Shut up and make the hits—Kickstarter's best projects are back with a twist

Kickstarter is bringing back some of its greatest hits.

From music scientifically tailored to cats' ears to a radio in a Mason jar to wooden robots that teach kids to code, the crowdfunding company has selected 65 of its most notable creators to reprise their campaigns with new versions, accessories, or other updates of their original output.

The push is called Kickstarter Gold and it will last through the end of the next month. Each artist, designer, musician, or entrepreneur was chosen by the company's curation team based on their funding success and the novelty of their product.

The goal is to remind people to think of Kickstarter as more than just a one-and-done deal; it's possible to build a business or creative endeavor around coming back again and again to update your work or spin off new creations, the company contends.

"Repeat creators are an integral part of the Kickstarter ecosystem," said Willa Koerner, Kickstarter's director of curation and content. "We hope that Kickstarter Gold inspires more people to run projects not only to get brand-new ideas off the ground, but also to sustain ideas and undertakings as they develop over time."

The program comes as upstart Patreon has been gaining steam with a model that allows a similar class of homegrown creators to collect recurring subscription fees rather than one-time donations.

Among the first Kickstarter Gold class are Hal Hartley, an independent filmmaker who's funded each of his movies through the platform and is now coming back to offer a High-Definition boxset; Karyn Parsons, who runs a Kickstarter-born organization dedicated to bringing little-known African American achievements to life as animated short films for kids; and ShaoLan Hsueh, an entrepreneur who created an illustrated course for learning Chinese and is returning to turn her book into a tile game.