So the Kickstarter has been live for a week and a half now, and is my all consuming focus at the moment. I’ve been reaching out to folks, I’ve been guest blogging, I’ve even experimented with buying adverts. All in the name of driving more traffic to the Kickstarter page, as well increasing the number of backers.

But before I carry on typing – let me just drop a link to the Kickstarter right here, you know, just in case.

(click the K in the corner to go directly to the Kickstarter)

There is a lot of work to be done even once a Kickstarter goes live. I get a lot of emails/DMs/message with both questions on the campaign as well as feedback. All incredibly useful, but it does eat up a lot of time. As I’ve mentioned before, I made a couple of quite large mistakes with the initial launch of the game, which I regret, but you live and learn.

But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that at this rate, the chances of the Kickstarter getting funded is very slim. Next week I’ll be half way through the campaign and no where near the half way point for funds – which puts me at a huge disadvantage. So, do I give up? Do I decided to just write the Kickstarter off and focus on other things?

Well. No I don’t. I’m pretty stubborn when it comes down to some things!

I’ve spoken to a few people who have advised me just to leave it to run it’s course and that it can be super demoralizing to try and breath life into a Kickstarter. I don’t see it as that. I see it as both a challenge and an opportunity. It’s allowing me to experiment with different ways of creating traffic and it’s teaching me a lot about how to run a Kickstarter. I’m sure this won’t be the only one I run in my life – so learning as much as I can from this experience is actually incredibly valuable. I do actually believe I can still get funded – but if I don’t then at least I tried. You miss every shot you don’t take.

With that in mind, I came up with “Operation: Postcard”.

What is “Operation: Postcard”? It’s a new pledge level – at the £3 / $3.70 / €3.30 price point. It’s a simple reward that will get a physical, handwritten postcard in your hands. It’s shipped internationally to anywhere in the world and will feature a code, which will unlock these two beautiful models in the game. It’s similar to the basic pledge level, but you get something physical for the spend (I really wanted it to be more like £2 but sending a postcard internationally from the UK is surprisingly expensive, even with bulk rates). It really helps support both the campaign and the future development of Fringe Planet.

But before I talk about my logic for this, check out this press release I sent out about it – am quite proud of this one!

The video lead to this quick announcement video I put together (this was easily the most silly video I’ve ever made, really enjoyed doing it as well!)

So what is my logic for this? Well the biggest idea is that it is silly. Very silly. Which is a big part of both my brand and my personality. The lowest pledge level doesn’t really get you anything – but for a tiny bit more you actually get a physical thing which you can put on your mantel, frame and stick next to the pictures of your kids, get put into amber and preserve for thousands of years. It’s a tangible thank you for helping support Fringe Planet.

There is a bit more logic to it as well. It comes with a code which unlocks digital content – but at this price point you don’t get the game. However, it’s shown that once a person is invested in a Kickstarter, the chances of them re-investing at a higher pledge level increases a lot. So there is the hope that some of these postcards will encourage folks later on to change their pledge to a higher level.

Also, once someone has invested in a Kickstarter, they are much more likely to share it – which is vital for a Kickstarters success. Every time I see someone talk about the Kickstarter, or share it – it makes me grin. It’s an amazing bit of support and honestly makes a massive difference. It take just one tweet/RT/share/post to be noticed by just one person and all of a sudden there is someone else who is invested in the game.

Thanks for reading! If you got this far, congratulations as your reward – why don’t you check out the Fringe Planet Kickstarter?

There is a lot more to read about Fringe Planet… why not try:

• The Fringe Planet Kickstarter is Live!
• So why back Fringe Planet? – Dev Blog 62
• Kickstarter thoughts – Dev Blog 59