Category: Letiman’s Lessons

Dan Letzring of Letiman Games discusses game design, Kickstarter, and game publishing topics that every aspiring indie game designer/publisher should read.

Lesson #14 – Building an Email Subscriber List

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Compiling and utilizing and email/subscriber list remains one of the best assets a creator can use to spread the word when launching a campaign.  However; an email list will not just appear out of nowhere and it is up to the creator to develop a large, engaged following.  Unfortunately though, there is no “get-rich quick” method for making this work outside of hitting the pavement and making connections. All of the promises to grow your subscriber lists exponentially will often add subscribers but they will not be engaged, will not read your emails, and will not be interested in your products. It can be hard and frustrating to get your email list subscriber numbers to a level you are happy with, so here are just a few tips I have utilized to help grow Letiman Games’ mailing list.

Lesson #13 – Including a Print & Play

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I often browse many kickstarter forums (mostly the groups on Facebook) and I often see the question come up of “Should I include a Print and Play (PnP) in my campaign?” Whether you decide to offer it for a price or give it out to everyone free of charge, I definitely think it is a good idea to include a Print and Play in your Kickstarter campaign. This post will explore all of the reasons why I feel the way I do.

Lesson #12 – 4 Reasons Your Campaign Failed

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There are so many great resources out there for budding creators who are interested in funding their games on Kickstarter. Despite all of the advice out there from people like James Mathe and Jamey Stegmaier, it seems creators still make some major mistakes when launching a Kickstarter campaign.

Lesson #10 – Fulfilling Dirigible Disaster

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Fulfilling a campaign is one of the most expensive and time consuming aspects of running a Kickstarter campaign. Many first-time creators do not realize just how much work and money are going to spent on distributing the games to their backers. I have now fulfilled two campaigns, shipping the US rewards out myself, and I wanted to take the time to discuss the methods I chose for fulfillment in the hopes that it makes your lives easier when fulfilling your own campaigns!

Lesson #7 – Child Safety Testing

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This week, Dan takes us through his experience with child-safety testing of his game Dino Dude Ranch. For designers thinking about making games for children, this must-read post covers everything from who he used to test, to the costs of doing it, and whether he feels like it actually helped.

Lesson #5 – Interview with Mike Wokasch about building his audience for his first KS campaign, Starving Artists!

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In Lesson #5, Dan interviews Mike Wokasch (of Fairway 3 Games) and co-founder of The Indie Game Report.  Dan asks about Mike’s Starving Artists campaign, how he did his pre-launch marketing, how he handled a very engaged backer community, and a bunch of other things.