Kickstarter for board games used to reward scrappy creators with a prototype and a promise. Now it often rewards publishers who look like they’re already finished. After 14 years, I sit down again with AJ Porfirio, founder of Van Ryder Games, to map that shift from the inside, from his first $10K campaign to Final Girl Series 4 pushing $1.5M with thousands of backers.

We talk about how AJ got started designing a solo board game simply because he didn’t have people to play with, and how tools like TheGameCrafter and early crowdfunding made experimentation possible. Then we get honest about what’s changed: higher production expectations, heavier marketing, and the reality that you may need real capital before you ever launch. We also dig into Final Girl’s growth, what it means to be “completionist-friendly,” and why AJ is calling Series 4 the end of Era One before moving to a more flexible Era Two model that gives the team more creative freedom.

To close, we tackle AI beyond the usual artwork debate: AI in game design, playtesting, rules support, and even AI as a potential companion that helps players learn and explore a system. AJ shares why he’s skeptical today, what would need to change, and how publishers might think about monetization and control if AI becomes part of play.

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