From Idea to Shelves: Get Your Board Game Published with Insider Tips from a Published Designer

i get a lot of emails from new designers who are struggling to get their games published in this video i'm going to go back to basics to see if i can offer any help and advice i'm adam porter i designed the game's picoco doodle rush throne big bizarre compromat quasal and zuligans and currently i exclusively license my games to publishers i don't have any experience in self-publishing even though that's a perfectly valid approach to take but today we're going to focus on licensing your game to an established publisher and letting them bring it to market now i've covered many relevant topics previously so please go back through my channel and watch some of the other videos which cover a lot of this stuff in more depth in the emails that i receive i tend to get asked big questions essentially the emails tend to run along the lines of i've designed this great game but nobody seems to want to publish it can you help now it's really hard for me to assist with that sort of request i've got many many hours worth of video guidance on this topic on my youtube channel and it's hard to offer concise advice to such a broad query so i'm going to try and break it down into smaller questions what are the areas which people are struggling with everybody i've shown my game to really loves it but publishers just aren't interested so i'm going to ask you a challenging question here is your game good enough genuinely reach deep inside of yourself and ask yourself if you've created something special it's not a school project it's not a gift for friends you're trying to create a commercial product here and it's a competitive field with thousands of games being released each year is your game good enough to rise to the top and if you tell me yes it is i'm going to ask again but is it though truly how many people have you played it with were they family and friends a real professional would go out of their way organize themselves and show their game to strangers many many strangers and they would listen to the feedback that they received have you done this truthfully did you really listen so what did they say did they tell you that your game was fun did they look like they were having fun did they ask to play it again well great then i believe you you've got a good game we're getting somewhere i promise i'm not asking this stuff to be mean i throw away 80 of my prototype games and i never show them to publishers the vast majority of my ideas just aren't good enough but yours is we've established that so the next question is is your game marketable games have changed a lot in the past century yet the games which land in my email inbox often look like something from the 1950s here's the landlord's game the precursor to monopoly back at the turn of the 20th century at the top right there is babbage's analytical engine a proto-computer on the top left we have henry ford's model t the first mass-produced car and on the bottom left an early telephone leaping ahead some 30 years the landlord's game has become monopoly early proto-computers are now massive constructions and telephones are becoming more commonplace in the 1950s we're still a long way off home computers but telephones and cars have become a little bit slicker risk is a really popular board game jumping ahead to the 1970s the most popular video game is pong board games were essentially simplified spins on monopoly or snakes and ladders roll to move around the board and hope not to land on the most punishing spaces or you might end up missing a turn they were often themed around a popular film or television program of the time in the 1980s people were enjoying donkey kong on their home computers and getting together with their friends for a game of trivial pursuit if they were really posh they might make a call on their massive brick phone 20 years on and things are looking a little bit more familiar video game consoles are big business everyone's got a nokia and board games are strategic and satisfying even if they do always tend to have bored-looking historical dudes on the cover and that brings us to today look at how far we've come look at that phone that computer the car look at zelda breath of the wild look at wingspan so tell me again why does your game feature role and move and player elimination many people are out there trying to design the next big board game without playing anything published after 1980. play some modern games play lots of them join gaming clubs play games from every genre only by immersing yourself in this hobby will you understand it and only by understanding it will you create something desirable okay so you've reassured me you've played loads of modern games your game is solid it's play tested people love it so how do i find a publisher who's going to look at my game well the information is all there on the boxes look at your game shelves who is publishing the games that you love who's making stuff a bit like your game you want to find a publisher for your game that's how you do it there is no big secret these publishers have websites and facebook pages and twitter and instagram they are not hard to find check out their websites many will have submission guidelines for designers most will accept submissions but some won't so respect that don't send unsolicited emails to a company who specifically stated that they don't like that but send plenty of unsolicited emails to the rest perhaps i'm being a bit gung-ho there so don't approach everyone there is no point pitching a party game to a war game company prioritize companies where you think your game would really sit comfortably with their existing catalogue but i've emailed publishers i never get any replies yeah me too don't give up email some more there are key times in the year where publishers are looking for games and it's different for every publisher you might just have missed it but if there's a major trade fair or a board game convention going on or coming up you can be sure that publishers are arranging meetings with designers actively looking for games now that's a good time to contact publishers even better if you can actually attend the convention then it's a great idea to just ask for a meeting now it's worth putting some serious thought into your email approach publishers don't have a lot of time to read all this stuff they receive emails like yours on an hourly basis you need to make it as easy as possible for them keep it short describe your game in a couple of sentences and i mean that two sentences be strict with yourself post one image of the prototype again i mean it just one include a link to a two minute video i'm becoming a broken record here two minutes no more it doesn't matter how complex your game is if you can't describe the hook in two minutes nobody is going to be able to sell your game now i'm too old to truly understand the appeal of tick tock but if there's one positive that seems to have come from it it's that people are learning to get their point across clearly and concisely if teenagers can do it then you can do it send a sell sheet a one-page pdf with basic info on it the name of the game the age range the duration the hook the image keep it simple the publisher doesn't need to know how to play your game at this stage if they want a rule book or a prototype they'll ask for it if possible it is best to arrange a meeting at a trade fair or a convention so you can show the game in person gen con in the us essen spiel and germany uk games expo are all great opportunities but there are many smaller conventions all over the world attended by publishers but i can't make it to conventions is it really necessary well no you can pitch by zoom or email or skype but nothing compares to meeting in person and demoing with a physical prototype why can't you make conventions travel is costly and time consuming i feel for you genuinely it's a big expense but this is a business transaction inevitably there are going to be costs up front for designers there is no greater learning experience for a game inventor than attending a game convention or trade fair nothing else compares but i can't draw should i hire an artist i'm thinking of commissioning somebody to make some miniatures for me no please don't it's wasted money the publisher won't use the art that you've purchased and it might even turn them off publishers don't need to see miniatures tokens or cardboard standees will suffice search the internet for creative commons art or clipart that's available for free your prototype doesn't need to look pretty though you should probably start learning to do some very basic graphic design it's going to help you a lot your prototype needs to be legible and clear and understandable so publishers interested in my game they're asking me to pay a fee to take a look at it should i pay no no genuine publishers won't charge you to assess your game research who you're speaking to what games have they made have you heard of them how do they look how highly regarded are these games can you find any reviews anybody can set themselves up as a publisher and sometimes it's really nice to get involved with somebody who's up and coming they're likely to be enthusiastic and give your game far more love and attention than a massive publisher ever would but if they're unproven you could be setting yourself up for a disappointment i should point out for total clarity that there are legitimate board game agents out there who will charge a fee to assess your game and see if it's worth their time these organizations are rare they're not a common route to market for most designers if you encounter such an organization make sure you ask them what games they've been involved in bringing to market and which designers they've worked with and only if they genuinely have a proven track record should you ever consider using such a service can i send you a copy of my game so you can test it or maybe just the rules for you to read i'm really sorry i i don't often get time to play test my own games at the moment i'm a dentist in the middle of a pandemic board game design is not my main job if we ever met up in person at a play test group i'd be delighted to play your game but i'll tell you what you are welcome to send me a sell sheet or a two minute video of your game and if i get a chance i'll take a peek at it how's that will a publisher steal my idea if i show it to them should i trademark my concept well this is a frequent question and it's one i don't have time to cover in detail here but please do watch my video on how to protect a board game idea in all honesty the simplest answer is don't worry too much about it if you've researched the publisher properly and chosen somebody with a track record then the chances of idea theft are practically zero you've got a lot to gain by sharing your idea so how long should i wait for an answer from a publisher after i've submitted my game well during the pandemic all publishers have been affected differently so it's a hard question to answer i find that some publishers currently won't respond at all and others seem to just be on hold how fast a publisher moves depends whether they are a small company with only a couple of employees or a large company with multiple layers of staff and procedures i have a game which has been under consideration with three different companies for over two years when i approach them for an update they tell me it's still under consideration it's a shame when a publisher doesn't respond at all but it's sadly not an infrequent occurrence so i would prepare yourself for that possibility checking in with them after three months or so seems reasonable but personally i would never chase up more than once after making an unsolicited submission i don't ever want to come across as desperate if i'd had a positive contact with a publisher and things were looking promising then everything went quiet i probably would check in a few times maybe every couple of months or so before finally giving up and moving on to other things so can i pitch to multiple publishers at the same time yeah absolutely that's standard practice in the first instance you should spread your net wide once you've got some interest you should be honest and upfront about it and tell the interested publisher that there are other interested parties and then keep them updated on any developments now i'm going to close by saying that you've got to understand your niche there are some board game genres which are notoriously difficult to get interest in so abstract games like chess or checkers really hard to market because they rarely have any artwork or a setting to allow them to stand above the crowd word games like scrabble are difficult because they tend to need significant overhauls for each different language many publishers aren't interested in sports themed games i'm told they've just never sold well but just because it's challenging doesn't mean it's impossible if you find the right publisher it might happen gigamic and hook have big success with abstract titles and you've all seen how successful azul is word games crop up all over the place with small publishers and occasionally you'll see breakout successes like bananagrams baseball highlights 2045 was a big hit for eagle griffin and portal are soon to launch their football management game 11. the truth is like any fledgling business you've just got to do the work research research research but the great thing about it is that most of that research involves playing loads and loads of board games with brilliant people and attending amazing conventions i mean how cool is that let me know in the comments if you've got any other topics you'd like me to cover in future videos and i'll see you next time all the best

Channel: Adam in Wales

Views: 11,478

Keywords:

Id: i_fjx1xVy3g

Length: 12min 50sec (770 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 22 2021