[mcv]

I think it's important to keep in mind that Kickstarter is not intended for purchasing a proven product, but to fund a product that you believe in, that you think needs to be made. It doesn't always work out that way in practice, but this is what it's intended to be.

For boardgames, stretch goals should indeed not be about adding or changing mechanics; that's a red flag. Stretch goals should probably mostly be about better quality components. Wooden or plastic pieces instead of cardboard, metal pieces instead of wood or plastic, a nicer board, more art, that sort of thing.

Extra options can work if options are already a big part of the game, and these are options the designer seriously considered but left out because they're not essential and too expensive to include. More money could mean they now can afford the non-essential options they originally intended but couldn't afford. But completely new game mechanics are a massive red flag.

It's worth noting that stretch goals are the area where a lot of Kickstarter projects mess up. Their original idea was good, but it was too successful and they promised too ambitious stretch goals which were just in the idea stage and never got properly developed, and suddenly they find themselves having promised things they don't have time for. I think this is one of the primary reasons why successfully over-funded projects end up being late.

[aaanotherhnfolk]

Before Kickstarter existed I had read Brian Tinsman's The Game Inventor's Guidebook which explains how to navigate the business side of board game publishing. There's a lot of surprising hurdles a board game must pass, chief among them getting a publisher to agree to print and market your game. Kickstarter helped create an alternative path to publishing but didn't address other key takeaways from the book.

For example: the book talks about the economics of printing game components, warehousing product, and buyer price sensitivity. These all combine to create narrow bands of acceptability for game materials. Kickstarter doesn't change anything about these economics. But now there is no central publisher to steer you away from these predictable issues.

My point then, is that even fancier game components don't make good stretch goals. The high price a game can command on Kickstarter from enthusiasts won't translate to the avg shopper who sees it on a store shelf. And if you print a standard and deluxe edition of your game, you are not effectively capitalizing on Kickstarter preorders to de-risk printing, warehousing, and shipping costs.

It's best to make one game that meets the exacting demands of the Target store shelf if you want to maximize success. Exploding Kittens is probably the best example to date. And that game is not well received by the BoardGameGeek scene (for valid reasons) which highlights the disconnect between the social validation designers crave and market success.