Kickstarter games

Introduction

Ok, what the hell Kickstarter backers.

I stumbled upon this Kickstarter this evening that's already been funded, and I have to be honest: I'm a little disappointed by it. This campaign was created by the makers of Zombicide, so I get why the support structure's there, but it has a $100 price tag ($90 early bird). When you compare this to really good games that are already out there, you could seriously spend that $100 better. If you don't have games like King of Tokyo, Pandemic, Catan, Munchkin, etc. (or just go to Barnes and Noble and pick any of them) please invest in one of those games that are both cheaper and proven.



Not a bad sounding game, but needlessly expensive.

Personally I feel that the gaming section of Kickstarter is one of the most abused sections because they push buttons to jack up the price of their game, notably through things like miniatures or genre popularity (The Steampunk Cthulhu playing cards had an extended print run). I also think there's a lack of discretion on the part of some Kickstarter backers, but to each their own as far as that goes. I get that Kickstarter is community driven, and that every successful project is successful because of the support it gets, but it doesn't make me feel any better.

Kickstarter's Not All Bad

The Big Fix

Don't get me wrong - I've sure some of these products are really great, and Kickstarter has provided great projects (I backed the Catan Board for instance). In fact, there are a few projects in progress as of June 14, 2013 that I've found interesting enough to back to some degree.This Kickstarter is by a guy named Alexi Pors in Washington state. It's a thematic style card game that is meant to play out like a film noir (think The Big Sleep or Casablanca). I think it could've been marketed a little better, but you can definitely see a fair amount of love and thought has been put into this game. They're nearly 70% funded with 19 days left, and would cost $5 for a PDF version and $25 for a physical game.

Kremlin

This is a Kickstarter by Jolly Roger Games. They previously made a game through Kickstarter that was 118% funded called Pirates vs. Dinosaurs, and this time they took a stab at reprinting a 20 year old game. While I personally think the original art looks better in many ways than the version on the box, I think it's a good gesture to bring back a decent product that has been lost in time to a generation of gamers. This game is already over 180% funded on Kickstarter, and minimally costs $25 for the game.



These examples are in progress as of the day of this article. Though if you really want, you can check out my backer history, which for the most part should underscore the point of reasonably priced gaming products. I really fear the abuse of Kickstarter on tabletop games though: As a niche market, bloating the price of board games with unnecessary miniatures as a marketing gimmick will inflate gaming prices in the long run (Many normal miniature based games have cost between $70 and $90; King of Tokyo with cardboard cutouts is around $30). 

Kickstarter's Not All Good

I also fear that this will destroy the board gaming community in the long run, as expensive weak gimmicky games inevitably sour backers' appetite to invest in games on Kickstarter. When I look at a business built off of Kickstarter, like Stonemaier Games [Viticulture ($35) and Euphoria ($49)], their products really made it to market because they could connect with a niche market that was willing to take a chance with them. Although I think it won't hurt larger sociable publications that used Kickstarter like Days Of Wonder or Steve Jackson Games, it will  make life harder for the more entrepreneurial game developer.

Conclusion

At the end of the day I back some Kickstarter games because I think some games deserve the chance to get legs. Sometimes you can really see the passion that people have for a game, and sometimes I think people just want to sell their product to people that will enjoy what they've invested time to make. To that end, please note every game I've listed above has only been half the price of Kaosball. The game concept sounds decent, but more and more I've seen miniatures used in Kickstarter games, and I don't care. In the end I want to play a game, not have it take a lot of space, and look good without being lavish. I hope that if game developers are truly passionate about publishing a game, This way they can look at not only making a good product, but also an affordable one.