We know, it has been a while since our last post!! Anyone who says developing and then self publishing a game is painless has clearly never actually done it...
When we first began this project we were so worried about the difficulty of designing a game. Although time consuming, that part was fun and the end result is a game that plays extremely well at a variety of skill levels. Now that we are getting close to launching our game on Kickstarter, we realize that was actually the easiest part! How to move forward once the game was ready has really become the challenge. To give you just a small sampling of what we have been working on over the past couple months:
We have partnered with LaunchBoom, one of the best "pre-campaign" marketing companies in the gaming community. They help us optimize our online advertising efforts.
We hired a Lawyer, Zachary Strebeck, from within the gaming industry to file all the necessary documents for trademarking the name of our game. Once the artwork and game text is final he will also file for copyright protection. Yes, we had to learn the difference between the two.
We have spoke with, received pricing estimates, and began preparing files for the company that will be manufacturing the game. We decided to use Panda Game Manufacturing. Although one of the more expensive manufacturers their quality and finished games they produce are among the best in the industry and that is what our customers deserve!
We sent some of our prototype components to Board Game Shots in Poland. They create some of the best professional photo shoots in the gaming industry. We are beyond thrilled with the images they created and will be actively using them throughout our marketing efforts.
We contracted James Churchill to redesign our box cover illustration. We were thrilled that he accepted our job, as he is one of the top illustrators in the world specializing in game box covers. Although taking longer than we had planned (or hoped) he was able to create our new cover while in the midst of moving from Australia to Japan!
After all that, we are now finally at the stage of creating our Kickstarter page in anticipation of launching this fall. We believe the page will take most of August to develop and ensure it is in working order. As we progress with the KS page we will be inviting some members of our VIP Community to take a sneak peak and provide feedback to help us make the perfect page!
While we are working on this aspect of the release we will also be starting our Facebook Ads Campaign. This campaign works for us in two ways...
We use it to create game/brand awareness in an effort to generate excitement for The Blog Master: Exploring Europe. This awareness will help us to grow our following and deliver exactly what our fans want in a game!
The advertising will also drive interested backers to our Landing Page where they can become members of our VIP Community and gain even more insight into our game! The number of VIP signups provide us with real data that helps us determine when we are ready to launch and have the most successful Kickstarter Campaign possible! Our goal is to have all the advertising and insight put together and be prepared for an early October launch, but only time and the response from our advertising will tell us the viability of our timeline accurately :)
We are excited to be entering the next stages of our release and would love to hear any thoughts, suggestions, or support you might want to share! Please post on our FB page, take some time to surf our blog site, email us your thoughts, and most importantly share The Blog Master: Exploring Europe with your friends and family!!
If You Would Like to Join Our VIP Community Click the Link Below!
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