@shouldyoubackit Have you seen the current issue that Trition Noir / Brotherhood of Venice has? They are waiting to ship the games to the EU until the shipping costs are like 50% lower (pre-pandemic prices afaik) It’s absolutely not cool from them to withold the pledges because they didn’t accomodate for price rises imo

YOU ARE AWESOME! ❤❤❤

I've backed hundreds of Kickstarter projects, and Steamforged Games stands out as one of the most reliable creators in the industry. They consistently provide rulebooks in advance and have a proven track record of delivering polished, high-quality products. Compared to backing a first-time developer or an independent creator, choosing Steamforged is a safer bet. If a Kickstarter project is delivered within six months of the target date, they're right on track

Great job on offering your feedback on this game. You are now my go-to back or not to back content creator. I do hope you expand to other content types but as you are a smaller channel, I understand that might be hard. Either way keep up the great work and love your transparency!

I know this is late feedback but I think you did a phenomenal job giving your opinions on this game and why you personally recommend to back it. Subscribing and wish you the best at growing your channel! PS. Especially love that you were talking at a good speed. So many times I feel content creators talk way too fast or don't get to the point fast enough. Great flow overall 💕

Hi Sam mate, as we sit on the cusp of Maladum fulfilment how are you feeling about it? Did you get to play the final demo version at UKGE earlier this year? I'm still excited for Maladum despite it being setback a little.

Did not back any of these but seen many Tainted Grail being resold. That then hit retail (in some places for £20). I did back a couple of others and nearly all quickly landed in retail at a significant discount (only expansions seemed in limited supply). My Ion (Pax) and Phalanx games get played alot.

Thanks for the solo playthrough - nice done. I'm a backer and I think the feeling of the game is great.

Thank you for your honest opinion. I backed this because of interesting mix of thing s to do in game and beautifull sea setting, hope, it would be good:)

i honestly don't think anyone would have cared about this practice at all except that a specific creator made sure to make a big fuss about it, which prompted his audience to do the same and said creator has a significant financial interest in opposing Launch Boom. an interest they in no way disclosed then they have the gall to claim that it is Launch Boom that is being manipulative and dishonest while they pretend to be consumer advocates when in actuality they are competitors of Launch Boom

I might be misremembering, but I did do the dollar pledge for their follow up game because we enjoyed Botany so much. I thought it said it was refundable if you decide not to back. It is possible that I misinterpreted it, my email confirmation doesn't mention it.

very fair analysis - even with a company with a track record (notably AR), the 'tip of the iceberg' presented gives concerns about how much is still to be developed, and how long that might take. With a new creator (or as @deathnavy has discovered, one who had a previously failed attempt), that risk is multiplied significantly. If the game felt truly special in concept, then perhaps I might take such a risk. There are very few instances of that, and this is not one of them. If someone else does feel it that special, then I wish them and the project creators good luck and a mutually positive journey together.

Alex at Boardgameco works for Gamefound, and his bias has been shown towards CMON, so I don't trust what he says about any campaign on Gamefound. Having said that, I agree with the unnecessary "bloated" feel of the game. I also noticed that the scenarios are insanely long, well over 3 hours each.

With a bit of research I discovered that forgotten tales studios was actually KoA studios but they renamed after a failed kickstarter a couple years ago called kingdoms of akandia. They since changed their name and made Sirens from the feedback given in that campaign. Seeing how much has raised i’m sure we will get a product, however the lack of information for the scenarios worries me. I’m backing at core with a potential upgrade to gameplay tier, but that’s as far as I’m going. The game has great theme and gameplay from what I’ve seen.

The art and theme drew me in, but the actual gameplay fell flat for me from what I’ve seen. And pretty pricey too.

Watched Playing Solo's playthroughs and the setting/narrative/gameplay was a very clunky combination. Pretty miniatures but... been there, wasted money on that before. Your call on the scope is spot on.

I know that is not the topic of this video, but what do you think about the $1 pledge in KS campaigns? What are their pros (I guess it allows people to take almost no risk at all before the PM opens) and cons (if all backers do that, then the KS will fail...)? Thanks! :)

Great game, waiting for a new video

Thanks so much for putting this out, clear and honest information especially for backers in the UK. I totally understand the amber rating for he risk assessment I've been in the group of backers waiting on a campaign to ship and seeing the company doing campaign after campaign asking for more from us; but IV always delivers. Usually by the time the campaign starts they are well into talks with Panda about production and have received samples back which means a much shortened timeline compared to other crowdfunded games, and as you said, they've done this before and are even warning in this campaign that fulfillment is running up against Lunar New Year as a potential delay. I am by no means unbiased (I mod their discord server, where the team is quite active). Thanks again for the analysis!

Hey everyone! Just wanted to share this comment from BoardGameGeek which I think is helpful to hear and equally has insights I didn’t have in the video: Moonrakers is deckbuilding and Brink is worker placement. You don't need one to enjoy the other, and as someone who's played all the IV games I think Brink might be my favorite. Want to add that they have consistently delivered early on past KS projects. One of the two games on boats right now I think is running a little behind or one is running ahead and since both are now arriving at the same time IV just refunded shipping charges to people who backed both because they are just going to ship them together. This seems like a lot of work for them to have to go and do this but is super cool that they think of the customers first. There one of the only companies I still back on crowdfunding because they don't go silent and they go above and beyond.

Thumb down for false thumbnail.

I would say they are a pretty sure bet as far as delivery is concerned. I mean, as sure of a bet as any Kickstarter can be at least. It's between this and Deep Regret for me, and I think I want the push your luck of Deep Regret just a hair more.

2025?!

When I heard someone describe it as "Catan in space", and I really thought about my group, its a hard pass for me

This channel is criminally underrated, especially when there are kickstarter-related channels out there with multitudes more that aren't half as good. The transparency and authenticity is something that is so crucial for a "should I buy this?" type decision, and the fact that many of the videos released answer that question with "No, I don't think you should." gives SYBI heaps of credibility.

Thx for the review! Super helpful as always 😊

I really loved IV for Moonrakers but as a solo player, I won't back this one. 😔

For me, personally, IV peaked early mechanics wise with Moonrakers. Every other game is kind of bland and not worth the ridiculous prices they charge. Also, a note on the "set in Moonraker's universe". It's kind of a nothing statement to me. I enjoy Moonrakers and have the titan edition but..... what universe? There's no lore unless you specifically read the comic book they included with the Titan Edition kickstarter (which was.... fine?) or you played the Luminar game mode for Moonrakers which also was just.... fine. It's like they think they've created this amazing narrative world bristling with interesting stories but it's really just cards with somewhat interesting art and weird names. That's kind of it. The marketing for this game also is so unbelievably up its own ass and the way the studio carries themselves has been a massive massive turnoff for me. Incredibly high prices for the product they deliver and kind of boring mechanics surrounded by "glitzy" art (which in the case of Fractured Sky was also just bad IMO). That said, just my opinion! A lot of other channels are singing the praises of this game and the studio so maybe there's something I'm not seeing. Good coverage, thanks for the video!

Do you do these videos before or after the Kickstarter is finished?

Thanks for showing the solo mode! After watching 2 solo playthroughs (yours and slickerdrips'), it's growing on me, at first I was a bit puzzled cause it's very different than the competitive mode. It'd be nice to watch a part 2!

Consumers are confused by crowdfunding because this ad is disguised as a review. This was paid for and made to look good on the kickstarter's main page.

I’m confused like how do you have it? Why do I have to wait like a full year

Indeed

I'd love to see a part two!

And a year on I have just heard of this game. A year on V-Commando only seems to be available on eBay for quite a high cost so, whilst your assessment was valid and probably correct at the time, i imagine now that may have changed. I have just backed a late pledge for the 'all-in' package which i am looking forward to. Thank you for this video, and others, on this item 👍

Sounds like fun! Thx for the review 😊

Any thoughts / insight into the creators? New / new to crowdfunding?

Really pleased this plays as well as we hoped

Glad to see these videos pop up on my front page again. Always enjoy your advice.

$195 dollars for collection edition to the uk work out at £155 including shipping and vat 😢😮.

This issue in the community is 100% new to me. Having said that, I'm going to take LaunchBoom's side on this one. They're not doing anything wrong. I just fundamentally disagree with the premise, arguments, and conclusions being made against this method of customer acquisition. It's fine in this situation because up until this point, LaunchBoom and their partners are doing things the correct way. Also, and respectfully, I'm going to disagree with your revisionist history definition of the word "clickbait". Clickbait is about deception, always has been.

Not sure where the immoral part comes in here? Unless you classify most people buying games on kickstarter as having an addiction which is exploited (which is maybe not entirely unfounded), then the answer is rather simple: Don't buy games you don't need.

Hey there! I am so grateful for this video, and that this practice is being discussed. I am the CEO at Rainfactory and I actually have a strong opinion on the $1 reservation concept and also have data analysis on analyzing the "vip vs non-vip" email lists of clients who came to me after having a poor experience with Launchboom. Please let me know how best to follow up, I want to get the word out that there's a better way out there than this ❤

Thank you for that considerate and calm thinkpiece. For many reasons, I have personnally stopped backing games (mostly), so I don't have a strong opinion as to the "good" or "bad" of this trend. But I would like to offer that there is something more to asking for a dollar instead of simply asking for your email or even asking to follow or subscribe to a pre-campaign for a specific bonus if I then back it. Because we are now talking about non-refundable real money, the technique introduces a version the sunk cost fallacy. I don't "waste" my email by giving it to the pre-campaign, but that 1$ will feel "wasted" unless I back the project.

I appreciate your take on this issue. However, I’m still with Chris George on this marketing tactic. He showed how what launch boom said in their video (directed to disgruntled backers and content creators) differed to what they had on their web page (directed to potential customers). The difference was telling. And it makes sense. They’re a marketing company. It’s their job to make something look as great as possible while hiding anything that might not look so good. I don’t want my crowdfunding dollars to fill a marketing company’s coffers. I will vote with my dollar and stay away from projects that work with such companies.

Honestly, extremely high prices and increased delivery times alone is harming board game crowdfunding. The payment of money for the right to follow a not yet started project and maybe get some extra is ridiculous and just the cherry on top.

I have no issue with a $1 tripwire offer to get people to buy. I think it is a very powerful tool in the marketing toolbag. The big issue though is with it around crowdfunding. If someone like Stonemaier did a $1 pre-pre-order for a game I would be fine with it. Crowdfunding isn't a pre-order though. All the risk is on the backers with crowdfunding. Crowdfunding is an interest free loan to create something. So I won't back anything that has a $1 pre-order bonus. I know I am just one person but because of the fundamental difference between a true pre-order and crowdfunding, the $1 pre-order for a campaign is truly predatory.

People that preorder games on kickstarter already victims of FOMO and they mental health not in a good place. We don't need more aggressive marketing tactics for this poor fellows.

Comparing email collection turnover to $1 turnover is skewed data because they are completely different examples of emotional attachment. People giving email addresses understand that the delete button is easy to use. If they see more information and realize the game isnt for them, it's no big deal. A 10% turnover or lower is not surprising. When a person is asked for money, that's a whole different level of interest. If they are willing to put in their financial info, they already know that they are absolutely interested and that there is a high likelihood that they are going to back the game. I'm surprised that the turnover rate for this commitment is not higher than 50%. The data isn't skewed so much as it compares apples to oranges. For marketing companies to represent the turnover percentages as comparable is disingenuous at best. The marketing companies are using these figures to market themselves and the game companies that buy in are showing these bogus comparisons because that is what sold them in the first place. This is classic post-purchase rationalization. It doesn't look good that, when i pointed this out in the comments of Mark's video, my comment was deleted. It's his channel and he has every right to curate the comments however he sees fit but, by ignoring my point, it shows that discussion was not the main interest of his video. It also shows that he read my point and maybe, just maybe, there's not a good rebuttal to pointing out that the comparison is flawed.