I had someone reach out to me on Twitter who had some questions for their son who was making his own game. This reminded me of all the games I made as a kid so I was really excited to be able to pass on my knowledge to him.
The 3 Questions a Young Game Designer Had for Me as He Made His Prototypes
This young and aspiring game designer had 3 questions that I see asked a lot in this industry. I wanted to share my thoughts with him as well as others that may have similar questions.
Here are his questions along with my thoughts on the subjects.
1. “If we wanted to get a mock up produced who could do that and what sorts of costs would that be?”
Most game designers seem to prefer using the Game Crafter for making a professional looking prototype. There are several other popular companies that are used and I mentioned them in my main prototyping article here.
Designers tend to start making games out of whatever they have laying around the house. Then they decide to turn that into a professional looking prototype to take to gaming conventions (at home or using someone like the Game Crafter).
You can expect much higher costs using a “print on demand” (POD) company such as the game crafter. This is normal because it’s much more expensive to have one copy of your game than it is 500 copies for example.
Most POD companies allow you to enter the items you need for your game and then you can see how much the total will cost.
I would estimate that your game would cost 2-3 times to have one professionally printed than it would cost for you to buy that same amount of game from the shelves of your local gaming store.
(Related Reading: Here is a list of board game pieces that you can add to your collection for prototyping your own games.)
2. “If we wanted to sell the mechanics and idea who would the best target companies be to pitch to?”
The best companies to pitch your game idea to would be ones looking for a game of your type. This means that you will likely need to do a bit of homework.
Understand what your game is about and who your players would be. How long does your game take to play? Once you have answers to these common questions, then you can start looking for a publisher that wants a game like that for an audience that is interested in your game.
I made a planning phase checklist awhile back that pushes game designers to answer questions like this about their game. It may be helpful for you as well.
A few lists of board game publishers that you can start looking through:
- The Game Makers Guild has a decent list of publishers. Some of which are accepting board game submissions.
- And James Mathe created a list of publishers awhile back that he updates periodically. At the bottom of the article you can see his list along with his thoughts on what some of those companies are looking for as far as game type is concerned.
It’s important to respect publishers time as they seem to be very busy. Particularly around the time of big game conventions.
Scott Morris had a lot of great thoughts on how to pitch your game to board game publishers. He is very experienced with this both as a game designer and a game publisher. I found a lot of his ideas to be very helpful. Such as making sure you have a good contract for your game when you work with a publisher.
3. “Do we have to do our own artwork or can we buy artwork from stock libraries?”
Short version:
Try to keep the art as close to “free” during prototyping. But if you decide to self publish, then you will want to find a talented artist.
Long version:
Here is what I have seen most game designers do about this.
They will use art from stock libraries for prototypes that they want to show to players outside of their inner circle. So when you decide that your game idea might be good enough to show people you don’t know, then stock photo art (or free art) is usually a very nice upgrade to what you have.
You can find a list of free art and stock art in here as well. Most people say “don’t spend money on art”. Usually that is great advice. I personally think that all you need is free art for your prototypes. Even when pitching to publishers as they often will redo the art you have if they accept your game design.
However, if you decide to self publish your board game through Kickstarter, then you will likely need to hire an artist.
Great board game artists can be pricey because it takes a long time to make amazing art. The consensus is to only hire an artist if you are 99% sure that you are going to self publish your game. Otherwise, it’s likely “a waste of money.”
I’ve hired an artist before on a game that I thought I wanted to self publish. Then never published the game so I had art sitting around that I never used. There are many other game designers that have spent money on their game only to move onto the next design. Or have a publisher pick it up and want to change the art anyways.
Thanks for the Great Questions about Designing Your Own Board Game and Publishing It
It was really nice to hear questions from a young game designer. This is really why I created Streamlined Gaming. To gather resources for making and selling a board game that I wish I had when I started. I’m happy to have made a lot of useful posts over the years to link to when I get good questions like this.
I hope the best for you and your game designs everyone!
26 Responses
20bet
Apoiar ferramentas de apostas e estar equipado com uma plataforma diversificada de transações financeiras, a 20Bet oferece suporte tangível aos jogadores. Este é um lugar onde eles podem apostar com dinheiro real, respaldados por concorrentes de diversas disciplinas esportivas. 20bet
HDPE pipe solutions in Iraq
يتضح التزام إيليت بايب Elite Pipe بإرضاء العملاء في جداول التسليم الفوري وخدمة ما بعد البيع الاستثنائية.
Iraq factory excellence
توفر أنابيب HDPE من مصنع إيليت بايب Elite Pipe مقاومة ممتازة للمواد الكيميائية والتآكل والضغط البيئي ، مما يجعلها مثالية لمجموعة واسعة من التطبيقات.
المورد أنابيب uPVC
تستخدم القوى العاملة الماهرة في المصنع تقنيات تصنيع متقدمة لإنتاج تجهيزات تتوافق مع المعايير والمواصفات الدولية. إيليت بايب Elite Pipe
uPVC مورد تجهيزات الأنابيب
مع مجموعة واسعة من التركيبات ، بما في ذلك الأكواع ، المحملات ، الوصلات ، وأكثر من ذلك ، يقدم مصنع إيليت بايب Elite Pipe حلولًا شاملة لأنظمة وتركيبات الأنابيب المختلفة.
deneme bonusu veren siteler
child porn
Iraq factory reliability
obviously like your web-site but you need to test the spelling on quite a few of your posts. Several of them are rife with spelling problems and I to find it very troublesome to inform the reality on the other hand I’ll certainly come back again.
child porn
sex porn
free coupon for cialis
free coupon for cialis
free coupon for cialis
xxx watch sex
child porn sex
AeroSlim Weight loss benefits
Fantastic site Lots of helpful information here I am sending it to some friends ans additionally sharing in delicious And of course thanks for your effort
NeuroTest FDA approved
Somebody essentially lend a hand to make significantly posts I might state That is the very first time I frequented your web page and up to now I surprised with the research you made to create this particular put up amazing Excellent job
Danny Samson Cooper Huerta
I’ve come across many blogs, but this one truly stands out in terms of quality and authenticity Keep up the amazing work!
prijava na binance
Can you be more specific about the content of your article? After reading it, I still have some doubts. Hope you can help me.
դեռահասների պոռնո
matadorbet porn
binance bonus za registráciu
Your article helped me a lot, is there any more related content? Thanks!
Asha Berge
Somebody essentially lend a hand to make significantly posts I might state That is the very first time I frequented your web page and up to now I surprised with the research you made to create this particular put up amazing Excellent job
blogmedia
Thank you for the auspicious writeup It in fact was a amusement account it Look advanced to far added agreeable from you However how can we communicate
etruesports
Nice blog here Also your site loads up very fast What host are you using Can I get your affiliate link to your host I wish my site loaded up as quickly as yours lol
rubmd
Wow amazing blog layout How long have you been blogging for you made blogging look easy The overall look of your web site is magnificent as well as the content
Vitazen Keto Review
Vitazen Keto Gummies This is my first time pay a quick visit at here and i am really happy to read everthing at one place
rrinimabi
Thank you very much for sharing, I learned a lot from your article. Very cool. Thanks.
fowssocial
Ive read several just right stuff here Certainly price bookmarking for revisiting I wonder how a lot effort you place to create this kind of great informative website
mediaticas
Thanks I have just been looking for information about this subject for a long time and yours is the best Ive discovered till now However what in regards to the bottom line Are you certain in regards to the supply
الأنابيب الخرسانية المسلحة
أنابيب uPVC في العراق تقدم شركة إيليت بايب في العراق مجموعة من أنابيب الـ uPVC عالية الجودة، المعروفة بمتانتها ومقاومتها للتآكل وسهولة تركيبها. تم تصميم أنابيب الـ uPVC لدينا لتلبية معايير الجودة الصارمة، مما يجعلها خيارًا ممتازًا لمجموعة متنوعة من التطبيقات. باعتبارها واحدة من أفضل وأكثر شركات تصنيع الأنابيب موثوقية في العراق، تضمن شركة إيليت بايب أن أنابيب الـ uPVC الخاصة بنا تقدم أداءً متميزًا وموثوقية. تعرف على المزيد حول أنابيب الـ uPVC الخاصة بنا من خلال زيارة elitepipeiraq.com.
guitar
Thank you for the good writeup It in fact was a amusement account it Look advanced to far added agreeable from you However how could we communicate