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Discover›Nonfiction›Age of Empires: How Ensemble Studios Made History
Nonfiction★ Staff Pick🏁 Project EndedKickstarter

Age of Empires: How Ensemble Studios Made History

The creation & legacy of the 1997 real-time strategy game, based on interviews w/ 29 former Ensemble & Microsoft staff.

Created by Gabe Durham · Launched Mar 31, 2026 · Ended Apr 29, 2026
Source: public Kickstarter page · all funding figures & images via KickstarterView archived on Kickstarter →
Final Raised
$28K
Goal $5K
Backers
720
54 data points
Final Funded
567%
Goal hit ✓
Ended
Apr 29, 2026

BackerLens analysis

🟢 Outperforming the Nonfiction category average. This project has hit 567% of its goal, while the average live Nonfiction project on Kickstarter sits at 64% (8.9× the category median).

Lens Score: 78 / 100 — high potential, flagged as a Kickstarter Staff Pick (a strong early-signal). 24-hour funding growth of +22.1% suggests sustained momentum.

Compare against 56 other live Nonfiction projects →

Funding trend

54 snapshots since launch · refreshed every 8 hours

Apr 26, 2026Apr 29, 2026

Backer growth

View archived campaign on Kickstarter →

This campaign ended Apr 29, 2026. Pledging is closed; we keep the historical funding curve and final stats here for research.

Funding curve story

front loaded

Hit goal in week 4.

Front-loaded curve — most pledges came in the early days, typical of strong pre-launch lists.

day 1day 4

Most popular pledge tiers

723 backers across 5 tiers. Sourcing tip: the most-chosen tier reveals the price point this market accepts.

$33
HARDCOVER/EBOOK (DELUXE)
322 backersShips 2026-10
45%
OF BACKERS
$18
PAPERBACK/EBOOK (STANDARD)
141 backersShips 2026-08
20%
OF BACKERS
$9
EBOOK (STANDARD)
116 backersShips 2026-06
16%
OF BACKERS
$18
EBOOK (DELUXE)
76 backersShips 2026-10
11%
OF BACKERS
$65
COLLECTOR'S SET (PAPERBACK+HARDCOVER)
68 backersShips 2026-10
9%
OF BACKERS

Reward data is refreshed daily. Tier-level backer counts may be slightly behind live pledging.

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03
KSPlants of the Pacific Coast: From Alaska to Oregon
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04
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See all Nonfiction projects →
LENS SCORE
78/ 100
High potential

Based on funding velocity, backer momentum, target completion, and Kickstarter staff-pick status.

Target completion567%
Backers720
Days running28d
Staff pickYes
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About this page. Project name, blurb, image, and funding figures are sourced from the public Kickstarter project page. The Lens Score, Early Momentum score, time-series funding curve, and category benchmarks are computed by BackerLens and are not part of Kickstarter’s published data.

BackerLens is an independent third-party analysis tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Kickstarter. Kickstarter is a trademark of its respective owner.

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