Help me Improve my Culinary Card Game for Kickstarter: Cooking Party Cards

[tomos]

I just noticed the difference between the chef cuckoo and this card game. The chef cuckoo one has more colorful cards and attractive. You really need to compete on small things like these. 

-mahesh2k (September 12, 2012, 03:40 PM)

that's where the kickstarter money would come in I think (?)
I mean that's a lot of ($killed) work to do - whether illustrated or photographed.

[mahesh2k]

Aye. Chef cuckoo has excellent illustrator for card graphics.

[mouser]

I think the cards look pretty good, but what Tomos said is right -- that's part of what a kickstarter campaign could fund.

I guess there are two issues, the first would be just making the base cards look better, the second would be the photographs -- getting photographs for items which i only have clipart for currently, or retaking all photographs (the current set of graphics is all from clipart.com).

But I don't know if it's worth pursuing at this point.

I think I would like to continue to pursue this and see if there are enough people who would be willing to fund it on kickstarter.

[Renegade]

I think I would like to continue to pursue this and see if there are enough people who would be willing to fund it on kickstarter.

-mouser (September 13, 2012, 06:52 AM)

Have you thought about posting about it in any forums that would be relevant? You might get a decent response. Tricky though... Coming in as a first time poster is like dousing yourself in gasoline then deciding to smoke a joint. For forums where you already have a good presence, things usually go well.

[mouser]

An initial back-of-the-envelope cost estimate for a potential kickstarter money goal:

Art costs:

• Art for box, rulebook images, and card backs: $1,500
• Card fronts: $9,000 ($60 per card/image) - this would be to buy high quality food photos licensed for game distribution, or to hire photographer, etc.

Total: $10,500

Production costs (assuming a print run of 500 or so):

• 10.00 for cards
• 00.50 for betting chips
• 00.50 for rulebook
• 02.00 for box

Total: $13

Marketing budget:

• $5,000 (just barely enough to gauge interest in cooking magazines/websites)

Total: $5,000


Grand total kickstarter funding goal: $22,000

[wraith808]

I'd put in some extra leeway into your figures seeing how its gone with others who have done first games on kickstarter.  Going with about 10% would set your goal at $25,000.

[mouser]

Good idea.. I can also get more precise production costs.. those are just educated guesses.

One thing this doesn't address is what kind of kickstarter "perks" or stretch goals should be set up.

• Obviously one perk level will be a copy of the game;
• Another could be be limited edition expansion deck packs (mixed drinks, thai ingredients, etc.);
• A perk for large funders could be an immediate prototype copy of the game (inkjet printed) while waiting for final production.

Any other ideas for kickstarter perks or stretch goals?

[wraith808]

First - to reduce costs and to set the bar lower for production, set the minimal costs at B&W artwork.  Then have a stretch goal for color.  Maybe the baseline could also use clip art type art- and a stretch goal for original art.  You could also have stretch goals for a better stock of cards.  I guess what I'm saying is to take your goal for the cards, and reduce it to the bare minimum to give it a better chance of getting funded.  Then the stretch goals make it better.  There's also expansions as stretch goals.

As far as perks - something special to denote the judge could work.  One level for the basic game with no cards- just the rules and templates.  One for the full game, and one for the full game with overproduction type stuff, i.e. tokens included (which could instead be a stretch goal).  Perhaps by default the tokens could be a punch-out sheet, then as a donation level the tokens become chits instead.  Or that could be a stretch goal.

There's also the non game perks, i.e. artwork, t-shirts, mugs, etc.

What I find is that there seem to be a couple of schools of thought:
1. Make different perk levels to get people to get involved at a higher level, or
2. Make more stretch goals to get more people involved

It's just a matter of finding a balance between the two, though I think the second is better.  A low level to get in (with an underproduced game), then stretch goals to make it as extravagant as the player base wants it will get you two things: (1) a larger player base and (2) the production costs on the extras will be less.

(Also, I like writing this stuff down... I'm still working through my kickstarter idea, and bandying these sorts of decisions around... so this helps me vocalize stuff also. )

[mouser]

Updated first post with new screenshot of game contents (cards, chips, rulebook, etc.)

[mouser]

Game play sample photo (illustrates the sample game in the new rule book):

[kilele]

WOW this picture is very appealing, it looks fun to play!
Something like this could be used for the kickstarter campaign along with a video, maybe a flash tutorial with interactive labels explaining the game rules.
I wonder if there is some chef and barman among the community who can help you with exotic foods and cocktails.

A couple of more ideas:
* funny fruit juice blends and also ice-creams.
* one perk could be a digital version of the game to play online,
enyojs and phonegap allow multiplatform and playing online, they might work well for a card game light on ram.

[mouser]

Since it seemed like I was never going to kickstart this, I just updated the download to include complete print-to-play pdfs for all the cards, added an entry on board game geek and decided to just make this a free print-to-play download.

Board Game Geek page for the game:
http://www.boardgame.../cooking-party-cards