I didn't find it unconstructive (emotions are hard to convey through text).

I personally have the same opinion: $10 for the game? That's all I want.
Other people want other things, so catering to that is good - but make it as digital as possible, so it costs you next to nothing.
Have some more tiers between $20 and $150. What if someone wants to pay $35, but not $50?

The cost of a beanie or the 'field manual' might be more expensive then you think - and then the mailing might also be more expensive then you think. Make them not take too much of a dent, by making them digital. Digital distribution is cheap. Physical manufacturing and distribution is expensive.

Almost everybody likes music. Music is digital. Offer the soundtrack.

Name in credits is more of a 'in-crowd' thing. Put it at a tier above the game itself.

Remember also: KickStarter takes 5% and Amazon Payments takes 3-5%, so (up to) 10% will be taken.
The government will also tax it (35%), unless you are able to counter it with business deductions - talk to a lawyer.

Further, if you fail to deliver, lawsuits are possible. So establish an LLC (which you'll need to write off business expenses anyway). Whether you realize it or not, you are now running a business, since you are selling a product, and making promises in return for money. It's no longer hobbyist game development but commercial game sales, so some legal planning is required.

I'd say, for a starting point:

• $1 - Thanks for the support!
• $7 - Access to exclusive development blog (different from personal blog), digital copy of the soundtrack, and immediate access to three desktop wallpapers.
• $12 - Get a digital copy of finished game on any one of the platforms it is released for, plus above rewards.
• $20 - Friend pack - An extra digital copy of the game for a friend, plus above rewards.
• $25 - Special edition version of the game (bestiary in game menu + new start screen), plus your name in the credits, and the soundtrack (does not include an extra copy of the game). <== This is your money tier. Try to drive as much donators here as possible. It's all digital, so it's probably your highest profit margin until people start donating $150 or more.
• $35 - Boxed copy of the regular game, and a digital copy of the soundtrack.
• $50 - Boxed copy of the special edition, and a physical copy of the soundtrack.
• $75 - The above reward, plus a cloth map of the game world, and a signed letter of thanks from the developers, and your name listed prominently as a 'Gold level' supporter in the game's credits.
• $100 - The above reward, plus a physical copy of Necromancer Field Guide (soft cover and signed).
• $150 - Your likeness and name as an in game NPC, plus above rewards.
• ...and other higher tiers.

Good evening,

In four weeks I will have a Kickstarter to fund the production of my game Necromancer, The Fight For Life.

You can see some initial art and story here-

http://www.necromancergame.com/

And I have a blog here-

http://www.necromancergame.com/progress/progress.html

Below is my first draft for my Kickstarter rewards, please feel free to offer me any feedback on them. I like to think I am being quite generous compared to a lot of other Kickstarter's I've seen. I went for hats rather than t-shirts because I have heard horror stories of how expensive and complicated it can be to custom order t-shirts because people want different sizes which complicates matters.

$1- a warm email thank you.

$5- name in in-game credits, name in website credits, a sticker pack, access to exclusive development blog (different from personal blog).

$10- digital copy of finished game on any platform it is developed for, plus above rewards.

$20- digital copy of Necromancer Field Guide (an art book in the style of a naturalist's field guide for undead!) plus an extra digital copy of the game on any platform it is developed for, plus above rewards.

$50- a Necromancer cap or beanie plus above rewards.

$75- physical copy of Necromancer Field Guide (soft cover and signed) plus above rewards.

$100- your likeness and name as an in game NPC plus above rewards.

$200- your likeness and name as in game enemy necromancer or soldier portrait (visible in battle) plus above rewards.

$500- your likeness and name as a major in game character in a side quest, plus above rewards.

$1000- your name and likeness as an in game heroic statue in a town or city center with readable plaque, plus above rewards.

I would remove the "any platform it's developed for" language. Can't you break it off into options on Kickstarter? I remember vaguely when I paid for the RingBow that it had color options, and you specified your color in a text field. Having the users do that would be much better than "on any platform it's developed for." What if you port it three years later, and now all these people are entitled to a free digital copy? Now you have to keep track of who is and who isn't supposed to get a free one on whatever platform you port to for the rest of your life.

I would also push everything up a level and get rid of the $1 tier. Make the $1 reward the 5$ reward, make the 5$ reward the $10 reward, etc. If you're trying to charge 10 for your game, then move everything up, but keep the game at the $10 tier. That's just because I personally think a lot of the rewards below the $100 mark aren't very exciting, and seem to be there just because that's 'what you do' with a kickstarter--fill it out with a bunch of tiers.

There's also the matter of how high the rewards go. Try to ask yourself how many people you'd be willing to do these rewards for. Let's assume you only want to do the $1000 reward for 10 people max, just because it'd be a pain to put all that specific stuff in the game. But then, since it's a pain, you aren't willing to do it for just two people, because that might be a waste of time. So with that max and min, think about the reward and the audience, and say "Do I really think more than 2 people will pay for this reward? Do I really think fewer than 10 will pay for this reward?" If the answer is yes on both counts, only then should you do it. This goes for all the reward brackets. Less is more in this case.

Also, putting someone's name and likeness in the game might not be such a great idea realistically, and might not appeal to people who would otherwise donate that much. Some people don't want to be immortalized in your game, or any game. It's better when people say the donator can name a character, or at best design a character, or take some part in the creation of the character. But dealing with someone's likeness and real name is just odd. You walk into a town in the city and see two statues: One of Vilgax Thalmor, the great Dragon Slayer, and one of Tom Garfunkle, the kickstarter backer. Not to mention the trouble of getting good pictures of each person who backs you at those levels, and how you might feel about putting someone who looks like them in your game. It'd be a mess.

Look at the rewards for Planet Explorers for an idea of what they did, though I question some of their tiers too (the customer gets to design a side quest? Are you nuts?): http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1757963851/planet-explorers?ref=category

Edit:

Also, good luck!

Looking much better.

Suggestions:

• Don't say 'free copy of the game'. It's not free, they are buying it.
• Swap the $12 reward with the $8 reward. People who want the game will pay $12 for it just as easily as $8, but nobody is going to pay an extra $4 for access to the development blog.
• I still don't want a beanie, and certainly won't pay $20 extra for it. Some gamers would pay extra for a cloth map (again, not I) and a "special edition" version of the game, and that hardly increases your production costs over the physical copy of the game you're already producing anyway. Now you're just producing 100 copies of two different versions, instead of two hundred copies of one version, and 100 beanies.
• I think you still might be underestimating the cost of producing a quality Necromancer Field Guide. Maybe not though! Make sure you have price-checked it before starting the KickStarter.
• Combine the $60 and $80 tiers into one $75 tier. More tiers are good... BUT too many tiers aren't good. Also, tiers that don't offer real incentive shouldn't exist (except the tiers below 'get the digital game', and the tiers above $100). Make each tier below $100 actually contain real value that people will actually pay for it.
• $75 tier: Physical copy of the 'Special Edition' of the game (limit 500), all signed by the developer, with a physical copy of the Necromancer Field Guide, and a physical copy of the soundtrack.

Let us know how your KickStarter goes!

Here's two ideas for bonuses at higher tiers (in addition to your existing bonuses)

Tiers >= $100 : Your physical copies are mailed out one week before the official release.

$200 (limit 5) : One hour of voice, instant-messenger, or video-chat with the developer to discuss game development, or other things.