One thing I have found is it takes most publishers more than a year to do the development on a game. Sometimes it takes much longer.
Case in point, two games I have licensed overseas; Hungry Fox (a kids game), Tornado Alley (Family card game). Both contracts have a contingency that if they are not published within two years I can recall the rights to me. With one of these contracts coming due shortly I was dismayed that I had not heard from them in some time and that my attempts to contact them went unanswered, at least until today. It looks like im going to be giving them an extension on one of these contracts. It seems a better option than getting all heavy handed and making demands. The length of the extension is still under discussion but im hoping it’s not more than a few months. I have already gone through months of working with them to make changes and then a two year wait as it is.
Comments
Indeed!
I'm finding that things do take a really long time. The printing plus shipping takes like 4 months, and that's AFTER everything's been sorted out and sent to the manufacturer. Art can take a while too, depending on the game. The Eminent Domain illustrations took about 2 months, and there were only 27 of them - that doesn't include the box, rules, or the rest of the cards. Belfort art has been underway since... I want to say August (!).
So you see, even if the company is on the ball, sometimes the process just takes 8 months or so. And I'm sure there's some lead time for the company as well, maybe in development, or simply just getting to the point where they're ready to hire an artist and get moving.
This is terrible news for people like me who much prefer instant gratification!
Good Things Come to Those that Wait
Im getting accustomed to the waiting, I just work on other projects until the time comes.
These two are mass market games and im hoping to make some mass market money from them. So besides just plain waiting my games to see the light of day I want to get my royalty checks and put some of the money into a self publishing project. I guess that will have to wait too.
The Waiting Game
I think its fairly common for games to take 2-3 years to develop. For instance, there are plenty of Z-Man games that have been in the pipeline for 3 years that are still waiting to come out. This is also very common in the fiction market. I've had one of my stories take 4 and a half years to get published!
That being said, I think the frustrating part for me would be a lack of response from the publisher. If they are upfront about their progress and/or delays, then I would be very understanding. Everyone involved is just trying to make the best product possible - even if it takes a couple months longer than planned.