Kleos Design Journal - 3 Lessons Learned

It’s hard to believe that I started designing games over 5 years ago!  Each day since January 1st 2016, I’ve spent at least a little time working on my board game projects.  At first it was a hobby, and now it has become an important part of my life that I look forward to every day.

I first had the idea for Kleos in 2017.  By that time, I had created 5-10 other games and wanted to focus on one to bring to fruition.  I brought my favorite 5 concepts to the table, and selected Kleos as the game that I would move forward with.  I started working with Kleos’ illustrator Enggar in February, 2018, and after 3 years of hard work, Kleos funded on Kickstarter in August, 2020.

I brought with me a wealth of industry experience in marketing, sales, working with manufacturers, and growing a small business.  That said, this industry is unique and as an indie publisher, you need to wear every hat while you are getting started.  It is an amazing challenge, and something you can only truly grasp once you dive into it.  Here are the 3 biggest lessons I learned throughout the process (ie: learn from my mistakes!).  

Lessons Learned:

1.  Automate Early:  This was the most important realization I had over the last year.  I spent an amazing amount of time iterating and creating updated physical prototypes for each version of Kleos over the years.  Iterating and re-iterating is the most important part of the development process for a game.  Anything you can do to speed that process is going to make you more successful, and help you get to your finished board game faster.  
   
   Since the pandemic started, we have all become more acquainted with digital prototyping options such as Tabletop Simulator and Tabletopia.  I just now started using Component Studio by the Game Crafter to allow for faster iteration...and it is a game changer (literally, pun fully intended!).  
   
   I was able to prototype and add a new game to Tabletopia in 1 hour, and any small iterations will only take 15-20 minutes now.  Creating new physical prototypes would not only take significantly longer, but creating a good looking prototype meant spending more money for the parts, and waiting for Game Crafter or Board Games Maker to ship, which could take weeks.  I estimate that this process took 10% of the time and effort it would have taken to create a physical prototype.  I will still create physical prototypes...but much more sparingly and likely only for in-person events.
   

2. Communicate Expectations With Playtesters Before Playing:  While it is great to get feedback from as many people as possible, and you must value the time that each player is putting into your project...it is also important to be clear about what your game is and get the right people to the table.  
   

   For me, that piece of learning came from Unpubs, Protospiels, and Metatopia.  Kleos is a mid-weight ‘take that’ game, which involves a fair amount of strategy.  It takes 1-2 hours to play, and is not for the casual gamer.  I had a couple of experiences where people would sit down, be vocally frustrated for the entire game because they don’t like complex games or ‘take that’ games, and then dominate the feedback session by explaining why they hate all ‘take that’ and complicated games.  This was not valuable for me, and just as importantly, this was a frustrating experience for that player AND all the other players at the table that enjoyed it.  It was not a good fit for anyone.  
   
   To address this, I began telling every player that Kleos was a mid-weight game with ‘take that’ elements.  I compared the experience to MTG Commander meets a ‘troops on a map’ board game to see who would be interested.  If someone was on the fence, I encouraged them to try it, but if they said “oh, I hate ‘take that’ games,” or “I don’t like strategy games” then I thanked them for considering it and said it likely wasn’t a good fit.  The times I let people convince me that they should participate in the playtest, despite their hatred for ‘take that’ games generally did not go well for anyone.
   
   Now, there are exceptions to this rule of course.  There are a lot of us, especially game designers, who can put aside our own preferences to evaluate a game.  There are of course cases where you need to make that judgement.  I’ll write a separate entry on playtesting in general at some point, but you should also set expectations for the type of feedback you are looking for and what you are testing prior to the game.
   

3. Be Easy on Yourself:  The road to Kickstarter is a long, difficult journey.  There will be many times where you think your game is done, and then something breaks...and breaks bad.  It will require you to re-work parts of the game that you were so excited had been 110% finished last week.  This will be frustrating!  
   
   I recommend joining a supportive community that can share these pains like the Board Game Design Lab Community group on Facebook.  We have all been there, and it’s important to manage the ups and downs to keep your expectations realistic, and your project on track.
   
   Creating a good game is all about this process of iterating and re-iterating.  Take breaks when you need to, focus on the positive elements, and enjoy the ride.  When you miss a deadline, don’t beat yourself up...regroup and try your best to reach your new deadline.  
   
   Many first-time designers and first time Kickstarter creators told me to be prepared to delay my campaign, because these things always take at least 6 months longer than you think.  I delayed my campaign 3 months and it worked out well.  With another 3 months I could have increased my audience and had a more polished Kickstarter page...but I felt like I had enough to fund and wanted to learn from the process.  It is important for everyone to know that it is okay to take your time and wait to launch until you are ready. 
   
   My advice is to set your target date in mind, with a fall back date 3 months later.  If you delay, plan another fall back date, but keep moving forward.  These target dates will keep you focused and on track, but having fall back dates could lessen the blow when you need to delay.

There were a whole lot of other things I learned from the Kickstarter itself, but that is a subject for another post.  I’d love to hear about your design stories and what you learned through the process.  Share your stories in the comments!

-Jim