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Episode Summary

Think reward tiers are just about offering cool stuff to backers? Think again. While most indie developers focus on creating flashy physical rewards, the smartest ones are quietly designing tier systems that build genuine community engagement while protecting their development budget and timeline.

In this episode, we’re joined by Sam Jarvis from Indievelopment, a marketing consultant who has helped raise over $300,000 across 5,000+ backers through successful Kickstarter campaigns including Volunteer: The Ascension, Tales of Fate, and Atomic Owl. Sam reveals the psychology behind effective reward design and shares the exact strategies that separate successful campaigns from those that drain resources.

We dive deep into early bird timing strategies that create momentum in the crucial first 48 to 72 hours, explore digital bundles and low cost add ons that increase average pledge amounts without ballooning development time, and uncover the physical rewards that add genuine value without destroying budgets. Plus, Sam shares why t shirts are a terrible reward choice and reveals the one physical item that consistently performs across all campaigns.

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Meet Our Guest: Sam Jarvis

Sam Jarvis is a digital marketing consultant and Kickstarter specialist based in the UK, focusing exclusively on helping indie game developers and studios achieve successful crowdfunding campaigns. Through his company Indievelopment, Sam has worked on multiple successful Kickstarter campaigns, helping raise over $300,000 across 5,000+ backers.

His client roster includes notable indie titles like Fallen Tear: The Ascension, Tales of Fate, and Atomic Owl, with the latter achieving over 1,000 backers. Sam’s approach combines traditional digital marketing expertise with deep understanding of the Kickstarter ecosystem, focusing on pre launch community building, reward tier optimization, and post campaign fulfillment strategies.

Sam specializes in paid digital advertising, Kickstarter consultation and management, and believes in becoming part of the development team rather than just an external agency. His philosophy centres on understanding the unique challenges indie developers face in gaining visibility and building sustainable marketing strategies.

Website: Indievelopment
X (Twitter): @_Indievelopment

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Key Takeaways

“Think of the backer first, so who’s actually backing this? You can range from lower price tiers of just having the base game all the way up to thousands of dollars of having someone design something in game. What’s always in my mind and in the forefront of the ideas is backer first.”

— Sam Jarvis, Indievelopement

• Backer First Philosophy: Successful reward tiers start with understanding your audience. Design rewards based on what backers actually want, not what you think looks cool. Consider affordability and accessibility while respecting that backers have other financial priorities.
• Early Bird Strategy Creates Momentum: Use time limited early bird discounts (48 to 72 hours) rather than quantity limits to capture your core audience first. This creates urgency and helps trigger Kickstarter’s algorithm for homepage features and popularity rankings.
• Digital Rewards Are Your Foundation: Focus on digital bundles (art books, soundtracks, exclusive skins) and add ons that increase average pledge amounts without requiring additional development time. These scale infinitely and have no shipping costs.
• Physical Rewards Need Strategic Thinking: Avoid generic items like t shirts and mouse pads that people already have preferences for. Focus on game specific items like vinyl records, figurines, or custom designed items that feel exclusive to your game.
• Development Time Is Your Most Valuable Resource: Every custom reward (NPCs, items, messages) requires development time. Calculate your hourly value and price accordingly. Consider creating templates or scripts to streamline the process for multiple custom rewards.
• Vinyl Records Consistently Perform: Across multiple campaigns, vinyl soundtracks have proven to be one of the most popular physical rewards. They feel premium, are game specific, and appeal to collectors.
• Physical Game Copies Require Minimum Orders: Switch physical copies require minimum orders of 5,000 units. Work with physical publishers early in the process to understand costs and minimum commitments before promising physical rewards.
• Pledge Managers Extend Your Revenue: Use tools like BackerKit or Kickstarter’s pledge manager to offer additional add ons after the campaign ends, potentially increasing total revenue by 10 to 30% through upsells.

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Show Notes & Mentioned Resources

Sam Jarvis’s Services

• Indievelopment: Complete marketing and Kickstarter consultation services
• X (Twitter): Follow Sam for marketing insights and campaign updates

Tools & Platforms

• BackerKit: Original pledge manager tool for post campaign fulfillment and add on sales
• Kickstarter Pledge Manager: Kickstarter’s built in pledge management system
• Zapier: Automation tool for connecting Kickstarter data to other platforms

Physical Publishers Mentioned

• Limited Run Games: Major physical game publisher
• Super Rare Games: Specialty physical game publisher
• iam8bit: Physical game and collectibles publisher
• Premiere Edition Games: Smaller scale physical publisher
• Pix’n Love Publishing: Independent physical game publisher

Games Mentioned

• Fallen Tear: The Ascension: A wicked Metroidvania game that Sam worked on, and that I backed far before knowing Sam!
• Tails of Fate: Previous Kickstarter campaign client
• Atomic Owl: Campaign that achieved 1,000+ backers with vinyl soundtrack strategy
• Monster Patch: Sean Young’s masterclass Kickstarter campaign example
• Sea of Stars: Example of excellent digital reward implementation with in game crypt

Recommended Reading

• Crowdfunding Nerds: Board game focused crowdfunding statistics and insights

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