You are in for a special treat, today. At the time of this writing, his first Kickstarter project, Virus the Card Game, is 583% funded with 274 backers. He obviously is doing something right! So, I asked Mr. Basker if he would be so kind as to write up some of the things he is/has learned from this current adventure. Mr. Basker graciously sent the following message along:

I am writing this post on the request of my friend Derik Duley (@Festerduley) from  Lagniappe Games.  He asked me to write about what I learned from my first Kickstarter Project, which was for Virus the Card Game.

1.  Your Dreams – I am by no means an expert in Kickstarter.  In fact I barely knew what Kickstarter was a year ago.  I knew of course that you could take an idea and present it to people, but I always thought it was for “someone else”  not me…  I’m not an artist, or a big shot designer, but I realized Kickstart IS for everyone.  It is for “Your Dreams” too!

2.  Everyone’s a Critic – I received a lot of critical advice before and during the project.  A lot of people said they don’t like X or Y or Z.  The first thing I realized is not everyone is going to like everything about your project.  Just like everyone doesn’t like chocolate ice cream.  You have to realize even though you can’t please EVERYONE, you can still please hundreds of people with your project, and that’s great!

3.  Listen to your Backers – I changed many aspects of the game during the campaign, but it was an enjoyable and collaborative process with my backers.  I went in with the mind set to listen to them in the first place; welcoming ideas.  I actually enjoyed taking their advice, and trying to improve it how they saw fit.  I couldn’t change everything for every person, but most ideas were great, inventive, and friendly.  My backers were like my friends rooting for my project.

4.  Don’t be Afraid – I was really afraid to push the start project button on Kickstarter.  I wasn’t sure if Virus the Card Game would even fund, but I realized I would never know if it would or not if I didn’t try.  Fortunately, it was more successful than I dreamed it would be!

5.  Enjoy the Process – I heard a lot of people talk about how the process was so stressful or so burdensome.  I have found the Kickstarter process to be fun and enjoyable.  The one aspect that seemed taxing a bit was the fact that the 30 days seemed to drag on forever.

Those are the lessons learned, or tips, or whatever you want to call them.  I’m already planning my next project, Airline the Card Game, and am really excited about that as well.

Thanks for reading!

by Mark Basker (@Bloodmoondice) – Mastermind of game development at Around The Clock Games.

*Thanks a lot Mr. Basker! If you haven’t checked out Virus the Card Game, yet, there are still 3 days to go on his campaign! Head on over to the project, or even to Around the Clock Games, say “Hi”, and thank him for sharing his experience with us.