Top 10 Tips for Game Publishers

welcome to the dice Towers series of top ten lists from the tabletop gaming world your hosts are Tom vassal Sam healing and si Garcia today's topic is to top 10 list for the dice tower I'm Tom vessel comes eager to see how you doing folks and I'm Sam Healy I don't care how you doing folks keep up the curmudgeon okay there was some debate on how to structure the title of this top ten list because what did we end up saying it was top 10 pieces of advice for game publisher yeah more like this it's top 10 things that irritate me you get you game publishers do it's a little warrior for sure well this time we did not combine the lists because it was just too difficult so we're gonna jump right into this and do 10 10 10 9 9 9 so we actually have this is our top 30 things but or top 27 we cross over who cares are you ready real ready let's do it number 10 combine a deck of cards that has both landscape and portrait cards in the same deck it's a you know it's not a big one nobody time but that's a problem if I'm holding my cards I'm Fanning my cards out there's a car that's basically laying this way when we're supposed to take and hold it this way then they know what kind of card I'm holding I'm trying to think of a game that has that oh you got it you got one in mind not right now but I know they definitely dealt with that before I think um actually never honor I think does that well I mean the original Decipherer Star Wars card game oh yeah you're right you okay we're all of your cards were you have the site cards and then you also have the regular cards that you had it but I don't know how you could get around that though I don't know figure it out I don't want my number 10 is no score pad or any way to keep score in the game now I understand that not every card game needs to come with a score pad the biggest culprit in this regard was the first version of smash up because there you're sitting there trying to end yo I got three points and you got two how are we supposed membered at just remember it you know now in the expansion that they just released they have scoring chips and it's all expansion and then no no it came in the expansion what I'm saying is they added scoring chips send those in the multiverse the first one didn't have a way to keep track of the hip points Magic the Gathering doesn't have you know you got to keep track that's not as big of a deal yeah but if there's if there is if you need to keep track of stuff and the game doesn't include a good way to do it that bothers me that's not a huge problem but I'm like I got a the same white paper and then we have a pencil you know just annoying yep okay my number ten is no multiple rule books in different languages in every copy of the game okay that's what I'm talking about the reason I'm talking about is because anybody want to say anything bother me I was just basically telling him I was telling you that it doesn't bother me at all I just chug the ones I don't like in that aren't in the language I can read right and what I said to him a few minutes ago was this that's part of the markup value of the game you paid for those things that you now have to throw away and you're putting the minute though the one that comes to mind is one that I just thought recently was a few weeks of snow I mean it's got I don't even know what the languages are but I kept them in the box cuz by golly I paid for themself you've got French and there you've got Russian you've got German you've got you know you've a slug in Ukranian Farsi I don't know there's all these different languages in there and I'm not gonna use any of it but I still had to pay for them come on CIN the languages that you need to send to the country that you're marketing that game to I feel it more costly you probably have a thing more they include just your life maybe so but it's still someone that would cost exactly three point five two sins mole okay but what about this what if it's one giant rule book that has all the languages in it but there's only one page of one page of examples so they're like go look at that bothers me especially and this is really ethnocentric sorry folks especially when English is like the fifth one and it starts on page 32 and I'm like flip open up there set up oh wait where is English no yeah I get that maybe that would be a fake you're a fortunate you have two languages you can look there I can look for Spanish also that's true but still I usually tend up tend to keep when it's multiple ones the Spanish and the English just I never read the Spanish one but I can it just bugs me that there's a lot of paper there's a lot of print there's a lot of ink in this game that I'm not going to use and I get that other people are going to use it I'm not so it busted now all right number nine is a production quality issue which as you'll find is a lot of a lot of our things deal with production but mine is I do not like games when there's lots of counters in the game and they tried to cut costs so they only printed it on one side and so you're constantly happy to turn over counters all over the place google it that's really and we just played a game recently that reminded me of it the racing game and all those counters and you really need to know what's on the other sides you're at the beginning of the game you could turn everything over and it's that sometimes takes a long time yes now this is something I think that's going away I'm not saying this as much as I used to but it used to be really problematic and you kind of go along with that you and I think it goes we even talked about the game that racing game when we when they have the course they don't has the course printed on one they have the opportunity to put maybe an alternate track on the other side of the tiles yes you know that type of thing come on people make the most out of your out of your game don't just sell yourself short well we played one game one time it's a game I really like to it's uh the empires of the void empires of the void I really liked and they print they print the same thing on both sides that's fine but they could have change the planet order and had it like multiple layouts and they didn't that was odd but the the white background it also makes the game look cheap it just looks cheap as it goes so anyway only printing counters on one side print use both sides people that's what he's trying to say alright my number nine is uh he's like gearing up all that is decent and holy proof read your rule books preferably by someone who was not part of the design process so that they can check things that wow what what in the world were you talking about put the initiative card by the dinglehopper well what is a dinglehopper you know people who aren't does it is involved come on there's other people who aren't involved in the design process we'll be able to better help you understand how people reading the rulebook for the first time is going to read did that make sense yeah people outside that process will catch things you won't catch if somebody's inside the design process you they might you need something that's worded weird and they know what it means so they'll gloss over it somebody outside the process will read something that we reads weird and say hey that's worded weird you need to change that yeah please do that yeah I have the same thing pretty much I do when it comes up later I have I have much to say on this subject it's much higher on my list alright my number nine get as many people to look at your board as possible especially like you said outside of your design team the board is a it's a very special thing because you want it to look good while it's empty but you want to be functional as full of pieces of whatever okay so again get as many people to look at that board blank and you know mid game as possible there's just nothing that I mean that's it's so simple to fix just don't print the board that's busy you know get other people to look at that board boring board either there's some boards you're like they use Photoshop you know and that's okay and find that balance you know but I'm busy board that like you know headache-inducing like oh okay I don't what am I wearing my game or my pieces aesthetics that's just you know get people to look at the board I'd love it cuz when they hit board game geek or a place like that everybody jumps on it you know and you're thinking well you know show it to people before you publish it before you print it so that's my number nine get people looking at your boring [Music] number eight okay my number eight it's kind of strange I guess but it's a pet peeve of mine recently I'm getting tired of buying card games I get this big box and I'm like hey all right I've got some I got a game here and it's just a box full of cards and usually it's not even full of cards it's a quarter full and um come on put some components make some games that are not just card games look I'm not trying to hit on card games I like card games don't get me wrong haters you're gonna hate I know but haters gonna hate yeah they are they're gonna but I'm just trying to be real I'm sick of having just card games I want a board to look at I want pieces to manipulate I want things to do in my board game so if you're going to make a board game please make a board you know like that awful game seminar Wars at least there's something you're doing other than just putting cards out on the table and then picking from the different opinions of Sam Haley do not reflect those of the dice tower fine I know I I get I get what you're saying I'm on the opposite end when it comes to like that cuz its I'm scared superfluous boards okay seriously like you know here's a paddle basically like a chunk of cardboard with the the outline of a card put the deck on that no going $10 wait a minute yeah do you think the king of Tokyo boards the purpose oh that's a good one no that's - yeah yeah that's such a minimalist you don't need the board you just say put your guy named Ellen table know that that has game value that helps you put okay look that that's one extreme you know having the cardboard with a little shadow yeah yeah I understand no that's one extreme my extreme is you know you've got nothing but cards and and you know you even have a diagram in your rulebook of where you have to put everything gameplay included I'm sorry my my number 8 is please think about the functionality of your terminology don't use obscure a weird terminology it's one thing I understand you don't want to say put your worker on that spot and then you need to feed him but when you say you need to applicable often ah-cha and you call your discard pile instead of calling a discard pile you call it the Fuji Kabbalah he's keeping them foreign language did you could waters off he's keeping the foreign language booklets and reading them as I think what no but haven't you played a game though a good example is the modern the netrunner game never I like it looks interesting but I mean that everything is caught by these weird names so I'll here to people talking about it and I it's like they're speaking another language and and if you have to call everything by different names now would that runner I know I'm gonna get trash for mentioning the holiday man up grete netrunner but there are other games that were worse there was some games before where everything you would have to say you know I'm instead of saying I gather resources I am accumulating the wealth of blah bluh muah-muah people people instead of future turn the forces with you yeah so I mean it's not a huge deal but if your game your game can get muddled because people saying this cards because then you have to use a terminology into cards and the card will say you can camacho five five cards like I don't know what that means come on stop mocking my fake language why what's your in my number eight mom invest in good-looking covers and interesting back of the box you want somebody to go up to your game and pick it up off the shelf and take it home with them that's the first thing they're gonna see the front of the box I don't care how mechanically sound your game is I don't care how wonderful the bits inside it are please by all means do that but I need to pick the game up off the shelf with us make you buy this game lands unnerve doesn't even look like I said about something said it looks like a box of checks you know for the bank this doesn't look interesting it's a horrible game you know look at the back make the back informational informational let me know what I'm buying that's important mm-hmm that's my right number seven I have had to buy these poker chips and I use them in a lot of games because I will replace in 90% of the games i play i hate paper money I hate it I hate it make cardboard shits make a money track I don't really like money tracks make cardboard shits make card money paper money gets bet it gets wrinkled it's annoying you you have to you have to like how many of you you just gave me three five hundreds and then guys like oh I miss count it and we know he didn't miss count we know he lied but you know you can't tell because it's paper money and then there's those games where you there's those games where you're you have to hide your paper money and so people are sticking under to the board and then they let the board up to get their money out and then everything sly I hate paper money with a passion and I almost never use it I use poker chips instead but nah the only time of life paper money it's technically not even paper because it's like linen finished is in a dice town thanks time has those little dollars yeah and their linen finished they they almost feel like a really thin thin card and that works that I like that mine are Willy beat up I was hoping you were saying that was a good thing but yeah it sounded like you were saying a bad thing but it is no thing it's a good thing if it has a finish on it it's better because it's it's more easily dealt out and it's a little bit at least protected straight paper though gone like without after two three four plays maybe oh and if there's a fan-like power grid has awful money awful money but I made cards and they it just works so much better yeah so anyway I hate paper money all right my number seven is include the full rules in your game box in the smartphone include all the rules I hate when they do that what what corner are you cutting there that is the most essential thing to put in the game the rules if you get it leave something out leave a star player token out or something stupid I need the rules include the entire and completely you know I hate games that make you go elsewhere to get that how about those games that actually include a fact booklet FAQ booklet mm-hmm where these are frequently asked questions that the rules didn't really cover well so we're gonna include this other paper because we don't want to fix the rule book right right right well okay but it there actually may be point where it's actually that would cost you know a thousand dollars to go reprint them all again I guess I guess so but no I got you know again if I need all the information in there I'm not a I'm not as bothered by that if if it's helpful it usually tends to be helpful you know enough thank you at the end isn't not awful but proof non-modal won't have to happen don't make me go elsewhere for rules us yeah all right I'm biting my tongue okay alright my number seven is this I'm going to start with an old adage a picture is worth a thousand words yeah at least three or four hundred but yeah it's worth a thousand worth you can tell me how to do something a million times in a game and I might miss it every single time but if you show me a picture with a very brief description I've got it we can move on please include pictures diagrams and illustrations and send time a new microphone well no but if there's one very specific thing about that that I agree with its setup I cannot tell you how annoying it is when you tell me how to set up a game but you don't show me yes you'll say put the pooch cut cards in the zoom op position back baby seriously there sometimes do you know what cars are which see your flipped me back okay and then they don't show you a picture of which cars are which you'll say the game comes with thirty you know Regent cards a promotional right you're right that's the biggie so yeah though I think it's absolutely critical that in your rule book you have a picture of a complete set up game that might if it's a full-page spread even better because we can set that up and go okay this is how you set the game out got it it's wonderful yes number six my number six is similar what well it's almost the same thing as you said earlier but I hate boring box covers I hate them okay here's a game I like Hamburg on now if you saw this this guy actually smiled there are so many games out there where the guy is frowning at you he's staring at you no no he's not smiling he's smirking he's got that guy's got that like you like to play my game sir you can play with me I dare you play this game yeah you won't have fun I mean it's really ridiculous at this point in time you've got to make your game I'm not every time we say this we're gonna get responses oh you want spaceships and Dragons and cowboys oh yeah actually it's pretty cool but I don't it doesn't even in the 1600s people that stand around scowling all the time well maybe they did I mean come on you can make a game look interesting and make the game look beautiful like Pillars of the Earth that box when I look at him like wow that looks cool you see a cathedral being built there's no guy standing there gone hate boring box covers you make a boring box cover and we're gonna call you out on it well interesting my number-6 is not quite as animated as some was but stop recycling old being up things know the castle trading in the Mediterranean zombies farming farming that's the crank got a theme look here's here's my pun for the for the video think outside the box people okay thank outside the box look you've got to do something with your theme use your imaginations remember you had imaginations at one time coming out swinging just killing it okay my number six pick the right sized box for your game like storing or buying air but I would also love to be able to put the game back in the box from whence it came where's these don't you let these little cardigan boxes where you're like gets it there and you have to slide the cards in you have to split the deck into you cut it in two and then you have to slide it in right or that a card shooting at the bottom okay so car games you buy the boxes you know yeah I don't mind card games I love card games do but sell it to me in a card sized box gotcha I don't want to buy Fantasy Flight size games and open it up and there's two decks of cards you to play right sighs hey Kate don't sell me the box make a good game I will be happy to store your game and you know what I would really like to applaud Fantasy Flight for really have they've taken those big coffin boxes giving you the same game and smaller ones they taking their card game boxes and made them nice and thin they're doing a good job good job guys [Music] number five all right my number five this is ten I know but look at my hands they're kind of they're kind of big they're not freakishly huge but they're they're huge they're they're big those they're there take it to Ryan Kane originally now hobbit-sized gardener okay hobbit-sized scars I'm gonna break these things please include reasonably sized cards normal sized cards I understand that there may be some variation there based on how many cards are gonna have in the game how many different stacks of card you're gonna have so maybe they need to be a little bit smaller yeah if Arkham Horror had full size cards it would take it up with the cards I understand even x-wing if they had regular-sized cards instead of those smaller ones that would be difficult you'd have less playing surface I understand that but please if you're going to have us hold the cards in our hands make them reasonably sized please what about the giant cards you like them Tara sighs Carrie that's the other extreme I don't want to feel like I'm holding a plank of cardboard and see this is why he doesn't like Dixit okay so I don't really mind it that much about me artwork it's functional it's the other extreme it's the other extreme that I'm talking about too small not good too big not good fine it's fine to compromise there that'll break this out you know this is not like a new concept right there's card sizes have kind of been figured out here fine okay five five don't sacrifice functionality for style for looks okay similar before kind of the current to the contrary of this this point fonts don't pick fonts that no one can read because you think they look who I need to read the game okay the looks so you know don't don't sacrifice making something that can work that people can congregate around and play because you think oh that's cool if I put a shadow here I can't see that part of the board now or that doesn't now's not legible whatever the case may be don't sacrifice function for form this style is great I love something that does not look sterile by it also needs to be playable mmm you know it's just I just feel like sometimes these things aren't like shown to someone gone you know even know buddy goes can you read that why are they oh there's this right in there changing my number five look I love Cosmic Encounter and I think Cosmic Encounter is cool because I can win Z can win sand can win we can have a double avoid but I choose to jointly win and then when I choose it when I have chosen that back in the game that is the time that I jointly rejoice in our shared victory I am NOT gonna rejoice in my shared victory because your stupid rule book and you were too stupid to come up with a tiebreaker make a tiebreaker and then make another one and make it so far down that it's impossible for your game to end in a tie seriously it's not a difficult thing to do they'll be like oh if you have the same points rejoice in your shared victory I'm not rejoicing in any of that nonsense I almost said something else that's just garbage okay and I put these together also seriously think up a way to pick the start player do not say pick a start player by any means hey you're not supposed to do the rest of your list no no that's together look Jose pick a start player have a tiebreaker these are this isn't like rocket science if you can't think of one email me flip the coin I mean if you have to roll dice that's fine but at least say it say the oldest say the youngest say he hates this but hey those silly ones youngest and oldest have reasons okay youngest means the star player has an advantage all this means the star player doesn't ok there's reasons there's maybe why you pick that okay but whatever like the one with the biggest ears those first because it's a guilt out big it no looks like a pirate okay well I disagree with my nap what I'm saying is I want something don't say choose up starting player by any means you can think of why why don't be lazy and but the tiger things bigger III every time that happens and it says rejoice in your shared victory my favorite still is the game I don't know if you played it where it says if there's a tie the designer yes that one I love that I'm born in I'm born in on the tiebreakers I could really care less about the starter start because I mean at the end of the day a tiresome house gamers one can handle that if you want to slack off and leave that part of the game game undone fine I'm okay with that but the tiebreakers come on come on we're playing a game of conquest we are playing a game we're playing a game of I'm going to beat you right and now you're telling me that I cannot yes no it's not silly at this I don't you know I know some people out there like ties then go play cooperative game yes go play it or play cards in Canada because then again I chose your tie with you yeah but you know what if I don't want to I don't have to there's not a lot to say on this my number four because it's they both of them I mentioned area but boxes but for me the standardized boxes matters I know that you can't call up a company and say can I use the same box as you do but please make your boxes not a weird size look I know that you thought on pentagon box a hexagon box a two bucks a bag a box that's shaped like a piece of cardboard have a piece in your game closet where you keep all the tubes I don't mind no I don't mind little bag sometimes but and and I'm gonna call that stronghold games and other people to tins I hate them stop it they look pretty they're cheap to make but the lid comes off all the time they don't stack well at all and the lid comes off all the time and when that comes off and your bin you want to punch the publisher who made the tin we're never gonna do a top ten list it's stupid make your boxes decent sizes hmm well my number four is basically the same thing uniform both sides nice vassal strikes again Oh mine is semi let me get your number four two is quite simply yes don't make weird boxes but I hate when a box is like slightly bigger than the box whatever you want to call it ticks ride box okay why is your where'd you get that box it's like half an inch bigger was that a manufacturing error you got that like half off I mean why why how use the same boxes everybody owls this is this is a type we don't want you to be unique I'm gonna add to this this is my number four - strange how that worked out but I'm gonna add this little caveat stop trying to sell us on box size alone guys guess what we're on to you we understand that the box does not necessarily mean how good the game is I'm still tricked by it all the time well see I am Vlad was the last the last straw for me stop selling me this is a great game on the box alone let me determine whether it's a good game wait I don't get that though you're saying don't make a cool looking box no I'm saying don't over produce the box okay okay oh one more little thing please when you make your box give it to a five-year-old and that they can't open the box then it's too tight the lid best moment ever a place of it [Music] number three my number three please please please have usable well-designed box inserts with future expansions that are planned in mind okay one of the one of the games that comes to mind we were just talking about it today is warriors now they came with a ten stop hatin they came to the ten and their original set it was a cube stop hatin it was are we ladies it's a hop over that it's not you've been hitting on a lot of these things it was nice it came with exactly and it fit exactly what it had in it it was it was a good design set now they probably realized the error of their ways and now with their expansions they have things that you can take all those dice and neatly put them in and that's a good thing we need more of that well I would I would I would caveat that sometimes you don't know with the first set but I like what the company makes an expansion that's a nice box for everything yes exactly what I was gonna say because you don't want to fall into the trap of a I bought this game that's empty what if I don't want to expand you know I mean tell me their original game what fits in there is fine make it correctly sized and then the expansion can be bigger you know what I mean yeah it's fine we end up paying for expansion so much anyway they're extremely fond censored that I've always thought was ingenious and yet it was very simple was the the original box insert from them are 44 it had two to two pits right to yeah he kept the Germans in one he kept the Americans in another then he had the cars and then he had the tiles it was genius Lee designed now they didn't have expansions in mind that's where they kind of stumbled over themselves but that but well now you know that truck anyways well yeah that's true bag and really I don't know that they could have they could have planned for all that but yeah that's their original box insert was genius and it was very simple come on put put a little bit thought into it and give some good box answers you're not gonna like the nothing personal box answer but alright it comes from my vein of all box inserts we've been a a lot of we've been humorous this one is a little bit more serious than the other ones and that is you really need to make your game so colorblind people can play it it's it's not a difficult thing to do too because this is not something that everyone's why right across him on his car blind every plane group I've been in has that at least one colorblind person and they're saying well I don't really see the difference between these there are ways there are sites in the internet where you can look at your pieces to see how they look to a colorblind person and it there's no excuse with cards because you put a different symbol on the different colored cards take the wrong eautifully yeah well you know what they do it I'm very good about that they didn't do it on the first board their initial board didn't have any symbols on and then they added it and that just makes it it makes a big deal um it's not a hard thing to do but the more you can differentiate your pieces yeah color wise from others it really matters it doesn't have to be intrusive either you know it does have to be something that is in a bothersome to someone who is in college long right those details work it into design you know what color blind person will gravitate towards them and they'll be functional right up absolutely okay my number three is a little bit of what you were talking about with the Box sensor is a very specific pet peeve I have okay when you make a dent in your insert that holds a deck of cards laying flat I realized when you sent the game to me they were shrink-wrapped guess what once I open it they're not shrink-wrapped anymore make it deep enough so they all sing to the bottom of the box so why do they have to stay to the top so that the top three cards are always flopping around in there I hate that yeah look I don't care sleeves yes I know I don't sleep games if you want to sleeve it Chuck the insert whatever but really like the deck of cards just the straight up deck doesn't fit in the hole for the cards even though you it could have gone in there twice more why I hate that come down come down take a drink take three goes from number two [Music] this is the only one on my list that doesn't anything to do with the actual physical game itself but it's basically this advertise your game seriously there's a million games out there right now and it's really annoying when we go to a store and it's like this game is out that's out yeah you didn't even put on your website it's not hard just put a little thing that it says this is coming out next week now I know that companies are having a hard time they don't like to say a games coming out June 15th because then when it comes out June 16th of the internet screams my life is you know it complete because you could wait that extra day October 15 you know well right and I mean but there are so many things that can cause it but when it's coming to stores let us know talk talk your game up and and you wonder why no one's buying it because you didn't tell us tell them those people about you okay sorry yes that's personal very say okay my two was something Sam mentioned a while ago nothing syncs a game like a sloppily written rule book mmm don't write a sloppy rule book mmm be careful about what you say in it it's the one thing that needs to work exactly the way it needs to work you can be shot at components they're still bigs I mean badly printed cards on really cheap paper there's still cards I cannot decipher what the rules say if they're badly done yeah really that should be number one it seems like sometimes we get these guys great cool plastic bits that you clearly put a lot of money into and you paid some guy on the street to type up a sheet for you know that should put your money there yes nothing will sink a game like bad rule book yes look if we can't understand how to play your game guess what we're not gonna play your game and especially with reviewers we're gonna let people know that they shouldn't go out and buy that game mm-hmm because you can't understand how to play it so look don't shoot yourself in the foot make good rule books absolutely that's it now my number two almost not quite almost you're very quiet though I'm biding my time don't worry okay he's biding his time cut costs anywhere but components if it's gonna cost us a little bit more so I'm I'm with the rules thing but ah okay I'm gonna have a little bit of a loose interpretation of components I think a rule book is a component of time all right all right I can't play the game without it I hear you but where else can they cut costs then I don't know I'm not in the business of designing and producing board games you're basically saying you want to see higher quality I want better quality pieces parts boards cards whatever if I'm gonna pay running costs what 50 60 bucks for a decent game right now if you're asking me to pay 50 to $60 of my family's money on this game you better make it worth my while don't give me a bunch of C wrap that I'm paying 40 40 40 to 60 dollars for yes leave those other languages out of my those other rule books out of my box and give me better peace I would caution no publishers not be careful you know you might find a cool thing that fits in your game I knew a company and I don't know if this is public knowledge but they put two different things in two of their games and one would cost a penny and everyone's salting they were like that's just an awesome component the other one costs almost a dollar and no one used this component because they thought it was just silly this component and level head right I know but some companies don't they're like oh look you got the kitchen sink getting it all so here's the deed to my house please buy the game and that's okay so can it have a level head but but give me nice components that so I can enjoy playing your game more that's all I'm saying all right one [Music] and finally number one all right my number one stop making mediocre games stop you know the game isn't really that good stop it okay it yeah it might have Canisius name on it but it still stinks money stop making games just for money I know it okay please don't I'm not an idiot I know it's a business I know you got to make money I know you got to feed your family just like we do but stop making the fad games stop making the stuff it's not worth it and it just makes me angry actually I agree with us although this is kind of loosely interpreted all over the place in a sense that I I really believe that a lot of people out there are publishing games that they think are pretty good and then when they play they're like oh this is really fun and they try to make it set and I think they even convinced themselves that it's a very fun game and then we get it and we're playing you know hundreds and hundreds of different games were like this is ok it's not a bad game right but it's nothing special so why'd you publish it right why don't you sit there and say I want you to publish a game where you say this game is good and you mean it and you're not lying to yourself or in your heart you know I mean we we play tons of mediocre stuff the market is saturated with ok games and it's your fault ok well I'll say this a nicer way to say it would be aspire to greatness okay I'm gonna say it this way the market is saturated but it's something similar on my list which ended up getting cut which was don't sell me like you know great game the car game and you know it's a bad game you know you're trying to just go oh my god I love the more game so I'm gonna buy this one ticket to ride the dice game really so now the gravity yeah it's not you know because and here's the problem people will lose faith in your company that's right you want to make money I don't have a problem with that have less of a problem with that than Sam does but I will stop trusting trusting your company no I don't have a problem with you guys making money I don't have brother but like I don't think it should be like oh because you want to be good no no no make money but do realize when you brand a game that you start a better game in that game you know is garbage that's right go go whoa Bert by you yeah don't be won't happen again pull me once shame on me all right all right my number one is okay understand who your game is for this is what I mean by I think they ready you ready for before you will be understood by they who that I feeling like you do not understand your game your game shall be understood by your just taking the phrase and turning it around mm-hmm what I mean by that is very simple okay it happens all the time a really meaty gamers game about dancing bees who's that game for and understand your audience that's all I mean who is your audience gamers like heavy-duty game let's go for the meaty theme you know have V issues that's fine game for kids silly paintings silly light mechanics great don't combine those two things someone's getting burnt the hybrid games you know yeah I feel like recently maybe things or the opposite is even worse yeah hybrids work when you're talking about cars not always so with board games because you run the risk of disenfranchising two groups at the same time and now you're searching for that third group where both everybody likes both both parts of the game you're going for a room is niche market risky purpose why why you know in two weeks on the dice our other show we tell you about our top 10 hybrid games there are some good ones out there you won't be in know but you remember remember the game that we first played that like 10 years ago they'd mix the risk at monopoly with LEGO pieces risk ah Polly no it was called no I came here was bad alright well my number one my number one has bent my my whole thing has been you guys have scooped me twice on it but it needs to be said and that's the rulebook now these guys have been my guinea pigs for many many games that we get in there and they have seen me frustrated many times and my wife I seem to come out of the room and just throw the rule books across because the people I if I I read lots of Rule books lots of rule books and if I can't understand how to play your game then then hire somebody in fact you should not publish your rule book unless multiple view playdates so you know how to play your rules you know how to play the game you can play it backwards and forwards you've taught it many times and you say well course people understand us you know what they're not gonna understand it garbage garbage to just trash right better rule books and then give it to someone else and then fix it and mistakes and then give to someone else and fix the mistakes and then do it again and again because I am tired of Rule books that don't explain how to play the game that don't tell you how to do basic things that a five-year-old who would read it would understand look you are probably a good game designer but you probably not a good rules writer because that's a skill that is a very highly developed skill set and most people can't do it and you know what you're one of them I just wrote the rules be personal and I send it up to someone and he shredded it and it's like you know because he wasn't even he wasn't even a gamer he was just someone who wanted to he went through it and said I don't understand what this means then change it you know I get these things for people we'll fix that in the first FAQ your game shouldn't need a fact two days after it comes out that's true I mean granite there are some games with lots of pieces and and gamers will try to game every situation and some people will say well the rules didn't say I couldn't do that no but really write write a good rule set it's really important I don't care if you write humor I don't care about pretty pictures on the side that don't have anything of the game you know part working the rule book I don't care if your rule book is a long rule book but make me understand it make it very clear don't make it also so that one thing is mentioned very casually in an example in the back well duh I mean if they're like flee for the rule book okay where is this I don't know page three four I hate back rule books I hate them and you are keep publishing them and you need to stop and it's your fault okay no more rule books that are technical manuals this goes into his thing one point one four to six oh my companies they mostly work game company you know some of those rule books are better than some modern rule books where the guy writes it like in prose you know we're about to have some fun welcome to town okay before let's let's you think we hate game publishers we really love them hey and I'll say this the games that are being produced today for the most part are light years even from five years ago game publishers are doing a fantastic job we'll get a game like that was so neat that they did that that was so cool what is giving positive but we're trying to get positive this is not being given positively you know we tell you because we care yes all right well choose to succeed believe in know what our next top ten list is yeah all right well we're doing another one eventually but until these are tips if you ever think about being a game publisher you like to tell most people don't you know find another game publisher first and you know work with them because you can't do all these things in your own but if you do take heed to the tips get that rule book all three of us said that have a nice box size we all said that too please all right anyway until next time I'm Tom Bassel I'm Zhi Garcia and I'm Sam Healey and you've been watching the dice tower [Music] [Music] thanks so much for watching the diced our videos find more great videos and reviews as well as our top rated audio podcast at diced our comm you can also find other great shows at diced our network com I'm Eric Sommer and you've been watching the dice tower the dice tower is sponsored by cool stuff Inc where you can find great games for great prices cool stuff in stock check them out at cool stuff Inc calm [Music]

Channel: The Dice Tower

Views: 54,674

Rating: 4.8783455 out of 5

Keywords: board game, boardgame, game, game review, review, reviews, board game review, card game, party game, war game, vasel, metzler, hoier, dice, dice tower, dice game

Id: YpcHmVMnLR8

Length: 50min 42sec (3042 seconds)

Published: Thu May 02 2013