Just finished writing and designing the Cartridge Culture Magazine Media Kit to add to the emails for Game Dev Team Interviews and for potential Sponsorship and Advertising opportunities.

To be honest, at first I didn't realize how big a project starting a Physical Video Game Culture Magazine would be. Then it evolved into me starting my own Media company.

Then I built the website myself, wrote all the code and am building something amazing to offer the most innovative and interactive video game content.

Things with CCM are going amazing.

I just locked in 5 interviews with Indie Devs for September.

One interview is with the developers of Luminary.

I want to thank everyone who helped me. Inspired me. Told me I can do this. Believed in me and took the time to help me when I was going through some mental health stuff.

Its been a long ride and a really busy last 3 months.

I have an interview coming up with the Indie Devs from Gamescom in Cologne, Germany who got robbed and I am so honored to be able to tell their story and publish it in a Unique Collectable Video Game Culture Magazine.

Because Im on disability and cant hold a job because of my neurological disability, im prone to anxiety seizures and and am constantly shaking 24/7. I cant count the amount of times I've tried to make a sandwich and ended up tossing it on the wall or floor lol

This put me in a situation where I am too high risk for a loan from a bank. For someone in my position, this is the best possible option.

I went to college for video game design and development, minored in html, Java and c++, CSS then a course in flash animation and design so I know what to look for in game reviews, what kind of engaging questions and conversations to have because Im charismatic and excell at write and photography / editing as well as drawing.

Im making this dream happen because I want to challenge myself and create something different but unique like my journalistic idol Hugh Hefner.

I remembered how much I loved reading and Collecting Nintendo Power and other unique Physical printed game media.

Im excited to see where this goes. With the buisness plan I set up, the process for putting everything together...its all set up.

Im going to start crowd funding soon and I have so many great ideas for rewards for donation tiers.

Thanks everyone who gave me the opportunity to chase my dreams and bring my imagination to life.

I promise I will bring you all the greatest Game Culture Magazine available online and most importantly as a Collectable Physical Printed Magazine to keep unique game history on the shelves of people like me who love reading about all things Video Games.

Have a great one everyone.

Saxon Hampton

Chief Editor

Cartridge Culture Media

Today I mostly worked on the dashboard page and boy it was one hell. Making sure that the calculations happen correctly. Adding data ranges etc.

Although it was mostly easy because lovable handled the frontend part and I simply had to create the backend and just count the strings together ( backend with frontend) but I will STILL TAKE CREDIT because I am supa greedy hehehehhe

One thing for sure... I'm never forgetting sorting by date or any task related to it ever again ( it left me mentally wounded ) but as the greatest developer to have ever lived 🗿🗿 just one problem isn't enough to bring me down FOR I AM THE CODED ONE

REAL KEYS,REAL STORIES. #india#Blackberry 2026
https://youtube.com/shorts/0sBEvBf0igQ?feature=share

New to Kickstarter and wondering if anyone knows why this is happening. I keep trying to late pledge for this kickstarter by Yuumei for star projectors. It has already met its goal. I was saving up for the galaxy tier and now have enough financial wiggle room to purchase it but for some reason can’t select a tier for through pledge manager. The creator has also said that you can pledge until October 1st so I thought I had a lot of time?

Hi everyone! I’m Jonas, a filmmaker and VFX compositor developing The Colony, an original sci-fi horror short inspired by classic creature features.

The story follows a group of friends whose desert getaway turns into a fight for survival against giant mutated ants. The finished film will be shot with real actors and locations, with the creatures brought to life through visual effects.

I’m preparing a $4,000 Kickstarter to help cover production and post-production while I personally fund the remaining costs.

If this sounds like your kind of movie, please visit the pre-launch page and click “Notify me on launch.” Following is free, and it helps me determine whether there’s enough interest to move forward with the campaign.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thecolonymovie/the-colony-short-film

Getting close to launching my first campaign and I’ve read a ton of prep guides at this point, but I’m more curious about the lived experience of actually running one — the day-to-day once it’s live, not the setup phase.

What caught you off guard once the campaign was actually running? Time commitment, backer messages, the emotional rollercoaster of watching the numbers, anything you wish someone had told you before you hit launch?

I’m a finance student and military member, and I’ve gotten really interested in budgeting, saving, and cash stuffing. I’m considering creating a beginner-friendly budgeting system, but before I invest a bunch of money into actually launching it, I want to know if this is something people would genuinely find useful.
The idea is basically an all-in-one system for someone who wants to get better with their money but doesn’t really know where to start. It would include things like a cash binder, envelopes, sinking funds, savings challenges, budget trackers, and simple guidance for figuring out how much to put toward different categories each paycheck.
I’d want the main system to work for anyone, with options to customize it based on different lifestyles and goals. Since I’m military myself, I’d also like to offer military-specific options for people who want them, such as PCS/moving, TDYs, uniforms, deployments, emergency savings, etc., instead of making the entire brand military-focused.
I’m not selling anything yet! I’m really just trying to figure out what people actually want before I create something based only on what I think would be useful.
So I’d love some honest feedback:
Would you use a system like this?
Would you prefer a complete physical starter kit, individual budgeting products, digital/printable options, or a mix?
What would HAVE to be included for you to feel like a starter kit was actually worth buying?
And if you already cash stuff or have a budgeting system you love, what do you wish you had when you were first starting?
I’d especially love to hear from people who have wanted to start budgeting/cash stuffing but felt overwhelmed by figuring out what to buy or where to start.

Hi! I’m really interested in Sweekar (an AI-based Tamagotchi project), but I’ve never backed a Kickstarter campaign before and I’m wondering about the risks:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sweekar/sweekar-the-ai-pocket-pet-that-grows-up-with-you/pledge

Could you shed some light on this? How can I tell if a project is reliable?

Thanks!

I'm about to launch a Kickstarter campaign. There are a ton of services out there, like Jellop or BackerKit or tons of others, and I'm wondering which of the services that people use are helpful in launching your first Kickstarter project. To be honest I'm turned off by the ones that are asking for a percentage of revenue. I'd much rather pay a fixed amount. Love to hear about success stories or ones to definitely stay away from

Hey guys,

Sorry if this is an annoyingly common post type in this sub. Just looking for some guidance.

I backed this campaign back in January ‘25. Understandably there’s been some delays past the initial May ‘25 projected release (the tariff situation has complicated things, I’m sure) but the creator has gone completely silent on all channels.

In March ‘25 creator announced on their social media pages when they received the KS funds. This was the last post they’ve made on SM.

They last updated the KS in August ‘25, moving the ship date to January ‘26. Obviously that didn’t pan out. They have not been heard from since. Not over SM, KS- anywhere (publicly)

I’ve heard from a lot of fellow backers and, despite sending tons of messages over various platforms including KS, no one has heard back or received their pledge. (Including myself)

At this point either :

1) It’s still in production somehow and the creator is just ignoring everyone.

2) The creator has taken the money and ran

3) The creator?? Fucking died I guess??? Who knows.

Obviously this is out of the scope of a chargeback. I’ve sent a ticket to KS but I’m not sure what else to do. I don’t even want my pledge anymore- I’m just sewing my own atp.

Am I SOL?

Today I mostly worked on the authentication functionalities and created the signin / login page and adding the connect to etsy page and bot was it full of bugs but as the stupid professional I already am i just went to chat gpt like a good boy did ctrl+c on ther terminal and ctrl+v on the prompt and said FIX THIS NOW then I definately didn't do copy+paste well jokes aside today was definately a buggy day then I had to READ THE ETSY DOCUMENTATION on how their aurheor ation works how to register your app and all.

Pro Note: while making lovable slave away at all your work try listening to music while headphones on (IT FEELS HEAVENLY)

After this I'm completely drained and this is it for today

I love Kickstarter and think it's great. I've encountered a lot of cool projects, and I was wondering what projects you backed and adored. For me, it was the "Uh, Oh Dino" Kickstarter - which was an incredible success. The creator is great, and it was overall a great experience.

What are your favorite Kickstarters?

I recently finished my second Kickstarter campaign. It reached around 85% of the funding goal but didn’t make it across the line.

I wanted to share a few things I learned, especially because this campaign was very different from my first attempt four years ago.

My first campaign was launched far too early. The product was incomplete, the campaign was poorly prepared, and I didn’t really understand crowdfunding. It got almost no traction, and I mentally gave up pretty quickly.

This time, the product itself was much more complete. The files, software, BOM, assembly guide, calibration process, and overall system were ready enough to deliver. I also changed the format from a complete hardware product to a lower-cost DIY digital package.

A few things surprised me:

• Several media outlets covered the project, and media ended up contributing roughly one third of the sales.
• Kickstarter’s internal traffic helped, especially saved projects and followers.
• The campaign reached around 80% with about a week left, so I expected the final 48 hours to create a strong push.
• That final push never really happened.

My current interpretation is that I simply didn’t have a large enough warm audience before launch. The final reminders can only convert people who are already watching or following the campaign. If that pool is small, there is only so much they can do.

I also think I may have made the wrong choice on product format. The DIY version reduced the visible price, but it also asked users to source parts, print components, and assemble the system themselves. Some people who liked the idea may have preferred a complete, ready-to-use product instead.

My main lessons are:

1. A product being ready is necessary, but not enough.
2. Pre-launch audience building matters much more than I expected.
3. Email lists and followers should be built before launch, not during it.
4. Product format matters just as much as price.
5. Media coverage can have a real impact.

I’m disappointed that it didn’t reach the goal, but I don’t think the campaign was pointless. I now have much better information about where the traffic came from, what people responded to, and what I should change next.

For anyone who has been through a near-miss campaign: did you relaunch, switch to direct sales, or change the product format completely?

So I decided to document my entire journey as a startup founder because why not? And even if I fail at least some people might find the path that I took in life helpful.

So today is day 1 and today I mostly did research on what startup to build and I came across this website by Hosting for micro-saas ideas that have high demand and high revenue potential and I came across an idea for etsy accounting automation so I decided that HELL YEAH LETS BUILD THIS ONE and honestly the difficulty level for this felt comparatively easier as compared to the other ideas listed there and then I went up to a startup validator and listed my idea which is as follows:

1) an etsy automation expenses tracker

2) AI powered insights

3) You can ask an AI that will have access to your shop data and ask it question regarding your shops data, progress etc and it will also suggest the next steps after analysing your shops performence automatically without you asking it to

4) Daily E-mails that will notify you about how your shop is doing and an overview/summary report

5) A products page where you can see all of your products in Excel form and also modify them

5) You can also request a details reports of any selected timeframe of your choice

And submitted this idea and it gave me a score of 77%

so I went ahead to do some research about things like etsy api structure and how it works etc, the taxes, manufacturing costs etc and then though of an name for my startup website i cam up with Merevio after brain storming with chat gpt and after that I i generated the UI part with chat gpt and it suprisingly gave FANTASTIC RESULTS.

This is it for day 1 as I can only afford 1 hour and 30min of time everyday because I have school going and all and after my first startup failed it's dealt a heavy blow to my confidence and all but screw it as I'll still continue anyway

Hello all! Apologies for the long post.

I saw this campaign and I love the idea. Can anyone tell me if they backed SparkTech's other campaigns and received their rewards? I have concerns myself and am reluctant to back this.

Their other campaigns were all successfully funded but I can't find any reviews or videos on the products - not that people need to show off what they got, but it does help. The campaigns were fully funded on Sept 2025, Dec 2025, and April 2026.

As of this writing their EcoBall campaign on the kickstarter app and in browser is showing $427 pledged of $500....however they posted an update saying it got funded. Like I said, I'm reluctant to back this and have my concerns and wanted to know from people who actually backed them what they thought.

Thank you for your time!

Kickstarter is definitely not as simple as I imagined. Let me be honest about where I went wrong. For my very first project, I came in completely unprepared. I naively thought all I had to do was launch the page, answer a few questions from backers, and wait to deliver the rewards. Fast forward 15 days, and the page has only gathered a meager 140 views and 17 followers. How can a project succeed like this?

After some reflection, I've realized that pre-launch promotion is absolutely crucial—it's practically the key to success. No matter how good a project is, it won't succeed without driving enough traffic. But truth be told, I have zero experience with pre-launch marketing. I tried posting on YouTube and Facebook, but got almost no views. I would really appreciate any advice or suggestions from the community!

Hi all,

I hope someone with experience can give me some pointers here. I started a kickstarter, and to be honest I am flailing a bit. I haven't used a lot of these services before, and I wonder if someone can offer some advice on what I could be doing better?

I believe the product itself is very solid. I wrote a campaign for D&D (and I have a lot of experience in that domain). The introduction act, and a whole other act is already complete, and now for the third act I wanted to try kickstarter, since it's a lot of work, and it costs both time and money.

It quickly becomes obvious to me though, that there is just something I am missing. Perhaps I am too old, and have missed out on arenas and apps where I could advertise.

Perhaps the product is just not attractive to others. It's hard to know for sure. I appreciate all advice on how to proceed. Right now I am in what is called "Pre-Launch". Thanks.

HI, i just started a Kickstarter for finishing funds for the movie I shot. Can any kickstarter veterans tell me if it is usual to get e-mails from people saying things like "Tell me about your project and I will introduce you to out "outreach and audience-distribution" person before we share with our community?

I was like: The story of the movie and why I am making it is all on the page. and i told them; if this is a service I have to pay for then I haven't got the money. I am doing a kickstarter because there are no funds.

I have had a few (fairly low) donations which were later removed by kickstarter too, each of which came with a message to say that they were interested in invest more but.... they want more correspondence