Dux Somnium Games has done it again. Botany: Floral Dragons, the studio's follow-up to the original Botany, is closing its Kickstarter campaign today with over $1,018,000 raised from 7,757 backers. That is over 20,000% of its modest $5,000 goal, and the second time this two-person studio has crossed the million-dollar mark on the platform.
Floral Dragons is a standalone card game for 1-5 players where you draft and collect rare dragons that have taken root in gardens around the world. Like its predecessor, it features hand-drawn linocut artwork by illustrator Kin Wald and randomised goals that change each game. The original Botany was a set-collection game about Victorian flower hunting; Floral Dragons keeps the same core style but trades pressed flowers for something more fantastical.
The story behind Dux Somnium is worth knowing. Amy and Dusty Droz are high school sweethearts who started making games during the pandemic after Amy developed an interest in gardening. That led to researching the Victorian flower trade, which became the original Botany. That first campaign raised $1,057,307 from over 15,000 backers, and Kickstarter later featured the couple's marketing approach as a success story for other creators.
Back-to-back million-dollar campaigns from a husband-and-wife team is the kind of indie success story that keeps crowdfunding exciting. If you missed the campaign, a pledge manager is likely to follow.
Sources: Kickstarter Campaign | Kickstarter Success Story | Dux Somnium Games