I think having follower gifts really skews the numbers the most when it comes to follower/backer ratio. I hardly back anything nowadays, but even if I have no real intention of backing something, if there is a follower gift and I'm at least mildly intrigued, I follow. Better safe than sorry in case it's one of the rare projects I pull the trigger on. I think a lot of people do this to save the gift if otherwise, they wouldn't have. Following a project really doesn't mean a lot.

The followers do not translate to backers - ofc they don't. If people behave like me they do follow almost anything that catches their attention. There is often not enough information to filter stuff out at the preview state. Later on when games are "fully" revealed that's when the decision can be made

TBH, the high price of Sirens is what's driving most people away, plus the fact that the minis really drew people to the game, and they all cost extra. Also, it's been a week and there's no playthrough video available. I also find there to be a serious lack of enemies. I'm very interested in the game, but not sold yet.

Odalin was a clusterfuck of a campaign from Day 1 of the campaign and remained sloppy until the end. It started off with a badly-designed campaign page and was compounded by multiple other issues, lots of confusion, inconsistent listings of stretch goals, etc... There were literally hundreds of questions asked each day because the info was nowhere to be found and they didn't update the FACTS section very much. Also a bad idea to give a fantastic Day 1 mini as a gift when it's literally the biggest, baddest enemy of the game and is the main boss in the game. If you don't get it for free on Day 1, you have to buy it for $20. When asked what we're supposed to do if we don't get the mini, the answer was "use a placeholder." That is just insulting!

Have you covered the situation going on with the Kemet Matagot gamefound campaign? Essentially, (perceived) very poor value, forcing a big box on backers, tuck boxes, bloat, pushing a backer-driven campaign narrative, but largely ignoring criticism, most discussion focusing on future content instead of current campaign…

For 20 Strong, there is a core system of base rules, then each deck has its own set of rules that change the game in surprisingly big ways. How you select/build encounters and the choices around that seems to be wildly different in each 20 Strong game. The Slay the Spire-style map in Redn vs traveling to different adjacent areas in Hoplomachus, to a push your luck mechanic in Gold. And now the 3 new games feature gold and a merchant which changes how you acquire upgrades/items. I'm all in for this one.

I am following Sirens because I was drawn in by the aesthetics. I haven't backed yet as I am waiting to see a more detailed playthrough. The odd thing is if you look at the pledges there is the Deep Sea Gameplay bundle for 119E and then it is the Kingdom Bundle for 189E. If you scroll down to Rewards, there is another pledge, the Deep Sea Deluxe, with acrylic standees, for 135E. This is the pledge that I will go for, as I don't need more minis to paint and I like acrylic standees. But a casual browser could miss that pledge altogether?

For me on the following campaigns on GF it just means I thought your campaign was interesting enough I want to be reminded when it starts. I probably only back a 1/3 of the ones I follow. I think creators should use that number as a guess for who is backing but how bit their audience is that is even interested. On Sirens it is just too expensive in a month when I just backed the Kemet and Mythic battles new content and am in for DC United too

Odalin: dont like the art style, nor the aligment system Blood: backed Waiting cyberpunk 2077, blasphemos

You introduced me to Into The AM a long time ago when they started to sponsor your channel. I have been very happy with their service and quality. The designs are awesome and my kids love them too.

I was all about the theme on Sirens so I followed but I just don't see it being worth the cost for myself so not backing it.

Out of the campaigns I was initially interested in I passed on Sirens because honestly I don't understand how it plays, and I didn't see the value for the $. Passing on 20 Strong because I do not like the art style and had a bad experience with the first campaign. Historica Arcanum feels incredibly unfinished ans and I again have no idea how it plays. I was a day one backer for Odalin, but cancelled day 2 in favor of Blood instead, plus the campaign page felt all over the place and I didn't see why this game was better than all the other dungeon crawls I already have, or have coming. Oh well, saved a bunch of money!

I somehow feel Sirens isn't developed well enough yet. They give me that vibe. The idea is cool. Just feels they need 6 months more.

Totally agree with you, about solo creators. That is a Feature, not a Bug. Sean Sutter gets a lot of credit for being a one-man band creating Relicblade. He writes the rules, does the art and layout of the books, and even sculpts the minis.

I didn't back sirens because of price. When the minis are added its just too much. And theres been too many good games recently. Blood, odalin, dc united, grimcoven

Sirens had a unique look and nice art/mini renders, but from videos the game seems overcomplicated or just the videos themselves seemed kind of muddy or ill explained. Historica Arcanum seemed hard to find gameplay details, and then when I did it just wasn't my kind of game. Most GF campaigns I see get ~30% conversion of followers to backers. Sirens may end there. But yeah it seemed poised to explode. As for Starbeast, I mean Cysmic seems like it did exactly what you said you wanted in the video.

on Sirens: simple math, people follow because they are excited to see what comes their way, then being heavily disappointed by seeing so little material and content for such a high pricepoint, people are burned out from the recent years of crowdfunding, given that most games will become available in the second market and even in some specialized stores or fairs without those extra tax and shipping charges. speaking from experience here :D again KoA great job, thanks for the reporting.

I loved Tanares, but as far as Odalin goes, the theme did nothing for me, plus after Tanares, Tanares RPG, Tanares Ultimate, I think I've got a little bit of Dragori burnout at the moment. I don't regret a single thing I've purchased from them, don't get me wrong. But this was too much more, way too soon. Oddly enough, if it had been from a different company, I probably wouldn't have had that same reaction, but I still think the theme would have been a turnoff for me.

I was really excited by Sirens because of the theme (how many undersea ttbgs are there, where you're playing as Atlanteans/sea creatures, not just humans in a sub?) and the amazing minis...but two playthrough videos later, it just looks too fiddly, too fussy, and not unified in terms of mechanics. Also, no other physical element of the game (main board, player boards, tokens, etc.) matches the artistic quality of the minis. Really thought I was going to back Odalin, as I missed Tanares crowdfunding twice...but its gameplay is also annoying, in terms of constantly have to worry about balancing your alignment. Both of these look like they'd be better videogames, or PC conversions, of what's on offer.

I cancelled my pledge on odalin. When they said they would not sell again for like 2 years it pissed me off from the fomo. It will take 2 yearsto get it and i wont be fomod into backing.

I was a SIRENS follower who hasn't backed it yet, at least, but I believe in this case and in most cases where I don't end up backing, is because before the campaign drops, the information on the game is usually limited and once it's fully launched and all the rest of the info is made available (including price) I am not interested in what I see. It also sometimes happens that I'm interested when I discover it, but they launch right after I dumped a bunch of money on something that snuck in before it, so I just can't afford to back it now.

I think one of the big reasons Odalin didn't do better was due to the early SGs... Never seen a company make such bad SGs and so many people complaining about the lack of real stretch goals. All stretch goal, up till the 1.1 mil mark, was cut content that was needed for the game to function. After the up raor from the community they changed the strategy and started making decent ones but I think peoples trust was broken already. I canceled my all in pledge because I refused to support this kind of behavior and I would guess others felt the same. Another issue was the fact the follower gift was removed in the all in pledge which broke the promis of a reward for being a follower. Day one backers got a bonus present in the pledge manager but people following the campaign got nothing

I think Siren was just unfortunate to launch their game right after Grimcoven, Blood, and Odalin. Definitely took away a lot of potential backers

I did not back Odalin because I have a lot of unplayed Tanares content left and did not want to jump into another huge game of the same publisher.

I was an early backer of Sirens because of the underwater artwork, theme and minis but just recently canceled my pledge. The few gameplay videos available didn't make the game seem that interesting or fun. It looks like it might be too fiddly as well but I can't really even tell because there is no clarity on the actual gameplay or scenarios. No rulebook or sample scenario to view still. I just couldn't justify that amount of money (it is expensive) for a game that didn't excite me to want to play or even know how it will play.

That spinning dragon in the background though !

Historica Arcanum had a terrible launch. All the pre launch previews showed 0 gameplay or even game systems. They would describe cards and have a very muddied image of one card. On launch day all the text was red on black, you couldn't read anything. Terrible previews and launch. They need to go back and rethink this a bit.

I already have far too much Marvel United content. But DC United with Batman looks pretty interesting. My brain says not to back it, my heart says maybe

Just placed my first into the am order, I’m excited!

Odalin was one of my more anticipated campaigns but ended up not backing due to A: The extreemly badly organized campaign which left me with way more questions than i wanted to invest time in getting answers for. B: It being just after Grimcoven and just before DC united didnt help. C: Hope to some day get stormsunder and at least the theme had me think a bit of stormsunder.

Odalin as a game didn't resonate with me. That being said, I backed all in anyway. Mainly due to the freebies thrown in for being a prior backer day 1, following the campaign and of course Dragori itself made Tanares quite well. It is a foolish thing I recognize, but if I didn't get the day 1 bonus I would have probably waited for late pledge on this one. I already have way too many dark theme campaign games. If I had my choice, the theme would be changing into a demon OR an angel depending on your chaos vs order stat. That would resonate with me way more.

One issue i see with backers-to-followers numbers is that, there are lots of campaigns that either just finished (Blood, Odalin, Grimcoven) from studios that more or less prove themselves in the eyes of people that at some point they'll get the game, and some upcoming campaigns (Cyberpunk 2077 The Board Game) from a studio that will deliver immersive experience. So lots of people choose the secure route than jumping to some of those. Which is sort of sad because its become harder to get a success if you have a great idea for board game.

So I am backing Sirens, but I think the issues they have based on comments I saw was Price and your still not getting mini's for everything with that high price. The characters you play are mini's and the bosses are minis but normal enemies are going to be standees. For me that isn't a problem, but for many that can be an immersion problem. Lastly Game play is different then what people were expecting which was apparently an ocean themed dungeon crawl. That was the issue I personally had with Odalin, saw a game play, realized every character uses their life to get stronger which is a mechanic I don't like, so I passed.

Did you see that Facebook post from Monolith? Sounds like a desperate attempt to win more backers...in comparison to CMON who just keeps rolling, shipping prices be damned.

Still waiting on Tanares adventures ultimate to deliver , would be very hard to invest that amount of money in another campaign. They made a 4 month delivery guarantee that that ended last month (Sorely tempted to See if their good to their word and try for the 100% refund). I think if they held the launch off until everyone received their pledge they would have got a far larger backing for odlain

Do you have any news about Beasts & Balance Rebirth by Modern Game? KS was funded in March 2021 but they give us very few updates.

Jumped on DC despite CMON's recent history and despite the fact I'll probably jump in their next CP2077 project. Sirens just didn't interest me but to be fair 20 Strong didn't either. Historica Arcanum on the other hand did pique my interest when it was announced but ultimately the campaign just doesn't do anything to make me want to open my wallet further.

18:20 you say wee wee haha

On another note. Do you have plans to do a review of Dawn of Madness? :) seems like im receiving my copyright tomorrow finally as they finally fixed EU shipping

For Odalin I canceled as the pledges were expensive and the shippings costs were just crazy (with VAT on top :( ).

I think the free follower thingy is a bad idea as it can turn people off as well. Some people might not back if they dont get the free follower and feel left out. Also the free follower isn't a guarantee for a back. I feel it is a bad practice and sets a bad standard.

Not to jump down a rabbit hole here but WE can technically refer to one person running an incorporated business. I would hope that no one who attempts to release a public consumption product at scale would do so without incorporating. Therefore WE refers to ‘Steve’ and the enterprise. IMO

Finally got me to try Into the AM. The clearance was down to the last 20 min. And for a sale of up 80% off, nothing was actually 80% off. I get them selling out and only having limited sizes but if they updated the site to remove sold out materials, they could update the banner. Not mad at you, but you have a contact there you can let know, right?

Odalin is from Dragori. Dragori was sloppy and constantly dishonest during Tanares campaigns and delivery. FOMO masters but the gameplay for TA ended up sloppy as well. Dragori is that way…. I didn’t back Odalin because I stay clear of anything Dragori. Not at all surprised to hear the feedback on Odalin campaign.

Agree with Siren and Cults of London, both I follow just for checking. The former is by a new studio who want to do it only as crowdfunding. Still no much about gameplay. No rulebook and the videos... if you like the gameplay videos of boardgameco (i dont, his reviews are better) or you speak german for 2 (i do). Though as i asked them, they say "rolling solo" will do an english gameplay video soon too. the latter offers the (incomplete) rulebook, but again no deep dive video. they are also new to the gameboard business. its noticable in marketing and crowdfunding management for both. though the former interacts with people (votes and taking in ideas), so kudos to them. but previews is the weakness of both. i personally, when i want to see if i am interesting in something, I need a "how to play" style video. easiest and fastest way to grasp it. so far all that did that convinced me to back it in the end (Deep Regrets, Apothebakery for example).

To be fair, you compared Tanares number (which included campaign and additional pledge manager adds) to Odalin just with the main campaign. If it’s apples to apples, Tanares made less than 100k more than Odalin

Follower numbers are pointless, i follow pretty much anything, especially if it has a follower gift. I mean why not check the game out after launch.

Hey king, I don’t like that you didn’t call us “rockstars” at the start.

I see that 90s Superboy, and then there's Peeg, but you have to buy the Teen Titans to get Peeg... I'll keep my eye on it. I am terribly allergic to the Titans in all forms.

I followed Odalin and had every intention of backing it when it launched.... Then I watched a video of the gameplay and completely lost interest.

Zombicide Black Plague Comic Promos came last week

I think the "we" KZfaqrs use is more to include the audience than to look like they have a team.

Hey, thanks for this material. When it comes to the Sirens game specifically, I think the small number of bakers comes from a couple of reasons. Firstly, the relatively small number of videos about this game, especially reviews, which makes you feel like you're buying a cat in a bag. Also, the fact that there was also a rules shows quite late (although it is nice and, for a prototype satisfactory) which didn't make it easy to learn about this quite big game. I think these could besuch main reasons, because always if there are few videos and reviews people in reserved approach. It is also possible that the setting itself was very compelling, and it turned out, that the game has a different emphasis than the person expected. After simply unfulfilled expectations for various reasons. I personally supported the project, read the manual, and there is very good communication from the publisher, who you can see is listening to the even the individual voices of their backers. Today I asked a lot of general questions plus I shared a few suggestions, and they wrote back super fast, within 30 minutes I think, addressing everything and with full respect. And this leads me to believe that something beautiful can come out of these games, although I'll probably wait a bit. As for Rayman, I'm also very curious about it.