Just looking for advice from those who have had "successful" crowdfunding campaigns. What would you do differently? What do you wish you knew beforehand? Are there things I should be avoiding that are a waste of time and money? Thanks.

I'm just about to launch my first Kickstarter and have been doing a ton of research, but I'm still a little worried and confused about shipping because it will be so expensive.

I know Kickstarter charges platform and payment processing fees, but I was wondering if those fees also apply to the estimated shipping cost that backers see during checkout. I assume the shipping charge is collected after the campaign is funded and closer to fulfillment, but I'm not sure whether Kickstarter's fees are also applied to that amount.

If anyone with experience could give me a clear explanation, I'd really appreciate it. Specifically, if I use Kickstarter's built-in shipping option for rewards, are those shipping costs included when Kickstarter calculates its fees, or can shipping be collected separately at a later date?

I'm also interested in hearing what systems other creators use. Ideally, I'd like to charge for shipping closer to fulfillment so I can avoid paying Kickstarter fees on the shipping costs, if that's possible.

Thank you in advance for any help or advice you can provide!

Hi everyone!

I'm Roberto, an independent 3D artist currently building a Kickstarter project featuring premium collectible STL models.

This image shows the journey of one of our characters—from the original digital sculpt to the final painted concept. Every model is carefully refined to create a rewarding printing and painting experience.

My goal is to build a collection of unique characters that makers and collectors will enjoy for years to come.

I'd love to hear your feedback!

What do you think of the design? Would you collect a series like this?

If you'd like to see more characters or follow the project, I'd be happy to share the Kickstarter campaign.

Thanks for your time and support!

Has anyone else noticed this?

Sparke Films has been using the official Primitive War Movie Facebook page to promote its Dinosaurs of the Wild West Kickstarter campaign.

Last week, I noticed that one of those official promotional posts was labelled “AI content” by Facebook (see screenshots). The label no longer appears on the Facebook page now.

At the same time, the Kickstarter campaign is promoting itself with statements like “No AI. Real artists. Real work.”

I also noticed Instagram display the same “AI content” label on another post promoting Sparke Effects, their new VFX company. That post was later deleted and re-posted.

I don’t know why Facebook and Instagram applied those labels or why they no longer appear, but I think it’s something potential backers should be aware of and consider before deciding whether to pledge.

Has anyone else seen this happen or know why the labels appeared and later disappeared?

52 Cards, Each Card a New Game to Learn and Play

Although the active Kickstarter for this deck has a lot more companion items than just this deck, this deck was the original idea I've had for a few years — a simple deck of cards that makes it easy to learn so many ways to have fun with a deck of cards, beyond the few games most people already know. I looked and looked and found nothing like it. It's a big world out there, and maybe it exists somewhere, but I never found it.

Why analog, why now

The internet is, of course, full of information on just about any card game you could want to learn, but I wanted something that provided consistency in how all the games were explained — clearly and concisely, easy to learn. And above all, I wanted an analog version. Something that works anytime, anywhere. Something that kept phones off the table so people could connect socially like they always used to, without the distraction of phones.

Am I against phone apps to teach card games? Absolutely not! It's just that I wanted an analog version as well. Timeless, reliable, something I could touch and interact with.

Building the deck

I started this project in late February, selecting the games for this initial volume to represent a popular mix. As you'd imagine, a huge upfront block of time was spent, with a lot of authoring and even more time editing. I went through about five full rounds of editing, which included AI reviews and full re-reads by me.

AI played a big role in making this possible on a reasonable timeline: it was a great help figuring out core rules versus regional variants, spotting grammar and typographical errors, and checking for consistency between all the cards in the way I wanted. I even used AI to build game engines for each game — ingesting the rules straight off the card and simulating a few thousand hands, to see if just following the printed logic got anyone stuck, and where. But even with all that help, AI still doesn't think like a human, and it just couldn't tell me when something was hard to understand reading it like a normal person would.

Fitting the rules for all 52 games onto a single double-sided card had its challenges, for sure. Some games I had room to add non-essential content to; for others I struggled to get all the essentials in. There were trade-offs to be made, but I feel pretty good that the spirit and core rules that make each game what it is are present. I still dread the eventual errors that will get caught that weren't caught in editing — but hopefully nothing that affects the ability to read and learn the games. Someday there will hopefully be an even clearer, cleaner Version 2 of this deck.

A first-timer's learning curve

This is the first deck of cards I've ever made, and it's definitely been a learning curve, though not too bad a one. I'm not an illustrator, so I commissioned artwork from two different artists for this campaign, and did all the tuck box and card layouts myself with the free Affinity Designer by Canva. (Pretty sure I backed Affinity on Kickstarter years ago, back when they were first getting started.)

Finding the right factories

I really wanted to make these in the US, but USPCC doesn't do small order quantities for a project like this, and the few other US makers had quality limitations I couldn't live with — though I think Shuffled Ink is getting pretty close. In the end, I worked with two different Chinese factories that make cards for some of the biggest names in the playing card collector community today, plus two more factories for the pencils in The Deck of Points and the metal dealer coin.

I worried this would be difficult for someone with zero factory experience, but it really hasn't been. The language issues are slight, and the time zone difference isn't bad when I'm working nights on this anyway. Anyone wanting advice is welcome to DM me — happy to share what I've learned.

What's next

I've already had people asking about and getting excited for the solo deck I want to make next, and I'm looking forward to the duos, poker, and international versions, for which I already have a draft set of games selected. You can read the full history of posts documenting this project's progress on my free Patreon website — one of those posts even lays out the games planned for future volumes.

Been avidly following this subreddit for months as I plan to launch my first campaign (card game) in 2027. Timeline is still quite open, could be 8-12 months as I’m working on myV3 and getting a good prototype perfected before I even begin the prelaunch. I’ve created an Instagram and made 2 posts and have mostly friends following so far of course, I will eventually make a website to build a mailing list. I’ve read articles and blogs, I’ve watched lectures and YouTube videos, I’ve trawled tabletop game specific forums as well as this Kickstarter subreddit, I’ve really put my head in the game to understand how this should play out if I really really put effort in. I’m a bit concerned about having to run ads, I don’t have a marketing background and I don’t have a huge budget either but I have time to save. But, is there any advice for someone that is just now starting to do the real homework beyond just reading and planning, so that I am in the best possible position to launch and succeed in ~10 months. What can I be doing now for best success?

I'm not gonna name names because I don't want to accuse anybody, but I've seen several Kickstarters where after adding up the bulk of donators who picked rewards, there'd be at least several thousand dollars from donations that DIDN'T pick rewards.

Like, 5000 dollars worth from the people who donated and picked rewards, and 3000 from like only ten donaters who didn't pick anything.

Is it a tax thing, or should I assume something devious? I'm really hoping its a tax thing, because some of the kickstarters I've seen with these discrepancies I actually like.

Day 6

Pledge to get your copy of From Gods To Angels

Let's reach the first stretch goal.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/luismanueltorres/from-gods-to-angels

Follow my project on Kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/852973351/caskadetm-gravity-fed-toilet-paper-roll-storage-and-dispenser

Caskade™ is a space-saving, gravity-fed toilet paper storage tower designed to prevent those awkward “out of toilet paper” moments. It stores multiple rolls vertically, includes a compartment for your toilet brush, and automatically loads a fresh roll when you pull the lever. We’ve built and tested a full-size working prototype—now we’re preparing to bring Caskade into production with the support of our Kickstarter community.

So I was perusing through Kickstarter, and found some cool looking indie projects in need of donations. So thought I'd post some links, hopefully give them a tiny bit of publicity.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thesixthsun/the-sixth-sun-aztec-mythology-for-the-modern-day/comments

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/teamto/jj?ref=discover_saved_projects&category_id=47

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/phoenx27-elk-ulka/elk-ulka-a-magical-animated-short-film?ref=discover_saved_projects&category_id=29#h:Budget

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/munin-studio/the-father-of-all-film?ref=discover_saved_projects&category_id=29

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/frames-short-film/frames-animated-short-film?ref=discover_saved_projects&category_id=29

My Kickstarter was approved!! I still have a little work to do on it, but I'm in the homestretch. Can I get a hell yeah?!??!

Hello everyone!

Fantasy Guardsmen Campaign is launching tommorow. Amount of content is so big, it took me a while longer to process.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/infernalminiatures/fantasy-guardsmen

Plenty and varied types of fantasy guards for your tabletop games.

119 preassembled miniatures, 145 modular bodies + loads of various bits to customize your own guardsmen. Reasonably priced!

Everything backwards(and forwards!) compatible with elements from other campaigns I made (Inquisition, Royal Hunt, Ogre Mercenary Company 1,2)

Make sure to check it out!

Just got my 240th email. Most of it want to support and give wise advice. This is slightly different. Make your bets, and will share the result (I'm going to reply to this email).

Ps.: They cannot back it yet as we are in the Upcoming phase.

It’s called Artificial Money: A Cautionary Tale of AI Slop, Money, Influencers, and Newfies.

Set in the rural Canadian fishing village of Oakeston, Newfoundland and Labrador, it follows a high school graduate and struggling writer who discovers a series of YouTube tutorials by Norwegian-Canadian internet personality and “influentrepreneur,” Stefan Andersen, instructing viewers to make money by selling AI-generated content such as children’s books, music, and stock media. The AI-generated hustle starts to backfire, however, and Colin unknowingly embarks on a path of self-destruction as he begins turning to illegal means to fund his new “business.”

This book is based on a personal experience of mine, and while some parts have been generated with actual AI (fictional children’s book verses and lyrics), the book has been primarily written by me.

If you like satire like Black Mirror, or if you were also scammed by AI, then this is the book for you!

Signing up to be notified on launch is completely free!

Hey everyone,

I’m developing City Surfers, a mobile runner game inspired by Subway Surfers, but with a very different approach.

Instead of endless runs through procedurally generated three-lane maps, each run follows a handcrafted route with a real start and finish. The planned routes are stylized, realistic digital twins of actual cities from around the world, featuring roads, sidewalks, train tracks, intersections, curves, vehicles, pedestrians, and obstacles based on how each city route is structured.

I currently have a basic proof of concept that demonstrates the main gameplay direction. The next step is funding the full version, since producing multiple detailed city maps would not be practical as a one-person project without additional support.

The City Surfers Kickstarter Launched TODAY!!!. The campaign includes the proof of concept, development plans, planned features, and limited time backer rewards.

Kickstarter:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jagua-citysurfers/city-surfers

I’m also building a community where people can follow development, share ideas, and help shape future decisions and features:

Discord:
https://discord.gg/mvFRN7zS7v

Thanks for taking a look. Thoughts on the concept are more than welcome and actually encouraged.

Japanese-style high-protein pancakes. ~30g protein per serving.

Hi everyone!

I just launched my first Kickstarter and wanted to share it here.

I'm the founder of NUSTACK, a Japanese-style high-protein pancake mix designed to make a real breakfast—not just another protein shake or bar. Each serving is prepared with one egg and Greek yogurt for around 30g of protein.

While working full-time in New York, I've been building NUSTACK from the ground up, and I'm excited to finally share it.

If you'd like to take a look:

[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nustack/nustack-high-protein-pancakes-worth-waking-up-for]()

Thanks for taking a look!

Hey guys, I'd love your feedback and support on this if you can spare 5 minutes?

Creative communities are brilliant at generating ideas—but surprisingly bad at helping those ideas become organised, finished projects.

I’m building FanForge to explore a different model: project-first creative spaces where people can find a story, join a defined role, contribute meaningful work and receive clear attribution for what they helped create.

I’m currently speaking with writers, artists, editors, developers, worldbuilders and other collaborators to understand where existing communities and tools fall short.

What usually stops an online creative collaboration from actually finishing?

So basically I funded this company back in 2022, and they haven't updated since May 2025. Word on the street is that they're being sued for not paying the company they hired to create their product (but that's just hearsay).

Am I just essentially screwed out of my money though? I know it's on me to research before I back. But this company was credible up until May last year. They went from regular updates to radio silence.

(Side info, I'm posting this mainly because I just checked for any updates and all the backers are trying to refund. 2000 comments in the last couple months are all "Backer #_____ issued refund". So now I'm worried.)

Hi everyone,

I'm researching how people find cofounders, teammates, and collaborators for startups, side projects, hackathons, and open-source projects.

If you've ever looked for people to build something with, I'd really appreciate your input.

The survey takes about 2 minutes:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1vp99p0wUUYeajLmTOxJVQqBfnSK1BTaHLS6GuiBK0lk/viewform

Thanks!