Quote from: Lukeout on January 02, 2014, 11:44:22 AM

I agree Dan.

Why do people insist on calling me Dan when my name is Don...? 

What shenanigans?  This is the first I'm hearing of it, but that shouldn't be surprising since I'm no gamer.

Here's an interesting thought - create a tier for a board game that uses the deck!  It can be a simple but entertaining beer-and-pretzels game that comes with Meeples!  It doesn't even have to be something new, just something that comes with the deck.

Sorry about the name thing, as a guy who grew up being called Luke Skywalker his whole life, you think I'd be more careful. 

I'm actually working a game that uses the cards - printing the rules on the two extra cards. Can't announce anything yet as it's got an issue I need to figure out still.

Some folks over in the game space are creating early birds to give the feeling of a "deal that you have to act quickly on" then when it is about to get filled, they add a bunch more spaces to it. On the backer side, there are whole groups of folks who pounce on all early birds, and then 90% of them back out if the campaign doesn't hit a bunch of stretch goals. When spots open up on the "Early Bird" space it makes a campaign look really bad. That doesn't seem to happen on playing cards as much so I'm probably over reacting.

You'll need to promote it a lot among the gamer community - it's a rough market out there for decks now and any good deck has to reach beyond the card collector community in order to really go big.

I agree Dan. This deck was made for folks who don't normally look at playing card project. It's also the reason I didn't do early birds (they are getting a bad name on the gaming side of Kickstarter lately due to some shenanigans). I expect the campaign to start slow as the product isn't really a bulls-eye for either group (it's not a big euro game and it's not a deck specifically for collectors). Going to take some work to get over the line for sure. Hopefully this deck and decks like it can grow the playing card collecting community.

I like the focus on Skylines that I'm seeing. Cities hold on tight to those (I think Las Vegas even copyrighted or trademarked theirs). Might be a good cross sell to the architects of the world.

Not my cup of tea as it seems almost like someone applied a photoshop filter to a standard deck, but I'm curious to see what the metallic stuff looks like in the real world. I do like the elegant letters for the royals though. I wouldn't call it minimalist as it's not really simplified, just blurred/kaleidoscoped - I'd probably call it "interpretive" or something similar. There are some very minimalist decks out now that make these look downright busy.

I do think the updated royals are a big improvement though!

I like the concept of this post, and I agree that more people should figure out shipping before they start a Kickstarter project. However I disagree with the way you're calculating time and money on this. You've also over-inflated your numbers by using gross revenue instead of net profit.

Quote from: JacksonRobinson on October 15, 2013, 09:09:23 AM

Federal 52 Raised = $149,156.00 during it's 40 day campaign period
Backerkit Period = $15,728.00 during a two week post ordering period

Total Capital Raised in a 54 day period = $164,884

I worked an estimated 200+hours during that time period doing: Design, Answering Backers, Kissing Babies and Shaking Hands, making sure my wife didn't kill me.

$164,884 / 200hrs = $824.00 per hour

(obviously this number is different with EVERY project but the equation is the same)

Hour spent fulfilling packages = 140+ (2970 orders)

During the fulfillment time I was making $0 and could have been preparing for my next project.

Money lost while fulfilling = $115,360

That above number makes it a NO Brainer for me to pay a fulfillment house, even if they charge me double, it is absolutely worth my time.


How to estimate shipping cost

Shipping for your project will roughly come out to %16 - %18 of your total pledge raised.

I raised $164,884 for the Federal 52 Part I project and spent $27,000 on postage and fulfillment.

You were paid to Design, Produce, and Ship the decks. The fact that the production and shipping occurred after you received payment doesn't mean it's time you weren't paid for. That's the attitude of every project that has failed to deliver.

I agree here, you were paid for a product and a service. When doing the math, you need to load all costs (isn't backer kit only 1%?) including shipping supplies, etc... That said, there has to be a break point where fulfillment is just better for life quality. I'm going to run with the "family plan" on my project (i.e. get the whole family to help and pay my kids some to show them what work is).

To me, the worst part of shipping isn't the packaging and mailing, it's the after shipping customer service. Getting emails from all over the world about an occasional dented box, ripped package, etc... You just never know when a mail man is going to put a bass guitar amp on top of your box in the truck. Even if it's 3-4%, that can be a lot of headaches. For our last game kickstarter, my other company created a game box that fit exactly into a USPS medium flat-rate box just to reduce damage. We got some odd looks for our box size (a bit larger than it needed to be), but our external damage issue rate dropped to 0.

Not sure if this is the right sub-forum or not. But I'm curious if there is a thread somewhere on post KS sales channels. For my previous game Kickstarters, it was fairly easy to tie into an established network of distributors and retailers. As a newb to playing cards, I'm curious if there is a similar network for playing cards? I see a few on-line retailers, but I don't have a good sense of who the "big boys" are in the space.

Thanks all! (and apologies if I put this in the wrong forum!)

And i believe USPS flat rate boxes cost more than envelopes as well.
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Not to pour salt, but USPS flat rate boxes are free from the Post Office. They even print on the inside of them now because people were turning them inside out and using them for regular mail.

This deck really isn't my cup of tea, but damn that voice-over guy in the video was awesome! I wish I had a friend who could do that type of silky voice-over for my videos!

I think the deck has a solid chance of making it. If nothing else, it rides on the heels of the Sherlock decks (more literary theme stuff). I don't think this deck holds up to the Sherlock standard, but it doesn't need Sherlock numbers to fund either.

Just going to chime in and say share away. This site has been amazing with constructive feedback.

I like them! Unique, but not so far out there as to not be recognizable as card backs. Does the deck have an overall theme, or are you just doing backs?

I'm guessing the gilding is "pure collector" here right? I can't imagine you can shuffle those.

Not my cup of tea, but I love the regular cards (and I was lucky enough to get one of those wooden boxes too!)

Awww I like these.

Great contrast from all these skull...and dark themed decks.

Thanks CrankUP - I'm a fan of clean design for function and ornate design for beauty. Playing cards can go either way for me as they are both, but there are certainly a lot of "ornate" options already. I like who playing cards are a lens to look at other topics through - if you look at an ornate topic (like the Chinese Opera), they you'll get an ornate deck. If you look at the meeple through that lens, I think the final version needs to be clean and bold.

Quote from: Lukeout on December 13, 2013, 03:32:05 PM

I'm going to add 25 signed/numbered sheets for each of the two decks. Strictly limited. I also decided to make both decks limited editions rather than have 1 limited and 1 unlimited. 

What happens if your project is a runaway success and you run out of decks? 

I throw a party and work on another idea! 

Seriously though, I have no problem selling out and creating a bit of a collectable in the case of a runaway hit.

My goals might be a bit different than other people who run these projects. I just want to make great projects that people love. I'm not terribly concerned with selling the maximum number of decks, particularly if that comes with lots of additional hassles. Those hassles could get in the way of me working on more projects!  I'd find it much more satisfying to make $1K each in profit from 5 projects than $5K from one project if that make sense. I know the 5-projects path is a lot more work, but with that work comes a lot of satisfactoin.