I like to browse Kickstarter.com, it's a crowdsourcing website where people help to get new creative projects launched. Sometimes you get samples of the products for your donation, so that's kind of free stuff, if you think that you would support these endeavors even if they didn't give you anything back. One of my favorite games, Cards Against Humanity, was launched through this site and a friend of mine is also going to be launching a game through the site in a few months. It is kind of fun to go to the site and browse around all the interesting projects. Some of them are really forward thinking. Anyway, it's a fun way to give back to the world. Check it out!
I, too have been haunting Kickstarter checking out all the nifty ideas. It even inspired me to start working on one of my own, so with any luck I'll be launching a project in about a month. It will be a medieval-inspired deck of playing cards. I'm currently compiling lists of how/where I'm going to market it. Wish me luck!
It's a extreme hit-or-miss kind of thing. You can either find very cool stuff, like the recent Oculus Rift, or horrible things that amaze me on how they managed to pull such a thing, like the Ouya. For these types of things, i prefer waiting and see how they come out in the future.
The problem with waiting it out is that the price of the released product is typically 30~40% higher than the Kickstarted price. If you really think you'll enjoy the product that is on Kickstarter, it's a very good idea to buy it while it is on the site or you'll be losing out on savings. Of course, some products do come out much worse than anticipated, but you have an amazing chance of getting a great product if you research the guys making the product for their credibility/talent before purchasing.
I agree completely. Sometimes, the proposed idea is absolutely amazing, but at other times it can be at the other end of the spectrum. I've actually only chipped in on 2 projects, and so far I've been satisfied with the products I have received!
Awesome! Good luck! Another place you may want to market your deck of cards would be at Renaissance fairs and maybe even craft shows! I haven't launched anything personally on kickstarter, but I know that if you don't meet your funding goal the money all gets refunded, so I would keep your funding goal as low as feasibly possible.
I prefer IndieGogo, but that's mostly because being involved in film, so IndieGogo is mostly for people involved with movies and related occupations.
I have heard of Kickstarter and browse it sometimes, but I have never donated to any projects. I have been tempted several times though. One of these days......
