Well, you've done it. You've managed to develop the theme and mechanics of your game over countless hours and finally think it’s time you reveal it to the world. You're somewhat familiar with Kickstarter, often browsing the Games section, and have even backed a few games yourself. You begin to realize there are great games that do well and great games that don’t. How could this be?

As you’ll quickly find out, creating a game people will love to play is only half the battle and behind every great product designer - let alone games - there must be a savvy marketing-wiz. And of course, marketing tells us that most people consume with their eyes first. If the crowdfunding campaign doesn't pass the eye test, it definitely won't pass the ‘sure, ill spend my fifty hard earned dollars now for a game i’ll hopefully get in six months’-test. And, shamefully, we all know how quickly the eye test occurs (this research study claims it’s only eight seconds!) You’ll need to leave all the extra fluff for your website and use the crowdfunding campaign to flex that eye candy.

In a few posts to come, we’re going to explore four basic design-components we think you and your graphic designer should consider to boost the quality of your Kickstarter campaign so that it passes the eye test. If anything, these will give you some inspiration to shoot for as you shape your campaign page. First and foremost, the project image.

The “Hook Em” Image