Kickstarter - Campaigns of Interest (Check 1st Post 1st)

valiki7375

valiki7375

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This "first" post will have current KS campaigns that are currently live and I am following or backed. Obviously this is all very subjective since I started this forum, but feel free to mention others that might be of interest. Obviously I am sticking towards video/ board games, but always open to suggestions.

Also another good site to check for Board Games is Gamefound

Live (backed):

Wonder Blocks: Smart Nature Observatory (19 days left 1707% funded)

Live (watching)

Revival Games: Revive Dead Live Service Games (57 days left 0%)

Rolus: In the Outskirts (29 days left 1%)
The Complete Super NES - Collector's Book (limited dust sleeve) (14 days left 448%)

Autonomica: Open World Survival with Farming and Automation (16 days left 283%)



I have backed the following projects

Hidalgo ( last update 04/26/25 Campaign funded)
Monsterpatch ( last update 04/29/25 Nice layout of Roadmap for development)
Elusive 2 (last update 04/11/25 campaign ended, next steps)
A Place For All My Books (last update 04/11/25 good description regarding tariffs)
Electronic Gaming Monthly Compendium (last update 04/14/25 surveys out, mention of tariffs)
Boss Fight Books Season 7 (last update 4/27/25 book #4 book to print)
Playstation 2 Anthology (last update 04/15/25, surevys out, printing begins in May)

Received All items: SCP Foundation Artbooks Paperback/
 
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I think the cooler thing is the whole EGM archive being preserved digitally and you being able to search it out and stuff. It will come later for nonbackers, but that's really what I want. I was a Gamepro lad and I'd likely go for that in a similar preservation format. Cool for fans nonetheless of EGM, and that was my second most read gaming magazine.
 
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kevers7290 said:
Is $75 the lowest priced tier that gives access to the digital archive? Like nitrosmob that is the main draw for me here.
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Archive access is a $10 add-on to any tier, dunno if you could do a $1 pledge and then get the add-on but the digital pledge with add-on would be $25.

nitrosmob said:
I think the cooler thing is the whole EGM archive being preserved digitally and you being able to search it out and stuff. It will come later for nonbackers, but that's really what I want. I was a Gamepro lad and I'd likely go for that in a similar preservation format. Cool for fans nonetheless of EGM, and that was my second most read gaming magazine.
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Yeah EGM was always my second or third choice but I did have a sub for most of the 90s and bought plenty of newsstand issues too so this is pretty tempting. I also really like the idea of the project and maybe success could lead to other mags being done the same way later.

Edit: For anyone considering backing, there's zero chance this actually ships in February of next year. For that to happen they'd basically have to already be content locked and they most definitely are not. I'd give it at least 18 months if you want a realistic target expectation. I've backed a few books on Kickstarter before and there's always print delays and layout changes and since they have so many stretch goals and expanded ideas everything about the project will probably get pushed back.
 
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Ugh... I really do wanna back this, even if they don't need it. My brother and I were def EGM fans. But the Eiyuden Chronicles KS really killed my desire to back projects. I get they're all a gamble but most of them have been relatively solid, when they back out of one of the most basic rewards (reversible slipcover), I don't trust them to do anything else right.
 
Vinny said:
Ugh... I really do wanna back this, even if they don't need it. My brother and I were def EGM fans. But the Eiyuden Chronicles KS really killed my desire to back projects. I get they're all a gamble but most of them have been relatively solid, when they back out of one of the most basic rewards (reversible slipcover), I don't trust them to do anything else right.
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I have probably one of the worst records with Kickstarter for video games. I usually supported the smaller teams who have something I want or when a really cool visual novel comes through. I think probably 50% of my backed Kickstarters are still not delivered/probably wont be delivered including a horror visual novel, a popular visual novel (Sol Press became con artists), a rogue lite game with pinball mechanics (this is being worked on again after like being 8 years late or something), an ff7 homage game (very early access came out...only about 7-8 years old), and a Secret of Mana like game Cryamore (never coming I'm sure). I just don't back video games on Kickstarter anymore unless I love the game or it's for a translation of a visual novel (these are rarer than rare nowadays).
 
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I backed at the $150 level the first day basically because that included the larger book size. After the first day they upgraded all books to the larger size. Mildly ticked. Would’ve backed at the $75 level had I known this.
 
I've been collecting scans of old gaming magazines for a long time. I'll kick in some cash to have official PDFs of the back issues.
 
nitrosmob said:
I have probably one of the worst records with Kickstarter for video games. I usually supported the smaller teams who have something I want or when a really cool visual novel comes through. I think probably 50% of my backed Kickstarters are still not delivered/probably wont be delivered including a horror visual novel, a popular visual novel (Sol Press became con artists), a rogue lite game with pinball mechanics (this is being worked on again after like being 8 years late or something), an ff7 homage game (very early access came out...only about 7-8 years old), and a Secret of Mana like game Cryamore (never coming I'm sure). I just don't back video games on Kickstarter anymore unless I love the game or it's for a translation of a visual novel (these are rarer than rare nowadays).
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Honestly as big as this book and archive project is, it's nothing compared to the scope of video game development. Games like Cryamore (which I almost backed and didn't because it seemed too good to be true) had grand ideas that were never realistically going to be done in a couple of years by a couple of people, which is all that much funding provides for. Almost every successful Kickstarter game that wasn't very small scope either got additional outside funding or was already largely complete from self funding and just used Kickstarter as pre-order and promotional tactic, or as a way to fund additional features.

Now that this EGM project has greatly expanded the scope of the online archive through stretch goals I could see that taking a long time to complete (and maybe not ever finish every little detail, just depends how much they already have done). But I have no doubt this book will release, it will just take a lot more than four months to get it into people's hands. As a comparison, the World of Warcraft Diary was essentially already complete when the Kickstarter was run, so they projected delivery about three months after. It actually arrived after almost nine months. And that was pre-pandemic, things are much slower now. When they did a reprint of it last year they projected six months for delivery and it actually took almost a year.

Personally if I decide to back this (which I'm leaning towards doing) I'll just pretend it says February 2026 as the expected date and will be pleasantly surprised if it comes any earlier than that.

I backed at the $150 level the first day basically because that included the larger book size. After the first day they upgraded all books to the larger size. Mildly ticked. Would’ve backed at the $75 level had I known this.
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Nothing is locked on Kickstarter until the campaign completes, just go change your pledge.
 
I really did not care that to get the "lost" issue it was an additional $35, but their reply to me was great (it's in the comments section on the kickstarter page somewhere lol) and now that they said what the 500K stretch goal is, i added the "lost" issue.

I think they are sincere in that they didn't realize the kind of response they would get. In the beginning it was fun to hit refresh and watch the money raised continue to increase. It has slowed since then.

UPDATE: Changed forum to all things KS (from my perspective) so put my intial post here. I have liked and enjoyed the conversations here and would hate to lose that.....

first (original) post

Here is the lnk for the EGM Kickstarter. It has already been funded so they do not need the help, but trying to spread the word anyways.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/egmbook/egmcompendium/comments
 
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I think people are nuts for backing anything on Kickstarter these days. So many Kickstarter projects have become debacles. Products often get delivered extremely late (as in years and years late). Or products get delivered but aren't as originally advertised. Or, in some cases, products don't get delivered at all. And many campaign creators are combative and not forthcoming about progress and how backer money has been used.

If the product is something someone absolutely just has to own, just buy the thing when, or if, it gets released (maybe this isn't possible in all cases).
 
I think you are consdering the big, epic fails on kickstarter instead of the successes. Off the top of my head I can point to Everspace 2 and then pick any of the Boss Fight Books campaigns.

I have backed a few things on kickstarted and have yet to be disappointed. Of course they all happened to be books and by companies that had a good track record.

I get it's a risk, but no different than me playing Prize Picks in the hopes of making 13x my money (lets go J-E-T-S) 🙃
 
Yes, backing something on Kickstarter is akin to gambling. I think one problem is that a lot of people don't know that. They think that if the product doesn't get delivered or is late, then they'll just get a refund.
 
Cagg said:
Yes, backing something on Kickstarter is akin to gambling. I think one problem is that a lot of people don't know that. They think that if the product doesn't get delivered or is late, then they'll just get a refund.
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They should learn to read :geek:
 
nitrosmob said:
I have probably one of the worst records with Kickstarter for video games. I usually supported the smaller teams who have something I want or when a really cool visual novel comes through. I think probably 50% of my backed Kickstarters are still not delivered/probably wont be delivered including a horror visual novel, a popular visual novel (Sol Press became con artists), a rogue lite game with pinball mechanics (this is being worked on again after like being 8 years late or something), an ff7 homage game (very early access came out...only about 7-8 years old), and a Secret of Mana like game Cryamore (never coming I'm sure). I just don't back video games on Kickstarter anymore unless I love the game or it's for a translation of a visual novel (these are rarer than rare nowadays).
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Yeah... I don't feel as bad now, you def got it worse than me.
 
nitrosmob said:
I have probably one of the worst records with Kickstarter for video games. I usually supported the smaller teams who have something I want or when a really cool visual novel comes through. I think probably 50% of my backed Kickstarters are still not delivered/probably wont be delivered including a horror visual novel, a popular visual novel (Sol Press became con artists), a rogue lite game with pinball mechanics (this is being worked on again after like being 8 years late or something), an ff7 homage game (very early access came out...only about 7-8 years old), and a Secret of Mana like game Cryamore (never coming I'm sure). I just don't back video games on Kickstarter anymore unless I love the game or it's for a translation of a visual novel (these are rarer than rare nowadays).
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I have not back a single video game on kickstarter. One that I considered was "This is Fine: Maximum Cope" stated that the anticipated delivery was March 2026. There was another one (can't recall the name) that even in the "campaign" section they mentioned there being a second fund raising campaign after the beta....I can be patient, but not that patient. I will have totally forgotten that I even order anything and then see a steam release for it and buy it lol
 
UPDATE:

12 days left and they are at $488,807

There is a final stretch goal at $500,000. It has been fun to see all the stretch goals they have had to create. I do beleive they had no idea how much they would raise. I am sure they are running out of ideas for stretch goals
 
soonerdoc said:
I backed at the $150 level the first day basically because that included the larger book size. After the first day they upgraded all books to the larger size. Mildly ticked. Would’ve backed at the $75 level had I known this.
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As long as a campaign is still open on KS, you can downgrade your pledge if you want. Charging doesn't happen until the campaign closes.
 
My biggest KS disappoint was backing the physical Orlog game from AC: Valhalla. The company that did it was Pure Arts and there were TONS of delays and poor quality control. They even did a bait and switch and showed a render of a dice pack you could get as an add-on and once the campaign closed they revealed the dice looked totally different. It got so bad that they had to create a post about what to do if you got wasn't up to snuff!

I got sent a pack of dice I didn't want instead of the dice I wanted. Also a bunch of my plastic covered cardboard tokens were starting to delaminate. Because off all this, I now basically have 2 copies of the game- 1 normal version and 1 lesser quality version.
 
The just poassed $556,000 with 9 days left. I wonder of they will pass $600,000? I know there usually is a "push" at the ends of these types of campaigns, but the money has been steadily rising.

Anyone want to guess what they will end at?
 
valiki7375 said:
The just poassed $556,000 with 9 days left. I wonder of they will pass $600,000? I know there usually is a "push" at the ends of these types of campaigns, but the money has been steadily rising.

Anyone want to guess what they will end at?
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The last couple of days are usually the biggest days other than the very beginning so it seems pretty safe to bet they'll reach 650-700k or so. People like me still somewhat on the fence usually jump on board at the last minute. I'm mostly trying to decide if the collector's edition of the book is worth an extra $15. There's still some stuff about the project that has me a little leery; especially the scope creep and wondering how much that will delay things. But like I posted earlier, I'll expect delivery in a year at the very soonest and while they don't seem to have previous Kickstarter experience they do seem to have a lot of publishing experience.
 
I backed at the $75 tier and then added the lost issue because of the stretch goal for the cover that they are going to create for this. I honestly do not care for any of the digital access. For me it will be another coffee table book. I agree with your comment about the scope creep...although when you think baout what they intially had as a goal ($35,000) and what they have now I do not think money is the issue. More like time. They say in the campaign expected date is Feb 2025. I don't know how you could possible turn this all around to a shipped product in 4 months.
 
valiki7375 said:
I backed at the $75 tier and then added the lost issue because of the stretch goal for the cover that they are going to create for this. I honestly do not care for any of the digital access. For me it will be another coffee table book. I agree with your comment about the scope creep...although when you think baout what they intially had as a goal ($35,000) and what they have now I do not think money is the issue. More like time. They say in the campaign expected date is Feb 2025. I don't know how you could possible turn this all around to a shipped product in 4 months.
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Time for sure, also adding more to the physical aspects means that each pledge nets them less overall, which bites a lot of these Kickstarters pretty hard. It's easy to see thousands and thousands of dollars but other than the digital tier which is only a small portion of it, every one of those pledges has a significant manufacturing and development cost. I haven't seen if anyone has asked in the comments if they have a new projection for delivery but honestly them being that unrealistically optimistic to start is a pretty big red flag itself. Ironically I'd be far more comfortable if they had said 2026 from the very beginning.
 
From Josh Harmon (Collaborator) in response to my questions regarding release:

"Thankfully we did a lot of work in advance of actually launching the Kickstarter to make sure things could come together as quickly as possible if it was successful. We're still planning to get the book to you by February, and get you Digital Archive access by then (though some of the stretch goals for the Archive may still be a work in progress when we give beta access).



We also plan on being transparent and communicative with the backers about where we're at at every stage after the KS closes, so you'll be fully in the loop as we progress toward delivering your books (and everything else)."
 
Man I gotta be honest. I worked a 12 hour shift today and didn’t get off until 10 pm. Started looking at phone and saw they added tiers today. Some of the tiers don’t make sense.

There is a $264 new tier that is more expensive and includes less than a restock of a $250 tier. How does that make sense?

Would have upgraded to the $250 tier for sure or even the $264 tier now if it included the same items as the cheaper tier. As it is it just kind of leaves a soured on the whole thing. Their tiers have been a mess from day 1 when I backed the project. Was super excited but just disappointed now. Think I’m going to cancel my pledge. Not that they will care. They shattered their goal.
 
soonerdoc said:
Man I gotta be honest. I worked a 12 hour shift today and didn’t get off until 10 pm. Started looking at phone and saw they added tiers today. Some of the tiers don’t make sense.

There is a $264 new tier that is more expensive and includes less than a restock of a $250 tier. How does that make sense?

Would have upgraded to the $250 tier for sure or even the $264 tier now if it included the same items as the cheaper tier. As it is it just kind of leaves a soured on the whole thing. Their tiers have been a mess from day 1 when I backed the project. Was super excited but just disappointed now. Think I’m going to cancel my pledge. Not that they will care. They shattered their goal.
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The $250 tiers were extremely limited. I guess people are changing or canceling pledges though, because the limited $150 tier shows as available for me right now and apparently the $175 tier is just a late version of it that costs more. All of it sort of makes sense in context but is definitely poorly executed and amateurish. It does amaze me how much the whole thing feels like it's being run by people who have no idea about anything to do with Kickstarter; they're making the kind of silly mistakes and poor decisions we saw a decade ago. If this was a video or board game all the red flags would definitely point towards staying away.

That said, this is the type of project one person working alone could eventually get finished and published and I believe them when they say the majority of the actual archiving and book editorial work are done. But the vague answer they gave about how they're going to stay on time definitely doesn't inspire any confidence in me and lots of Kickstarters run by people with good intentions have rapidly found themselves in trouble because they didn't actually understand the realities of using this method of funding.
 
soonerdoc said:
Man I gotta be honest. I worked a 12 hour shift today and didn’t get off until 10 pm. Started looking at phone and saw they added tiers today. Some of the tiers don’t make sense.

There is a $264 new tier that is more expensive and includes less than a restock of a $250 tier. How does that make sense?

Would have upgraded to the $250 tier for sure or even the $264 tier now if it included the same items as the cheaper tier. As it is it just kind of leaves a soured on the whole thing. Their tiers have been a mess from day 1 when I backed the project. Was super excited but just disappointed now. Think I’m going to cancel my pledge. Not that they will care. They shattered their goal.
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I jumped on real early at $150, but ended up cancelling mine a little bit ago. I was getting a bad feeling about the stretch-goal bloat that seems like it’s creeping in. I’m not saying they’re not gonna fulfill their goal, and I haven’t backed a lot of kickstarters but I’ve backed enough to get a sense when long delays are ahead.

They also haven’t said this is a kickstarter-only available item, so I’m getting the sense it’ll be available (obviously without all the fancy stuff) later on at some point. If not, no biggie, I can go without but I’m not tying up $150+ for however long this ends up taking.
 
I think all the stretch golas and adding things has defintly confused some. I know that I asked about the different size of the books. Originally there was an 8 x 10 and then ability to upgrade to 9 x 12. Well now (becuase of stretch goals) they are all 9 x 12.

I think some of the confusion is that Kickstarter (from what I have gathered) does not allow them to simply edit a tier as they go so that may have been some of the issue.

I simply went at the $75 level and then added the "lost" issue.

I agree, there has got to be some delays coming, but I believe that they will come through.

From my perusing, they have not clearly stated that this won't be avaialble in some form after the Kickstarter.

6 days left and at $620,000 is mind blowing given they originally wanted $35,000. I wonder if the number was so low becuase Kickstarter gets a percentage of original goal? Like ebay with original listing? I could be wrong
 
valiki7375 said:
I think all the stretch golas and adding things has defintly confused some. I know that I asked about the different size of the books. Originally there was an 8 x 10 and then ability to upgrade to 9 x 12. Well now (becuase of stretch goals) they are all 9 x 12.

I think some of the confusion is that Kickstarter (from what I have gathered) does not allow them to simply edit a tier as they go so that may have been some of the issue.

I simply went at the $75 level and then added the "lost" issue.

I agree, there has got to be some delays coming, but I believe that they will come through.

From my perusing, they have not clearly stated that this won't be avaialble in some form after the Kickstarter.

6 days left and at $620,000 is mind blowing given they originally wanted $35,000. I wonder if the number was so low becuase Kickstarter gets a percentage of original goal? Like ebay with original listing? I could be wrong
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Kickstarter gets a 5% fee regardless, plus there's a payment processing fee, so generally about 10% comes off the top.

Low easily reached initial goals became a thing trying to generate hype and you'd often see projects that were "funded" get cancelled part way through because they actually needed a lot more. I don't think that's what is happening here, they probably had a minimum number of sales they needed for a publication order that was pretty low.

The initial work was probably all already covered by some other source or was just done as a side project. My guess is whomever owns the rights to all this stuff right now is involved in some fashion that isn't being directly mentioned. If there's a version that comes to retail it almost certainly will be directly from them.
 
5 days left and at $643,000

Definietly has slowed down and not really seeing any sort of "push"....course there are no more stretch goals to hit so will be interesting to see where this ends up.

My guess is $672,389

Let's make this a game....whoever gets closest to the actual amount I will buy one of the fanatical mystery bundles and gift to that person (will need your email)

It will be a tier win...There will be only one winner and it will be whoever is the closest...

Unless you decide to be some sort of jack-attack and bid someone by like "a dollar"....obviously I do not mean an actual dollar, it will be subjective

so guesses today 20 keys
Saturday 15 keys
Sunday 10 keys
Monday 10 keys
Tuesday 5 keys
Wednesday 5 keys

It closess Wed/Thursday midnight
 
Since no one else has posted or is dumb enough to guess this early I'm gonna change my guess to 869k. That's probably on the high side but my original guess just felt too low. The current Kicktraq is 800k and that's fairly conservative, there's basically always a last two day bump, especially if they come up with some new stretch goals in that range. Now a big caveat is if they don't do any more stretch goals at all it may stagnate a bit lower.

I also just reread all their current goals they've reached and some are really going to bite them in the ass. Like they plan ship everyone with a physical pledge a copy of the new magazine free which is going to eat up a ton of what they got extra unless they come up with a way to subsidize it. Wonder if they'd have any luck selling advertising in a short print run gimmick issue.
 
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Here's the thing, you can always place a new total another day, obviously whichever total comes closest will win. It just depends on the day that you posted the winning prediction.

As of now, you are the only guess, but I don't know how many are following this or reading everything. Mine might be on the low end especially now that I have seen this kickstarter pop up on facebook.

Agreed, with everything they added I can see this going sideways. Especially with them sticking to the Feb 2025 release (as stated above)
 
valiki7375 said:
Here's the thing, you can always place a new total another day, obviously whichever total comes closest will win. It just depends on the day that you posted the winning prediction.

As of now, you are the only guess, but I don't know how many are following this or reading everything. Mine might be on the low end especially now that I have seen this kickstarter pop up on facebook.

Agreed, with everything they added I can see this going sideways. Especially with them sticking to the Feb 2025 release (as stated above)
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I have been following and reading. I've been back and forth on 'backing' this kickstarter. So far in my life I'm batting 1000 with NOT backing any kickstarter. I've seen so many scams and failures over the years.

This one with EGM caught my interested as I grew up with EGM and Gamepro. And EB games / KB Toys / and Toys R us too! The tiers have been changing a lot on this kickstarter and the ship date only 3-4 months away makes me leery about this. If I did buy in, I'd go for the most expensive edition. And I'd like a guarantee there's no retail version coming. Otherwise I won't be opting in for it.

I'll stick with the old adage "the only way to win the game is to not play", and I'm not looking to get scammed.
 
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valiki7375 said:
5 days left and at $643,000

Definietly has slowed down and not really seeing any sort of "push"....course there are no more stretch goals to hit so will be interesting to see where this ends up.

My guess is $672,389

Let's make this a game....whoever gets closest to the actual amount I will buy one of the fanatical mystery bundles and gift to that person (will need your email)

It will be a tier win...There will be only one winner and it will be whoever is the closest...

Unless you decide to be some sort of jack-attack and bid someone by like "a dollar"....obviously I do not mean an actual dollar, it will be subjective

so guesses today 20 keys
Saturday 15 keys
Sunday 10 keys
Monday 10 keys
Tuesday 5 keys
Wednesday 5 keys

It closess Wed/Thursday midnight
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My estimated educated guess would be around $730,000.
 
Romeo said:
I have been following and reading. I've been back and forth on 'backing' this kickstarter. So far in my life I'm batting 1000 with NOT backing any kickstarter. I've seen so many scams and failures over the years.

This one with EGM caught my interested as I grew up with EGM and Gamepro. And EB games / KB Toys / and Toys R us too! The tiers have been changing a lot on this kickstarter and the ship date only 3-4 months away makes me leery about this. If I did buy in, I'd go for the most expensive edition. And I'd like a guarantee there's no retail version coming. Otherwise I won't be opting in for it.

I'll stick with the old adage "the only way to win the game is to not play", and I'm not looking to get scammed.
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You list all these great points and then day, not going to back it?

Also it's not a scam, Kickstarter plainly states that brackets aren't guaranteed anything.
 
valiki7375 said:
You list all these great points and then day, not going to back it?

Also it's not a scam, Kickstarter plainly states that brackets aren't guaranteed anything.
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A disclaimer that you might be screwed makes it not a scam? I believe this will be fine, but what kind of predatory logic is that? All the work to make this, and the additional earning potential involved, I believe this will have a retail release as well. They would have stated no retail release to drive sales otherwise.
 
My guess for today would be $750,000. Looks like it might be slowing down.

I'm still on the fence of backing it. Would be nice to have a digital copy of every issue.
 
It's certainly not a scam. Of course that doesn't mean it couldn't be a misguided disaster that has the same end result as a scam, but that seems exceedingly unlikely. As I've mentioned before, the project has plenty of red flags, but they're mostly "delivery will take a while" type stuff. It's hard to say about a retail release but it does seem pretty likely they'll put the digital archive on the current EGM website, either ad supported or via a subscription, so selling copies of the book there (certainly at least digital copies) seems very plausible as well.

The primary editor on this project is the editor on that site, so I can't imagine he's just doing it as a side project for fun, which is probably why there's no real mention of the amount of cost and hours that had to have gone into it already as they were undoubtedly done under the auspices of his job. They probably felt like filling the Kickstarter with references to that site would have been in poor taste and that anyone who wants to can Google it. For that matter I'd bet the whole thing started as something they were doing for that website and they decided to gauge interest and offset costs by running this Kickstarter. And if the whole thing really is basically underwritten by that site then that makes it all the more likely to fully deliver as opposed to some projects which just run out of money and end up having to get more funding in order to get their containers out of port.

On a side note, I'm definitely surprised that they seem content to not put in any more stretch goals. I guess in a way it's better they don't obligate themselves to something else too outlandish but history shows those last couple of days can push hard into a last goal and they're probably leaving a lot of money on the table if they just ride it out as is.
 
soonerdoc said:
Man I gotta be honest. I worked a 12 hour shift today and didn’t get off until 10 pm. Started looking at phone and saw they added tiers today. Some of the tiers don’t make sense.

There is a $264 new tier that is more expensive and includes less than a restock of a $250 tier. How does that make sense?

Would have upgraded to the $250 tier for sure or even the $264 tier now if it included the same items as the cheaper tier. As it is it just kind of leaves a soured on the whole thing. Their tiers have been a mess from day 1 when I backed the project. Was super excited but just disappointed now. Think I’m going to cancel my pledge. Not that they will care. They shattered their goal.
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I‘m a stupid idiot and instead of canceling my pledge I upgraded to the editors $264 edition.

Again. Because I’m a stupid idiot.
 
soonerdoc said:
I‘m a stupid idiot and instead of canceling my pledge I upgraded to the editors $264 edition.

Again. Because I’m a stupid idiot.
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I’m still on a wait and see if I jump in or not. As you said, I‘d feel like an idiot supporting a kickstarter. Though the nostalgic kid in me wants this so badly.
 
lomaxgnome said:
It's certainly not a scam. Of course that doesn't mean it couldn't be a misguided disaster that has the same end result as a scam, but that seems exceedingly unlikely. As I've mentioned before, the project has plenty of red flags, but they're mostly "delivery will take a while" type stuff. It's hard to say about a retail release but it does seem pretty likely they'll put the digital archive on the current EGM website, either ad supported or via a subscription, so selling copies of the book there (certainly at least digital copies) seems very plausible as well.

The primary editor on this project is the editor on that site, so I can't imagine he's just doing it as a side project for fun, which is probably why there's no real mention of the amount of cost and hours that had to have gone into it already as they were undoubtedly done under the auspices of his job. They probably felt like filling the Kickstarter with references to that site would have been in poor taste and that anyone who wants to can Google it. For that matter I'd bet the whole thing started as something they were doing for that website and they decided to gauge interest and offset costs by running this Kickstarter. And if the whole thing really is basically underwritten by that site then that makes it all the more likely to fully deliver as opposed to some projects which just run out of money and end up having to get more funding in order to get their containers out of port.

On a side note, I'm definitely surprised that they seem content to not put in any more stretch goals. I guess in a way it's better they don't obligate themselves to something else too outlandish but history shows those last couple of days can push hard into a last goal and they're probably leaving a lot of money on the table if they just ride it out as is.
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You are right in the sense this kickstarter seems so amateur. The tiers are confusing as well as the add-ones. As an example, the top tier at $264 says it includes every possible to buy, yet they are selling add ons which duplicates what it comes with. $10 digital archive access or $45 for a print copy of the issue 267 ‘lost issue’. Yet all tiers over $100 include that already.
 
If they really are shipping this out in 3 months, maybe part of the ”scam“ vibes some are getting from this, and why it seems hasty and amateur, is that this was already pretty much done on company time, for their own website or retail release, like lomaxgnome brought up as a possibility. If the kickstarter was just for extra cash and not really necessary, the campaign probably would not have much thought put into it. Just speculating. I still have a bunch of my old magazines, so missing a retail release is a risk I may be ok with, seems like a 50%+ premium if i bought now, depending on the tier, and there still is always the disclaimer that they reserve the right to send a bag of coal and walk off with your money.
 
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Is there any item that is exclusive to this Kickstarter? Why back anything on Kickstarter? Just buy the thing when (or if) it gets released (that is, if you still even want it possibly years later).

Even if there were an exclusive physical item that I just absolutely had to have, I'd rather pay more on eBay later rather than wade through a potentially disastrous Kickstarter. I just really don't see an upside for being a backer. "Rewards aren't guaranteed". The whole idea is absurd from a backer's point of view. A campaign creator can string backers along for years and then still not deliver. It's happened before, and it will happen again.
 
Romeo said:
You are right in the sense this kickstarter seems so amateur. The tiers are confusing as well as the add-ones. As an example, the top tier at $264 says it includes every possible to buy, yet they are selling add ons which duplicates what it comes with. $10 digital archive access or $45 for a print copy of the issue 267 ‘lost issue’. Yet all tiers over $100 include that already.
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Xenogears said:
If they really are shipping this out in 3 months, maybe part of the ”scam“ vibes some are getting from this, and why it seems hasty and amateur, is that this was already pretty much done on company time, for their own website or retail release, like lomaxgnome brought up as a possibility. If the kickstarter was just for extra cash and not really necessary, the campaign probably would not have much thought put into it. Just speculating. I still have a bunch of my old magazines, so missing a retail release is a risk I may be ok with, seems like a 50%+ premium if i bought now, depending on the tier.
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I think that's definitely why they *think* they can ship in three months, especially if somehow they are publishing in a way that doesn't require shipping from China. But the fact that they continue to cling to that date as if everything they've added and processing thousands of votes and names and letter entries won't take time is disturbingly naive. That said, I don't really see it at double retail price, when I look at comparable books on the retail level for the niche market they tend to be in the $40-$50 range plus shipping (like stuff from retro game books and the like). So sure, maybe if it was to hit Amazon it would get cheaper but I just don't see them printing on that scale. And the version from this will be higher quality than a mass printed retail version.

At the $75 tier I feel like I'm getting decent value and also contributing to a project that I want to exist, which is ostensibly what Kickstarter is supposed to be for. But I realize that poster will probably end up in a donation bin someday and I'll essentially be paying an extra $15 for my name in tiny print in the back somewhere. Now, if I had to worry about an additional shipping cost being higher than I expected I'd probably not be backing at all.

Cagg said:
Is there any item that is exclusive to this Kickstarter? Why back anything on Kickstarter? Just buy the thing when (or if) it gets released (that is, if you still even want it possibly years later).

Even if there were an exclusive physical item that I just absolutely had to have, I'd rather pay more on eBay later rather than wade through a potentially disastrous Kickstarter. I just really don't see an upside for being a backer. "Rewards aren't guaranteed". The whole idea is absurd from a backer's point of view. A campaign creator can string backers along for years and then still not deliver. It's happened before, and it will happen again.
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Sure, if you want to be completely cynical about the process then you're right, there's no reason to ever back anything. But I've gotten plenty of great stuff from Kickstarter, and seen many projects exist that wouldn't otherwise. That's supposed to be the point, not just a retail flip. Would this project exist without Kickstarter? I don't know, but given the nature of the industry and how we haven't seen anything else to this degree done with classic gaming magazines I kinda doubt it and even though EGM was never my favorite I spent more on copies of the magazine in the 90s off of news stands than this.
 
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