OP here - happy to answer any questions in the comments.
What programming concepts does this game cover that aren't already handled by the 1994 game RoboRally? Or is this "RoboRally for little kids"?
FYI, I've written about a bunch of TTGs for Wired, if you're not talking to Game Salute yet, you might want to—they seem to be a common through line in my stories. They help a lot with logistics/pricing/etc.
While you did everything else right (from what's enumerated in the "midmortem" to the game's rules), what put it over the top for me was the very high quality of the graphics. Especially that shot of the turtle who's delighted to achieve that red gem prize.
It sets a very good tone for the game, what can be expected from it, etc.
My Question: It seems to me there's a big gap between your game and MIT Scratch... In particular, Scratch, though quite good, still has a steeper learning curve than necessary, I think... (i.e. "Robot Turtles" works for 3yo, but then "Scratch" may not be viable for someone under 7yo, I would think.)
Do you agree with this assessment? Do you know of a good next step for a kid that has mastered "Robot Turtles"? Unless I find other alternatives I'm thinking after my kid learns "Robot Turtles" (and is still having fun with this sort of thing) I might need to develop some custom software that can act as a bridge to Scratch.
One anecdote: I learned BASIC on my C-64 at age 7 sitting on my dad's lap, writing simple 'games' out of if-then statements. I think that traditional programming languages like Logo and Basic may be viable with mom/dad help as soon as they can read.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchoring
"Anchoring or focalism is a cognitive bias that describes the common human tendency to rely too heavily on the first piece of information offered (the "anchor") when making decisions. During decision making, anchoring occurs when individuals use an initial piece of information to make subsequent judgments. Once an anchor is set, other judgments are made by adjusting away from that anchor, and there is a bias toward interpreting other information around the anchor. For example, the initial price offered for a used car sets the standard for the rest of the negotiations, so that prices lower than the initial price seem more reasonable even if they are still higher than what the car is really worth."
If you wanted to do an early bird special, one solution might be to add something extra at the early bird tier (but keep the same price). Or even charge $1 more for something that seemed to be worth >$1 more but was unavailable otherwise. E.g. the early bird copies are signed.
I'd be interested to know the numbers for international uptake.
What distribution of countries are you shipping to that going from US to international turns a $29 shipped game into a $60 shipped game?
Do you think you were able to get most of your press because "teaching code to kids" is so trendy right now?
Would you advice other Kickstarters to look for similar trends?
The rules say that everyone who gets a jewel wins. In practice, my kids very much compete to see who finishes first. :)
question: is it possible to get a PDF/print out version so that i can start playing robot turtles with my son till the international version ships?