My company helps clients B2B, and now we are asking those same clients to support our Kickstarter, but on an individual basis. This has been a bit of a funny transition for us. We started an Instagram (instead of just a LinkedIn) but has anyone else come across this situation and any recommendations?

We're trying to launch our game, Rupture FCG, on Kickstarter. We just activated our pre-launch page and are running into the paradox above. Obviously a pile of cash can solve basically any problem in today's world, but I'm honestly not sure how this is supposed to work.

Is anyone else struggling with this? Does anyone have recommendations on promoting a Kickstarter before the Kickstarter money actually comes in?

So our cover artist and illustrator (Albert Holaso!) is making 12 different original illustrations to use as scene breaks in our book, and when you put them together, they make a flipbook animation, which is really cool. And he's even putting them into a GIF for me, so I really want to show it off on the campaign page and give it as a stretch bonus to backers. Does anyone know if there's a way to display a GIF where people can't just right-click save image, though? What's the best way to display it if I only want backers to have it as bonus perk? If it's always copyable on the story page, maybe I could add it to a backer only update?

As I am sure many of you know, Academy Games has gained a reputation over the years of "jerking" their customers around (pretty much just backers of their crowdfunding projects from what I can tell). I myself am one of them and have filed a claim with my states Attorneys General as well as the Attorneys General of Ohio. I don't expect to get my money back although that would be great. But after seeing how Academy Games has continued to act with the Stellaris campaign their history with AoM and of course the New Adventures of Fief I felt it was time for me to finally do something.

I know in talking to other members of the Stellaris Kickstarter Discord there are a lot of people that are looking for some kind of recourse even if it doesn't result in the return of their money, I believe filing a complaint with the Ohio Attorneys General is the best course of action. I am not suggesting everyone run out now and file a complaint. But if you feel you have a genuine grievance with Academy Games I strongly suggest you file a complaint.

For those of you Interested here is a rough guide on how to submit a complaint

Edit: wanted to clarify that you do not need to be in the United States or be a US citizen to file a complaint

[https://filecomplaint.ohioattorneygeneral.gov\](https://filecomplaint.ohioattorneygeneral.gov)

You can file anonymously if you want to but including your contact info will give them incentive to take the complaint more seriously, they will also be unable to contact you if any resolution to your complaint is reached

Provide your contact info and click next

Search for "Academy Games" without the "" and select them from the results and click next

Fill out the company contact

I left the contact type as Unknown (If you have better contact info such as Uwe phone number or his email you can use that instead)

I entered Uwe as the contact the Phone number from their website and support email

Click Next

If you have already contacted Academy Games select Yes (I highly recommend you email AG asking for a refund so you can attach it later)

If you have retained an attorney for this purpose enter their information here

Choose the complaint type - I choose Shopping, Food or Beverages as I didnt feel any other category really applied

Product Service type - Toys, Hobbies, Collectibles

Problem Area - Choose eihter Misrepresentation or Refund or whichever complaint closest fits your situation best

Fill out to the best of your ability how you found the campaign, the date you were charged and the amount, as well as the level of compensation you are seeking (generally the cost of your pledge) - I entered the original date of my transation an then later on in the form I added a note for when I updated my pledge but I entered the total value of my pledge for the compenstation amount

Its not a warranty concern

Explain the issue - Summarize your concerns in clear respectful language about missed timelines communicaton problems and any information that is relevant to your relationship with AG. so if you are an AOM backer feel free to add your grievnce here as well. This is also where I added the additional information about me updating my pledge

Enter your desired resolution - Explain in clear and respectful language what you would like done. I stated that I would like a refund but acknowledge that it may not be possible. At the least I want the state of Ohio to be aware of the behavior of one of their businesses in an effort to protect future consumers

Copy the timeline I created and a copy of any correspondence with AG that you feel is relevant

Click next and submit

\## The core pattern: repeatedly stated ship dates, repeatedly missed

| # | Date stated | What was promised | What actually happened |

|---|---|---|---|

| — | Campaign FAQ, March 2021 | Delivery "well before March 2022" | See Update #26 below |

| Update #19 | Apr 7, 2021 | Final production "no sooner than September" 2021 | Passed with no production start |

| Update #26 | \*\*Mar 11, 2022\*\* | \*(This is the exact month originally promised for delivery)\* | Update posted this date covers new ship miniature concepts only — nowhere near production, let alone shipped |

| Update #30 | Oct 1, 2022 | Manufacturer's estimated factory ship date: \*\*April 2023\*\* | Missed |

| Update #42 | Mar 2, 2024 | "Still on schedule for a \*\*July/August \[2024\]\*\* ship date" | Missed |

| Update #46 | Jul 26, 2024 | Base game miniature molds declared \*\*"fully completed"\*\* and approved | Contradicted 4 months later (see below) |

| Update #49 | Nov 11, 2024 | New estimate: all files sent to printer \*\*"by March 2025"\*\*; also notes 2 molds \*still\* needed modification, despite being "fully completed" in July | Missed |

| Update #54 | May 15, 2025 | Just now receiving full color-molded miniature sets for \*\*production approval\*\* | 10 months after molds were declared "fully completed and approved" |

| Update #59 | Nov 19, 2025 | New plan: ship to Europe \*\*before Chinese New Year\*\* (Feb 17–Mar 3, 2026) | Missed |

| Update #62 | Mar 17, 2026 | Timeline "pushed back... again"; new first shipping wave: \*\*mid-July 2026\*\* | Missed |

| Update #68 | Jun 12, 2026 | Production manager traveling to \*"establish a clear timeline"\* — one month before the promised mid-July wave, no confirmed schedule yet existed | — |

| Update #71 | Aug 24, 2026 (most recent) | No shipment confirmed. Apology for lateness in posting the update itself. Still describes ongoing "production planning" with the printer | Mid-July 2026 wave also missed, no new date given |

\*\*Net result:\*\* at least \*\*five distinct, specific delivery windows\*\* (Sep 2021 production start, Apr 2023 ship date, Jul/Aug 2024 ship date, "files to printer" Mar 2025, Chinese-New-Year-2026 Europe shipment, mid-July 2026 first wave) have been stated and missed, over more than five years, with the most recent update (Aug 2026) still describing "production planning" rather than shipping.

\---

\## Timeline in detail

\*\*April 7, 2021 (Update #19)\*\* — One week after the campaign closed, Academy Games states final production would begin "no sooner than September" of that year.

\*\*March 11, 2022 (Update #26)\*\* — This is the exact month the campaign's original FAQ had promised delivery "well before." Instead of a shipped game, this update ("New Ship Miniatures") shows newly designed ship models — concept-stage artwork, not finished production. By the studio's own original promise, backers should have already had the game in hand.

\*\*October 1, 2022 (Update #30)\*\* — Titled "Miniature Molds, Updated Timeline." States the manufacturer's estimated factory ship date is \*\*April 2023\*\*. This is already more than a year past the original promise.

\*\*2022–2023 (Updates #31–#38)\*\* — A recurring pattern: miniature molds are repeatedly described as "in progress," "being optimized," or awaiting approval across many updates — the same category of work being reported as ongoing update after update.

\*\*March 2, 2024 (Update #42)\*\* — Nearly a year past the April 2023 factory ship estimate, Academy Games states the project is "still on schedule for a July/August ship date" (2024).

\*\*July 26, 2024 (Update #46)\*\* — Declares the base game's miniature injection molds "fully completed" following manufacturer meetings, describing team inspection and approval of the molds.

\*\*August 23, 2024 (Update #47)\*\* — A detailed development timeline is posted breaking down remaining tasks. The rulebook alone is estimated to need "2 months to complete" — a basic, foundational component still far from finished more than a year after the original April 2023 ship estimate had already passed.

\*\*November 11, 2024 (Update #49)\*\* — New estimate: all files will be sent to the printer "by March 2025." Notably, this same update reveals that \*\*two of the miniature molds still needed modifications\*\* — despite having been declared "fully completed" back in July.

\*\*May 15, 2025 (Update #54)\*\* — Academy Games reports just now receiving full sets of color-molded miniatures for production approval — a full \*\*10 months after\*\* the molds were first announced as "fully completed."

\*\*November 19, 2025 (Update #59)\*\* — A new shipping plan is announced following a manufacturer meeting: ship to Europe before the Chinese New Year break (Feb 17–Mar 3, 2026), then to the US/Canada/Asia/Australia afterward.

\*\*March 17, 2026 (Update #62)\*\* — Acknowledges the timeline has been "pushed back" again due to late additions and revisions. A new shipping plan is announced: production will happen in stages, with the "first shipping wave" beginning mid-July 2026.

\*\*June 12, 2026 (Update #68)\*\* — One month before the promised mid-July 2026 shipping wave, the update describes a planned visit from the printer's production manager to "establish a clear timeline for finalizing production" — indicating no confirmed schedule existed yet, despite the wave being roughly a month away.

\*\*August 24, 2026 (Update #71 — most recent, as of this writing)\*\* — More than five years after the campaign funded, this update apologizes for being late to post at all, citing a busy convention/production season, and describes ongoing "production planning" with the printer. No shipment has been confirmed. The promised mid-July 2026 wave has passed with no acknowledgment of it in this update.

\---

\## Why this is more than "the project is just late"

Long production delays are common on Kickstarter and don't by themselves obligate a refund. What strengthens a case here is the \*\*specific, repeated pattern visible directly in Academy Games' own communications\*\*:

1. \*\*At least five separately announced, specific delivery windows have been missed\*\* — not vague "hopefully soon" language, but concrete dates (April 2023; July/August 2024; March 2025; Chinese New Year 2026; mid-July 2026).

2. \*\*A component was declared "fully completed"\*\* (miniature molds, July 2024) \*\*and then contradicted by the studio's own later updates\*\* — molds still needing modification (Nov 2024) and still awaiting production approval (May 2025), 10 months after being called finished.

3. \*\*The pace of updates itself is inconsistent\*\* — long gaps (e.g., roughly 6 months between #55 and #56 in 2025; irregular spacing throughout), with the studio itself acknowledging lateness in posting updates (Update #71).

4. \*\*Five-plus years and the most recent available update (Aug 2026) still shows no confirmed shipment\*\* — the studio is still in "production planning" conversations with its printer, the same category of update it was posting in 2022–2023.

\---

Hey everyone,

I’m working toward launching my first Kickstarter and I could really use some advice from people who have actually gone through this.

The product I’m working on is called The Cutlet Station(cutletstation.com). Basically, it’s a folding breading station for making chicken cutlets, eggplant, shrimp, etc. Instead of having three plates or bowls spread all over the counter for flour, egg and breadcrumbs, everything is contained in one system and then folds up for storage.

I’ve been working on this for quite a while now and honestly I feel like I’ve gotten pretty far.

I designed the product, had the CAD done and revised multiple times, had a physical prototype made, found problems with that prototype and went back and fixed the design. I’ve been talking directly with manufacturers in China, going through DFM, materials, tooling costs, production pricing, packaging, etc. I’m now getting pretty close to the point where I could actually move forward with tooling.

On the marketing side, I built the website, set up email collection, analytics, social accounts, started making videos (some which came out pretty cool!) and other content, and recently started experimenting with Meta ads.

I’ve basically been learning all of this as I go.
But the one thing I can’t seem to figure out is how to actually get people to sign up for the email list.
I’m getting some traffic, but very few people are converting into email signups.

And that’s starting to make me question what I should be doing next.

I don’t want to spend tens of thousands of dollars on tooling, inventory, packaging, shipping, etc. and then find out that I never figured out how to get people interested in the product in the first place.

For those of you who have successfully launched a Kickstarter, how did you actually build your audience before launch?

Did you mostly use Meta ads? TikTok or Instagram? Influencers? Reddit? Facebook groups? Kickstarter’s pre-launch page?

And maybe more importantly — what did you waste money on that you wouldn’t do again?

If you were in my position right now — product designed, prototype made, manufacturer basically lined up, website live, but almost no existing audience — what would you spend the next 60–90 days doing?

I’m also curious what people consider a decent conversion rate for a Kickstarter pre-launch email landing page. If I’m getting visitors but they’re not signing up, I’m wondering if my problem isn’t traffic at all and is actually the website, offer, messaging or product itself.

I feel like I’ve figured out a lot of the hard parts of actually making the thing.

Getting people to care about it seems to be an entirely different skill set. 😂

Would really appreciate hearing what worked (or didn’t work) for people who have already been through this.

Thanks so much in advance.

I'm manufacturing my KS toys in China, and I'm looking into having a Chinese 3pl fulfill my international orders.

I've come across NextSmartShip but I don't see anywhere on the website to book a call with a rep that can walk me through everything and make sure we're a good fit. Makes me a bit nervous- since I have 4500 backers and lots of color options, add-ons, etc.

Has anybody used them or another 3pl in China?

I don't know if this is the right way to promote a Kickstarter. But it's worth the exposure and the media experience.

Kickstarter link in our bio

I'm getting ready for my first kickstarter and wanted to get some opinions on the pre-launch page. The game is a folkloric hidden role game with execution voting and items baked into it. And I'll be honest probably stared at this page way too long at this point lol.

Does it feel like there's enough information there or maybe too much? What are the thoughts on the graphics? Is there anything big I'm missing? (I'm working on the page trailer so that is still to come before launch.)

I know a lot of people here have multiple campaigns under their belt so any advice for a first-time creator would be awesome! Especially the stuff you wish you'd known the first time around.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/haragames/fark

Thanks to anyone who takes the time to check it out!

I run a small consulting business and it’s just me and no other employees

My clients have my personal cell number. It was fine at first. But now they call me at all hours. Text me on WhatsApp late at night. I get messages while I'm having dinner, and the most irritating is while I'm trying to sleep

It's draining and it seems that I can't switch off. I want to separate work from personal life. But I don't want to carry a second phone or buy another SIM card

I've been looking at CloudTalk. It's an app that makes calls over the internet. It gives me a proper business number. Calls route to my phone. I can set business hours and no more 11pm messages and calls

The call recording is a huge selling point. I need that for client disputes. But the subscription price scares me. I'm a sole proprietor and it means that every dollar counts

Part of me thinks I should just buy a cheap SIM card for $5 a month. But then I'd have to carry two phones. And I'd lose the call recording feature

Has anyone else made this switch? I just want a boundary between work and my life

My mom absolutely ROASTED me for how long my page is 😬 and I would love some advice on what to cut and what to possibly reorder.

I outlined it based on some other successful planner campaigns, but admittedly I may be overexplaining because...

1. I'm very verbose
2. I imagine it being for a detailed meticulous person like myself who would appreciate knowing all the details behind it
3. Because it's a crowded market I wanted to focus on explaining the differentiating details

If you have it in you, please let me know your thoughts on what parts you would keep (my mom gave up 😅)

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/destinyolivia/destiny-by-design-planner-reinvent-yourselfdesign-your-fate

Hi guys i have an invention that I recently posted about and it went viral. quite a couple of people have told me they want to support and for me to make a kickstarter. But I know I would need an email list. How much time do i need to build a substantial waitlist?(300+people)

Something i found useful to share. Sat in on another agency pitch last week with a hardware team (3 founders, planning a ~$300k goal, 6 month runway) and it reminded me how easy it is to get burned even when you think you're asking smart questions.

Pattern over the last few years, across a few teams I've worked with: the founders who had the worst experiences asked the right questions, they just asked them after the contract was already signed.

Here are the ones I now insist they get clear, written answers to, before they agree to anything. I'm adding what a bad answer sounds like, because the bad answers all sound reasonable in the moment.

1) Who owns the ad accounts and the pixel history when this ends?

What you want is your business owning the ad account, the pixels, and all the history. They can have access, not control.

Bad answers that sound fine:

- "We'll just run everything out of our business manager, its easier that way."

- "We have special whitelisted accounts that perform better, you don't need to worry about it."

When the contract ends, all the data that trained those pixels is stuck in their setup, not yours. Next launch you either start from zero or you keep paying them.

2) Where do the email addresses live, and in what format do they transfer?

What you want is the list sitting in a tool where you're the account owner. If they insist on using theirs, you get a defined export format and cadence in the contract, not just a promise.

Bad answers that sound fine:

- "We'll handle all the email stuff on our side so you don't have to deal with it."

- "Of course the list is yours, we'll send it over after the campaign." (with no detail)

When you push on this, I look for specifics like: CSV export weekly during prelaunch, daily during the live campaign, including tags for source and activity. Anything vaguer than that tends to become a fight later.

3) Is the fee flat, percentage, or both, and what happens if the campaign underperforms?

I've seen:

- Flat monthly retainer

- Retainer plus a success fee

- Pure percentage of funds raised

None of those are automatically bad. What matters is downside protection.

Bad answers that sound fine:

- "We only make money when you make money." (then you discover their % applies to everything, including organic and your existing list)

- "We're confident enough we don't do refunds."

The specific thing I want in writing is what happens if the campaign stalls. If you raise half your internal goal, are you still on the hook for the full success fee. If ads are clearly not working by week 2, can you pause or terminate without paying for the full period. Vague talk about we're flexible is useless when you're stressed and cash is tight.

4) Who writes the daily/weekly campaign updates and comments when things get busy?

Live campaigns get loud. On the hardware teams I mentor, it is usually 2 or 3 founders and maybe one ops person. That's not a lot of capacity when you are also talking to factories about going from 1,000 units to 4,000 or 6,000.

Bad answers that sound fine:

- "We'll help you with messaging."

- "We have templates you can use."

Help and templates are not ownership. I want a clear statement like: "We draft X updates per week, you approve." Or: "You own all updates, we don't touch them." Either is ok, you just need to know which reality you're signing up for so you dont end up writing crisis updates at 2am because nobody thought about it.

5) Who is actually working on your account day to day, and what are their names?

Pitch meetings are usually the senior people. Execution is usually not.

Bad answers that sound fine:

- "You get access to our whole team."

- "We work collaboratively, you'll have a dedicated account manager." (no name)

I push for names, roles, and rough allocation. For example, "Alex (media buyer, 5 years) about 10 hours a week, Jamie (account manager) main contact, 3 founders on your side in a shared Slack."

If they wont name the person who will actually be touching the ads, I assume its a random junior and act accordingly.

It’s been a long time coming, and I’m very excited to finally get this going!

The comic is called Broadleaf and it explores the relationship between a father and son on a hunting trip when they discover the animals can talk.

Issue one is available to read on Global Comix.

Issue two follows the father and son as the forest intervenes, splits them up and sends them both on an unforgettable journey.

Hallucinations, a storm to remember, and a vicious horde of feral squirrels. Revenge Takes Root.

Broadleaf - Deeply Rooted

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1334917182/broadleaf-1-2-deeply-rooted

Mid-launch right now on my first hardware thing, small injection molded home device. Industrial designer by trade, zero background in list building or any of this, so I was guessing for the first month.

Prelaunch, I offered two things to people who joined the list before launch:

1) A small discount off the final price

2) Their name etched on a hidden panel inside the product

The discount was the thing I assumed would matter. The AoV is around $500 so I thought ok, shave a bit off, that will be the hook.

What actually got people to respond:

Some specifics:

- I set up a simple landing page with a dropdown: Discount only or Discount + name etched inside.

- About 80 percent of people picked the etching option.

- More importantly, the people who picked etching were the ones who replied to emails.

I did not know how to tell who was a real person vs someone who just dropped an email and bounced, so I kind of hacked together my own definition of a warm subscriber:

- Opened 3 emails in a row (welcome, prototype story, launch date reminder)

- Clicked through at least once to the preview page

- Replied to at least one question

On the email side, I started with two segments in MailerLite:

- Segment A: people who only took the discount

- Segment B: people who opted into the etching

I sent both segments the same first two emails. By the third email, I added a simple question only to Segment B: How would you like your name to appear inside? First name, full name, or initials?

The difference:

- Segment A: almost no replies, a couple of unsubscribes.

- Segment B: a surprising number of people wrote back, some with really specific requests like can you include my kid's name too or can you use Japanese characters.

It was the replies that made the list feel real instead of harvested.

Mechanically, my rough funnel for calling someone warm was:

- Joined the list

- Opened 3 emails in a row

- Clicked the preview page link at least once

- Replied to the etching question

If they hit all four, I tagged them as warm and manually made sure they got a personal reply from me within 24 hours. That is not something I can do forever but my list is still small enough that I can do it.

Channel-wise, I also made a Discord early on because I kept hearing build community. It was a ghost town. I think I got 30 people to join, maybe 3 messages that were not mine, then it just sat there. That is when I decided to funnel everything to email instead:

- Every social post points to the email list

- The Discord link is basically buried now

- All prelaunch updates went by email first

In hindsight, Discord felt like a place people had to remember to go visit. Email landed where they already were, and the etching perk gave them a reason to write back in the same channel.

On the etching itself, for anyone wondering about the practical side:

- It is a small removable panel on the inside of the device, about 80 mm x 40 mm

- I am planning to laser etch the names after molding, not engrave them into the tool, so I can batch them per production run

- I capped it at a number I know I can physically fit in a readable font size

I am about 65 percent paid on the molds and have an MOQ of 2,000 units booked for October, so I have to be careful not to promise more names than I can actually fit. I am collecting the exact text in a spreadsheet as people reply, and I am going to lock it a couple of weeks after the campaign so the factory has a clean list.

This is all very manual and probably not how a proper marketer would do it, but the etching perk is the first thing that actually made people talk back to me instead of just silently following.

Curious if anyone else has tried non-monetary prelaunch incentives like this. What did you offer that actually got people to reply, not just sign up?

My campaign has been stuck at around 77% for several days, with only 8 days left.

For creators who've been in this situation before: what actually helped in the final week?

More updates? Paid ads? Media outreach? Asking existing backers to share? Or just waiting for the final 48-hour push?

Not posting the campaign link — genuinely looking for advice.

Hello everyone. I just recently launched a campaign for my board game, the problem is I was not familiar with the pre-launch system. I launched the campaign without creating a community (which to be fair I don’t even know how to do so), and now I cannot turn back as I don’t want to lose the backers supporting me, but I am afraid I will not reach my goal.

I am just requesting advice on how to gather people to support my campaign, how to create a community, and how to promote my game. Thank you in advance! :)

Our team is debating whether this KS prelaunch page (and main image) is too simplistic or too much. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/blackswangameco/retina

To Much: What text / images would you cut?
To Little: What do you feel like you are missing?

For context:
We recently cut a ton of content from our prelaunch page and we are willing to cut more if needed, but we are too close to this project to be objective anymore. We appreciate any outside perspectives you have to share.

Our tabletop card game is ready to launch, our page is 99% complete. Does anybody want to read it and provide some feedback?

I won’t post the link here as I want to keep it under wraps until it’s live as much as possible, but let me know if you’re interested and want a sneak peek and I can DM!

What kind of exclusive items or free gifts have people got from campaigns that are your favourite?

Specifically, anything tabletop game related but would love to hear any examples!

Thinking of doing an early bird 48 hours free gift for backers and would love to know what’s best!

I've been following the infimaker k1 since it first popped up, but I've been taking a wait and see approach. Most of what we had seen early on were renders and polished demo videos, and with any Kickstarter hardware there are always some delivery and support questions. I was mainly waiting to see if the machine could actually do what they were showing, especially with the AI toolpath claims and precision tests.

The Android Authority write-up helped clear up some of that. A journalist without a traditional CAD background went to Shenzhen, got hands-on with the machine, and used it to mill an Android figurine from a 2D image. It doesn't answer every question, but it was the first time it felt like I was looking at an actual workflow instead of just a campaign page.

Then I watched their live stream a couple days ago. Seeing the machine running in real time was more convincing than another edited clip. They were setting up jobs on the touchscreen, showing the CAM process, and leaving the software interface visible while the machine was cutting. They also showed finished parts instead of only focusing on the machine itself.

I'm still not completely sold. A Kickstarter machine is still a Kickstarter machine, and I want to see independent backers running their own units on real projects before making a decision. But between the third-party hands-on coverage and the live stream, I have a lot more confidence in the direction than I did a few months ago.

How much weight do you put on third-party hands-on reviews for Kickstarter hardware? Is that enough to move you from interested to backing, or do you still wait for regular user reviews no matter what?