Kickstarter mistake #2: the art isn't good enough
Backers judge a small game by its cover image and the first screen of its page, before they read the rules. Test your art with strangers early, make sure it looks good on a phone screen and not just printed, spend the art budget on the cover and the cards people see most, and never launch with placeholder or 'good enough' art.
This page sits at the address of a 2017 post by the original Spider-Goat Games. It contrasted two of its campaigns: Martial Art, whose historical Japanese art drew most of its backers, and Dark Web, whose ASCII art fell flat. What follows is our own guide to the lesson.
Art is the first filter
A browser on Kickstarter sees a thumbnail and a title. If that image doesn’t make them curious, they never read about your mechanics. After the Martial Art campaign, its publisher surveyed backers on how they found the game. Most said they found it browsing Kickstarter, drawn in by the art. Almost none named the gameplay as the reason.
That’s not shallow. The look of a game is part of playing it, and backers can’t play yours before they pledge. Art is the only part of the experience they can judge.
Two ways art goes wrong
The style is wrong for the audience. Dark Web’s designers loved its ASCII art. Almost nobody else did, and nobody outside the team had been asked before launch. A haunted-house idea the same team showed afterward got a much warmer response, enough that they planned to retheme the game.
The art is presented badly. Dark Web’s cards looked sharp printed, but on a Kickstarter page they looked “homemade”, in the words of one commenter. Your art will be judged on a phone screen first. Check that it reads there, in a small thumbnail as well as full size.
How to test art before you commit
- Post work-in-progress art publicly, in the BoardGameGeek design forums and designer communities, months before launch. Ask what people think the game is about from the art alone.
- Make two or three cover mock-ups and see which one strangers pick.
- Look at your page on a phone. Then look at the thumbnail next to ten other tabletop projects on Kickstarter’s discover page. Does yours stand out?
Where to spend a small art budget
- The box cover and campaign header. Most people never see anything else.
- The cards or tiles people see every turn.
- Clear graphic design. Readable icons and text layout make a game look professional even with modest illustration.
Public-domain art can work brilliantly: Martial Art’s historical paintings are the reason it stood out. Check the rights on each image, and choose works that share one style so the deck looks like a set.
The short version
If you’d describe your art as “good enough”, it probably isn’t. Get it in front of strangers early, and fix it before you launch, not after.
Questions people ask
How much should I spend on board game art?
As much as you sensibly can, because art is the first thing backers judge. If the budget is tight, spend it on the box cover, the campaign header image and the cards that appear most often, and keep the rest simple and clean.
Can I use public domain art in a board game?
Yes, if the work really is in the public domain where you sell. Martial Art used historical Japanese paintings. Check each image's source and rights, because a photograph or scan of an old painting can carry its own rights in some countries.
Should I use AI art on Kickstarter?
Kickstarter requires creators to disclose how AI is used in a project, and many tabletop backers react badly to it. If you use it at all, disclose it clearly and expect it to cost you backers.