid. In fact, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Double Dragon II</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: The Revenge was one of the first videogames I ever played. I instantly fell in love with the setting, music, and high-octane gameplay. But it wasn’t until I played </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Streets of Rage 2</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> that I became obsessed with the genre as a whole. I remember pausing the game to draw Skate in various poses kicking the bejezus out of Signals. Other games that inspired NCR include</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Battletoads in Battlemaniacs</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: Turtles in Time, the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Final FIght </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">series (especially </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mighty Final Fight</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">), </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Street Fighter 2</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, Ninja Baseball Bat-man, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">River City Ransom </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(cannot flippin’ wait for Concatus Creative’s </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">River City Ransom</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: Underground!), </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Super Ninja Boy</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Scott Pilgrim vs. the World</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: The Game. Oh and let’s not forget Majesco’s </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Double Dragon NEON</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">! That game was certainly underrated (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">you suck, IGN!</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What would you say makes n30n City Rumble different and a must play game? Is there any particular mechanic you think sets it apart or is it the theme alone you think that drives this game? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">N30N City RUMBLE is a time capsule containing all of the things that made the 90s bodacious! I’ve got all the geek and pop culture references in place: the Rubik’s cube, Rock’Em Sock’Em robots, neon lights, talking toads with elastic arms, chrome, strobe lights, vigilante bros., disco balls, jeans that go up to your belly button, and tons and tons of radioactive ooze. But it isn’t all razzle dazzle. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I built this game from the ground up, starting with the mechanics. The first order of business was solidifying a fun and unique core mechanic that allowed players to engage each other simultaneously. There are too many versus games out there that play more like glorified solitaire, with players being able to take actions during their turn only… and that’s IF an opponent hasn’t performed a trick or something to force them to skip to the next player. I personally hate this sort of dictatorship in gaming. Players should </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">always </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">have the opportunity to try and get out of a harry situation, should they have the necessary cards or tricks or whatever up their sleeve. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We should always be able to do something when playing a game</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In my game, N30N cards are used to activate your Fighter’s super moves, but they can also be used cancel other N30N! What this means is that any time your opponent declares that he or she is paying the cost to activate a super move, you can interrupt with a N30N card from your hand and foil their plans. And this, here, is where the “hot-potato” effect comes into play. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">You see, N30N come in four varieties and exist in a constant cycle of overtaking each other (eg. Rage cancels Cosmo, while Chrome cancels Rage, and so forth…). So, if you attempted to used a Rage to stop an opponent’s super move from going off, the opponent can use a Chrome to cancel your Rage! BUT. If the defender had a Toxic in her hand, she could use it to cancel the Chrome used to cancel her Rage. It’s </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">mindblowing</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">! </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Lastly, even though I showed off my nifty N30N mechanic, I believe that the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Pit-Stop</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> is what ultimately separates N30N City RUMBLE from the competition. After every round of combat, players have the opportunity to shop for cards at a pawn shop, called “The Pit-Stop”. Here, they will trade for cards using cards they have acquired by successfully attacking and evading, and pick up Items, such as 1-UPs and Bazookas, to use during the next round of combat. They can also “tag” Fighters in and out of their front row, and rest wounded Fighters for a turn. What I love most about the Pit-Stop, from a player perspective, is that it allows me to take a moment to rethink and rebuild my strategy!” </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Players lay BRAWL cards face-down in front of their corrensponding Fighters and then flip to see what happens. It's more than a rock-paper-scissors gimmick--this is a game of strategy, timing, guesswork, and outwitting the player across from you!" height="217px;" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/KpHXYAc7mLc5q6-QCzwnlcV7z20EiWgNQy93VybGNAVZ5pDVr0EBhgl2NfwYBN2n7ZQqY30rXvE-TsBoQziznSHLUXhf0aDRSb7r8Qh-AenamAOH7qNien-20wbrph9mqQ" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I think it’s great that you’ve got a print and play version available right now so anyone can try it out. How important to you was it to have a playable version of the game ready before you went to Kickstarter? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Again, nothing original on my part. I was just following the sagely advice of James Mathe (</span><a href="http://www.jamesmathe.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.jamesmathe.com/</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">). It would behoove all would-be devs out there to bookmark his site and frequent it on the daily! But, personally, wanted to ensure casual gamers, window-shoppers, and expert Board Game Geeks that I wasn’t pulling the wool over anyone’s eyes. N30N City RUMBLE is a fully-functioning game that can be played right now by anyone with a printer and a full cartridge of ink. You will also find a complete full-color playbook, virtual tutorials, and even a full playthrough of a game session on my Kickstarter page.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Your campaign mentions you’re 90% complete with production, doesn't that mean you’ve been playtesting the game “in the wild” already? What kind of community feedback have you received so far? Do you have a </span><a href="http://boardgamegeek.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Board Game Geek</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> listing? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Actually, I had the privilege of visiting In Stock Games today to showcase my game. I was met with warm reception. I recorded the whole experience on my trusty Go Pro Hero 3 camera and will be uploading the footage onto the Official NCR YouTube channel later next week! </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As far as playtesting goes, I’ll probably never be done. There’s just too much X-factor surrounding each Fighter. There are literally thousands upon thousands of variables involved in every passing round of combat. I have done - and will continue to do - my utmost to weed out the inconsistencies between Fighters. I plan to have video updates that expand the rules of the game and correct pesky bugs as they are discovered by myself and the N30N City community</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">About Board Game Geek… cue sigh. l’l be honest, I found the labyrinthine layout of the site daunting as hell! I’ve been stubbornly avoiding managing my account for the last two months. Thankfully, I just got back from a “geek intervention” at my buddy’s house, who inducted me into the secret Geek Society. The NCR profile should be approved by Admins and up and running by the time this article is published.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Mix and match Fighters to discover your winning team!" height="455px;" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/ivGcLexcUYJz_5pDH2hk0RaaKxsZ_yir4Ptk1XMlLcE0E7synVRJ6QehH92aKrByh0SwfllEYG7J22YAsrKRvLdlHiqG0TcJjjJiGGw6CDRE_8en_0-9O5RhcAG2JWGDkg" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="566px;" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The art style seems to vary widely across your examples. How many artists are involved? You show a $20K stretch goal of an art upgrade but only for the “original cast” does that mean the other characters will use different art if this goal is hit? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I rendered 100% of the in-game content you see in the PnP. I have been very fortunate to come across WILDE Rudy, who has contributed numerous promotional posters and the cover for the playbook. Rudy is the artist handling all of the custom pledges; any new Fighters added to the roster will be done in his style. It’s my ambition, for the sake of consistency, that we pay him to go back and redo all of my original character arts. Other artists involved in the production of N30N City RUMBLE include: Kristopher Williams (animator for the project video), MyCKs (provided a shirt design for a possible add-on), ArtistGT (created pixel sprites for the playbook), Seikoru (made the sprites used in the animated Stretch Goals gif), and of course the great GENZOMAN, who made that sexy game cover!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img height="496px;" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/oITxXzFrDcIeg1EfKSCGwjl6dcnRxcwQDJRcrmuBqkvpvcov-TflYe3XuIWM7XQcfDTLIxB9G59U8v1GUIylqqd6LVXs2HlL-ZvlX5h7DMrNC_MNlcT9_f3-WIPkbsgfrA" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="620px;" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Do you have a manufacturer already picked out? Is it in the US or overseas? You mention that you set yourself a deadline of January 2015 to allow for “Playtest the Kickstarter-Exclusive Content” yet your estimated delivery is January 2015. How long a manufacturing lead are you planning on? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I intend to run the majority of printing through AdMagic (</span><a href="http://www.admagic.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.admagic.com/</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">). They are expensive but provide some of the best customer service and high quality product around! They have facilities both in locally, here in the U.S., and overseas. AdMagic handles some of the biggest IPs in the industry, including </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Cards Against Humanity</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Dishonored</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, and these giants get first dibs on the conveyer belts. The earliest I will be able to push NCR into assembly would be mid-November, and that’s if Rudy and I have the playtesting and art done for all of the Kickstarter-exclusive content. But I will say this; If I am able to deliver earlier than the projected date, I most certainly will let backers know and get the ball rolling on that!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">One of the big things I look for in every Kickstarter campaign, and one I suggest every backer and creator look for, is the budget breakdown. These simple business tools help show potential backers that there is an actual plan in place for the funds and let them know that all basic things are accounted for like the Kickstarter and Amazon fees. Why don’t you have a budget breakdown for the campaign? Is the $11,500 goal going to produce only what is ordered through the Kickstarter or are you doing a full production run of the game? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Good question! Admittedly, I never thought of including a budget breakdown for NCR. I suppose it’s partly because I rarely--if ever--see a budget pie setup for analog games running on Kickstarter. To answer your question, the $11,500 funding goal includes manufacturing costs for 500 units of N30N City RUMBLE, plus shipping, legal fees, a small stipend for myself and Rudy, and $600 overhead to cover unforeseen costs such as lost freight, packing boxes and shipping materials, and any potential refunds. All excess funds are to be liquidated into establishing DO Competitive Entertainment as an LLC and setting up distribution off of a company website. From there, I will create a storefront to sell the leftover game units and poster add-ons. I suppose backers might feel more comfortable knowing this… I’ll get on it right away!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">How did you discover Kickstarter?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A good friend of mine, Paul Vincent (</span><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/1833910174" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/1833910174</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">), introduced me to the crowdfunding gig when he launched his first successful campaign, “Pocket Time Machine” playing cards.” He told me, “You could be doing this, too, you know.” And here I am! </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A key part of successful Kickstarters is backer participation and how to convert a potential backer into a full backer. How are you engaging your backers? What kinds of things do you have planned for updates to give notice to those who just hit the “remind me” button and surf on? Interviews? Videos? Stories from the project?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">If you’ve watched my virtual tutorials then you know about my silly alter ego, Davy Wagnarok. He plans to make video appearances and rally the troops for an all out “sharing” war! Playing a caricature of me is a lot of fun because I get to flame myself, which kind of works like anti-troll armor. You can’t clown a clown--OR CAN YOU?! *laughs but then suddenly looks apprehensive*</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img height="496px;" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/PdC4G0NeWyccYCntK82VwAMvcAnA_e7E_Jiej4HTHp7bcjB_7CTNF5FCNY5CFHZnskIhor07T4EdOpRCXoNwUTuw2PTJ0ytQcywZCz8fhg7WtntU9_5_ocJ5cDFGbeuQtQ" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="620px;" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What kind of media attention have you received with your project? Have you sent out copies to any Youtubers such as the </span><a href="http://www.dicetower.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Dice Tower</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> folks? How are you spreading the word? Facebook? Twitter? Google+? Advertising? Are you using</span><a href="http://www.kicktraq.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Kicktraq</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">to track your progress? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">There are so many developers hounding Dice Tower right now, that you probably wouldn’t see a review for NCR until we’re driving hover cards and aliens expose their existence to the world. For other marketing outlets, I’m using Kickin’ It Games email blast service </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(http://www.miniongames.com/store/kickin-it-games-e-mail-blast-service.html), and I will also be throwing some money down for banner ads on Kicktraq and other sites. Facebook and Twitter are a must these days, and it was through themthat I was able to connect to my friends and family who brought me to 18% of my funding goal in just two days!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Do you have any tips/advice would you give to anyone looking to start a Kickstarter?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Look at my picture down there. Don’t be afraid to show your funny side now and then. I’m not saying go full-on Johnny Knoxville, cos this is business at the end of the day, but lowering your guard to engage your backers shows that you’re human and can see things at their level. Also, be a good bookkeeper and put together a task list to work off of (I suggest using Trello, Asana, or making an Excel spread). Be punctual. Show up ten minutes early to a Skype meet. Be a go-getter: the sort of person who is first to wake up and the last to go to bed. I haven’t hit my break yet, but I know that working hard and staying consistent is the key to success or failure. The American forefathers taught us that. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img height="331px;" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/J0G2t02xQ5MPuVIBoXbntASosisXhv_mFFul_5Vq6UTTLex9QI-kASPpcJO63wFBWd2hqv1hnA4b5giMGEAK3CRtD9okFTISHdReSRG7H5ryA-I9QjtO6ZYg-ufvGtRe-Q" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Thank you for spending your time with us! Do you have any final thoughts for our readers?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Haven’t I said enough!? *laughs* I’ve got to go! Cue raspy Batman voice:</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> My city needs me. N30N CITY.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Thanks again and I hope to hear good things from your Kickstarter!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">No, thank </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">you</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> for taking the time to cover my Kickstarter story! It was a real treat! New Mexico pride, yo!!!</span></div>
<br /><br />James Yeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16637699486755915238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050036035374044240.post-60922039660816413062014-07-02T09:11:00.002-07:002014-07-02T09:11:49.659-07:00Kickstarter Review: OneBowl to rule them all! <iframe frameborder="0" height="480" scrolling="no" src="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1988391132/cook-strain-eat-and-store-your-food-all-in-onebowl/widget/video.html" width="640"> </iframe><br />
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Today the Conversation is taking a look at the <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1988391132/cook-strain-eat-and-store-your-food-all-in-onebowl" target="_blank">OneBowl</a> project. Justin Herd, the creator of OneBowl, had an interesting idea, "what if you could cook, strait, eat, and store food all in the same container?" Instead of just going, "huh" and moving on like most people do, Justin began prototyping and trying to make good on his idea and the OneBowl was born. <br />
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<a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/002/218/394/9d0606ffa24d12eda772974f8676ddd0_large.jpg?1404246353" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/002/218/394/9d0606ffa24d12eda772974f8676ddd0_large.jpg?1404246353" width="640" /> </a></div>
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First off, lets look at the concept of a "single bowl solution" to cooking and eating noodles. As someone who lived the "Ramen Noodle Diet" back in my younger days I can see the appeal of this project. Place your noodles and water in the bowl, heat, strain without a separate colander, enjoy, and even save the leftovers all in one go. At first glance this is the perfect item for college students and single people in general, then again like any good "as seen on TV" type product this one quickly breaks down beyond a limited use case scenario. </div>
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There's nothing wrong with creating products for limited case situations, there are plenty of products that fit that mold, but the OneBowl definitely feels like something you'd see for $19.95 being pitched by a pitchman of some kind and the actual Kickstarter Campaign taps into that fact quite well. From kitschy edited event scenarios to the $20 price tag the campaign is designed to match "As Seen on TV" feel and energy in a great way. Justin seems to know his target audience and has aimed appropriately.<br />
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In the end would I back the OneBowl? No, but that's not really a knock on the project as I am most definitely not the target audience. The question then becomes, is the target audience large enough to get them over the $50,000 target? Honestly I think it is, but the problem becomes <i>reaching</i> that target audience and I'm not sure they've got the critical mass of internet attention to get them there. I hope they can make it, or through this campaign gain the attention of one of the "As seen on TV" manufacturers looking for their next big idea. I would love to see this product in Target the next time I'm at the checkout line. </div>
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<b>Final Review: </b></div>
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<b>Product Review 4 out of 5</b></div>
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The OneBowl is a "limited use/situation product" but in that situation it seems well designed and thought out. If you have limited time/space available for microwave cooking items this might be great for you. Even beyond the dorm those with limited storage at work (like in you cubical) might also want to give this one a look. </div>
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<b>Campaign Review 4 out of 5</b></div>
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The campaign is very well laid out with lots of pictures and story along with some funny videos. My only knock against the campaign is the lack of a budget breakdown and non-college related use scenarios. I think the campaign has a slightly larger market then is being aimed at, but other than that it is doing a great job! <br /> </div>
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James Yeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16637699486755915238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050036035374044240.post-54893591286724325262014-07-01T11:51:00.001-07:002014-07-01T11:51:09.359-07:00Never Underestimate the Power of a Great Cookie<br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Welcome back to the Conversation! Today I am rejoined by Vera Greentea and her accomplice Allison Strom who have come to talk about their latest Kickstarter </span><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/veragreentea/recipes-for-the-dead-issue-3-an-indie-comic-book" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Recipes for the Dead Issue 3</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. Thank you for coming back Vera, and welcome Allison to your first visit to the conversation. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Vera: Thanks so much for inviting us!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Allison: Thanks so much, Hi there!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Lets start with the basics, can you tell us a bit about the Recipes for the Dead series? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Vera: Recipes for the Dead is an adventurous fantasy romp of an ambitious young pastry chef whose bakery is about to go bankrupt. In a desperate effort to save RocoCookie Shop, she steals a cookbook that seems to have the perfect recipes for bringing in customers. However, the book does a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">little</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> more than offer instructions for cookies – it also seems to attract unsavory and rather demonic characters. Recipes for the Dead has a bit of everything; action, humor, a bit of horror and romance.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Now for full disclosure I am a backer on this project because the story sounded fun and the art was gorgeous. Who do I get to thank for each of those things? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Vera: Thanks, James! We love having you on board! Even though I’m the writer of Recipes for the Dead, Allison and I share many creative decisions on the flow of the storytelling. But, yeah, that art – that is all her. Allison does it all; the layouts and pencils, the incredibly radiant coloring that shines right out of the page, the imaginative character and Victorianpunk fashion design. She is amazing to work with – her brain concocts the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen on a comic book page.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Allison: The art for recipes is a bit of a mix! I’m the only person currently drawing and coloring, but a lot of the character designs and aesthetics were begun by Recipes’ first artist, Ein Lee, back in Dark Delight with Cranberries. I’ve tried especially in the latest issue to synch a little better with the look and feel of the first volume. It’s been a huge challenge, but I’m so happy with how far it’s come since my first crack at the series in Apricot Asylum. I’m still really new to drawing comics and get very overwhelmed by the workload sometimes. It’s a constant learning process.</span><br />
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<img alt="Recipes for the Dead: Apricot Asylum (Issue 2), cover by Allison Strom" class="fit" height="640" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/002/031/136/4ab721aecccedee1fc0453e6529f3c61_large.jpg?1400538498" width="432" /><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The campaign describes the series as “Victorianpunk-manga-ish comic” where did you get that description for the comic? Were you trying to be descriptive without being pigeonholed? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Vera: The hardest thing about describing this comic in shorthand is trying to align it with a style. That phrase I chose hopefully gives people a bit of a visual impression of what the comic might be about. I consider Recipes for the Dead to be born and heavily influenced by the aesthetics and content of manga – but it’s not exactly that. There’s so much westernized culture imbued into it because that’s what I grew up with. It’s a broad mix of silly action-adventure, Burtonesque romance a la The Corpse Bride, and all kinds of fun oddities that struck my fancy.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Artistically, RftD has Victorian elements mixed into its visuals, but I wouldn’t go as far as calling it steampunk. There are no airships or any kind of focus on machinery (or that cowboy impression you get when one reads steampunk novels). Allison seized on the idea of Victorianpunk and then gave it a baroque streak, interweaving shimmering brass curls into the buildings of Bluerouen or adding tiny ornate gold details into the clothing of the characters - inevitably giving the comic a visual language that is a deep blend of many older traditions but still comes out being its own thing.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Food with “unusual properties” is an interesting concept. Where did you come up with the idea? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Vera: I wouldn’t go as far as to say I’m a foodie, but boy, do I love food. I love baking interesting new recipes, and ordering things I’ve never had before in restaurants. I experiment mostly with pastries (I recently made my own macarons), and I also enjoy mixing cocktails. This summer, I’ve been concentrating on shrubs (which is a colonial-era acidulated fruit syrup to then be mixed with bourbon or gin). Even without magic, different foods have exciting properties that promote health, or act as aphrodisiacs, or just bring surprising tastes. To me, the next step of magic felt very probable.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">So, of course, a lot of the time I find myself looking up recipes online, and one day I just thought how interesting it is that I choose a recipe off the net and just make it, without any regard for the unknown inventor of the recipe. What if their intent was less than good? What if the delicious-sounding instructions are really just a spell for disaster? It was a fun concept for me to play with and that was the last step right before Recipes for the Dead was born.</span></div>
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<img alt="Allison's First Sketches of Veronica, Twist and Elliot" class="fit" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/002/045/341/753ccbd4aafaafc59e6f0abab744f1f1_large.jpg?1400798744" /><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As a backer I have to admit it was nice of you to include the first issue to read right away and the second one available when the campaign concludes. Though I have to say having to wait another 24 days or so is just plain mean! I mean you left the first issue off on such a fun note I wanted more. Well played. How long after your campaign ends do you figure it’ll be before we can get the third issue? What other delights do you have at</span><a href="http://greenteapublishing.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"> Greentea Publishing</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> that folks can purchase in the interim? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Vera: You’re so kind! I’m really happy that you enjoyed it! Of course, that was part of my diabolical plan…</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Luckily for you, we are basically finished with the art of Issue 3. Other than the cover and lettering, the comic is done so there’s not much left to do! I plan to email it within the first couple of weeks of the campaign’s end.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In the meantime, if you’re looking for more Greentea Publishing books in a similar vein, please feel welcome to check out our site. We have the first two issues of a creepy (but kid-friendly) Day of the Dead miniseries called<a href="http://greenteapublishing.com/products/nenetl-of-the-forgotten-spirits" target="_blank"> NENETL OF THE FORGOTTEN SPIRITS</a>. <b>(ED: We talked about it <a href="http://www.kickstarter-conversations.com/2012/10/nenetl-of-forgotten-spirits-interview.html" target="_blank">last time</a>.)</b> Which is a Burton-esque parade of cheer and fear, as the young ghost girl Nena has a single day to find her living family while evading exorcists chasing after her.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We also have <a href="http://greenteapublishing.com/products/papa" target="_blank">PAPA</a>, a more mature dark fantasy anthology where each story features the sinister effects fathers can have on their kids. (And by the way, it’s rated mature because of the children’s fates in the stories, which are a bit ominous). Some of our other books with darker content are Ben Jelter’s <a href="http://greenteapublishing.com/products/the-tumor" target="_blank">THE TUMOR</a>, which is a unique concept story of a lonely man who falls in love with the first woman he meets – who just happens to have popped out of a growing mole on his neck.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Let me turn over to Allison for this question. The first RftD issue was drawn by Ein Lee, but 2 and now 3 are being drawn by you, what got you involved in the series? Was there anything special about this project that made you want to come back for the third one? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Allison: I love comics, and have successfully completed… 0 of my own. Once I did get to work with another writer on a piece for a fantasy anthology, called Song from the Gully. It was a short piece and it was really fun. But I never got very far in making comics under my own steam, past a few pilot pages or school related pieces that promised way more than I felt capable of delivering.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">So when Vera first approached me about this project I was actually really thrown off since I didn’t think I presented well as a comic book artist to begin with! There’s so much love and care in this project, the story is really fun, and I felt like I could learn more about making comics if I actually worked on them with more really talented, awesome people.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Where else can folks find your work Allison? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Allison: I still have work up on my old Deviantart page, at</span><a href="http://shirotsuki.deviantart.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Shirotsuki.deviantart.com</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. I don’t update it very often anymore, but it has years of just.. art and process and growing pains out where everybody can see it if they want. I treat my Tumblr a lot better, it gets a lot of in progress sketches and sneak peeks. That’s over on</span><a href="http://alliebirdseed.tumblr.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">alliebirdseed.tumblr.com</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. I have a portfolio website as well,</span><a href="http://alliestrom.squarespace.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">alliestrom.squarespace.com</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Now Vera you’ve become quite the “old hand” at Kickstarter with six successful Kickstarters under your belt including your</span><a href="http://www.kickstarter-conversations.com/2012/10/nenetl-of-forgotten-spirits-interview.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"> previous appearance</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> here in the Conversation. You have come up with a winning strategy for your projects, would you care to share your secrets? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Vera: Ha, my gosh, I don’t know if I have any secrets!</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Okay, here’s something, I think. This is ridiculously cheesy and not really a secret, but my “secret” is being truly passionate not just about the project, but also the fans. I truly love them. I love knowing that so many come back for every project, even if it’s starkly different from the one prior to it. I try to reward them (and myself) by being accessible for their questions, by being open to their suggestions for Kickstarter rewards or taking polls, by letting them motivate me into creating fun projects. I truly think that’s what keeps my campaigns going – a happy creator doing her best to keep the backers happy as well. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">How have you been managing your fans through all these projects? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Vera: I try very hard to anticipate needs and to be as accessible as possible to anyone who has a question or a problem. But it’s been nice so far, I find my particular group a really polite and generous bunch, and am happy to interact with them. </span></div>
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<img alt="Veronica's glorious portraits by Allison Strom" class="fit" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/002/030/840/5afcddb3e0cc4d17de34f34bef1f6c99_large.png?1400534527" /><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I’ve found it very informative and helpful for a Kickstarter project to post some kind of budget breakdown, or at least some kind of explanation for where the funds are going. I notice you do have a small paragraph explaining that most of the money goes to paying Allison, the letterer and printer (who are these folks?), and of course Kickstarter and shipping fees. My question when it comes to budget is just a question of how many comics are you printing? Are you planning on just fulfilling Kickstarter orders or is this for a minimum run of like 100 comics that you can take with you to the, hopefully stretch goal reached, New York Comic Con? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Vera: I tend to build my budget around my artist, letterer and production needs. My consistent goal is to pay my artist at a page rate of at least market value. I also give raises if I make more on the project than initially projected. Hooray, Greentea Publishing! The other part of my creative team to be paid is the letterer, the talented Adam Wollet, who has become my go-to person for the job. His work is inimitable, and I love having him on the team.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The rest of the money goes to production. You hit it on the nose, James, I tend to print the amount of KS orders that need to be fulfilled + 100 books, which I later take to a convention or sell on the Greentea Publishing website. Whatever money is left gets used to pay shipping fees, but much of the time, I end up offsetting that particular cost with money out of my own pocket.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This particular Kickstarter is the first time we’ve hit the goal so fast. I’m excited because I’m hoping that it might mean that shipping might be paid, and in fact, there might be something leftover to bring Greentea Publishing to more conventions. We hope to do Baltimore Comic Con this year, and between hotel costs, gas fees and food, it’s usually an impossibility – but I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this campaign will take us over there!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What kind of media attention have you received with your project? How are you spreading the word? Facebook? Twitter? Google+? Youtube? Advertising? Are you using</span><a href="http://www.kicktraq.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Kicktraq</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">to track your progress? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Vera: I’ve been lucky that Recipes for the Dead captured some lovely media attention, and fantastic articles have popped up on a bunch of comic journal and geek sites (and this one, of course)! For my own promotion blurbing, I also use Twitter (@ladygreentea) and Facebook. That’s about it, really. A lot of it is word-of-mouth.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Thank you for spending your time with us! Do you have any final thoughts for our readers?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Vera: We just updated </span><a href="http://greenteapublishing.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">greenteapublishing.com</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> to have digital editions of all Greentea comics, including Recipes Issues 1 and 2, so I hope you guys check that out!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Allison: Get back to work!!! No, actually thanks so much, and I hope you take some time and check out Recipes for the Dead.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Thanks again and I hope to hear good things from your Kickstarter!</span></div>
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<br />James Yeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16637699486755915238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050036035374044240.post-76616883169250713982014-06-02T09:53:00.002-07:002014-06-02T09:53:54.723-07:00Kangaroo Cup: The Return! <iframe frameborder="0" height="480" scrolling="no" src="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/joeborn/kangaroo-cups-plastic/widget/video.html" width="640"> </iframe><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Welcome back to the Conversation! Today I get to welcome back Joe Born who is here to talk about the latest evolution of the </span><a href="http://kck.st/SIm3fG" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Kangaroo Cups: Plastic</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. Thanks for coming back to talk to us again Joe. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Sure, thanks for helping us spread the word</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Lets pick up where we left off </span><a href="http://www.kickstarter-conversations.com/2012/11/the-no-spill-kangaroo-cup.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">back in 2012</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> by talking about how you raised $6,750 to produce the first Kangaroo cups based on your daughter Lily’s design. What has happened since then? Did the cups get to the backers? Is it available in stores? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We actually raised over $20k because we had a simultaneous indiegogo campaign, but that’s a long story. Yes we did get the cups to backers (though we are still working on a few of the custom ones and special orders). We actually took a big detour by trying to get the cups made in the US which turned out a LOT harder than we expected, and that cost us almost a year, but we’re finally back on track and expect to have the cups back in production and yes in stores too.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img height="468px;" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/0ZInKYvMfwA98FzX5h1gfoBkO-RAuxMhSKp6P86UZPa5pWvpwebM8_3fLP7QtTLLwsua2M4v6tuMaQphcq_K5a5wBJYtQwLCEmvJG0QRGGCWccdFueYOOAe9vJLwX1ISqA" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What brings you back to Kickstarter? Is it just the original Kangaroo cups done in plastic or have you adjusted the design at all? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We totally redesigned the cups for plastic, that manufacturing is a lot different in many respects, the tooling for plastic is hard steel and a very different process than the plaster molds that made the porcelain ones. These are also a different size, so really quite different, besides there were a number of things we learned and we wanted to make the handles more comfortable and the shape a bit more comfortable to drink out of.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">How is making a plastic version of the Kangaroo cup “way different” as Lily says than the original ceramic version? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As I said above the process is really very different, ceramic is slip cast where each cup takes many minutes to dry and they do dozens of cups at once. In plastic injection molding you pop out many parts a minute and the tolerances are just much less, the process is really quite different and the designs have to be adapted for each process. As one simple example the handles of the ceramic cups are cast separately and then attached to the body before the cup goes in the kiln, in the plastic version every thing is done in a single piece and, of course, there’s no kiln at all.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img height="468px;" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/zb2awbdgTh6LXUkgE8nPxJsytYtveEuP49GI6G50zmK3iiycRG7ScUbMVfmcPv4tNpv4pzu0UyAW4CHL0yCgUGxmam9wQK_uaYVWUZuaNrBdslge_9qoNgLwke-eFBywEg" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Has Lily started making her own contacts in the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maker_culture" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Maker</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, design, and manufacturing communities that have helped out in the evolution of the Kangaroo cup? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Yes, she has, she’s the youngest member of the </span><a href="http://makerbiz.weebly.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">“MakerBiz” group</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> in Chicago and has made a lot of friends and contacts there.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The campaign mentions that production will start when the funding goal is met, not after the campaign ends, how did that come about? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">There are a lot of partners that are very enthusiastic about the potential of this project and what it means (both to our community as well as to other kid inventors). They have pledged to help us get the product kicked off as soon as possible. We’re really indebted to a lot of people in addition to our backers on kickstarter actually</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img height="468px;" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/W5k1w5POBhJ1zDtGtpeSHtz4BbYusG8DxaFjXnqQcODYG-DRV1JmkponWOJl4NflJvxk7F3_9f2wLmiB7vjH-REfsgs5vlS-9ZpapUgiXTSTCb4fXpjSKhTH29U_xOzrBA" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Kickstarter as a platform and a community has changed since your first campaign. One of the things potential backers look for in a campaign is a budget breakdown to ensure there is a plan in place for the funds. I notice your campaign doesn’t have one, is it because the funds are all going for fulfillment or that you just didn’t think about including one? Is the $25,000 all going to the tooling and fulfillment? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It’s actually a good idea and now that you mention it, it’s something we should do via an update. The $25k will fund the first production run and a portion of the tooling, which is actually more than $25k itself. Obviously we’re hoping to exceed $25k, but we chose an amount that, in combination with the other sources of funding, will get us into production.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img height="468px;" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/sYk7zw54Er3ZIlT0xkiy2VgM_PksHXvbv_RXKvxLSP5lXA7_diMg5IIdyrOw2VYk3MzWjYGKEpL48-GIqr3mOmEgsvqHFHel6NGJNxyjt2z2pjx2dsJqqiLK58JMdjSACg" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Once the tooling is complete you can create a massive amount of cups, does that mean there’s a chance we can start seeing Kangaroo cups in our local shops? Or at least a possible online sales presence? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Absolutely! It has been so frustrating to get constant inquiries and not have product to ship, we intend to commence sales presentations just as soon as we know we’re going into production so you should see us both online and in stores as soon as we reach production.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img height="280px;" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/HLltAMUel8UR5t-WHFiwgBlKs6xJwaNW037I4tTHrdSLXY320TANHl5kzw50nJcpdV5dts-9eM1Jof40OaxlYfRbUdZgd4W70KBLHeifFlENbfQ-3MqXNLRL6vpTS8Jeag" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The $50 Kickstarter exclusive set is interesting, yet is there something about black plastic that makes it twice as expensive as your other colors or is this level designed as a “tip jar” level where extra supportive backers can give more than their level costs? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Yes, it’s much more a way to support and get something exclusive in return, there’s nothing exceptionally expensive about black, although short runs do inherently cost more in injection molding because of the setup costs.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">How did you discover Kickstarter?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">That’s a great question, the first campaign I ever backed was in 2009 for a friend’s project, but it didn’t really sink in that it would be a good tool for us to launch projects until much later, when I got involved with the joystickers project, after that, I knew it was a matter of time before I did my own project, it just happened that my daughter beat me to the punch!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img height="351px;" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/jiYNbPfTrPvBRKgp3-67bLv9EHdUCLTPo8Fdr2KHgKnWVbl826L5L8QwyMJUQZ_xEqbONyEM1wfxZ_p7ZzZ448jzVUs74CAcSEfgs_dj5oqe6iqMr-dJgCB1W3Ij59TlxQ" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A key part of successful Kickstarters is backer participation and how to convert a potential backer into a full backer. How are you engaging your backers? What kinds of things do you have planned for updates to give notice to those who just hit the “remind me” button and surf on? Interviews? Videos? Stories from the project?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We’ve got lots of that kind of stuff planed, and we’re also reaching out for face to face presentations in front of groups. Both Lily and I have a ton of passion for kid inventors and so this campaign is a great excuse to get out and meet other inventors and tell our story, not just to get their support, but to spread the word about how it’s really possible for anyone to invent these days.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What kind of media attention have you received with your project? How are you spreading the word? Facebook? Twitter? Google+? Youtube? Advertising? Are you using</span><a href="http://www.kicktraq.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Kicktraq</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">to track your progress? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">So far, it’s really been friends and family on social media spreading the word, we’ve received a lot of attention from CBS Channel 2 and the Chicago Tribune along the way, hopefully, we’ll get more on the new version too.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Do you have any tips/advice would you give to anyone looking to start a Kickstarter?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I think the key is to view Kickstarter as another sales channel, just as you would Wal Mart or Nordstrom’s, it really does have a pretty special type of consumer and you shouldn’t ignore that any more than you would at any other outlet. You wouldn’t sell a Tiffany’s diamond at Wal-Mart and you shouldn’t expect to sell a product to Kickstarter if it doesn’t have early adopter, specialty appeal.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Thank you for spending your time with us! Do you have any final thoughts for our readers?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I can’t think of anything other than thanks for helping us spread the word!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Thanks again and I hope to hear good things from your Kickstarter!</span></div>
<br /><br /><br />James Yeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16637699486755915238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050036035374044240.post-79187152949410495612014-05-27T09:06:00.003-07:002014-05-27T09:06:54.223-07:00Are you ready for Adventure? <iframe frameborder="0" height="480" scrolling="no" src="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kristinbrumley/basic-adventuring-101-larp-webseries-season-1/widget/video.html" width="640"> </iframe><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Welcome back to the Conversation! Today I am joined by Kristin Brumley one of the talented folks behind </span><a href="http://kck.st/Ro3DiR" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Basic Adventuring 101</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. Thank you for joining us today Kristin. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">You’re very welcome! Thank you for having me.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Basic Adventuring 101 is a webseries with an interesting premise, would you care to tell us about it? </span></div>
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<a href="http://basicadventuring101.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Basic Adventuring 101</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> is a fictional webseries that features a group of Live Action Role Players. It is done in a positive way that represents LARPing the way we feel is accurate and appealing! We follow the story of a new LARPer, Karen, and a hilarious adventuring team that is faced with saving their kingdom when Karen accidently releases a terrifying evil from a mysterious treasure box. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">You can watch our pilot episode </span><a href="http://youtu.be/1mpkWyUOU-Y" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">here</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img height="220px;" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/4R09bWIt01Q73JNs5haW1OEugBQacKAX6DdN5uenTHDNehB-kd6zrncfFYHpCmbjlIwdwRlJ7x-XWMRcKNeAyCmVeOkaQcl_WngyPmbSkxGyrfxQxnLp542pJKZ32GYqCw" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As a long time supporter of all things roleplaying and acting I have a natural curiosity about LARPing, could you tell us a bit about LARPing? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">LARPing stands for Live Action Role Playing, and it’s a type of game where you act out a character that you have created. It’s really a hobby that involves many different interests--from acting and role play to combat, puzzle solving, costuming, and storytelling. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Your campaign says that you want to “produce it in a way that makes our fellow LARPers proud to be called LARPers.” What do you mean by that? Is there a negative stereotype to LARPing and why do you think that is? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I feel that in the movies and TV-shows I’ve seen featuring LARPers, we’re often made out to be something we’re not. Socially inept psychopaths and drug addicts isn’t a pretty picture when trying to convince new people to try a game. I like to think of LARPers as extremely intelligent and creative people who are courageous enough to do something they love, despite the fact that it isn’t “normal.” </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I know very few people who have given LARP an honest chance and came away from it disappointed. If more people were willing to play I think they’d find that they like the game just as much as we do! The trick is trying to convince people to make that step--which means fighting the stereotypes that exist because we’re part of the minority. Without experiencing LARP in person it can often be misunderstood. Plus, I think Hollywood likes the idea of weirdos in the woods. They believe it’s more interesting than the reality.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I live life by example. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Showing </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">people what makes LARP incredibly fun by creating a webseries is my way of doing that.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img height="416px;" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/FmDMBNHnmDxTuo988rSnbjSnCU11L7d3Wp8ZvyuaM9E9MNPe2h9y8egzYo2n3bLtqoZM98eHJOPf2tR_AUApLoyk1QUjS_Yig5CzqVj0el2AF5Y9VqaFenK86eLQtyqK3g" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">How did you get involved with LARPing and then into this project? What do you enjoy about LARPing? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I started LARPing in 2009 as a desire for adventure. I love trying new things and when I saw a photo of people dressed up in costumes in the woods pretending to be fictional characters--I couldn’t resist. I showed up to my first event all by myself, and by the end of the weekend I was hooked.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I’d always loved making stories in my head. I was the child who would spend hours in the backyard in a bonnet and dress, pulling a wagon along and pretending to be an American settler on my way to Oregon. Even now that I’ve grown older, I write novels and daydream constantly. When I went to that LARP event it was like everyone was joining in on the game in my head and turning it into something larger and grander than I could manage on my own. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I could imagine a character--entirely of my creation--and it could become real for a few days. It allowed me to discover myself better. It allowed me to become a better actress. It also allowed me to make better and more meaningful friendships.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">My best friends in the world are people I met while LARPing. There is something about pretending to save the world with other people that really bonds relationships on a level you can’t achieve just rolling dice at a table. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I want to share these experiences with people who might not otherwise consider LARPing. I want to give other people this sort of chance at something different and wonderful--and a webseries seemed like a great way of doing that.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Last year you came to </span><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kristinbrumley/basic-adventuring-101-larp-webseries-pilot?ref=users" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Kickstarter </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">and raised over $6,000 to create the pilot to this series. How was that experience and what have you learned from that campaign that you’ve brought to this one? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It was tiring. Haha. Running a Kickstarter is probably one of the most exhausting experiences of my life, because it basically consumed me for an entire month. Constantly checking the page and my email for backer updates, speaking to press, writing press releases, looking for sponsors...it’s not an easy task, and it’s preceded by weeks of preparation.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A successful Kickstarter is extremely planned out. From the rewards to the campaign timing to the video and goal amount, all of it has to be carefully decided. I have pages of excel sheets comparing reward prices and budgets and it can be really stressful when you realize that you can spend weeks deciding all of this and still not make your goal. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">One of the biggest things I learned from the last Kickstarter was that you can’t give up. For the longest time we didn’t think we’d make it. It looked grim and it might have been easy to just call it quits! But we kept pushing, and thanks to our diligence and passion we managed to not only hit our goal--we surpassed it. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img height="416px;" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/WS2jNglIIdqjUzDBdxHLBj7RtlpJpHrhGG5LQm0tDf6OY6u1RdJw_4E3PeofHmMWAaemlf20HgmR8uR9ZZ2pS6WtDePmiL79CGbLItJ3qLBv3YMSnfC2yZDt9AAtFynWIw" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">You have brought together quite the cast of characters! How did you all get together on this? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I collect people.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Haha, that sounds awful...but honestly, I love networking and meeting new people. When I decided I wanted to start a webseries it was honestly as simple as going through my list of contacts and pulling out who I needed to make it happen. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It’s amazing what happens when you ask for what you need. If I didn’t have the connection, then someone else did! I guess that’s why it’s so great to have friends.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As any long time reader of this blog can attest, I love pie charts for budget breakdowns! How important was it to you to breakdown the budget and present it to potential backers? How much of the non-perishable items such as props from the pilot are being reused for the full series? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It’s important to be honest with the people who are supporting you. I wanted to show what the money was going toward and to be as open as possible without making it too complicated (especially for people who aren’t familiar with video production). </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The budget was something I spent a long time deciding. It’s hard to look at numbers and to calculate when you really need to make a project successful--and then consider how much money you think you’ll actually be able to make. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">$25,000 for our Kickstarter was a challenging goal, but I felt it was a number that covered what we needed without cheating the people who are working hard on this project. Challenging, but not impossible. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The biggest expenses come from the fact that while we have a lot of non-perishables that we can use for filming (equipment, costuming, weapons, etc.), there are a lot of expenses that didn’t exist for the pilot but will for the rest of Season 1. Professionals who agreed to volunteer for the pilot expect payment for the rest of the season. Some of our actors need help with their travel expenses, otherwise they can’t make it to our set. Our free location is no longer available to us and now we have to pay location fees and lodging. There is filming equipment we didn’t have but want to rent in order to make the quality even better (and easier). And finally, we are going to need more time to produce 5x more content than we did last summer--which means all of these added expenses for a longer timeframe. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Producing a quality product simply isn’t cheap, and while I think we could manage for less money it wouldn’t be the sort of quality product that I would want attached to the name, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Basic Adventuring 101. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It’s a hard decision to make, but one I feel is necessary.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img height="416px;" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/qCqp1gfEWnlOEOEwQVzxqcdtWcAeS6On5f50WpxNy7r0XcYJwZM3AePpQh5T_kaDNvq0kYR0ZlJ43aDtL9RFC-KJ9WZoqqEZkOH7eceNf2Ptk_b_A44w9XDUf3ayanXHeA" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Where you recommend folks who are interested in LARPing go to find out more? Is it only for those who enjoy roleplaying and acting? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I really enjoy </span><a href="http://www.larping.org/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Larping.org</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">’s site. They have been working very hard on creating a list of available LARPs on their LARP locator, and I know the people running the site. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">LARPing is something that people do for many different reasons. It’s about figuring out your niche and making it your own.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">How did you discover Kickstarter?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I was introduced to it by Mark Truman, a game developer at </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/MagpieGames" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Magpie Games</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> who has done a lot of work with Kickstarter in the past. I was recommended to him by my friend, Pete Figtree, and Mark spent a lot of time with me discussing marketing and strategy. Honestly, it was Mark’s help that made it possible.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A key part of successful Kickstarters is backer participation and how to convert a potential backer into a full backer. How are you engaging your backers? What kinds of things do you have planned for updates to give notice to those who just hit the “remind me” button and surf on? Interviews? Videos? Stories from the project?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Providing constant content and being present during the campaign is a big part of engaging backers. We’ve got some new videos in the works, as well as some new exciting rewards thanks to the support of LARPs around the U.S. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="An example of the quality of makeup we used in the pilot episode. Wounds, old age, and elven tattoos!" height="321px;" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/zFB0gVkhO3oZvQYKZbzvRRdE-BBiHnry9wt80sjAyb2OIHvqaqTr2p44cN2wRCnNiAszpZIQUH-PU4566vGOLAoqUM9vuq_F4NR3Rsr1R9m-vLng7CbLmexdOuvFLX5zSw" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What kind of media attention have you received with your project? How are you spreading the word? Facebook? Twitter? Google+? Youtube? Advertising? Are you using</span><a href="http://www.kicktraq.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Kicktraq</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">to track your progress? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I am a social media and marketing specialist for my day job, so this is where I am spending a lot of my time. Press releases, </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/BasicAdventuring101" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Facebook</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, </span><a href="https://twitter.com/BasicAdv101" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Twitter</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, </span><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/103483486696045947383/103483486696045947383/posts" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Google +</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/CakeGolemProductions" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">YouTube</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">...you name it. I’m excited to update it daily. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As for media attention, we like to keep </span><a href="http://www.basicadventuring101.com/press.php" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">a list on our website</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> that you can check out. ;)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Do you have any tips/advice would you give to anyone looking to start a Kickstarter?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Plan, plan, plan. It’s all about thinking it all through and approaching it like a marketer. I also have written a blog post on my tumblr page</span><a href="http://kristinbrumley.tumblr.com/post/82891533514/what-ive-learned-about-running-a-successful" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"> on this topic.</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> I encourage you to check it out for more details.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Thank you for spending your time with us! Do you have any final thoughts for our readers?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I’ve been humbled by the support we’ve received for not only our Kickstarter, but our series in general. I want to thank all of you who have become our backers and fans! Your diligence in sharing us online and trusting us to do great things with your hard earned money is what makes this project possible! I hope we’ll get to work together for a long time.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Thanks again and I hope to hear good things from your Kickstarter!</span></div>
<br /><br /><br />James Yeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16637699486755915238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050036035374044240.post-62856174443107607052014-05-20T06:33:00.003-07:002014-05-20T06:33:52.569-07:00TWEAK your dish washing routine <iframe frameborder="0" height="480" scrolling="no" src="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1371613126/tweak/widget/video.html" width="640"> </iframe><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(Editor’s Note, English is not the first language of the interviewees so answers have been edited slightly for understandability.) </span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-ca9a0983-19d6-2740-d5a7-18b6481288f9" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Welcome back to the Conversation! Today I’m joined from the other side of the planet by Nitzan Shafat and Aviv Rozenfeld in Israel to talk about a wonderfully simple product called </span><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1371613126/tweak" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">TWEAK</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Thank you for joining us today good sirs. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thank you for writing about us.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They day I discovered TWEAK I had just finished dealing with a backed up kitchen sink due to it not having a garbage disposal so of course your product spoke to me. Would you tell my readers all about it? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We invented Tweak just because of what you just described. We all hate to dispose of leftovers from the sink or hairs from the bathtub and Tweak allows you to do so easily and gracefully. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="463px;" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/EAL32E44032h8GBEh7tD5fLM3PC9tnOdlpqXHPSnuipPZDyS8XwR8XMkbE2MrgW7RNmWyppAj30U8MfKuSiLsciL_CEb897lcvDpXbESJJ71tHgXhxWF9RNJwD1OyUkHmQ" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What gave you the idea of making a squeezable strainer system that also doubles as a way of ejecting the leftovers out of it and into the garbage? </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We are both industrial designers, and during our studies we got a design brief, to design something to deal with the kitchen garbage.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I (Nitzan) always hate cleaning the sink and that time I lived with a roommate, which made the task even more unpleasant, so immediately I knew I was focusing on trying to solve this nasty problem I lived with daily. After few mockups, I came up with the flexibility concept and everybody liked it so we focused in on developing it to a nice looking product, that worked perfectly. We got a lot of help from Ani Dwilanski (product designer as well) in the design process, and she was the one who thought about doing the Tub-Tweak (woman input). We think it came out very well.</span></div>
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<a name='more'></a><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What is your two’s background and how did you get involved in this kind of design work? Where did you learn to work with thermoplastic materials as that doesn’t seem like something any hobbyist would just find lying around? </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Like we said before we are both industrial designers, we are dealing with product design and development on a daily basis, so it quite natural for us. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Where did the name TWEAK come from? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The ‘Tweak’ name came at the final stage in the design process, and obviously describes the user action with the product.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="403px;" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/kGtmCqCNw81heN7VYFQ4idrsTjAa_sUTPzcdCS0UoPbEqmlS9qRCoWRxHj_LX75aRlOBDkOakik3f6pGsi9mdhvKiP5uj8M7lvrn8l-PD4UOUKiHi_iKota70Ubh5UH8lQ" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I enjoyed the video to your project quite a bit as it was humorous and informative which is a pretty hard balance to pull off. How many iterations of that video did you go through before you got it just right? Did you two come up with it or did you have help? </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We got great help from our talented friend Elad Stein, who wrote the script, shot the movie (in one weekend) and did the editing.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We knew we wanted to make the movie short, informative, and fun to watch. If you think about it our movie is more like a commercial on TV, than a standard kickstarter movie. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Let me just congratulate you on blowing past your initial goal of $14,000 it goes to show that Kickstarter backers really like simple yet effective ideas. With that said I always tend to look for a budget breakdown to see what a project has planned for the money, yet I don’t see one on your campaign, why is that? Is the Kickstarter only going to produce the TWEAKs ordered in through the campaign or is it going to fund an entire production run? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The main function of the money is to produce the injection molds and the first 5000 units. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="361px;" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/yx41zJv0faRv4z0EvR4A1QOUdu6tMSuszX4nPFbS9Xb9Z1RWSrL6EcQ7nRhiw2YqPD95NqeJ2bEqTp9wm7ixfA8-IYTCugF1dbsm4kucXZBMDDSn-RxZq-noX2k_tR7jmg" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What are you plans once you have the start up costs covered by this campaign? Will be seeing TWEAKs in stores worldwide? Just in Israel? </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We got so many responses from all over the world, even from places we didn't knew existed, so we hope to get Tweak to all these places and more.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How did you discover Kickstarter?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s very familiar platform in Israel, especially to people with our background, that uses this tool to actualize their ideas.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A key part of successful Kickstarters is backer participation and how to convert a potential backer into a full backer. How are you engaging your backers? What kinds of things do you have planned for updates to give notice to those who just hit the “remind me” button and surf on? Interviews? Videos? Stories from the project?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All of the above! For now its going pretty well, but even interviews like this one, contribute to expose our project, and that is one of our key element to success.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What kind of media attention have you received with your project? How are you spreading the word? Facebook? Twitter? Google+? Youtube? Advertising? Are you using</span><a href="http://www.kicktraq.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kicktraq</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to track your progress? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Most of our support comes from Facebook. We got some attention from local media. We also use kicktraq, and its a great tool to monitor the project. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do you have any tips/advice would you give to anyone looking to start a Kickstarter?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The one big advice is to find a way to tell your stor</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">y. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thank you for spending your time with us! Do you have any final thoughts for our readers?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We like to thank all the backers community, we think they are responsible to a blessed change in the traditional retail market.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thanks again and I hope to hear good things from your Kickstarter!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">very much</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">bye bye</span></div>
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James Yeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16637699486755915238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050036035374044240.post-69322927104000232522014-05-15T09:09:00.002-07:002014-05-15T09:13:53.376-07:00Strong Happy Healthy Free<iframe frameborder="0" height="480" scrolling="no" src="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/aaronjtrumm/aaron-j-trumm-presents-strong-happy-healthy-free/widget/video.html" width="640"> </iframe><br />
<b id="docs-internal-guid-94e637e1-009d-b32a-3ebe-6ff33de19109" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.15; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Welcome back to the Conversation! Today I am joined by Aaron Trumm who is here to talk about his </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #121a0d; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.15; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">4th rap/rock/fusion album, </span><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/aaronjtrumm/aaron-j-trumm-presents-strong-happy-healthy-free" style="line-height: 1.15; text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Strong Happy Healthy Free</span></a><span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.15; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Thank you for joining us today Aaron! </span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thanks for having me! I’m honored.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This looks like it’s going to be a personal kind of interview so why don’t we start off by telling us a bit about yourself there Aaron? When did you start singing and what got you into rap/rock fusion? </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s a long road! I was break-dancing and listening to hip-hop from day 1 of rap (well I was probably 6 months behind the curve since I lived in Taos, NM), as well as all the standard rock’n’roll of the time, plus my dad was always playing old country and western swing stuff. So the fusion of what I do is from how I grew up. I started making pause loop tapes and bad rap around 1989 (when I was 14) and part of the reason I was rapping was because I was afraid to sing! Singing was too intimate for me. Like pulling my pants down in front of everyone. It’s still like pulling my pants down, I just down care as much about being pantsed. I got into slam poetry for similar reasons - rapping on stage with beats or a band seemed more difficult to pull off, whereas slam was “just talking”. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Just talking on stage with no help and no music, pouring your heart out - that’s not only like pulling your pants down, it’s like taking every stitch of clothes off, plus your skin, and revealing to everyone the color and size of your intestines.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="300px;" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/vcPgJ0H4ux5DXwBOsb_q8iMx3vo7J6rVxY3L413g7ifZvG5Dy9r781r7OyyL4BDDRssiYubJR-l4u99d8pWb9TWA5OcMAcpN3cFGh7GQEd0JKYN7zT1UUO23eC4phGGhAg" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="600px;" /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Not only were you born with Cystic Fibrosis and all that entails, but you nearly died quite recently, yet you say these are good things? Why is that? What have you learned with your chat with the reaper that you’ve put into your music? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Well first of all I’ve been chatting with the reaper for a long long time. When I was a kid, life expectancy in CF was about 20 years. I was very much not interested in that. I have a song on my last record, “Bleed”, which I may even cover in a completely different way on this record (I like to do that), which in one part goes:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“but I guess it’s not too late to make amends, and maybe we can still be friends… Just as long as you understand I don’t wanna come with you where you’re going”</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The point is, I tried to make a deal with death. I wouldn’t bad mouth him or have a hatred for him, hell I might even stop running from him, but I had no intention of going with him yet. Death seems to have been cool with that agreement so far.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 2013, though, I thought maybe the term of our deal would be up - my lungs tanked hard and I spent six months in and out of hospitals, and quite a few evenings it was not certain I’d make the night. Then I got this double lung transplant and almost as soon as I woke up I realized I had wanted it. I was tired of living with the limitation of bad lungs. I’d done a lot with that - played ice hockey at two colleges, martial arts all my life, 4 sport athlete in high school, and performing all over the country - but I wanted to be better. Now I don’t have a limitation in my lungs. I breathe as well as anyone. Without even practicing for a year, I could do most of the raps on this new record without even trying, whereas before it was a real trick to get through them with any breath.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I could be pissed off that I had the limitation in the first place, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little, but there’s always multiple ways to see something. The Christians say “God works in mysterious ways”, Zen has the story of the father who keeps having things happen and when someone says it’s good or bad he says “maybe”. It’s even becoming a cliche Facebook trend now to say life doesn’t have its own meaning other than what we put on it. It was not fun to have the reaper come and renegotiate our deal, I admit. But now I feel lucky, grateful and frankly, I don’t think I could have learned certain things like how to deal with pain and how to relate beautifully to things and people and what it really means that we aren’t in this alone, without that experience.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Plus now I breathe BETTER than most people and I feel like a badass with a bunch of wicked scars!</span></div>
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<a name='more'></a><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Speaking a bit more about this particular album you mention that there is quite a lot of anger in your music, yet you plan on ending it with a positive note with the title track. Do you think you’ll be using less anger in the future with your work or do you still see it as a good tool for your music? </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I think anger and angst will be so much less a part of my art from now on it’s not even funny. I’m actually worried I’ll get too cheesy. :) I won’t be shying away from darkness or anger, but now there’s such light around me that the character of things is already taking on such a different flavor it’s crazy. I just wrote a new song the other day which is similar to Strong Happy Healthy Free. Just for fun we’re calling it “Livin Is Bling” and the chorus is simple and I hope not cheesy:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“I’m alive I’m alive ready for anything sing it with me if you think that livin is bling!”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">*laugh* I’ve turned into a big dork and I love it.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="300px;" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/3x8JeqVJ-WxJVrQ4e5Bi3-9tBeCFY5ZKVHjKGSdLQje6gp3xshD6_OEF4gt1WsnDMgVVtPMubNY7kYObpap8b3KtbAMEH105PIZN2yh7qNo6MUDt--TXE19zt4kFm2WDVQ" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="600px;" /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is your 4th album? How did you produce the previous three records? Were they all just local pressings or can we find you on iTunes or some other online shop? </span></div>
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<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is my 4th in this vein - I actually do another act called Third Option which is techno/classical/poetry fusion and I have several under that name too. Many of my things are on iTunes and all the other online retailers. Some were even available in brick and morter retail catalogs, although that’s fading fast. “Bleed” (Aaron J. Trumm) is on iTunes, as is most of the Third Option stuff (“Cult Of Nice”, “Still”), and a new Third Option joint, “The Four Hard Edges Of War” will hit the online stores sometime this year.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is the first record I’ve attempted to fund well. All the other stuff I’ve done I’ve MacGyvered together through late night sessions as studios I worked in, doing favors for mentors in studios, building humble home studios and running them at way beyond their capacity, and more recently, when I did my master’s at Stanford, I was REALLY lucky to have access to good studio facilities. That’s probably been my luckiest break. In fact while I was recovering from surgery last year in the Bay Area, I recorded a lot of the tracks that will appear on this record there at Stanford, since I still have access.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">See how beautiful things can get? Why would I focus on being mad about CF when so many blessings keep coming my way? </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You thank a lot of people, many of them strangers at the time, who helped you through not only your medical ordeals but the creation of this album. How much do you think creating this album is a way to give back to everyone who helped you along the way?</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To me this is the hardest but most important question. As far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing worth doing that’s not for other people (it’s for us and it’s for me, too, but not JUST for us).</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When it comes to the medical side, I don’t see how I could ever pay most people back for their generosity really. The only thing to do, I think (other than getting to a place where we could make a financial difference in transplant or CF medicine), is go forward and live well, and keep in touch, letting people know how big a difference their work made. I feel like if I can make them proud and do something great, they’ll feel good, and maybe other people going through medical hassle can be inspired or encouraged. I also thought at some point I might put together something like a book with the idea of empowering people about to go through transplants. Basically, let them know what’s coming, what to expect, and why it doesn’t have to be a bad scary thing. I’d love to be able to make it easier for future transplant patients that way. For me this record is the beginning of a career of making it clear that being happy and strong and free is possible, doable and even easy.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The music side is easier. The bigger we make the record go, the better the funding and the wider the word gets spread, the more we can put into the music community by paying musicians for guest work, hiring studios, etc. Even promotional people and graphic artists and the myriad other creative people that are in the industry all need work, and they all want to be involved in something good and big. So I feel like I owe it to all my past and future collaborators to do things as well as possible, and take it as far as it can go. That’s the other reason I want to raise funding; so I can hire and pay people for their work. I believe in paying people for what they do.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="436px;" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/MCo4RPDrCh7DTB1RlaPznhdRPoBECA4V-6acqtsLUL929Vtct_rqvrVigpC5C-aR47K75jqds67x60ksBZMOl6o3YKJMDj4sVmPhdI2PGib92kU2YCaQY1Mcnj3jELqg5w" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="600px;" /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of the things I look for in any Kickstarter is the budget breakdown. When asking for large sums of money like your $17,000 it is always nice to see where all the money is going and I thank you for giving a basic breakdown of budget items. My only nitpick would be you don’t explain how much of the money is going where, did you think that was an unnecessary detail or did you think your current explanation was enough? Will you be producing only copies purchased through this Kickstarter or will you be doing a full production run of CD’s and the like? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m glad you mentioned this. A couple of us debated a bit about how much detail to put in there. I think transparency is very powerful, but I also struggled with how to keep the page from having TOO much information to wade through.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That said, I certainly didn’t pull the number out of thin air. I have a pretty detailed budget drawn up, and I’m actually perfectly happy to share it. Clearly there’s room for change so it’s not like we can promise this exact money goes here or there, but the basic budget goes like this:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1500 - remaining tracking studio fees</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1000 - remaining musician’s fees</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3500 - mixdown</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1500 - mastering</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2000 - cd manufacturing (including digital distro and graphic layout)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1500 - vinyl manufacturing</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">200 - custom artwork</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">300 - photography</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1000 - mailing costs for prizes</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1500 - promotion</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1000 - misc/unforseen</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You’ll notice that comes to 15000 - the extra 2000 is to cover Kickstarter and Amazon fees.</span></div>
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<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As far as production, we’ll do 1000 cds and 500 vinyl copies, most of which will be given out as prizes. We’ll also do download packages and those of course are unlimited and will be available. The digital product will be distributed to the major digital retailers. Whether we do a second (or third or fourth or fifth) run of CDs (or vinyl) will depend on how well we do with the record. I secretely (not so secret now! :) ) hope that we can get picked up by a bigger label than mine, so some of the decisions and resources are taken off my hands (like manufacturing more CDs and such).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="832px;" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/ESzmcosvUP33Y3_vFKmm2axlFbznRayhv83YovcE_g8etbGEZF20iq9GYMpYOl6uVmR9vjr6-WZnJpiFk58wfk0VmXztEnSEjrdGKlXAsaiE4fRzabZr8hL48a9NW-oMeA" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How did you discover Kickstarter?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Good question. I have no idea! I’m sure I just started hearing about projects since I know so many people who are artists, filmmakers and such. I got really inspired by Amanda Palmer, who raised over a million dollars for her record, and after needing to fundraise for expenses involved in my transplant, I realized how many people are out there that DO want to get involved in things, so I decided we should go for it.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A key part of successful Kickstarters is backer participation and how to convert a potential backer into a full backer. How are you engaging your backers? What kinds of things do you have planned for updates to give notice to those who just hit the “remind me” button and surf on? Interviews? Videos? Stories from the project?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is something I’m always looking for advice about! So far there’s some simple things I’m doing or about to do:</span></div>
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<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">- Have conversations with all of my friends and family, and ask them to be involved by facebooking or giving away cards I made.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">- Make a backer avatar image that backers can use as Kickstarter avatars or profile pics on social media</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> - Many updates via the update page with rough mixes (or even live raw solo performances) of the songs that are trying to make the cut, asking for feedback and giving people a chance to see what the record’s like. I’m giving anybody (not just backers) an opportunity to get involved by shooting us ideas about the songs.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">- As I go around to open mics and various things locally, I’ll probably do some simple video where I ask people to talk to me about the project a little.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">- At the suggestion of a friend, when I post a new song possibility, I’ll say a little about the people that have already recorded tracks for it or helped with it, and a little about the emotional space and intent of the song.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">- If it’s alright with my collaborators, I might send updates with a little blurb about them, how we know each other and what makes them awesome.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">- There’s still some room for more musical contribution, so I’m encouraging musicians to send links to their playing and I’m further encouraging my existing collaborators to spread the word, because if the campaign succeeds, they’ll benefit.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What kind of media attention have you received with your project? How are you spreading the word? Facebook? Twitter? Google+? Youtube? Advertising? Are you using</span><a href="http://www.kicktraq.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kicktraq</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to track your progress? </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m still working on the media attention part! You’re my first interview (so thank you!). I of course have my social media presence and websites so I’ve shared on there (I focus on reverbnation, twitter and facebook), as well as on F.B. groups, google+ groups (where you found me), and I’m asking every one of my Facebook friends if they’d share. A bunch of people have already posted the Kickstarter and said some really nice things that are quite humbling. I am indeed using Kicktraq, although I have to admit, I don’t know yet how to really make use of the data there. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do you have any tips/advice would you give to anyone looking to start a Kickstarter?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m not an expert yet, this is my first campaign, but I have learned some things so far:</span></div>
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<br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">- You only have a limited window after you launch, so it’s best to prepare as much as possible first. For example if you know you’re going to write a press release, get that ready first. Any imagery or videos or audio that you can produce ahead of time, that’s good. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">- The real world is always more compelling than the online world. Go face to face, and if you can, book shows or events during the campaign window and be out there. I made 1000 business cards with a URL and QR Code to hand out.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">- Set up one backer (in my case my mom) who doesn’t put in until the end. That way if you have anybody who doesn’t want to deal with Kickstarter but wants to help by handing you money, you can just gather that up and use it at the end, along with anything you can contribute out of pocket, to make sure your campaign reaches goal.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">- Do not even ask the question of whether you will deliver the prizes. Make SURE the budget WILL deliver the project.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">- Build up as much following beforehand as possible. I think my biggest disadvantage is that because of the health adventure I was off stage and off the scene for a year and a half. I spent 3 months ahead of the campaign trying to make up for that by building up my social media presence as much as possible but it would have been better to be performing for that year. The more presence and following you have already built up the better.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thank you for spending your time with us! Do you have any final thoughts for our readers?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thank you! I think I have two final thoughts.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1 - Hey! Go see my page and spread the word! I couldn’t be more grateful for your help and participation. :)</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2 - Anything is possible! I really do hope for y’all to get Strong Happy Healthy Free! As the chorus in the song chorus goes “I am strong I am happy I am healthy I am free and if you wanna do it to you just say it with me!” </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thanks again and I hope to hear good things from your Kickstarter!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thank you a million for the opportunity and help! </span></div>
James Yeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16637699486755915238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050036035374044240.post-71686159815614336462014-05-14T15:44:00.001-07:002014-05-14T15:44:21.496-07:00The Hollywood Home of Science Fiction<iframe frameborder="0" height="480" scrolling="no" src="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/newstarship/hollywood-sci-fi-science-fiction-museum/widget/video.html" width="640"> </iframe><br />
<br />
<b id="docs-internal-guid-d122c2bc-fce7-871a-d9a6-805f1c39aec2" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Welcome back to the Conversation! Today I am once again joined by Huston Huddleston who has returned to both Kickstarter and the Conversation to talk about his proposed </span><a href="http://kck.st/RmobbR" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hollywood Sci-Fi Museum</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Thanks for coming back Huston! </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Absolute pleasure and glad I’m actually alive and here to talk about something that’s so meaningful to me, and to others.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When </span><a href="http://www.kickstarter-conversations.com/2012/10/star-trek-bridge-restoration-project.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">last we spoke</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> it was October of 2012 and you had raised an impressive $68,611 dollars to restore the Enterprise D’s bridge. What have you been doing since then and how has that restoration project gone? </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A lot and all over the place. The 68k we raised was only ¼ of the money we needed to restore the entire bridge, but more importantly, our original plan of touring the bridge to other museums proved not legally possible by the rights owner of Star Trek. Which (as we say in our video) left us with very few options, and not enough money, and no big companies really caring about our “Bridge Restoration”. So after taking the chairs and computers of our Bridge to 22 conventions around the USA, we had to create a new plan, creating our OWN Science Fiction Museum in the heart of Hollywood.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="592px;" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/8iqFaB009RlgqwTde5ThjEf_l-eidlB2Oq4HZYqJldpaVJXswCmekOkh5g6z0xpoU6DC_pFRglKo3klEkeI7g64F0n6a9hEgpsAaoma4KO17xnj1BbhlFTbpjPPacXVYSA" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After all of that you’ve returned to Kickstarter to create a Sci-Fi Museum in Hollywood. Which begs the question, why isn’t there already a science fiction museum in Hollywood? </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A lot of reasons. We have a board of directors that is made up of Hollywood and sci-fi geniuses, Ronald D. Moore, Rick Sternbach, Andrew Probert, David Gerrold to name a few, and we learned from them, and from their experiences with Star Trek The Experience in Las Vegas among others. There is no bigger way to fail in this day and age than creating a static museum of memorabilia that has no interactivity. Hollywood has tried numerous times throughout the years and always failed. Our Hollywood Sci Fi Museum is nonprofit and interactive AND educational, teaching real space and science through science fiction. That’s the unique part, and studios love what we’re doing because science fiction is the most successful genre in films.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now this campaign isn’t for the full sized museum we see in the CG images, but for a smaller test museum is that correct? What can we expect in this smaller 2015 museum? </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Some of the CG images ARE accurate to our 2015 museum, it all depends on the size of the building we get. We’re looking at between 20,000 to 30,000 square feet which is comparable to most museums in Hollywood, including Ripley’s and Hollywood Wax Museum, just not anywhere near as huge as our 2018 proposed museum. Our 2015 will still be big and include our Enterprise-D Bridge, Original Series Bridge, smaller versions of the Hall of Cars, Hall of Robots, Battlestar Galactica room, Star Wars room, Special Effects room, Doctor Who TARDIS and console and Firefly Cockpit. There may be more, but that’s all we can say right now with any certainty.</span></div>
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<h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 24pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="349px;" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/NwzLSxvvAZ5HVbzZr2hcmExZO2am7X_4uIQLqjnELbLhDtkin9TFffF0cjc_EjtvoaWqTtVZu_DdswxYsGYQOA6VNEAxMD_ecGxPKM7G7ZB03pliFS4ix0BkTVTetjxHYg" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">From </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grant_Imahara" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Grant Imahara</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobak_Ferdowsi" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bobak Ferdowsi</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> talking about the halls of robots to all the donated and loaned props and images you have quite a bit of star power involved with this project. Did you get all these folks involved all through your good looks and charisma or do you think there is an untapped demand and desire for this kind of project? </span></h1>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They help because this museum is something everyone wants, it’s like Disneyland for nerds. Edward James Olmos has agreed to do our Battlestar Galactica video, and I’m hoping Buzz Aldrin will do our Hall of Spaceships video, among other stars speaking about other rooms. I haven’t met one actor or producer who did not want this to happen or want to help.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How important to you was it to include the science along with the science fiction? Not just the science of special effects and filmmaking but the actual science that was created as a result of science fiction? </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Real science and STEM based education is the heart of what we’re doing. Making it fun and drawing people in through worlds they already love has never been done before. That’s not to say it’s for everyone, personally I’m horrible at Math, but if I’d had something like this to go to when I was younger, I might have been great at it!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="351px;" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/UF3fOM_PeQ2JpQToJDlVcKEyFaWLqVK18pVLHKm0_lV2UtzMXctfGbDTifMiCPlGHSaWLPlnaPWx3zjHn9IxSqcVGjU6WWiGq5AsPfKOBvF8bWWMzKZnLpdKOdrN7ouP2g" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Have you reached out beyond just us NASA guys and into the general </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maker_culture" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Maker </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">community as well not only for Kickstarter backing, but for construction, design, and artistic talent? </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Maker no, but NASA Houston invited me there in February, I had a meeting with 7 of the top decision makers, who were all enthralled by our take on education. We’re reaching to a market that is untapped and NASA scientists don’t do what we do, and vice versa, which makes it a perfect marriage. Partnership is a long process, but so far so good. I would love more people to be involved, that’s just not my world of expertise. BUT we will probably be making an announcement in the coming week about someone from NASA joining our board of directors!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="555px;" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/51AdpluIRWxeUQcMGUSz7miAwuqIaNfdD8htNV3wvpFw0a6aV4yMbkajzqHclL6Oi6gacS-kgGURSNQmONW4hKEbusXcbEH2wQXofNTazRRjrmjPDhLyrETyJIbm5hmdJQ" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of the things I look for in Kickstarter projects is a budget breakdown. These simple business tools help inform potential backers that there is an actual plan for the funding raised during the campaign. It is good to see your campaign has included a detailed breakdown, how important to you was sharing this budget breakdown with the community? </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s the only way to show the legitimacy of a project. We have </span><a href="http://rhetroactive.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rhetroactive </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">helping us, and they made the </span><a href="http://www.grammymuseum.org/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Grammy Museum</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and the original </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Experience" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Star Trek Experience Vegas</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, so I definitely trust their numbers. The $82,300 specifically pays for the development materials we need to get the big money to finish the museum and hire full time fundraising experts, it’s unfortunately the only way.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What did you learn from your previous Kickstarter experience that you’ve brought to this campaign? </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I learned that fans are passionate, that no two Kickstarters are the same, not to promise things that will take too long to deliver and to be VERY specific in your goals and promises.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">With the amount of star power and mainstream press attention you received last time and I’m sure you’ll recieve this time around I have to honestly wonder, why are you talking to small time blogger like me? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wait, I thought you were a big time blogger… TAXI! Honestly, I don’t see things in that way.</span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/-jGB735NkEE" width="640"></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">{Laughs} Do you have any tips/advice would you give to anyone looking to start a Kickstarter?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Don’t make the amount too high, involve as many famous people as you can, hire a PR person to get you in the news, get the blog sites and communities involved and get a good staff you can trust.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thank you for spending your time with us! Do you have any final thoughts for our readers?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Only that if you want our Hollywood Sci Fi Museum to happen, tell your friends about us, retweet about us, because every single dollar and retweet helps.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thanks again and I hope to hear good things from your Kickstarter!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Me too!</span></div>
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James Yeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16637699486755915238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050036035374044240.post-38721745650984414672014-05-13T06:17:00.002-07:002014-05-13T06:17:33.616-07:00Buckle My Swash it's The Queen's Cavaliers! <div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img alt="Photo-main" height="468px;" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/A_w3Pna6-YIaOllIUYUXLDFH9KlZ8ZzbF_W1KOEVdCyF2VHDjk98EE-djt-6oZdnhW5ZqX65FlSREntXr6E9ixLE_lV37wiDthjEHfoZRca7kzxYnMk11GT0xuIs59T1Sw" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Welcome back to the Conversation! Today I am joined by Caoimhe Ora Snow who is joining us to talk to us about her “Baroque, Clockpunk Tabletop Fantasy Roleplaying Game”</span><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/caoimhe/the-queens-cavaliers-rpg" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The Queen’s Cavaliers</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Thank you for joining us today Caoimhe. </span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-a2a171c7-f5ba-afaa-e884-c279237fad36" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hi, thanks James! I’m Caoimhe -- that’s pronounced “Keeva,” it’s Gaelic -- and I’ve been playing and running roleplaying games for years, ever since I was around 11 years old. So that was like 35 years ago. Egads! I’m getting old.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now with a tagline of “Go for </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baroque" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Baroque</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” I have to imagine your game has something to do with the 1600’s. Would you care to tell us about The Queen’s Cavaliers? </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yes indeed! The Queen’s Cavaliers is set in an alternate version of the 17th Century, in a France analogue; as a Cavalier, you are a brave (or foolhardy) swashbuckler who fights for glory, pride, and the honor of the Queen!</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of the goals we had for the background of The Queen’s Cavaliers was to be explicitly more inclusive than either the real world or the works of Alexandre Dumas. While there were a few people of color and women among historical swordfighters of the era, we wanted something more diverse than a few scattered examples here and here -- we want diverse characters to be the rule, not the exception.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Well you seem to have struck a chord with the community as you’ve already blown past your $4,000 goal, well done! Do you think the theme and recent increased popularity in shows like</span><a href="http://www.bbcamerica.com/musketeers/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The Musketeers</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> has helped your cause? </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Oh, I love that show -- especially that they chose to make Porthos a mixed-raced black man as an homage to Dumas, who was himself a mixed-race black man.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Certainly the BBC’s show and other media haven’t hurt the demand for good swashbuckling games. I think there’s something awesome about not just the swordfighting but also the general look and attitude that draws us to a Musketeer style of entertainment.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="813px;" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/goKeihv6GI5rksnnpi1D2WOubJi0-wZvVKXHyv48ThcSsCCg_1g0qjEEu2RmOobMO66CBO8NxpYuNDo91Oz8RZjqBK7YajXQENDuIhvjZ4sI0sU9JpuSyeH9aRFPb2sqqQ" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lets get a bit into the nuts and bolts here, you’re using a dice pool based system for TQC, what advantage does this mechanic give your system versus more all purpose game systems like </span><a href="http://www.fatethegame.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">FATE </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and </span><a href="http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">GURPS</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">? </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">TQC’s system is built specifically to address the type of action you see in swashbuckling movies. It’s not a fencing simulator -- there are good examples of those already in RPGs, card games, and so on -- but one that takes a broader look at swordfighting exchanges and tries to capture the back and forth rhythm of a handful of heroes taking on a score of guardsmen and then their skilled captain.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rolls in TQC are made as opposed dice pools, where you add together the highest rolls in your pool (similar, but not identical, to Cortex Plus) and compare them with your opponent’s results. The winner then earns style points which can be spent on a “menu” to purchase results, such as disarming your foe, gaining an advantage in combat, or just stabbing someone.</span></div>
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<a name='more'></a><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The dual class character concepts sound like a fun way of creating colorful and interesting characters. Are you limited to only two classes? What are some of your favorite combinations? </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yeah, you’re limited to two classes, although your classes aren’t straitjackets -- your character can grow and evolve along whatever direction you like when you spend experience. You’re not stuck with your original abilities from your classes, although they give you a firm foundation for your concept.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When we looked at the source material -- primarily The Three Musketeers -- and how it was portrayed in media, we found that the characters were never just a shallow “I’m a swordfighter.” Each of them could be broken down into two parts -- such that d’Artagnan was a musketeer/provincial, Aramis a failed priest/musketeer, Athos a musketeer/nobleman, and Porthos usually portrayed as a heavy/musketeer. This led to a two-class system.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now, you don’t need to have a class-based system of any kind to build characters like that -- you could just do it all in a class-based system with free selection of skills. But I think the use of a dual-class setup helps guide players toward characters which fit organically into the setting and the themes most appropriate for the kind of stories we’re looking to tell with this game.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That said, TQC will also include rules for playing the game classlessly, plus rules for creating your own custom classes.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Some of my favorite class combinations include the duelist/virtuosa -- which can give you a character like the historical Mademoiselle Maupin, a 17th Century swordfighting actress -- and the chirurgeon/witch for all your medical and midwifery needs. Totally important during a swordfight!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="873px;" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/dJdY2a3WfCLqI5AsstofscuQWoGNAdFp1U_ecJdFfeakZIritiLXwjmYGip_lX0mvY505uhG6FXVhm-QxPO9oZFGVp9B9YA3LA-FhGCcVJs_TEUIVFId1PD1ZURruE_LJQ" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have to say the example artwork in the campaign is very striking and thematic, how did you come across Joanne Renaud and Nathan McCoy? Who’s idea was it to use the acrylic washes and glazes style? </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thanks! I met Joanne via Twitter originally, and we’ve become close friends since. I was drawn to her artwork specifically because it doesn’t look like the typical RPG art you see in most games -- she comes from a historical romance background, both as an artist and a writer, and it pays off when you see how much inspiration her art draws from actual period works of gowns, clothing, and other costumes.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As for the style, that’s just the way Joanne works. She told me, that she “wanted a really old world and painterly romantic look.” Also Joanne adds that she used to read Dragon Magazine religiously back in the ‘80s -- she’s no stranger to the gaming world, having played D&D and Vampire.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I met Nate McCoy at Game Empire Pasadena, and I’ve played D&D, 13th Age, and The Queen’s Cavaliers with him. The kickstarter doesn’t currently showcase his artwork, but you’ll be seeing his work in the future!</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I always look for a budget breakdown when contemplating backing a project because it shows there is a plan in place for the funds, and I see you have a nice and simple description of your budget. How important was it to you to include this in your campaign? Will you be printing only enough copies of TQC to fulfill the campaign orders or will you be doing a full print run to create a supply? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I think it’s essential to give a sense of why you want money for a kickstarter and what you’re going to spend it on, otherwise your backers just know that you want their funding and it becomes much more like a pre-order system.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That said, it’s really close to impossible to budget accurately based on the way kickstarter works, so everything has to be an estimate. We don’t know before we launch how many people will want a PDF, a softcover, or a hardcover, so there’s no way to apportion the funds with any sort of rigidity. If literally everyone had wanted PDF, for example, we’d have no printing and shipping costs -- but if everyone had wanted a print copy, we’d have much higher printing and shipping costs.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So we are being flexible in how we approach and recalculating our budgets on the fly -- right now we have about a third of our backers wanting PDFs, a third wanting softcover, and a little less than a third wanting hardcover. (There are also some backers who are just in for $1.)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our primary goal with printing is to fulfill the campaign orders first, and then depending on how that goes we’ll probably be printing up extra books for sale once our backers are seen to.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="897px;" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/ZwM2o8AjDwFUNHxGiyqxDtDRdAdwZ3vtpxWTqo3eUfKNJDRtpRs1PCnluyp2vXDtJ_G7gDUl4zbXBJxTamF4p_wau6rcwHdOBnkUY8XOF1wY92ssuu9kHIsU33r2lUNYHA" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How complete would you say TQC is at this point? Is it all just editing and awaiting completed artwork? </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’d love to say that we’re 100% complete except for editing and artwork, but that’s not true yet. There’s still writing going on -- which I put on hold for the kickstarter, since it’s near impossible to create content and run a kickstarter campaign at the same -- and we’re also being responsive to our backers to hear what they have to say.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">With a pledge of $1 or more, our backers get access to the playtest materials we’ve been using for the last year and a half, and this is our first time distributing them to a wide audience -- so it helps to know what works and doesn’t work, which will then influence the shape of the final manuscript.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How did you discover Kickstarter?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Oh, gosh, I don’t even remember. Let me go look on the kickstarter site and see what the first thing I funded was …</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Aha! It was Ben Gerber’s delightful little “Argyle and Crew” game, which sadly did not get funded. The first successfully funded kickstarter I backed was for Christopher West’s wonderful starship maps.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="801px;" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/2DzVbSpDUwvuQ4u3diduY_NB-POljg7pDhMcge35JOki7695OGtWZXDubEmNnmCtxFXEe5TtCjUL0FVeDmZ6tDOYm2V5RNO4E6cqVXir_B4K-kF8uxxcPiVRJtXUu278Aw" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A key part of successful Kickstarters is backer participation and how to convert a potential backer into a full backer. How are you engaging your backers? What kinds of things do you have planned for updates to give notice to those who just hit the “remind me” button and surf on? Interviews? Videos? Stories from the project?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m not so great at videos but much better at interviews, so we’re going to be talking to anyone who would want to hear from us. We’ve got the playtest for $1 to allow anyone to test us out and learn more, and we’re hoping to see those backers decide to move up to a higher tier.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What kind of media attention have you received with your project? How are you spreading the word? Facebook? Twitter? Google+? Youtube? Advertising? Are you using</span><a href="http://www.kicktraq.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kicktraq</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to track your progress? </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We’re going grass-roots with our outreach -- we’ve had a Facebook presence for over a year. Joanne is dealing with Twitter, I’m handling Google+, and we also are active on roleplaying game forums including RPG.net. At least 25% of our backers came to us via RPG.net, and another 10% from Facebook.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kicktraq is always kind of interesting -- when we had only a day or two’s data to extrapolate from, it kept telling me we’d end up with something like $200,000! Now that we’ve got further into the campaign it’s actually more useful.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="895px;" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/NEG6xOkjenkeSs2WwwdDLtD9jVPUBY2EVKraZ6Gv3_kff8gpCjh2fJmpdljy1DUzqdXsLtc0bXbizypHiV844kALOWIgb_UKj1iLJOaCYv1egTi06qKQNTjAUtX2nQZcIA" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do you have any tips/advice would you give to anyone looking to start a Kickstarter?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do your homework, and build a foundation. Let people know what you’re doing and get them involved in the process. Share around the preview of your kickstarter project and get feedback from anyone you can. Oh, and don’t overburden your project with crazy stuff like hoodies!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thank you for spending your time with us! Do you have any final thoughts for our readers?</span></div>
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<br /><br />James Yeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16637699486755915238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050036035374044240.post-43986141839210944002014-05-12T06:30:00.000-07:002014-05-12T06:30:00.626-07:00In Space No One Can Hear You Roll Dice... <iframe frameborder="0" height="480" scrolling="no" src="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/186293494/outbreak-deep-space-a-sci-fi-survival-horror-rpg/widget/video.html" width="640"> </iframe><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.15; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Welcome back to the Conversation! Today we look into the darkness of space with Ivan Norman from </span><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/186293494/outbreak-deep-space-a-sci-fi-survival-horror-rpg/creator_bio" style="line-height: 1.15; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hunters Books</span></a><span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.15; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Thank you for joining us today Ivan! </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hey man! Yeah thanks for inviting me! I’m happy you got a chance to look at what we’re doing...</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Your project</span><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/186293494/outbreak-deep-space-a-sci-fi-survival-horror-rpg" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Outbreak: Deep Space</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> just begs the use of the quote, “In space, no one can hear you scream.” Would you be so kind as to describe what Outbreak is and why my readers should be interested? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Absolutely, Outbreak: Deep Space is the first stand alone successor to Outbreak: Undead and allows you to explore the horrors of Sci-Fi Survival horror using a unique system that favors all the great elements that come with the genre. Scarcity, Confusion, Overwhelming odds, and the knowledge that Terror could be around every corner.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="445px;" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-6K2NfYJa8GU1jYZgytB_vJFJF5BdMkPBOFmq_E4wgI7_KLrp1Y9uvW3eTot51VcOXaWdexKh3nVBAxbY6TlJAVDBFb9oQ-_e0K_rUFNcp8tUqUHM9hJUZyYRfNG0nnqNQ" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How does Outbreak: Deep Space relate to your previous project Outbreak: Undead? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Outbreak: Undead was the Zombie Survival Simulation RPG that we put together back in 2010 and has gone to win several awards and really establish itself in the genre as the best way to play the Realism and Reality route of the Zombie Genre. We like to say it’s the “best way for you to SAFELY simulate any kind of zombie Apocalypse Scenario, under any circumstances you want, with any kind of Zombies that you want, to the degree of realism that we provide you with a 40 Q personality test that allows you to play YOURSELF as a character.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Most people don’t make it, it’s a lot of fun. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What does the Outbreak series bring to roleplaying in this genre that I couldn’t get with a more universal gaming system like </span><a href="http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">GURPS </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">or </span><a href="http://www.fatethegame.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">FATE</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">GURPS and FATE are amazing systems, especially FATE with its capacity for storytelling. I think what Hunters bring to the genre that is unique is we love to do our research about the areas that we write for, and really enjoy getting into the gritty realism elements of the genre. For Outbreak: Undead we had consultants from every area from Search and Rescue, Medical, Fire/Police department, Special Forces training, etc. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We also incorporate elements like “Panic” and “Pain”, and utilize a unique Stronghold System which is a staple of the Outbreak series.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our goal is to absorb so much information that it enables us to build something that is essentially a ‘Tool box’ to allow our players to build their own worlds in. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For Example, In Outbreak: Deep Space there are rules for:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Infestation Terror - </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A campaign of Biological Infestation opponents using ‘Viral’ elements, aka “Zombies in space”.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Invasion Terror - </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A campaign where your players are attacked by sentient creatures, be they human or alien. They are often devoid of “Viral” but utilize many various “Horror Traits”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Trans Dimensional Terror - </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A campaign where your players are under siege from terrors from beyond our mortal comprehension. Replacing the Viral mechanic with 'Sanity Loss'. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our main goal isn’t to tell you HOW or WHAT to play, but provide you with all the material in which to run the terror that YOU want to impose on your players.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="445px;" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/i2Go2AUbV7NkBRKlnyUPT2qBfM8kmQZ4KassqVKssPz1L7UPAXASvxbUXv7rmhODhcN4OHIKHt6YF7jh5wFRjn-yxESLJSGIbZ5-SxcpxoKLO_K4EQQzomGrW50oyWpKAw" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Outbreak: Deep Space was released before as a module and is still available from </span><a href="http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Drive Thru RPG</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> as a PDF. What made you want to turn it into a full stand alone product and how are those who bought into your system before being rewarded for their loyalty? </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In all sincerity, after releasing Outbreak: Deep Space as a Module we had A LOT of feedback from our players who loved it, but felt like it wasn’t enough. In reality the game from the beginning really deserved it’s own book, but we weren't in a place to print it yet (especially in Color, which we felt was VERY important to the Layout) . </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We have made it very clear that if you’ve BOUGHT the PDF on DTRPG, we WILL be updating it so that you get the new Version of Outbreak: Deep Space for FREE, we will not double charge! That would be Crap! In fact, most likely we’ll end up throwing a few new goodies in there anyway for the people who have stuck with us from the beginning. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As previously published game creators you’ve proven you can release a product which is always a great way of mollifying potential backers. Another thing I look for in a Kickstarter is a definitive budget breakdown explaining where the funds are expected to go. Your campaign page mentions the money is pretty much just being used for fulfillment as development of the game is 99% complete, yet it doesn’t go into much more detail. Is that because the funds will be used for a fixed number full print run and not a variable number based on how many are actually ordered? Will these excess copies be used as stock for future convention and store sales? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The goal set by the kickstarter is based on a quote we have from our printer that is minimum they are willing to do to make it even AFFORDABLE to the general public. Our goal is to obviously print as many as we can, while still not over printing and having excessive stock. The idea is if we continue to meet new goals, we’ll be able to meet the demand for Convention and Store sales. Also i’m sure you are aware, that Kickstarter is just as much of a opportunity to meet new gamers as well as make new games!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="917px;" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/hyInOtCIo4SprdkKhu3LmbSLaHoEDbObtvmxBZp18bs1WcR-0qbXYdNvKYEcrf_tUkRMKhYbqUwXM1atUSzZZdYPbA_nq1G_EFiMV7o0FBdmOJ1ZZin4gUFmah6ZQie2hA" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How did you discover Kickstarter?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We are all Long Time Backers, and we’ve been supporting game projects for years. I don’t even remember the point of discovery, but we make a huge effort to be a part of what is ‘new and cool’ and help people realize their dreams and passions. We didn’t start our company with Crowdfunding back in 2010 because 1. It was still so new, and 2. because we felt traditional investment would make us more accountable for our product. Having investors REALLY changes how you do production/marketing/fulfillment because you have to pay that back. It’s very different than having COH (cash on hand) everywhere and not necessarily the same amount of risk in spending it.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A key part of successful Kickstarters is backer participation and how to convert a potential backer into a full backer. How are you engaging your backers? What kinds of things do you have planned for updates to give notice to those who just hit the “remind me” button and surf on? Interviews? Videos? Stories from the project?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Absolutely! Since this is the Companies first Kickstarter, we are discovering a lot of what our Backers want, and doing our best to fulfill them. We are already in the process of making some cool KS avatars, as well as talking about media ideas as part of our updates to engage our backers in a story to get them excited to play the game!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Not to mention all the new information we have about Outbreak: Undead 2nd Edition that everyone wants to know about!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="445px;" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/CMxmgbPPnBWcxP5ZpoG9GWDUBB7dKvNRWEhL77HlXtduqYy3UutFfMaKvw8n8vp35yb2ehQgUHvCGCdG-N6cfTUVfLgaaNgFX5ZsLXpJWF6ONThonvhLCl1tFNnpEAsJFw" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What kind of media attention have you received with your project? How are you spreading the word? Facebook? Twitter? Google+? Youtube? Advertising? Are you using</span><a href="http://www.kicktraq.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kicktraq</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to track your progress? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We have a really amazing Facebook Following as well as a strong network of friends in the gaming world who are going to bat for us on their various social networks. We recently got some attention from the Zombie Research Society, as well as Geek & Sundry based on our Twitter Account, and HELL YES we are using Kicktraq to keep things moving!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We’ve been doing some advertising with targeted banners among the game blogs, but as of this week we’ll be exploring new ways to do Outreach :)</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do you have any tips/advice would you give to anyone looking to start a Kickstarter?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do your research! Especially when it comes to your video. I can’t tell you how many drafts we threw out before settling on the ‘moving art with titles’ scenario.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We even did some VO for a while, and it felt forced. You want to convey the Purpose, Message, and Need of your project in a VERY short amount of time. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Be transparent! The best you can do is communicate what you are doing with Visuals as much as you possibly can. We have SO many cool projects out there, only the ones that make an effort to ‘shine’ will able to pierce the clouds the best.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thank you for spending your time with us! Do you have any final thoughts for our readers?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thank you! It’s been a pleasure... Honestly I just want to say we really appreciate you taking the time to consider us. We love making games and thankfully we’ve been able to do that for four (4) years now. With this project and your help we’ll be able to continue doing so! We understand that you are investing into a company as much as a product, and I feel it’s important for our backers to know WHO we are just as much as WHAT we make. We are a three (3) man team that consists of a Designer, Marketer, and Editor, we all went to college together, and we all play games together.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thanks again and I hope to hear good things from your Kickstarter!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Same! Thanks for helping spread the word! Take care… Prepare!</span></div>
James Yeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16637699486755915238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050036035374044240.post-69207349744230944422014-05-05T07:30:00.003-07:002014-05-05T07:30:52.633-07:00Useful Solar Power for Everyone<iframe frameborder="0" height="480" scrolling="no" src="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/haztan/sunjack-solar-charger-portable-energy-independence/widget/video.html" width="640"> </iframe><br />
<br />
<b id="docs-internal-guid-8164f29a-ccca-dd11-6b6b-76e3af1ef6b6" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Welcome back to the Conversation! Today I am pleased to be joined by Harold Tan who is here to talk to us about his invention the </span><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/haztan/sunjack-solar-charger-portable-energy-independence" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">SunJack® Solar Charger</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Thank you for joining us today Harold. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thanks for having me!</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">SunJack at first just looks like another portable solar panel USB charging system like I’ve seen at </span><a href="http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/13c9/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ThinkGeek </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">for years. What makes SunJack different and why should people take notice? </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Solar panels have been around for years - and are not certainly not new. The difference that we bring to the table is the amount of power you get out of our panels. The ThinkGeek solar charger is only 2.5 Watts, and our solar panels are 14 and 20 Watts. “Watt” does this mean? If you look at a standard Apple wall charger (http://store.apple.com/us/iphone/iphone-accessories/power), you'll see that the small plug is 5 Watts, and the large plug is 12 Watts. The 2.5 Watt panel would take twice as long to charge an iPhone as a standard 5 Watt wall plug, and would have no hope of charging an iPad in any reasonable time. Many solar chargers on the market are gimmicks and toys - they would take an unreasonably long time to charge your mobile device (especially if it isn’t in direct sun). The SunJack has so much power, than even if conditions aren’t optimal, it’ll continue to charge. People should take notice of our charger, because if they really want their devices powered, “size matters”.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img alt="Power all your adventures with up to 20 Watts of solar - SIZE MATTERS!" height="407px;" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/APf9cQ7TuFV8PAtL9FQ6P7KOMbqicdOi38b_LCZvmlexzzWyOl9YISGbRCA0U1cCJdkK6JyPZQRfEU-x8eZl-IrlpXXr2yDVIeQmfyr0J0X2XwtHkXLlIzorJtWuIQs-Bg" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Most of my experience with solar panels are in non-terrestrial uses, how are you seeing folks using your beta versions of these panels? What are some of the most interesting uses you’ve heard of? Will I be able to trickle charge larger batteries like my car or motorcycle with them? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Interesting! I’d love to hear (and learn more about) your non-terrestrial uses! </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our most common sociographics are:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">* Camping</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">* Disaster Prep</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">* Travelling</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of the most interesting uses I’ve heard is with trickle charging, which segways nicely into our next question - whether you can trickle charger larger batteries. It’s an interesting concept, kinda like a lightweight fighting in a middleweight division.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Currently the SunJack is optimized for USB charging, however we are working on a model which will be able to trickle charge via a 12V output. So no, a car or motorcycle battery can’t be trickle charged right now. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What made you create the SunJack? </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Multiple reasons. The most prevailing one is my interest with the nature of energy. Secondarily for humanitarian purposes. Thirdly for first-world convenience.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img alt="SunJack 14W (top) and 20W (bottom) next to an iPhone 5S" height="420px;" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/yIjYN1Gzh_dIUpqhx4ndIX1Ey7l06IDRw8IJ0Ws18Wq6igt1hkYIafeQvp4ALh3SswiNkMKR8gJ9PEvGuuda0rIEEcaLrLIIQ7w2F80crH1165ABvPNNDfBKxcEoGqDdDg" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How did you and Greg Cooper come up with trying to help Papua New Guinea with the SunJack? Just how will it help those people as I doubt they have a lot of iPhones over there? Do you hope to expand your outreach beyond Papua New Guinea? </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hahaha, yes certainly the use-case in Papua New Guinea and other third-world countries is beyond the purpose of powering iPhones. Energy (in non-electrified areas) can be the difference between life and death. We currently take electricity for guaranteed, but try living without it and you’ll understand how difficult life can be. There are several critical benefits from electronics including communication, education, and longevity. We’ve gotten a lot of interest from Sub-Saharan Africa, and are looking for the right partner there.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here’s an example of our lighting solution:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img alt="https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/001/944/431/7a570e7cc40a088cc4b4a22430f1dfb5_large.jpg?1398813841" height="771px;" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/2j8EBqfsaMjBCVP5jcqmiJFk0F8UNn1FBXY3GGYIJsmAlLuXXmhKMGdtpP3KGRtw-YemEtIljUQoOBtKyN0-htB1EfrXUJZlpbg0FKnZpaMur7G6VsqQP-LYG0U9LhFxJw" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of the first things I look for in any Kickstarter project is the budget breakdown. With </span><a href="http://www.polygon.com/2014/5/2/5675834/washington-sues-card-game-developer-for-failing-to-deliver-on" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">lawsuits </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">starting to fly and more and more people coming to the Kickstarter scene the savvy backer is looking for more assurances that there’s a full plan for these funds in place. Why do you not include a budget breakdown? What are the $33,000 going to be used for? Are you going to produce only as many SunJacks as are ordered in during the campaign or are you going for a full production run of some number of units? </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Great question! Good thing we are solar professionals that have been in the business since 2006 (lookup </span><a href="http://www.gogreensolar.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">GoGreenSolar.com</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">). 99% of the R&D has already invested, so all that risk is removed. There isn’t much of a budget breakdown because all the budget is simply going toward a full production run of at least 300 units. Distributors will likely contribute a significant percentage of units. But it is a good point to note, and I will include a budget breakdown that Kickstarter supporters are used to seeing.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img alt="SunJack 14W with 2 proprietary USB ports and removable battery (blue lights indicate current battery capacity)." height="448px;" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/pelINTwmWFrm-LUaqCj-Qu5Cm-fu7EURR_4SCyClHww-qrbz7knzSNLTwspNH25Z2pGt1qNIOQQk-3tmleaL7L0kZlVdHFAYrAMLRnelIScHrRDcrp23Wcq1wYcIGEWK0Q" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How did you discover Kickstarter?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Through my Brewery neighbor Jesse Genet. She’s really talented - ran two successful kickstarters for </span><a href="http://lumi.co/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lumi Co</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (a new method of leather printing). Thank you Jesse!</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A key part of successful Kickstarters is backer participation and how to convert a potential backer into a full backer. How are you engaging your backers? What kinds of things do you have planned for updates to give notice to those who just hit the “remind me” button and surf on? Interviews? Videos? Stories from the project?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hahaha I’m not quite sure yet. I’m trying everything. We recently seemed to hit a tipping point, and I’m still deciphering what the root of it is. Seems to be a synergistic effect of multiple things.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ultimately, I just try to be true and transparent. Those who resonate will do so, and those who we aren’t the best fit for will move on to a better match (which is great!)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img alt="SunJack® at Coachella Music Festival" height="468px;" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/0DjaZgZwiq4NcqBNZtjJQEPW8aHsDPWgmn_E14rmqXjUAcAb05nCZygVbf1RDC5Sve6Cn4z7wHzzgrU4181mPwg3Krflkv6rnelcGxeXf3AwIGzv_f-S-eO06fCIuMTsrw" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What kind of media attention have you received with your project? How are you spreading the word? Facebook? Twitter? Google+? Youtube? Advertising? Are you using</span><a href="http://www.kicktraq.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kicktraq</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to track your progress? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We currently have three main initiatives to spread the word:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1. </span><a href="http://www.crowdfundmafia.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">CrowdFundingMafia</span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2. </span><a href="http://www.thecrowdfundboutique.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">CrowdFundBoutique</span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3. Sierra + Intern (In house-team)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our main two media coverages have been </span><a href="http://www.treehugger.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">TreeHugger.com</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><a href="https://www.engineeringforchange.org/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">EngineeringForChange.org</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, which have both been cultivated by the in-house team. The other two have not yet produced any results. All three have all channels of marketing at their disposal. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We use KickTraq more for “competitor analysis” than to track our own stats. We have our own tools for that (tracking our own stats).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do you have any tips/advice would you give to anyone looking to start a Kickstarter?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yes - talk to me.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img alt="SunJack® on car dashboard powering an iPad" height="468px;" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/1r1gxW_7ztTu8LJMs5B1edW9NEHj1w5PBsij_CbSioN1c347o3LlNAh1Obt5Iq2XD-Y2YtoZjQlwvg8mF8TR9ezQcv7Sxrcjfa_HCiPCEz3ONujyANB5ZgZ-Ehpz6SA0OA" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thank you for spending your time with us! Do you have any final thoughts for our readers?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yes - consider what it means to be energy independent. I’m not talking just about electricity or charging your devices, but what it means to consume energy from the external environment. Examine and understand the difference between energy consumption and energy creation. Join the “light” side - create energy.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thanks again and I hope to hear good things from your Kickstarter!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You’ve asked some great questions - thank you for your depth. No hope needed, you just heard some great things from our Kickstarter ;)</span></div>
<br />James Yeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16637699486755915238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050036035374044240.post-61511138082423843592014-04-06T17:19:00.003-07:002014-04-06T17:19:35.225-07:00Sci-Fi Radio Drama from Down Under<iframe frameborder="0" height="480" scrolling="no" src="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/labcoatman/night-terrace/widget/video.html" width="640"> </iframe><br />
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Welcome back to the Conversation! Today I am joined by Ben McKenzie to talk to us about an interesting project from down under </span><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/labcoatman/night-terrace" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Night Terrace</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Thank you for joining us today Ben! </span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-0fcec202-398d-7961-c39f-4ba56ea3100e" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It's a pleasure to be here! Thanks for having me, James.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After watching your Kickstarter video it is obvious you’re a fun loving bunch of chaps, one might even call you a bunch of </span><a href="http://splendidchaps.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Splendid Chaps</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Would you be so kind as to give us an overview of Night Terrace? </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Of course! Night Terrace is a an eight-part audio series - like a radio serial, but you'll purchase and download the whole thing in one go, like a Netflix show. It's a sci-fi comedy about a scientist who used to save the world for a secretive government agency, but now wants to retire to the suburbs. It was all going well - until her house mysteriously starts travelling through time and space! Now she's stuck having adventures with a guy who was trying to sell her an electricity plan on her doorstep at the time, and they also keep encountering a strange woman known only as "Sue"...and all the while trying to figure out how to get home.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It grew out of our live podcast about </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Doctor Who</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Splendid Chaps</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. The team really wanted to work together on something new, using the skills we had.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><img height="99px;" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/6GbaJ3fN15z_VDBQqMQLI6vxFvUOEI4uFFeH-ot__jkO2vKU3y_tKRNu45Y4roGTBsXMc7D1n-qDH4wqssWQN2Ddi97lekZdJlPi8-B8aZ6pGqvmxXq4bq0WsH3Uaw" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It sounds like you’ve created a female </span><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006q2x0" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Doctor Who</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of sorts, was that the idea? </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was part of it! We started with the idea of the show having things in common with </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Doctor Who</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> - the broad scope of all of time and space, where each adventure could happen anywhere. And one of the early things we all agreed on was having a female lead. There just aren't enough of them, especially in action and adventure shows, and we all think it'd be great if the Doctor became a woman. This is our alternative!</span></div>
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<a name='more'></a><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why an audio series? Is it because you’re familiar with the medium being podcasters? </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That's one reason, though most of us have television experience too! One factor is cost; we really wanted to make a series, and doing that as television or a video web series would be hugely expensive - and time consuming. But there's a grand tradition of audio drama (and comedy) on radio and CD, especially in the UK, with the BBC and companies like Big Finish. And we really wanted to push our use of the medium further than we had in Splendid Chaps, while using our writing and performing skills.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><img height="416px;" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-LHQDA50xihKh05itAMpJaODnw0LENwChad2tZDpW5BltXLTHK0Y3lYcyUpPDtjgtHU9lB1ynDfnJBW41aWRIeTLzHV2YtQ4_nHqqjY8ee9eUdwv-j2lV_FMi_mFDw" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How did you attract such talent to the project? </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We asked! It's the kind of thing that just doesn't get made in Australia - television here is pretty conservative and relatively low-budget. And radio drama is all but dead here since the ABC stopped making it. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Night Terrace</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is therefore a unique opportunity to do sci-fi, comedy and audio drama, and most of the people we've approached haven't needed much convincing! That said, we feel tremendously lucky to have such a talented bunch of actors on board - especially Jackie Woodburne, who was our first choice to play Anastasia!</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While I do have readers from down in Oz, most of my readers are in North America. What would you say to potential international backers to get us on your side? </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Well, as we mentioned earlier, it's inspired in part by </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Doctor Who</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, which is now hugely popular over in the US. We are bringing a very Australian flavour to the series, both in setting and sense of humour, so perhaps also we'll represent a change of pace from what you're used to! It's also sci-fi comedy - something there hasn't been much of in recent years. Oh, and the structure of the show is definitely influenced by modern television, so if you like stand-alone episodes that also contribute to a series (or season, in US lingo) arc, we're doing that too.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Let me congratulate you on reaching your goal and, as of this writing, almost hitting your first $12,000 stretch goal. Well done! It warms my heart to see you succeed and explaining in a paragraph at least what the money is for. How important is it to you to be up front with potential backers as to where the money is going on a crowdfunding project like this? </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thanks! We've passed the first stretch goal today, actually, and it feels great! I don't know what our chances are of getting to the next one but our fingers are crossed!</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As for being upfront, I think it's vital. The bulk of my crowdfunding experiences are as a backer, and I know that if a project is upfront with me about what to expect, I know what I'm in for. Projects without at least reasonable sounding timelines or a description of how funds are being used make me wary. We did buck the conventional wisdom a bit by talking about paying people, but we're working with professionals and that's our biggest cost (there will be more than twenty cast and crew), and the base goal only covers fairly token fees, not professional rates. I remember an RPG project that explained the fees were similarly low at the base goal, and that going over would up everyone's pay - the artists and writers etc. I really felt good about pledging extra to that one and I wanted to do something similar and be honest about that with </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Night Terrace</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. (Our stretch goals mean more work for the core team, but not our other actors.)</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How did you discover Kickstarter? How does it compare to your previous crowdfunding experiences? </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kickstarter was my introduction to crowdfunding; the first thing I backed was the Cosmonaut iPad stylus, and there have been more than 80 other projects I've backed since then, plus one or two on Indiegogo, but I prefer the all-or-nothing model. It's still the case that the project matters to me more than the platform though; I've backed 20 or so projects on Pozible.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My first experience running a campaign was on Pozible - a platform similar to Kickstarter, but based in Australia. It was a smaller campaign, just a few thousand dollars to take our live podcast on the road to Sydney, but it worked great. There are many little differences, and Kickstarter being bigger and having much more money is of course a bit slicker, but really they're probably the two most similar crowdfunding platforms! After Kickstarter launched in Australia in January, we had a choice of either, and we went with Kickstarter for a few reasons, primarily because we wanted to reach an international audience, something it's bigger name seems to have helped with. But I'd definitely use either platform again.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><img height="416px;" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/bC44TEKFd7ZHPUIBC6s5u6QUv4QHgk_0SxdN0ARlcnaw3W4T2oWVP2ffUdnyGrkDM_xdIlgKfTbLTdqFa0r7YMjYDxoCeyCYwI5AFMnex9p7pTpa8fdjOzy0_yWk5g" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A key part of successful Kickstarters is backer participation and how to convert a potential backer into a full backer. How are you engaging your backers? What kinds of things do you have planned for updates to give notice to those who just hit the “remind me” button and surf on? Interviews? Videos? Stories from the project?</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So far it's mostly been casting announcements, since in this pre-production phase there's not much else to report! But we do plan on making a video soon, and we've also posted an interview with our visual designer. And there's some pretty cool story-based stuff we've been working on which we hope to release soon.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What kind of media attention have you received with your project? How are you spreading the word? Facebook? Twitter? Google+? Youtube? Advertising? Are you using</span><a href="http://www.kicktraq.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kicktraq</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to track your progress? </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We've been keeping an eye on Kicktraq, yes! Though it's tricky, because when you have a good day it can skew the trend quite a lot! It helped us figure out reasonable stretch goals, though.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We've used a lot of social media, mostly Twitter and Facebook (I think I'm the only team member active on Google+), but we've also used our knowledge of more traditional publicity - sending media releases to various publications, for example. We managed to get some attention online and some local radio interviews when we first launched, but it's been quieter since then. It's been a struggle to get overseas attention for the most part; a lot of places are only interested in local projects! And we've also found many media outlets actually have a "no crowdfunding" policy, which seems a bit rough.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We've avoided paid advertising so far; it's something we might consider for the finished product though.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><img height="624px;" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/X_V-sC8t43dCfWfMao983JrL3BRHGsRT9umKiW3-kiJ6tSU0iV7YC3KMbjsAvtYQcPBdSws0n8RUY5GI34BaGbOdOGa7xVWSNvXB13GZb4rKINnIA3aEmeRVMtWSRA" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do you have any tips/advice would you give to anyone looking to start a Kickstarter?</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Oh, definitely! Read the research is number one. Kickstarter's guide and the advice given in the process is really useful, and there are a tonne of blogs and articles with good advice. Or ask someone you know who's done it before.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Be upfront and honest about timelines and how you're spending money, though you don't have to expose your exact budget. It's better to underpromise and overdeliver; if you think rewards will take 2-3 months, say 3 or 4 to make sure they're on time. If you finish early, everyone's happy!</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I also think the rewards are really important. Don't have too many; less than 10 is good. Make sure you have a good spread of prices: a good cheap one at $10 or less that costs you little or nothing (a thank you, a sample of the full thing, a previous but related product etc.), the most commonly pledged amounts ($25 to $100), and some big ones for people who really love what you do, with appropriately special rewards. Make sure they're meaningfully related to the project, so backers feel like they're part of it. And budget them properly! This means making sure each one is profitable (i.e. it costs less to produce the rewards than the amount pledged to receive them), and crucially, that a higher priced reward is more profitable than a lower priced one. This last one is an easy trap to fall into, but so important to avoid. If your backers want to give you $50 instead of $25, they think they're giving you more money - make sure that's true, and that your $50 reward won't cost you $25 more than the $25 one!</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Have rewards that make you excited, not ones that are just more work. We are stupidly excited that four of our backers have picked the highest tiers and will be getting personalised vinyl LPs of the first episode.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Oh, and budget budget budget. Build in contingency money in case things go wrong, plan on less than best case combinations of backer rewards, and above all, make sure you actually have enough money after reward costs and crowdfunding fees to make your project happen! I also think it's important to factor in getting paid, especially if a major component of your project is time spent. Be upfront about this. It's not seen as sexy, and supposedly backers only care about your material costs, but I think we need to change that, especially for projects that are commercial enterprises rather than hobbies.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thank you for spending your time with us! Do you have any final thoughts for our readers?</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hmmmm...I think it's really important that we all work to make crowdfunding honest, open and clear. I've only had two bad experiences with Kickstarters and in both cases non-communication and unclear timelines, budgets and experience were the biggest factors. And I'd also encourage prospective crowdfunders to check out Pozible. They're in the US now too, and they're differentiating themselves from Kickstarter with new stuff like accepting BitCoins for pledges (if that's your bag) and introducing a subscription funding model. Plus their support is great. I'm a Pozible ambassador, so feel free to ask me about them, too!</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thanks again and I hope to hear good things from your Kickstarter!</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You're welcome - thanks again for having me! As for hearing good things, I should hope so. I want us to reach that next stretch goal in these last 10 days! Doing the prequel mini-episodes would be so much fun.</span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span>James Yeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16637699486755915238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050036035374044240.post-45903711235490053942014-03-31T07:44:00.002-07:002014-03-31T07:44:21.603-07:00Planets³ taking cubes to the stars and beyond, one Planet at a Time. <iframe frameborder="0" height="480" scrolling="no" src="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1247991467/planets3/widget/video.html" width="640"> </iframe><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Welcome back to the Conversation! Today I am pleased to be talking to Michel from Cubical Drift who is here to talk to us today about </span><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1247991467/planets3" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Planets³.</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Thank you for joining us today Michel. </span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-a1d6a410-1898-39c7-47fd-97584cd46a7b" style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hi, I am pleased to be here, thank you for your invitation. I will present myself: I am 32 years old and I am the Planets³ project director. Last year when I saw the potential of our project I quit my job to focus only on Planets³.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ever since a certain mining and crafting game showed up any time a game shows up with cube style graphics people immediately make a comparison, so how does Planets³ differ from other cube games? </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">First by it’s art. With our 25cm square blocs and their different shapes, it’s really something else.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Secondly Planets³ is a RPG. There is a story, quests, dungeons … Some characters will accompany you along your adventure, helping you to progress.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" />And third : Space !</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><img height="423px;" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/LHGOklDoX0cDTKq0U2lDz_IM0-qhWrkuRYyBL4mZml0J_QewLrrtFz2fSes1M6d6vVarURV0RBMpT4DJfuOV61rEyvObAvpLdgc6D0CVCa3T__GjpbtzZdByCt6bDQ" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="620px;" /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How hard is it to create a storyline in a world that can be changed so dramatically? Does that ease in changing the landscape play into the story at all, say in a Hercules and the stables kind of way? </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Planets³ is all about bringing a story over a voxel world. So yes there will be some “awkward” situations, it will be our job to avoid or resolve them.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" />Lot of story elements will be “placed” manually in all the landscape and caverns.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Will it be possible to simple build a tower into the sky or will buildings have more stresses than just gravity to deal with? Will space elevators be an alternative form of getting into orbit or even traveling between planets on a “bridge?” </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" />There will be some altitude constraints for construction. But “space” elevators should be something possible. It’s a little too early to talk about that in fact, but I would love that this will possible.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><img height="274px;" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/kqF1Flpd097OzT-ua7aa63Ytx4E1ZWCQLb8OdwBUUY-iErChQLDnT3ra8EU02OrkwLR9Zd_6HhXLVJIVOA6oiBhfwrDXz9pnvgYzP-xQFa4z3YSm-t9Pl63-HLVfSA" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="620px;" /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Your campaign puts a strong emphasis on the job masters and how they’ll be providing you with crafting recipes and the like. Does that mean everything will be made through recipes or will buildings and such still be made from individual blocks laid out in the field? </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You need to distinguish different types of items:</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">- the blocks that come from materials (natural or crafted)</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">- what we call meta-block : a specific object that has its own 3D model (a door for example) and that can be bigger than one block. Also the control blocks for vehicles are special meta blocks.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">- and the equipment items (weapons, armor, tools …) that can not be “placed” on the 3D world.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You will have a lot of material, allowing you to have a large diversity of blocks to place. And you will also have a lot a meta blocks, allowing you to have a large diversity of special “construction” items.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Ogre 3D Engine is a less of a “household name” when it comes to gaming engines. What was the reasoning behind using it for this game? Does it allow easy porting to Linux and OS X based systems or even consoles down the road? </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We use Ogre because we use it since many years and because it is free. It was easier for us to start with this engine. But in fact Ogre is just a little part of our engine. The bigger part of our engine is custom, homemade. For example the blocks lighting engine is completely custom and do not any Ogre feature. Bringing it to Linux and Mac will not be a problem for Ogre as it is supported. But we will have a lot of work to port our own code. It is a possibility that we switch for a more flexible engine in the future. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><img alt="Concept Art" height="285px;" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/41wy5V7qiGB7l3lOJ3Z9E4Vf3On1ZD4WJ-dixWLIWqjaSfqpyq-ioonis-Sp5AdmKTCLzRl0U4mJd-39eAvhhTGWyu3PKxy3HghvpPORT3u45ZTh6wT62MMId5mgAg" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="620px;" /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The campaign mentions the first release will be Planets³: Race to Space which isn’t planned for final release until Fall of 2015. Is that all backers are getting with this campaign or will they be getting the “full game” of Planets³: Space Enemies as well which isn’t even due out until 2017? </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yes as said in the Kickstarter page Backers will get access to the first and the second opus of the game (computer version only). So yes it’s about 4 years of Planets³ for backers!</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are lots of large scale crafting/exploring games out there, some who even launched here on Kickstarter like </span><a href="http://planetexplorers.pathea.net/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Planetary Explorers</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. What makes Planets³ different from the others? What are their similarities? </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We will have different planets to explore, traveling with a custom and handmade spaceship. Each planets will have different landscapes and wildlife.<br class="kix-line-break" />The story will bring players to some planets. These planets will be much more attractive than other, as they will have a lot of story elements. But other planets will have their good points too, as they will be completely random generated.<br class="kix-line-break" />Our craft system is somehow unique, as you can change items forms and materials.<br class="kix-line-break" />And our vehicle creation system is unique.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><img height="337px;" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/fNIFQMVevfpR62N3qdGg8YxQeSyZPojlyCCjp4kJh2LZh-xLjdsrRHaWVQttGpjF4gOBTc4PA3H6sTHcii-d_wwgUGYJrNF2SKJnVo2Vd4C7BEWCeszd_91pOcpXpw" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="620px;" /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have to applaud your willingness to stick to the cube theme even into your “pie” chart for the budget breakdown. How important was it to you to share with potential backers the projected costs and planned use of the money raised by this project? </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ahah, yes we wanted to bring the cube theme everywhere! I personally ask for this, Reymantha did make a great job about cubical design<br class="kix-line-break" />I think it is important for backers to know what are the most costing tasks and how we distribute the money. It helps to make the project more credible as we know what we want to do. We did estimated the development cost, it’s not a magic number.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How did you discover Kickstarter?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I follow Kickstarter since its beginning. But I do not remember how I discovered it, certainly with a video game project.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><img alt="Concept Art" height="268px;" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/VlCFIX2tPh-yjJIaz97Y4-5EK_WoBfY7i_UR10dS9P0PU52jl3YOcVexZQPkyAJeIq7jdusys18YbO3XOi9cDRcriORVakqbkRAop8F3A70efQU7hapHi7uz0aYnvw" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="620px;" /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A key part of successful Kickstarters is backer participation and how to convert a potential backer into a full backer. How are you engaging your backers? What kinds of things do you have planned for updates to give notice to those who just hit the “remind me” button and surf on? Interviews? Videos? Stories from the project?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We have planned recurrent updates, first of all a monthly dev report, where backers will be able to follow our development progress. And also weekly news, with a picture, a screenshot, a video depending on the events.<br class="kix-line-break" />We will open a forum too, where backers can discuss with us about different elements.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What kind of media attention have you received with your project? How are you spreading the word? Facebook? Twitter? Google+? Youtube? Advertising? Are you using</span><a href="http://www.kicktraq.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kicktraq</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to track your progress? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I think this is the most difficult part of our project, as we are totally unknown. It’s really hard to get visibility all over the world. I think our press relation partners have achieved a really great work to get the press attracted by our project.<br class="kix-line-break" />We have now a lot of article and videos about our game on the web.<br class="kix-line-break" />We did look at kicktraq and kickspy, but I think that nobody, even these tools can predict the future.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><img height="351px;" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/WEvvJg91x_y4MgwsqSfQDOQmAKSngJr3b2yN_obpx2ccos3KNE-Aj9B_1So2G4RSJ3rgrdyThLGmIgdNXujqENlDw2OWp5adJ_-5A_bmebact2_Po6v9TK3y419syQ" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do you have any tips/advice would you give to anyone looking to start a Kickstarter?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Take your time writing your Kickstarter page and rewards and goals. Because when it’s published, it’s done, you cannot go back. This was our first Kickstarter campaign and we made some little mistakes, perhaps we more time we could have done things better.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thank you for spending your time with us! Do you have any final thoughts for our readers?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Support us on Kickstarter! Together we will create a great game!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thank you for this interview.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><img height="173px;" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/cif3R4YFGI1hScCKHBf6ZtwJN0ImjdS4xgfVCpiAleVLMeavUF-ddTXks3qkSxQDvcTUcgB76NhXrnuzCfpXyajKUKBxx803r9g3cLglUzWHszEjJydtefAzEbnUsQ" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thanks again and I hope to hear good things from your Kickstarter!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span>James Yeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16637699486755915238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050036035374044240.post-7920828958238298132014-03-31T06:35:00.002-07:002014-03-31T06:35:57.207-07:00Add Some "POW!" to Your Role Playing Combat<iframe frameborder="0" height="480" scrolling="no" src="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ConflictRPG/combat-description-cards-for-storytellers-and-gms/widget/video.html" width="640"> </iframe><br />
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Welcome back to the Conversation! I’m joined by Mark Scott from</span><a href="http://www.conflictrpg.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ConflictRPG</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> who is here to talk to us about their</span><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ConflictRPG/combat-description-cards-for-storytellers-and-gms" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Combat Description Cards.</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Thank you for joining us today Mark!</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-a760ed82-1858-158a-ba74-108e20dbcb88" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hello James. Thank you for having me aboard.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Combat Description Cards seem like such a simple but powerful game mastering tool, could you tell us all about them? </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">No problem.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Okay, I'm a long-time gamer. Over the years, I've sat at a lot of gaming tables, as both a player and gamemaster. And if there's one thing I've come to realize it's that combat is a lot better when it's vivid and descriptive, rather than being just, "You hit for 17 points of damage."</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But all too often, that "17 points" is all we get.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I'd been wanting to tackle this particular issue for a while, and I'd been playing around with the idea of having some kind of list ready-to-hand that people could consult whenever they needed something interesting and fresh to say during a combat. But there was one major issue. How do you get the words to people in a quick and simple manner that doesn't involve consulting books and lists? How do you get those words to them in a way that doesn't break the flow of ideas?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then I had an epiphany - cards. Quick, simple, ready-to-hand, and with just a touch of randomness to keep things always fresh and new. And thus the Combat Description Cards deck was borne.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/001/653/113/e7f978e22d7d7d9cadba548184d47d61_large.png?1392821762" /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Are these cards only for fantasy settings or do they work well for gunshots and vibroblades as well as swords and fireballs? </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">T</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">he CDC deck is as system neutral as we can make it. What we have done is split combat up into damage types, and kept our wording as generic as possible, offering it to the GM to fill in the details as needed. So, in the deck, we are describing cutting, slashing, and piercing damage, but not the weapon that does the damage. That is left for the GM to fill in.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thus, the CDC deck can be used for just about any RPG, regardless of its game system or its time frame. We do have plans for expanding the CDC deck outside of the range of physical damage, but getting just physical taken care of was a large enough project as it is.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why make them into cards? Why not an app or just a small book? </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of the key elements we wanted to deal with is time. You already have to look up enough things in books, searching for the right rule. We wanted something that didn't interrupt the flow of of the conversation for any more than a moment. And for that, picking up a card beats the pants off looking up something in a book. As for apps, that's a good way to go, but it is also impossible to reach everyone with an app.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Just about anyone can use a deck of cards. Not everyone is app-ready.</span></div>
<img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/001/654/027/62ec1a85e3e4aee04a6d0183dbae28c4_large.png?1392836244" /><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How surprised have you been with the response you’ve been getting? </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We have been blessed with the response, truly. As to our success... We believed we had a great idea, and we believed that we would be a success because of it. But I can't say that we expected this level of support. Everyone here is truly grateful for the support we have received.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Personally I think your success is well deserved as this concept is simple, but definitely engaging and a welcome addition to any GM’s library. (Full disclosure I have not as of this writing, but I probably will back this campaign) Did you do anything before your campaign launched to drum up support and draw attention to your campaign so you’d have a strong day one launch? </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thank you. And, yes, we did do some preparation work. We purchased advertising at several sites and had our press release sent out just before we launched.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/001/714/971/9b8c9f0d76d5af4d60024cf7acc70e15_large.png?1394136132" />Does your $15 Writer’s Grid include all the content in the stretch card decks as well? The Print and Play PDF’s as well? </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yes, the Writer's Grid and the PDF will indeed include all unlocked booster pack stretch goals.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Something I look for in any Kickstarter campaign is a budget breakdown. These basic business tools reassure potential backers that there is a thought out plan for the funds which leads to a greater belief in success. Why did you not provide a budget breakdown? </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We spent a lot of time on the budget. We created several financial models and “What if” scenarios in advance of the Kickstarter. In my estimation, those are the tools that are needed to have a firm grasp on the budgetary needs of a Kickstarter. In fact, I feel a simple, high-level budget breakdown isn’t a truly meaningful expression of a Kickstarter campaign. There are just too many variables in such a project, none of which are brought out in a simple, high-level pie chart. If I personally want to gain confidence in a Kickstarter campaign through it's budget plan, then seeing a pie chart with the typical 60%, 30%, 10% breakdown on it just isn’t enough for me. Therefore, when it was my turn to have a Kickstarter, I intentionally left it out.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><img alt="unlocked!" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/001/787/227/b39491b123e3915c1a5e9b1d6e7671fb_large.png?1395601719" /></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How did you discover Kickstarter?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I discovered Kickstarter in October of 2010! like conflict games, It is a new York based company and I heard about it through friends.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A key part of successful Kickstarter is backer participation and how to convert a potential backer into a full backer. How are you engaging your backers? What kinds of things do you have planned for updates to give notice to those who just hit the “remind me” button and surf on? Interviews? Videos? Stories from the project?</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The success of our project has kept me hopping. Our updates have largely all been about our next stretch goals. We had other plans, but it's been about all I can do to get the web graphics ready and keep that list updated. We are making sure we give timely replies to comments and messages but that is where our time has been spent so far.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><img alt="unlocked!" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/001/815/074/b52de21dd4b1be63045841c2713a2dcd_large.png?1396204557" /></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What kind of media attention have you received with your project? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A fair number of RPG bloggers have contacted us for interviews, which we are very humbly grateful for.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How are you spreading the word? Facebook? Twitter? Google+? Youtube? Advertising? </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We purchased advertising at many major RPG sites, sent out a press release to lots of sites and bloggers, and we have been using Facebook, Google+, forums and interviews to help get the word out.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><img alt="new" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/001/815/078/948528d8e414dfd366e7dfe8793a688e_large.png?1396204586" /><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Are you using</span><a href="http://www.kicktraq.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kicktraq</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to track your progress?</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">No, we haven't been using Kicktraq so far.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do you have any tips/advice you would give to anyone looking to start a Kickstarter?</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1) Prepare for success. Think through the kickstarter process from start to end and prepare as much material in advance as you can.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2) Make sure your team understand the pledge levels, stretch goals and shipping options as well as you do.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3) Have a good and complete idea and don’t expect your backers to fill any gaps for you. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">4) Keep your pledges simple and remember that many backers are visual. Therefore, a picture is truly worth a thousand words.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thank you for spending your time with us! Do you have any final thoughts for our readers?</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We have lots of good ideas for further expanding the CDC deck and adding onto our Conflict PvP platform. So keep your eye on Conflict Games, you will love what you see.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thanks again and I hope to hear good things from your Kickstarter!</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thank you for having me bro.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span>James Yeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16637699486755915238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050036035374044240.post-20519337288347161122014-03-26T09:22:00.002-07:002014-03-26T09:22:26.434-07:00E-Depth Angel<iframe frameborder="0" height="480" scrolling="no" src="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mayshing/e-depth-angel-anime/widget/video.html" width="640"> </iframe><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Welcome back friends to the Conversation! Today I am joined by the creator of </span><a href="http://comics.mayshing.com/edepth/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">E-Depth Angel</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to talk about the </span><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mayshing/e-depth-angel-anime" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Anime Kickstarter </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">that was recently launched. Thank you for joining us today. </span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-13b28144-ff32-f25b-0b5b-ba47464911fd" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A: Thank you so much for inviting me. :) It’s an honor to answer your questions.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why don’t we start off by talking a bit about E-Depth Angel? What made you want to make a webcomic? </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A: </span><a href="http://kck.st/1oGFEHr" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">E-depth Angel</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is a story </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #121a0d; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">about a girl without any superpowers being forced to face a family of crazy cyborgs with mechs and all sorts of weapons that want to kill each other. Not only does she need to survive, but she will also have to help bring them the peace they have been missing.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><img alt="KS-banner.jpg" height="257px;" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_U-veP9dcIDw0tleKLDpm9sdHh5-JaLmYeSy2NEUJCNMokcRyDlQwp712EXgrNebsTE787Hk1QNP-FTSS-xI6H8TSz0p2_tN4YmurZuS_iiYaVRw2UMVVvL4iO59bA" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the past, I have always read about comics, western and eastern alike focusing on the power of force and wealth when it comes to a hero or heroine like character. While I loved the idea of relating to characters that stir my fantasy with their super powers or weapons, I can’t help but to feel empty walking away from this fantasy world back into my world, powerless. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I want my audience to be able to walk away from my story with some kind of encouragement that can relate to their real life, to empower them with their decisions, while still create a world with new things they can discover. Taking something out of a fantasy world. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And why a nurse? It was inspired from a documentary, where a nurse in China took care of a group of people with leprosy. They would fight and bite each other viciously. Yet she still managed to turn them around and live with each other in peace by caring for them. I felt that story should be reshared in some other form, and this story is what came out of it. Except now her patients are a bunch of rich and mighty cyborgs that hardly listen to her. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And to the people who are very curious about her young look, it’s modeled after myself, because my face is a baby face. Yes, and I still trick people unintentionally. If I line up with my brothers, I always look like the youngest… That’s the part of the inspiration behind Angel, our main heroine. I want to talk about a girl who has a hard time being taken seriously. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><img alt="Angel-banner.jpg" height="261px;" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/SX07DZE5YTTOHwAlKpsLMzlGExo6hn-F2GbJK2Tb_w3mtgZU2pUjOFWDwBQELLOzgSpfyH9hJ77mRXzSj7999ZVcnocLUcWVW2E3TtXMLL6z0riUBCXYpy_hAgwmvg" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When did you decide to try your hand at animating your work? </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A: My first try was probably around 2004. Using flash to try to turn my characters from still images to moving images. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ex: </span><a href="http://mayshing.deviantart.com/art/Morning-inprogress-12212134" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My short clip “Morning”</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><a href="http://fav.me/dawmmn" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Renel walks</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Back then I had no previous animation training except some training in using flash so I couldn’t even get a character to walk consistently. Later I enrolled into School of Visual Arts for 4 years under 2D traditional animation department. That’s when my animation skill shows a jump and learned to work with a team.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Through out the school, </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL903AAC541725E2AF" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have done shorter animations</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> as tests, starting from 30 seconds, to 1 min, 2 min, eventually to 6 mins. Each step of the way is an individual lesson on its own. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<a name='more'></a><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Was it the reaction to that initial animation that drove you to launch this Kickstarter? </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A: My followers/fans/ were excited to see this series possibly turn into an anime, some of them did already put down money to help me achieve my goal ahead of everyone else. Mainly, I launched it because my fans, and my teammates want to see it go into full production and become actual products. Though I was on the fence about it, they gave me the courage to try such a Kickstarter. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Your FAQ mentions that “</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We use </span><a href="http://www.photoshop.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Photoshop</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><a href="http://manga.smithmicro.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Manga Studio</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><a href="http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adobe Flash</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and </span><a href="http://www.adobe.com/products/aftereffects.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After Effects</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. The 3D parts are done in both </span><a href="http://www.autodesk.com/products/autodesk-3ds-max/overview" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3Ds max</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><a href="http://www.sketchup.com/products/sketchup-pro" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google Sketchup.</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Then redrawn/painted in photoshop and Manga Studio to fit into 2D.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” That sounds like a very roundabout production pipeline. Was there any thought of just keeping it all in 3D with 3DS Max or say </span><a href="http://www.blender.org/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Blender</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">? </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><img alt="None-render-tests.jpg" height="141px;" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_FVyzbGhjiCYffKqr7DpwHvwwCXt7M6TV-0vvfp3BaG48SaSxTbfkTH6aA69hkSJnmlhRh1mxaysSlplQBM_QW3W5wnoUoK0B6iCa1v8s5ouGrxyjCZ3N5qLtMWhHA" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A: Believe me, I wanted to use the 3D straight, but the robot models need to be re-rigged, because our production doesn’t have a rigger, and that won’t come without a budget. Since my 3D skill is limited and only good for modeling sets. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If we get the budget we hope for, I will hire a rigger and re-rig the models for straight use of 3D to be possible. We initially have to use 3Ds max because my modelers are both 3Ds max users, however I have been looking at Google sketchup and Blender as other possibilities in the future. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As for backgrounds, there’s no way not to redo them to fit into 2D. Touch ups will be required for Background and layouts. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How long is this animation project expected to run? What counts as a “Full OVA Episode? </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A full OVA Episode is about 22 minutes, for a regular 30 min TV program. With the first goal that we have, we can only achieve 10-11 minutes at best, a short half- episode budget. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><img alt="Work in progress screen shot of the mystery solving game. (as one of the rewards)" height="467px;" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/wf0XMl2XRZJXCjpU1nLl8m5h6ZvlB2mpIfGDntBeQnK-EJR1Nils28r4ercF9Se8GqGC5JwqWXjz7rs2g6dXRK9inefRmOWYVnVw-F1MiVCzkTVn07omIxDHFgsvqA" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You list a game (With the attached image) but don’t really talk about it in the campaign. What kind of game is it? Is this game already completed? Will some of the funds from the Kickstarter go into the game’s production? </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A: Good question! (I need to update that later) </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s a Choose your adventure mystery solving Visual novel project that I am already working on. In the game, Angel will explore the true and false memories of all the characters and try to help them resolve issues and find out the true cause of death for Lien Lei’s mother. However if she chose wrongly, there can be unhappy consequences. (I will leave it at that…) Romance aspect is also part of the game. There will be several endings to the story, an aspect of storytelling both the anime, and comics can not provide, but fun to write for writers. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The game is scheduled to complete in roughly another 3-4 months. Since I originally planned for the game to be used to fund animation, I decided to offer it up as a reward. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><img alt="With the help of Willy, our co-producer, we calculated that all the rewards, fees, equipment cost will be around 37% of our total budget. Leaving our staff having around 63% for their salary and time spent." height="393px;" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/St7pVw6hPCsp6FGyV86hLaL8OPfMYNKEMcfFD3NX1YqHcDbBxKUFo75OxSyxvnnTw1oNOys5kp2KudIckJ6KbVl6Ql6CC3PS3iWLAMwiHx49upSh1h8pf8ZDtPWelw" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624px;" /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Let me thank you for providing a budget breakdown! Do you think the budget breakdown is important to explain what your $47,000 goal is going to be used for? </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yes. I personally have always appreciated budget breakdown. It’s important for people to know I actually only get roughly half of the budget I asked for the production. More importantly, for the team and budget planning so we don’t over-spend or over-plan. Originally I had planned to offer the full episode at a much lower budget, but after we finished calculating the actual budget based on the cost, we had to double it. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Budget calculation saved ourselves from trouble. People only see a simple chart here but the excel calculation was no simple task. It took us days of discussion and work time to nail it down. Listing down everything from material cost, shipping and handling, and bulk orders, plus man hours to get a few simple numbers for us to present. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How did you discover Kickstarter?</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A: OH boy… so long ago. I believe I first learned about it a few years ago from another artist </span><a href="http://kck.st/M3P8hr" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jisuk </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">who ran her kickstarter for a novel project. Now she’s just wrapping up another one for her new novel </span><a href="http://kck.st/1f71jFA" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fishbones</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I pitched my comic printing fundraising shortly after in 2011 and then pitching again in 2014 for the animation project. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A key part of successful Kickstarters is backer participation and how to convert a potential backer into a full backer. How are you engaging your backers? What kinds of things do you have planned for updates to give notice to those who just hit the “remind me” button and surf on? Interviews? Videos? Stories from the project?</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A: We have a load of art and material stored up for updates. Though I found the things I personally love looking at most are sketches from other kickstarters. So I have planned to throw in a quick sketch for every thousand we raise, and post about every interview possible. To make it fun I call it Kickstarter Daily, pretty much reporting back to backers everyday, with something fun. Either an animation clip I have, or a comic, or a screen shot. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I am also planning to finish a series of animation tutorials for the purpose of promotion.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We are going to update the video again once the sound is done being edited. We saved a lot of bloopers (of my embarrassing self) for entertainment. I am not used to putting myself up there but I will do it if it’s required of me for the sake of the project’s success. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What kind of media attention have you received with your project? How are you spreading the word? Facebook? Twitter? Google+? Youtube? Advertising? Are you using</span><a href="http://www.kicktraq.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kicktraq</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to track your progress? </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A: Thank you for mentioning Kicktraq to me. Elysse, a teammate had found it before during her research but we didn’t look deep enough to realize this website offers projection. We will now use this site to help with our projection. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We have found that Facebook, Deviantart gives the most pledges right now from where my fanbase is. We also tried advertising on </span><a href="http://topwebcomics.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">topwebcomics</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><a href="https://www.projectwonderful.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">projectwonderful</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and </span><a href="http://www.thewebcomiclist.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">thewebcomiclist</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><a href="http://www.deviantart.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Deviantart</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, a few pledges have come by. But ads are not working as good as word of mouth, we will try to plan our marketing around words of mouth right now. I have tried contacting bloggers/youtube reviewers, and podcast channels, hopefully to schedule as many interviews as possible towards my target audience. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do you have any tips/advice would you give to anyone looking to start a Kickstarter?</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A:</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One trouble that I almost got myself into was </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">budget planning</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. My beginning budget was originally 20k. I completely neglected the fact the cost of the rewards and preparing the rewards will take up so much of the budget, though I did plan around the fees, and taxes, if my teammate didn’t help me do the math, and God did not warn me in my dream… I think I would be in for a delivery problem. So yes, do the budget. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And make sure you </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">show some of your best samples in the first minute of your video</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. (Don’t start just by talking heads! I always have an urge to stop video when it starts with talking heads.) </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thank you for spending your time with us! Do you have any final thoughts for our readers?</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A: Save up money and spend on good sound if you are doing a film, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">sound won’t listen to you</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, drawings and camera will. I SWEAR that sound issues has been like some of the worst things I have ever have to deal with in film/animation productions!</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And if you are working with a team, two tips, ask and remind often about tasks and goals, and show them what you have done often. Use a site that’s easy for communication. (in my case, a facebook group) Your team momentum will be a lot faster. I am sure a lot of indy groups planning for Kickstarters will need this. XD </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thanks again and I hope to hear good things from your Kickstarter!</span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
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<br />James Yeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16637699486755915238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050036035374044240.post-28254777101996021162014-03-25T10:03:00.000-07:002014-03-25T10:03:01.704-07:00SpaceBear<iframe frameborder="0" height="480" scrolling="no" src="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/andresjsalazar/space-bear/widget/video.html" width="640"> </iframe><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Welcome back friends to another Kickstarter Conversation! Today I am once again joined by Andres Salazar whom long-time readers will remember from his successful </span><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/andresjsalazar/pariah-missouri-the-graphic-novel?ref=users" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pariah, Missouri </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">campaign. Thank you for coming back to the Conversation Andres! </span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-1ae6fe48-fa2e-6b59-2f22-44720c9a5673" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hello James, thank you very much for inviting me. I can’t do this crowdfunding thing without great people like you.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You’re too kind. Before we get to your newest project could you tell us how Pariah, Missouri went? I understand you did a</span><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/andresjsalazar/pariah-missouri-directors-cut-hardcover-volume-one?ref=users" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> second Kickstarter</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> for it to produce a “director’s cut” version as well, how has that project gone? </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Both went extremely well. I did almost 300% goal funded for the first one and then another almost 200% for the second (which was at a higher goal amount) I didn’t get rich off them, but I was able to cover all the production and shipping costs, which is really all I wanted. I’ve had some great emails and responses from the backers on the book, and they were all shipped on time, I pride myself that I have always came through with the goods on time.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<img height="260" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/001/703/607/a740f14ef664e19ca01a6d65f6422162_large.jpg?1393919019" width="640" /><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Your latest project </span><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/andresjsalazar/space-bear" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">SpaceBear </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">seems to be a stark departure from your previous project. Can you tell us all about it? </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sure! SpaceBear is a children’s book, ages 3-6. It’s a fun sci-fi story like from the 50-60’s, but told for children and enjoyed by parents who are into that genre. I add pop culture references, like Adventure Time to make it fun for the adults to read. my goal was to make it fun for kids, educational and can be read in different ways, depending on the development of the child. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is also the first in a series in the Bear-verse with other Bears in different worlds that I’m excited about and so I hope to build this into something VERY special.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<a name='more'></a><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What made you want to make a children’s book, let alone a space one? </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have three children and Pariah, Missouri is not really for them. I’m a level 9 geek, so I like all things fantasy, western, sci-fi, supernatural, and pop culture, so the sci-fi genre is one of the many I love. As a writer I want to grow and stretch and felt that all-ages books would be a good way to learn and enjoy building stories for a new demographic. I have many friends with little children so I thought it would be fun to do for them as well. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/001/756/214/970b9d505e63969debcdc1d8261cb8e5_large.jpg?1394940195" /><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How much of a “change in gears” is it to go from writing and drawing a western to a children’s book? What do you have to do to write for young children that is different than normal writing? </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is a great question. Since I am doing this full time, I schedule my Pariah days separate from my Spacebear days. So I do like to get in a different head-space for one than another project. Sometimes a simple run will help cleanse the mind and aid in switching gears. One of the things you always want to do is research the market and medium. So I read a lot of books, the classics and saw what I liked and didn’t. My first draft of SpaceBear was definitely more complicated, I went into where he worked and all these details and my editors were like, skip all of that, just get to the main plot. So I learned a few things about distilling the story down into the key moments. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What have you learned from your previous campaigns that you’re bringing into SpaceBear? </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve learned a lot about production quality. The Pariah book was very successful because it looks good and has high quality. I wanted to stay with that, but go one step further and not use a print-on-demand printer. So with SpaceBear I am making a very high quality book with really nice paper and colors, I think it looks amazing. Marketing and outreach is very important and I am using all my resources to get the word out and hopefully trying a few new things. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/001/712/845/5df6cb1169fbe78e4dedbaeb09e5680d_large.jpg?1394094328" /><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It seems obvious with a book like SpaceBear that you’d offer a stuffed bear at some backer level, yet I can’t seem to find one. Is that because you couldn’t find a supplier or did it seem like an unnecessary distraction in your budget? </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yes. I want soooo bad to have a bear as a reward. But I didn’t want some cheesey teddy bear, I wanted SpaceBear and boy did he cost a lot to make unless I made a run of 4,000. I also spent a few days sculpting a 4 inch model to add, but I just don’t have the time to finish him for the kickstarter. It is a stretch goal if we go big, I will totally make the toys. I really want to, trust me. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While this is familiar ground for you, I have to ask why you didn’t include a budget breakdown? I would have figured a veteran creator like yourself would already have a firm handle on your budget and creating and sharing a budget would be a simple task. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I haven’t seen any data that shows that a budget breakdown on a campaign helps and with something like a children’s book I wasn’t sure if a pie chart and graph would distract from the whimsical art and feeling of SpaceBear. Quite honestly the goal of $5,000 is the exact amount (almost to the penny) of the cost of the printing run. I am not paying myself for the time, nor the shipping costs or costs for the stickers and patches. Maybe I should have made it higher, but I wanted to reach the goal, and since a children’s book is different than a comic, I was not sure if I would make it. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/001/756/215/d7b053a65d9127caaca25c7f398dbbe7_large.jpg?1394940252" /><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do you have any tips/advice would you give to anyone looking to start a Kickstarter?</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Research. Study. Talk to tons of people. Email me if you want, I’m more than happy to answer questions and above all make a GREAT product. You gotta love it. If you love it, show it. Make a great video.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thank you for spending your time with us! Do you have any final thoughts for our readers?</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I am just grateful for this opportunity. If you don’t have children in your life for a book like this, please pass the word along to those who may be interested, I promise you will not be disappointed and it will be shipping on time!</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thanks again and I hope to hear good things from your Kickstarter!</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thank you James!</span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span>James Yeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16637699486755915238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050036035374044240.post-67166983364041950162014-02-26T08:00:00.000-08:002014-02-26T08:00:00.885-08:00The Same Mistakes Every Time<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">With the popularity of Kickstarter and Indiegogo many people who had never even considered getting involved in running a crowdfunding campaign have tossed their ideas, hopes, and dreams into the crowdfunding arena often with mixed results. For every big giant success story like </span><a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/597507018/pebble-e-paper-watch-for-iphone-and-android" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pebble Smartwatch</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stoic/the-banner-saga" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Banner Saga</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, there are dozens of smaller projects that have a hard time getting 2 backers, let alone 2000. Yet even though all these failed projects are for a hundred different kinds of things, many of them have these same problems. While there are dozens of books and articles explaining how to run a Kickstarter and what you should do, fewer point out the huge things you shouldn’t do; and since I got started in Kickstarter writing by focusing on the negative I figure why not go for more? <br class="kix-line-break" /><br class="kix-line-break" />So here are a list of some of the biggest things new creators do wrong when they post a Kickstarter campaign and what makes them wrong. I’ll be including real examples of projects with links so you can see that I’m not making this stuff up, people really do these things and continue to do so. Taken individually many of these will not sink your campaign, but none of them help! </span></div>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-400b2bf8-6272-fafd-db9f-5d632e57d676" style="font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><img alt="" height="371px;" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/fPonZDn2ysY1lNJumaLw3IQhB8m6lbwgHq_96NVFklu-KevWDPNk1eeolUwog_SktUNglilf2ue4tKta3ghHTySit-CGj1iDYyYbFTalibmsVXwUhg-TMBtgnA" style="border: 0px solid transparent;" width="217px;" /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/faithmarie91/graphic-novel-american-manga" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This project</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> will show up many many times. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 21px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Video killed the Kickstarter star</span></h1>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The internet LOVES video and Kickstarter isn’t an exception. With every phone, laptop, and video game console now a days seemingly all equipped with video cameras why would you ever launch a campaign without a video? If you can’t find a friend of a friend of a friend with a smartphone to film you, or even a web camera, then how can we expect you to get anyone involved in funding or making your project? </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Don’t feel comfortable on camera? Don’t know how to edit? No worries! Sometimes figuring out how to get past these problems can lead to some of the most interesting successes such as </span><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/johnjosephadams/help-fund-my-robot-army-and-other-improbable-kicks" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Help Fund My Robot Army!!!</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> John didn’t like the video of himself talking and couldn’t come up with a good way to pitch his book in video as he didn’t have an animating or editing experience so he used his resources to unleash one of the most powerful forces on the internet: Cats! Seriously go check out his video and see how resourceful and great that video is without being a simple “stare blankly into the camera and talk in a monotone from a script” video. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Another problem with videos comes with not viewing the videos before going “live” with a project. We all know cel phone cameras suck, and the microphones suck, but there are plenty of ways of getting by with those limitations you just have to try. Don’t put the light behind you, but in front of you. Don’t try to record outdoors on a windy day, or by a woodpecker or a busy street. Record at night when your kids are asleep. There are lots of ways of improving the quality of the video no matter your source, but the biggest way to do so is to WATCH IT BEFORE IT GOES LIVE! Let people who aren’t connected to you see it and comment on it. There are Google+ and Facebook groups full of people who will critique your campaign before hand and help you fix it before you waste your time going live. (Get used to this point as it’ll come up a lot as well) </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Finally in videos, please for the love of all that’s good in the world: help stop the spread </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bt9zSfinwFA%20" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Vertical Video Syndrome!</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><img alt="" height="368px;" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/FOQfBVrcvTqANDhKCN44AUCgg1G2HXmBkPOWLOeh1UFARUAimcP3p7m-D9e7EyMGVc-AisPxkt8EN49ObXLhmmO78BasfbGg5lCiuR_nYdlA_Jbi3MiMm15ymQ" style="border: 0px solid transparent;" width="210px;" /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1602846484/publishing-a-sci-fi-romantic-comedy-book" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Seems Legit! </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 21px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Trust Me! </span></h1>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I love creative people, they’re the ones who invent everything after all; but one of the biggest problems I’ve noticed with creative folks when it comes to Kickstarter campaigns is they’re not really any good at selling themselves or their work. They seem to think that “their work speaks for itself” or that “if you build it, they will come.” Sure, once upon a time when Kickstarter first started you might have had a few folks post a few pretty pictures and a quick bit of words, maybe even a video and still get funded; but those days are long gone. As such creators have to actually attempt to sell not only their ideas/products/concepts, but their ability to actually deliver on all of those promises to complete strangers. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I think everyone knows a relative, or a coworker, or a crazy blogger who has lots of “great ideas” for this or that but we all know there’s absolutely no way they will ever actually make it. They’re either not motivated, don’t have the skills, or have no clue what they’re actually talking about. Yet people like that often come to Kickstarter and toss up a campaign that isn’t much better than a “give me money” sign. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">No, I won’t trust you and neither will the vast majority of people on Kickstarter. No matter how interesting your idea is you have to demonstrate some ability to actually pull it off if we give you our hard earned money. There’s a reason why people ask for resumes, we want to see if what you did previously shows you have the skills to do what we want; and in Kickstarters case having an actual product in hand goes a long way! That means prototypes, game demos, rough cuts, past performances, restaurant experience, and many other kinds of things that show you have the experience and drive to actually go out and do it when you have our money in your hands. </span></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><img alt="" height="368px;" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/sLJDo_5J3yXo83qGpPWwXy0f2xb3_erFwantU17jU0wgpOhYKEB-Ym3_tlXU9-9SBFJLrUyzmVnw6-XxHY0zIxtjMl7NnTeP2kN6Rfz_cUccNRnKSU75r9p4OA" style="border: 0px solid transparent;" width="207px;" /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That’ll be </span><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/triumph-and-disaster/triumph-and-disaster" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">$24,000 please</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 21px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Cost of doing business</span></h1>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Speaking of money, you can have a great looking project, with plenty of pretty pictures and videos; but if you can’t tell me what you need all that money for, what makes you think I can trust you with it? When you get down to brass tacks crowdfunding is all about getting money to creative people to have them do creative things with it, but as I’ve mentioned before creative people aren’t always the most business savvy. One way to help alleviate potential backer’s fear and show that you have the most basic level of business acumen is to include a budget breakdown of some kind. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The budget breakdown is the most basic of budgeting tools that everyone thinking of doing a Kickstarter should use. Simply put you need to show us where the money is going! If you’ve come to Kickstarter to ask for $5,000 you’d better be able to tell us how you’re planning on spending the money and show that you’ve prepared for problems in some small way. Have you taken into account taxes and fees? How about shipping costs for all those cool gizmos you’ve invented? How about having a solid price for whatever service you’re going to buy before you need the money? These are extremely basic and key questions that are covered in a good budget breakdown. </span></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><img alt="" height="536px;" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/kDw6CyXJEC2zSbdNhi76XGPF8wiBSxEifshK0t50LPpSumphBhoxptlb09IGJa6pRH1ChyIrzeGGrfFF0odFFj6bLPwhr_hE03IZ_8PBIkPRzsmoaaHKypfD1A" style="border: 0px solid transparent;" width="421px;" /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Who says </span><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/area5/outerlands-season-one" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">budget breakdowns</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> are boring? </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Just because a budget is a boring thing, doesn’t mean you have to present it in a boring way! Area 5 has done a good job of making a fancy looking budget for their </span><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/area5/outerlands-season-one" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Outerlands </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">campaign, but it doesn’t have to be that fancy or even done with pictures. A good thing to do is to think of a used car salesman coming up to you, would you really want him to say, “oh sure this car is worth $10,000!” Just like a used car salesman potential backers know you’re trying to sell them something so everything you can do to alleviate any concerns they have is a good thing. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 21px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The good, the bad, and the ugly</span></h1>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Art is a very subjective thing, and if you don’t believe me go look at the list of successful comic and art Kickstarters! One thing about art that isn’t subjective when it comes to Kickstarters, If I can’t see it, I won’t buy it. In this case I’m talking about not having any pictures to show for your comic project, or art project, or photo project, or anything else really that has some sort of visual aspect. This would include screenshots, prototypes, and even artist concepts everything helps in the visual medium that is the internet. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now just tossing up every image in your hard drive can often be worse than putting up only one or two, the big key here is trying to put out enough visual information without being overwhelming. This can be a tough balancing act to pull off but I’ve found at least one image a section (like this article) tends to be plenty. The idea is you shouldn’t make the potential backers guess as to what you’re doing, show us whenever possible. Also, when art isn’t final, be sure to point that out especially if part of your budget (see budget breakdown above!) is specifically to make better art! </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Again I have to reiterate you </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">NEED </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to have folks who are not involved and who don’t know you personally to take a look at your project before you list. They will point out things like how good or bad the pictures are, if you need more pictures, and the like. Again find yourself a group to follow, a forum like </span><a href="http://boardgamegeek.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Board Game Geek</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> or whatever other specialty site that fits your project and let them look at it. It will do wonders for your project’s presentability and get more eyes on it down the road. </span></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><img alt="" height="374px;" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/X1sdhB6CZMxPXnRqqnQvM3FClFrQIgM_LrGyuPtsk3ciJx9vGlIW_VHeM9fWMv5lE2C-dVIL_gQxXT2f0xBR0zQpg7bZDXcSpXKiSRQWPJWxe88tNZxYiMxYRg" style="border: 0px solid transparent;" width="209px;" /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yeah I live here and still don’t </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">know what</span><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1759491385/las-cruces-one-act-seminar?ref=city" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> this one </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">was about. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 21px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You’re doing what now? </span></h1>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Remember when that guy did that thing in that movie? You know the one, the one with that one girl who played music on tv that one time. You know? Yeah, that doesn’t work in regular conversations why do you think it’d work in a digital sales situation? </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The final problem on this list is the general “vagueness” of some projects. Often these projects will require inside knowledge of a subject, the creators aren’t native English speakers, or the project is just poorly written. Whatever the cause there are plenty of projects on Kickstarter that do a very poor job of telling you why they came to Kickstarter, or what their project is all about. Proofreading by those who aren’t connected to you (told you this would come up a lot) goes a long way to making sure your campaign actually makes sense outside your head. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Words matter, and even with all the pictures and videos you can put on a project a good number of folks will still be reading your campaign and as such you need to ensure they make sense. If you make a reference to a specific genre like “</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_degrees_of_freedom" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">six-axis shooter</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” you should, at a minimum, link to an outside reference if not spell it out in the campaign. Just because everyone you know understands 4d6 keep the highest, or knows what IDIC is, or can tell you how many rounds a minute a ma deuce can put down range doesn’t mean everyone else does. Even if your project is in a specialized field there’s no reason you should exclude those outside the field the opportunity to help you out by aiming your pitch only at them. The Kickstarter community is a very inclusive one so why try and exclude potential backers? </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 21px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why even bother? </span></h1>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Everyone makes mistakes, and there are many failed Kickstarters who have learned from their mistakes and come back to great success. Even if you only had one backer the first time you tried making a Kickstarter project doesn’t mean your idea is bad. You shouldn’t let failure dampen whatever passion you have that drives you to create! The best success stories are surrounded by failure but one thing comes through, perseverance and the ability to learn from you mistakes are the keys to success. So learn from these mistakes I’ve listed and go out there and have a great campaign! Who knows, I might even ask you to participate in a future </span><a href="http://www.kickstarter-conversations.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kickstarter Conversation</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span>James Yeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16637699486755915238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050036035374044240.post-31062859779859308162014-02-25T08:00:00.000-08:002014-02-25T08:00:05.144-08:00QuadStick<iframe frameborder="0" height="480" scrolling="no" src="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/227850484/quadstick-a-game-controller-for-quadriplegics/widget/video.html" width="640"> </iframe><br />
<b id="docs-internal-guid-738c0509-6271-adc3-47f1-177d2128831c" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.15; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Welcome back to another Kickstarter Conversation! Today I am pleased to be joined by Fred Davison who is here to talk to us about the </span><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/227850484/quadstick-a-game-controller-for-quadriplegics" style="line-height: 1.15; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">QuadStick</span></a><span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.15; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Thank you for joining us today Fred. </span></b><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">-</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thanks, James. It’s my pleasure.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Just looking at the pictures in your campaign it’s a bit hard to understand what the QuadStick is all about. Could you give us a brief rundown of the product? </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is a mouth operated game controller, mouse, and keyboard for people that cannot use their hands. It has a joystick the user can move with their lips, a lip position sensor, and air pressure sensing tubes mounted on the end of the joystick into which the user can sip or puff to provide inputs.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It connects to a game console using a USB cable and also has a Bluetooth transceiver to connect to a secondary computer or device.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The QuadStick does more than function as a game controller, it also makes a great mouse for a computer and can be configured to generate any keystroke. It can become a key device in the way a paralyzed person interacts with the world.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><img alt="" height="656px;" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/3PHZw2DeKPyhCaEv3d2qCY3mkswfvY3qBxVoVO3PlSOZMsXYwfl4x1HqS9yAo09QFlQgUKvG2Gia0_FMNvjyTnOuM5CatWYz8MQKSFhUrV-wcO57uJ6FRZY5gg" style="border: 0px solid transparent;" width="624px;" /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That’s seems like an awfully niche market, how did you find yourself wanting to create controllers for quadriplegics? </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I am an embedded systems engineer. An embedded system is computer dedicated to a specific task, in my case, energy and temperature control systems used in commercial buildings. Smart buildings.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Years ago, my mother was a victim of ALS and I learned about some of the different ways technology is used to make life more enjoyable for people with some kind of disability. That was the beginning of my interest in systems like that and when I read about the Quad Control game controller and that the owner was going to stop production due to declining health, I realized I had the right cross section of technical skills plus the incentive to do something. I met with Ken Yankelevitz, the owner of Quad Control, and the project started.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<a name='more'></a><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Video game controllers normally run $60 or so, with specialized controllers for racing or what not coming in anywhere from $60 to hundreds of dollars. The Quadstick seems to fall more toward the high end at $399. What is the source of this cost? Is it the low production numbers or the large number of sensors versus buttons? </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are some differences in the cost for necessary components, like the pressure sensors for the sip and puff tubes that are used in place of buttons made of conductive rubber and plastic, but mostly it is the relatively small market for a controller like this versus the commodity game controller. When you design something intended to be produced manually in small quantities, it is necessary to make very different choices than would be made if the cost of engineering and tooling for automated production could be amortized over several thousand devices.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><img alt="" height="404px;" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/DGNCwUDSsZEKiqJqk3xruoySlegT6VZwxmBeqs1Ac33lqmHMoEM2S47Qilg5-x675Tflv1zi7oF5QdmDKiiCB5PBRrpFwjSUSDYHbJ3P_rI0gkjPeEngoYOgBA" style="border: 0px solid transparent;" width="624px;" /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What is the distribution plan for the QuadStick? Will you just be making them on demand in your shop or are you trying to get some mass production runs done? Will this be available in specialty shops or only directly through you? </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Due to the success of the Kickstarter campaign, I will be able to build more devices than are currently spoken for. After the first batch, it is my hope the numbers would allow me to use an assembly house for the circuit board, but that decision just comes down to the numbers.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m currently planning to sell directly to individuals over the internet. There is some interest by organizations that might result in larger orders. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of my big bugaboos about Kickstarter projects are budget breakdowns. When asking anyone for money it’s nice to know what it’s for, and potential backers are starting to expect seeing some kind of budget breakdown. What is the $10,000 original goal slated for? What’s the plan with the overage now that you’ve doubled your goal? </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The number of generous “good-will” backers surprised me. After reading the messages many sent, I think they feel the same way as I do about how important this device can be to someone that needs it. They just want it to become real. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There have been backers that pledged for a QuadStick and requested I send it to someone else, or, are buying it for a friend. Some have pledged more than the reward amount or requested no reward at all and this has left me very touched.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My original plan assumed most of the pledges would be for units and I was going to use the net profit from those to literally kickstart later production runs and gradually build the business. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That is still the basic plan, to build more units than claimed as rewards, but since the pledges have skewed towards rewards without a high fulfilment cost, I’ll be able to do some other things and upgrade some of my production tools sooner than I first thought. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve been soldering the boards in a modified toaster oven, which works fine for prototyping, but it does not heat up hot enough or fast enough to use the lead free solder required for CE and RoHS compliance. I will use about $700 to buy a true soldering oven. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The extra funds will also allow me to submit the device to a testing lab for CE, UL and FCC compliance or certifications right away. I don’t have an exact figure, but it can cost one or two thousand dollars. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The software in the QuadStick is easy for the user to update. There are two things I’ve identified for which I would like use some of the funds that would add significant new features to the software:</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The QuadStick can already use voice recognition software running on a PC to assist the user when playing a game with non-time critical functions. Other technologies, like Emotiv EEG, which uses brain wave pattern matching, or eye gaze or head tracking systems, can trigger many of the same functions, for someone who cannot speak. The development kit for the Emotiv EEG system costs $500 and would let me develop an application to manage the QuadStick with non-verbal commands. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The second item is a USB analyzer so I can reverse engineer the XBox authentication process. We currently rely on a 3rd party device, the CronusMax to do this, but it requires plugging and unplugging cables each time the XBox starts up. This a huge inconvenience for QuadStick users. The QuadStick has the hardware to do this function on its own and a USB analyzer is the tool needed to develop the software. A suitable analyzer can cost anywhere from $500 to $1500, depending on features.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><img alt="" height="468px;" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/T7fXvizkB3ExR7ilN9joItngikRn0nit_SqCbl1APhOTcSEycdOMF9zcpPsXsBBX_ReOpu3tnt2udPPYOOBu88pa8Midjp7Syfxvud8d8uy5Bd1ee8_ThEWBuw" style="border: 0px solid transparent;" width="624px;" /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How did you discover Kickstarter?</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A friend mentioned it to me a couple of years ago and I’ve backed several projects since then.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A key part of successful Kickstarters is backer participation and how to convert a potential backer into a full backer. How are you engaging your backers? What kinds of things do you have planned for updates to give notice to those who just hit the “remind me” button and surf on? Interviews? Videos? Stories from the project?</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve been communicating with individual backers mostly though the Kickstarter messaging system and as a group, through the updates. I try do an update every couple of days, and when there is some interesting news. There will be videos and photos showing how the product is made. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><img alt="" height="661px;" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/RxJ8sKGeF_Gj-E6MvbNxZ_x2xpXHpMChQy7AfdasiWAG8C8J6UJS51Hr1bGRnzTEsnoJIrslH--DUF9aEa2EldezhhqgEv4N0e2PUfnXafQxlWnxyZLBbYPgbg" style="border: 0px solid transparent;" width="624px;" /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What kind of media attention have you received with your project? How are you spreading the word? Facebook? Twitter? Google+? Youtube? Advertising? Are you using</span><a href="http://www.kicktraq.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kicktraq</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to track your progress? </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We received coverage in several game and tech sites shortly after we launched. A few days later, international sites picked up the story. Facebook was used before the launch and we will soon have QuadStick specific Facebook and Twitter pages, in lieu of using personal pages. Matt Victor’s demonstration video received several thousand views last week. I do use Kicktraq.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do you have any tips/advice would you give to anyone looking to start a Kickstarter?</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Look at other projects that have succeeded for examples of how to do things right, but also look at projects that failed for examples of how things were done wrong. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Once you have your project approved by Kickstarter, send out your preview link to family and friends for comments, but also to people like Reddit’s Kickstarter sub-reddit, who will look at it with a more objective eye. Finally, when you pick a launch date, notify your social networks and ask them to spread the word in advance.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Allow plenty of time to communicate with Kickstarter staff. They have thousands of projects active at any given time and it can sometimes take a few days to get a response to a question.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was originally going to have just a two tier reward system. The QuadStick itself and a $10 reward to get on a mailing list. A friend suggested I create several reward levels to increase interest and they were right.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thank you for spending your time with us! Do you have any final thoughts for our readers?</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Just tell your story. Tell potential backers why you want to do your project. If you think it is a good idea, there are other people that will too.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thanks again and I hope to hear good things from your Kickstarter!</span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span>James Yeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16637699486755915238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050036035374044240.post-63092295998011085372014-02-24T08:00:00.000-08:002014-02-24T08:00:08.870-08:00ISS Above<iframe frameborder="0" height="480" scrolling="no" src="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1385270522/iss-above/widget/video.html" width="640"> </iframe><br />
<b id="docs-internal-guid-1853eeef-626c-fdf2-7304-aee2605c2d2f" style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Welcome back to another Kickstarter Conversation! Today I am joined by Liam Kennedy who is here to talk about his project</span><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1385270522/iss-above" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> ISS-Above</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Thank you for joining us Liam. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thank you for inviting me to share about the ISS-Above. Very happy to be here.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As someone who tracks the International Space Station almost daily your project obviously caught my attention, would you care to tell us all about it? </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sounds like we are both cut from the same cloth. If we were friends on Facebook you would see how often I post things about the International Space Station - when it’s going to be visible and such too. I’ll often stop people in the street if I am out when I know the ISS is flying over and point it out to total strangers. Those that don’t run away at that point are often amazed that you can see it - and some even have no idea we have a manned space station orbiting above. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I also run the web site </span><a href="http://www.lookuptonight.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.lookuptonight.com</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and I have used that to share what’s going on in the sky to southern california residents. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 2010 I wrote my first (and only) App for the Windows Phone called LookUpTonight. That App was pretty simple - but it does allow you to view much of the information that’s available from the </span><a href="http://heavens-above.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://heavens-above.com</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> web site (and a few others) on a Windows phone linked to your location. That of course includes details on the ISS passes.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So.. that’s the story of how I’m always sharing about the ISS and here is the “backstory” to how I ended up building ISS-Above</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In June of 2011 I came across what I thought was a very neat Kickstarter for a device called ISS-Notify. This was going to be a simple little lamp that comes on whenever the ISS is passing overhead. It sounded pretty neat so I backed the project. It was the first Kickstarter I backed. Unfortunately although the developer certainly did his best to build the unit something must have gone wrong during the design / manufacturing as none of the nearly 300 backers of that project have heard anything from the developer for nearly a year. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I guess I just got fed up that I didn’t get my ISS-Notify - so I decided to build something myself. That’s what the ISS-Above is. It’s definitely inspired by the idea of ISS-Notify - but also quite different in what else it does - and how it works. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The ISS-Above is built on a platform of a single board computer called a Raspberry Pi. I wrote the code on the device using the Python programming language. The code downloads the orbital elements of the ISS from NASA every few days. All the calculations for when the ISS is going to pass nearby is done on the device itself (unlike how ISS-Notify would have worked - which needed access to Heavens-Above.com)</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Of course the ISS-Above flashes/lights up whenever the ISS is “nearby” - but it is also configured to send a Tweet TO the ISS when it gets particularly close. In this way it will become a “beacon” to those in the ISS as they orbit the earth. The more people have one - the bigger the virtual “wave” will be to the ISS. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It also has it’s own web server running on the device. This allows anyone who is connected to the same network as the device to bring up a web page that contains much more information about the active or future passes of the ISS. If the ISS is on an active pass of your location the web page switches in to “overflight” mode and that allows you to send a customized tweet - and to view more detailed information about the </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><img alt="" height="351px;" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/wMHnxOBh22UfvzqruCLSGEu2HWC2IMBrTOcXSDCuP_KlszXagcBYUyxMigEF25oZKqJzkxRmA2EkCoySLhUztGFPOE5_6BKsfteXA7CLbvUbMSGYewy5iYWOmQ" style="border: 0px solid transparent;" width="624px;" /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tracking the ISS isn’t the hardest thing to do, as your own campaign mentions any smartphone can do it right now. Why make a specialized, stand-alone device? </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I totally love all the Apps that you can get for your phone that tell you when the ISS is visible. I have just about every kind of ISS and Satellite App for my phones/iPad. I can’t get me enough of those. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">HOWEVER - when it comes down to it I just don’t refer to my phone all that often to find out about the ISS and when it’s coming over. And - I don’t need any more apps that beep/flash or remind me about anything. I guess I am on “notification overload” as far as messages there. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What the ISS-Above does is it can sit on a shelf/wall in your office or home and just be that reminder to ANYONE who can see it that the Space Station is nearby. “ANYONE” is the key here. The device doesn’t only light up for times when the ISS is visible (usually close to sunrise/sunset) - it lights up WHENEVER it is nearby. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Being built using a Raspberry Pi means there are lots of options available for different types of displays including both LED/RGB lights and LCD displays. That’s the flexibility inherent in the platform used. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<a name='more'></a><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Well obviously there are enough people who agree with you that you’ve already doubled your goal! Are you surprised at how well the campaign has gone? </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You never know how something like this is going to go. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Kickstarter was not the beginning of this project for me. Clicking that “launch” button on the project was actually the last step in a development project that I started back in late October 2013. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Between that start in October and now - I have : developed the first units - installed a “public” one in a local cafe near Caltech, displayed them at a local Mini Maker Faire in San Diego, and ran a world-wide beta program. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So - I knew there was a lot of interest in it - but I still did not know if that interest would translate in to people wanting to buy it - especially at price of over $100 for a complete ISS-Above. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I will say I am VERY HAPPY to have so much support</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><img alt="" height="276px;" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/YT7D5b2jFvI6o4MkbbtWe6oTowPIcXo6BgfBwBMexfnBHVzBimZFhI4wdRnHY1jqZ9dqPYoaZ676iDozAXZnT-L3lcjEkqf8JW2UtYh6loCQtFkGBUY7zNYbuA" style="border: 0px solid transparent;" width="624px;" /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How surprised are folks at seeing how often the ISS travels over head thanks to your simple device? Do you think it produces a greater appreciation, not just of the ISS, but of our space endeavours in general? </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That is one of the absolute delights. The one that is sitting in my local coffee shop is great at showing just how frequently it comes over. I often hear customers saying “is it coming over AGAIN?”. What comes next is often a question “Why?”. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That result.. having someone be surprised about the ISS.. and beginning to ask other questions is THE reason I wanted to get this product out there. I believe that is the great opportunity with the ISS-Above. It’s cool.. and inspires interest and further questions. Questions about space / science / NASA / astronomy. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What had me take this on is the vision I have for how this device can become a world-wide wave to the space station. I’m looking forward to the map for ISS-Above devices becoming filled with dots in every corner / every continent of the globe. Each of those “dots” to me will represent increased awareness and appreciation for space. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Are you surprised at how many people backed at just getting the software? How about going through your first batch of the PiGlow complete models? </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m not surprised - as there are many people who will already have a Raspberry Pi. I have received feedback from the backers and also Beta testers indicating the ISS-Above is a very much appreciated new use for their devices. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To be honest - I am more surprised (and very happy) at the number of people who are buying complete units. As of today there are 90 complete units purchased. The PiGlow is the most popular of the two versions I am supplying. It was great to have the first batch sold out. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The “Complete” units are being purchased mostly by people who have no knowledge or interest in really getting to grips with a whole new computing platform. They just want something that works right out of the box. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I did not want the level of computing proficiency be a barrier to adoption of ISS-Above. That’s why I’ve designed these units to be plug-n-play. The backers will just take the units out of the shipping box, plug in the power, plug in the ethernet and the device will start working with no further setup required. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Even those who have purchased the software on an SD-Card will be able to just plug the card in to their own Raspberry Pi - and as long as they have one of the supported display devices it will also just work without any additional configuration. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><img alt="" height="749px;" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/Q1J4BjVvHiAwNzfDkMrNNsEmfBR18SGzfbJ7boLwTsWKr-FWmjjHL84si7wh2ivY3U6_M5Enind8rQ3AA17QMXeH71V2ToaTL7A1qtGDgOGz46t6UG7qouQqpA" style="border: 0px solid transparent;" width="624px;" /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How did you discover Kickstarter?</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I discovered it when I heard about the ISS-Notify project in 2011. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A key part of successful Kickstarters is backer participation and how to convert a potential backer into a full backer. How are you engaging your backers? What kinds of things do you have planned for updates to give notice to those who just hit the “remind me” button and surf on? Interviews? Videos? Stories from the project?</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yeah. Good question. I didn’t just launch the Kickstarter and hope for the best. I’ve gone to a great effort to create an interest about the product. The Beta test was a great example of the pre-Kickstarter effort. The online mentions of ISS-Above is THE REASON why I have so many backers so far. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have also received many questions from potential backers - I respond to those questions very promptly. The result.. those get converted in to backers. I believe being responsive is one of the MOST important aspects of the Kickstarter. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You’ll also see a few other updates to the project. Last week I installed another ISS-Above in to the offices of the Planetary Society in Pasadena. I also gave them one as a Trivia prize for their weekly Planetary Radio show listened to by millions around the world. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><img alt="" height="237px;" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/RLSyxyJBG0Mr0cTgD0tsqdo3tK2HVe31yk_bOGY0cu8J8VWaj5FPkJGpT0ZzvVyJBw85zgDX_oiq90i1UC30cuHmpODUNy7oHtGudV0uj41LOzn2UU_oYuq8JQ" style="border: 0px solid transparent;" width="624px;" /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What kind of media attention have you received with your project? How are you spreading the word? Facebook? Twitter? Google+? Youtube? Advertising? Are you using</span><a href="http://www.kicktraq.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kicktraq</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to track your progress? </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I am using all those approaches (except paid advertising). The major click-throughs / backers have come via articles on Universe Today, RT.com, news.CNET.com. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve personally met some of the science/space bloggers through the public outreach I have conducted over the past 14 years or so. My experience as the past president of Orange County Astronomers, a Griffith Observatory Planetarium Lecturer and as a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador has allowed me to build a network of related industry connections that has definitely supported what I am doing now. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I also sent an ISS-Above up to a very popular online TECH show called TWiT.TV. Leo Laporte is well known for his tech shows and his producer just happened to place it beside him on a desk just prior to his show on Feb 2nd. The device did it’s job and Leo just happened to see it blinking.. saw the name that was on the front and guessed this was something to do with the ISS. His producer than just gave him a sheet that I sent explaining what it was. The result was a five minute impromptu review of the ISS-Above. There was an immediate interest that resulted in backers to the Kickstarter and further sign-ups on my web site. The video for that is available online </span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/MFVk0J5Y-sI?list=UUWAAgw0UiWLZqyA6eJzhbug" width="640"></iframe><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve also been engaging with the “twitterverse” by tweeting and retweeting appropriate tweets. The Rasperry Pi community has been particularly helpful - especially the accounts belonging to the hardware devices I am featuring (the PiGlow / Ledborg). I even had one of my tweets re-tweeted by the guy who invented the Raspberry Pi (Eben Upton CEO of the Raspberry Pi Foundation). Quite a few of the backers have clicked through from Twitter posts.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was also over them moon when I received an email from NASA Johnson Space Center. Their public affairs officer had “noticed’ my project and was very interested in it. He wanted to make sure the Tweets were tagging THEM (@NASA_Johnson). They are Mission Control for the ISS - so that seems only appropriate. All the devices that go out will be tweeting them. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I think when NASA starts seeing tweets from 200 or more locations around the world when the ISS is passing by - they’ll notice even more. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do you have any tips/advice would you give to anyone looking to start a Kickstarter?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Prepare a lot. Have your story down. Take every opportunity to share about it. Locate online communities/web sites where your target audience hangs out and post about your idea there. Look at Reddit.com and post to appropriate areas there too. Above all be responsive to your backers. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thank you for spending your time with us! Do you have any final thoughts for our readers?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thank you. I appreciate the questions. I think I’ve rambled on enough already. Thanks for listening. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b> <br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thanks again and I hope to hear good things from your Kickstarter!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span> <br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thank you for inviting me to share about ISS-Above</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
James Yeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16637699486755915238noreply@blogger.com1