Trash Cult
GAME DESIGN + ILLUSTRATION + mARKETING
A cult of trash animals has decided to look to you as their leader. What makes them a cult? Well they worship junk food of course! Be the first to collect enough of the junk food your cult worships and at least one active cult member to rise victorious as the Supreme Cult Leader.
The Twist:
Snackrifice your hostages, cult members, and food in order to use their special perks and get ahead of the competition. Careful though! Snackrifices unleash the chaos deck of lunar eclipses, hungry bears, trashnados, and more that the whole table must answer to.
Game Overview:
A Quick Look at the Numbers
A Dark Theme
but Make it Cute
Starting a cult has never looked so adorable! To make a theme that includes sending animals to the great trash can in the sky family-friendly, the art was drawn in a colorful, cartoon-like style and word-choice was kept light (e.g. "Snackrifices").
Game Illustrations
19 Sticker-Inspired Color Illustrations
Trash Cult is a dual deck game.
The main deck features a collection of bright drawings handled by yours truly.
8 Black & White Chaos Illustrations
About that other deckâJoe Owens drew the 8 black and white illustrations used to make the deck of Chaos Cards that are drawn when a Snackrifice is made.
Designing the Game
It All Started with a Print and a Speech
Before we were game designers, Joe and I were slinging prints at art shows under the FoxHen Creatives name. One of those prints happened to be of a group of raccoons worshipping a piece of pizza.
It wasn't until we went to do portfolio reviews for college students and listened to an alumna talk about her experience working on a card game that were inspired to make our very own based on those pizza-loving raccoons.
Sporks, Traps & Backpacks
The first variation of the game included the cult members fighting with sporks & traps and having to carry back their spoils to the shrine. The game quickly became focused on Snackrifices which originally were dedicated action cards you had to draw in order to play.
Evolving the Art for Testing & Production
As we honed in on the mechanics of the game, we also explored different card art styles. Having art that looked ready for mass production early meant our playtesters were able to critique the mechanics and graphics together.
Our testers identified our art as a major selling feature early on with people telling us: "I can't wait for it to come out! The art is adorable, and it helps that the game is great!"
Marketing the Game
What's the point of a good idea if no one's heard about it?
"
-A smart person somewhere, probably
We partnered with a whole crew of influencers on TikTok and Instagram to gain hype leading up to our Kickstarter launch. For $700, 20 sample games, a few friendly favors, and a case of cider, the group helped us get quite a bit of attention.
The Power of Influencers
Follower to Backer Funnel
Using LaunchBoom's site builder, we created the landing page where we sent people to learn about Trash Cult and sign up for our newsletter. Through influencer traffic, Meta & Google ads traffic, and direct traffic from conventions, that funnel added up to a healthy email list in just under three months.
Many of these email subscribers would also become Kickstarter page followers.
Over 30% of email subscribers & 57% of pre-launch Kickstarter page followers backed the game!
