This week has been a really great start for Hogs Of War- reaching 150% of the goal within 7 days of launching with a lot of great content to come!
As a mini-debrief there are definitely a lot of things that Paul and I will have changed for the next release. One thing we did not anticipate was the prototype manufacturer's laser breaking, which then meant that the tokens/chits for HoW couldn't be cut in time for reviewers to drop on day 1. It was bad luck but it also could have ruined the campaign if we had banked on more reviews on launch.
I think there are two key learning points from this-
1) Don't worry about holding off on Prototypes- get them early! Looking back we should have believed in the product a little more and made 10- 20 full sets right off the bat. It would have probably cost us a fair amount of cash but in the end of the day, if each prototype translates to a review and more exposure it can only be a good thing for the sales and final product!
2) Contact the reviewers earlier- ahead of launch and make their journey to publishing a review as easy as possible! Hogs has had some fantastic play-testers so far and really great reviews from people we have shown the game off to - but official reviews have been few on the ground. It's a real shame because there are two very special and exciting mechanics in the game that should push the product all by themselves. Stone Sword's next release will have a lot more "official" coverage leading into the campaign.
Thank you for the amazing support so far!
James
Co-Owner