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Hardy's Design Blog - Introductory post

Hi,
My name is Tom Hardy and i am from New York. It has been just over an year since i have stepped into the world of boardgaming, but i've never been more addicted to anything else.

late 2012 i think, i had an idea for a video game. I started to draw a few sketches in my notebook and tried to show it to my (nongamer) friends. We used to play in in the notebook itself with some pen and paper by marking, scribbling and scratching. And then scratching all over again. I was at a game store researching video games(as at first that was the plan), when i moved to another shelf that had bigger boxes. And then i saw King Of Tokyo on the top sitting besides Settlers Of Catan.

Those 2 games are in the same order on the top of my gaming shelf now. I was so deeply convinced that the "thinking logically before planning a move" in board games overpowered the "trying to press the right key at the right time" in video games. Without giving it a second thought, i decided to convert my notebook game into a strategy boardgame.

Hence, i created "Stealth" my very first game design with which i entered the designing world. I believe i have posted a lot of of stuff about this here too. Now, to be rather frank, that design hit rock-bottom. Well, not because it wasn't a good game at the core, it was because i didn't make it up to standards. "Why? Tom, why didn't you make a good core game refined and attractive!?"

Well, for starters i was not familiar with the terms "PnP, tuck boxes, d6, RPG, tile laying...". Yeah, basically i was a total newb. While requesting people on the TGC chat to playtest my game, i would often get a "so what's the game objective, Tom?". I would say "well, it depends on which force you are representing and how many weapons you have". They'd ask "So, its a wargame or a fantasy flight?". Then i would reply pretty confidently "No, it's a board and card game."

Getting back to now, i have learnt a whole lot. Well, at least enough to make me realize that d6 are NOT 6 dice. I haven't yet given up on stealth and i plan to make it a lot better as i go on. I have currently participated in the 18 Card Microgame Contest on BoardGameGeek with my cycle racing game - Cadence. I got introduced to designing games last year when i was in 10th grade and it has contributed a lot to my decision to be study Graphic Design.

This is what i hope to be a place where i can share the progress of my current and future designs with the BGDF community and hopefully receive some valuable feedback. I will be posting entries (probably once a week) starting with Cadence. Thanks a lot for reading and happy designing!

Comments

First game

Well I understand how you *feel* about your 1st board game. Mine "Quest Adventure Cards" (http://www.questccg.com) is no longer for sale. It was supposed to be a simple game for children around the age of 9.

I learned so much by trying to self-publish that game, enough to know to NEVER, ever SELF-PUBLISH again!

Where am I going with this? Well I too have learned a lot about different games and mechanics just by posting and discussing various other designers' game designs.

What still is a mystery to me is WHAT a publisher does to market a game and make it more popular. I'm pretty certain that marketing is required because that's the weakness I found with self-publishing. That and the amount of money required to self-publish a game...

As for my 1st board/card game, I still like the artwork and the look of the cards... The game is not perfect and much too simple for older players. Fundamentally I think I have learned (not mastered) what makes a game interesting and viral. "V For Victory!" I believe will have that winning combination of real TENSION and reasons to sit down for another round.

Best of luck with "Stealth"!

That happens, doesn't

That happens, doesn't it?

Stealth was really simple for its kind too i guess. It was more of war-euro game with really easy rules. I guess the best way to self publish is through kickstarter or web publish it.

I read about V for Victory, it sounds interesting! good luck with it. I hope you can go forward towards publishing with this one.

"What still is a mystery to

"What still is a mystery to me is WHAT a publisher does to market a game and make it more popular. I'm pretty certain that marketing is required . . . "

Nowadays, this is a mystery to everyone, including publishers! There are so many games around that most people don't even know any particular published game exists. That's why big publishers can spend millions (video games) advertising, just so that potential buyers know the game exists and it stands out in their minds from other games.

It's worse in video games than tabletop (vastly more video games published each year), and reading self-publisher's experiences (on Gamasutra, for example)is illuminating.

You might watch the following for what a self-publisher can do to promote games:

Marketing Yourself http://youtu.be/RZLgpvtbyD0

How Twitter can be useful for a game designer http://youtu.be/QhA8aID0tEc

and:
Discoverability http://youtu.be/i9mgWaUYs7o

Wow, these are some cool

Wow, these are some cool links indeed. Very helpful for any type of publishing actually.

Kickstart to generate some interest

I guess ONE (1) thing a Publisher CAN DO is have a Kickstarter for the game. This is one step in the right direction since it gets the game into players hands. But not with an exceptionally high volume, most Kickstarters earn up to 500 contributors and the average is more like 300.

300 to 500 players is nothing really. When you consider first print runs that are around 2,000 game sets. That amount of game sets is not too high because it can be sent around the US and Canada. So that initial quantity can probably get consumed by gamers in various locales.

What can be next? Conferences? Showing off the NEW game they have and are ready to sell. So that means you have one (1) year to market and sell your game. Seems a little bit low (in terms of time). One year can go by pretty FAST. Maybe they can attend 12 or so conferences a year. Perhaps more?!

Not certain what to ADD to this... In terms of what other kind of marketing can occur to sell a game further.

Update: Game cafes where people go to play games could be a way of generating some buzz. If the animator can introduce people to a game such as having a "game night" might be another possibility. Not sure how you could convince someone to do this. Like a "Featured" game on some nights.

Update 2: Well I think what could be "encouraged" is a game night which is all about a SPECIFIC game. So let's say it's a THURSDAY NIGHT and the game featured is my own ("Tradewars - Homeworld"). It means that many people who have the game can come with their play sets and sit down and play the game with OTHER players. This sounds real COOL to me. Mix it up with different people can lead to some interesting game rounds.

Bit of reality about game

Bit of reality about game sales and in-person demos.

Response to "It means that many people who have the game can come with their play sets and sit down and play the game with OTHER players."

Cumberland County NC has somewhat more than 300K inhabitants. It's the 220th or so largest metro area in the United States.

It's about 1 one thousandth of the population of the USA.

If you sell 1,000 copies of a game to USA only, on average just one person in Cumberland County will own a copy.

In a metro area of 3 million, an average of less than 10 persons will own a copy.

So unless the game has already sold A LOT, how many people do you think will own the game in the area of the game cafe, let alone how many will actually know about the meeting? Practically, none.

That's FANTASTIC news

What you are effectively saying is that 1,000 copies of a game is INSUFFICIENT volume for the inhabitants around the cities in the USA.

I'm thinking about metro and suburban areas. As per your estimates, that means MORE copies of a game need to be sold in these areas.

BUT I understand the "down-side" of what you are saying. The Internet is a great way of re-uniting people with common interest. Let's say I had to find a local club of people who enjoy board games, it might be difficult to find like more than three other people! :(

Then there is the *proximity* factor - people nearby to the cafe. The Randolph pub has frequent visitors - it's like a bar for Nerds. But people go there with their girlfriends and play, those people enjoy board games.

However I'm not too certain how many people will BUY the game once they have played it. I'm thinking like 1% of people because if players like a game they can just return to the cafe and play again (which is what happens in most cases). So the pub would own the game set. And that's not the greatest in terms of volume, because they will have maybe 1 set of a game...

Meeting time and events vary if you are an *avid* gamer. The Randolph pub sends out a Monthly "Event Calendar" which talks about what is happening like what nights are for this game or that game, etc. So I think it would be possible to have your own "Game Night" - but I doubt that will translate to game sales - not really.

See the pub invests in the buying of games, your own game you would probably need to "give" it if you want to have it featured... (Probably) Like make a deal, "I will give you four (4) sets of the game" and you can promote my game by encouraging people to play the game (maybe like a frequency of one group, a couple nights per week). Not sure. It's kind of hard. Animators usually suggest games THEY LIKE. So I guess you would need to IMPRESS an Animator with your game. And then if they like it, maybe then they would promote it further.

What I am finding is that there is a lot of potential customers around. But tapping into them is rather HARD. Generally speaking with 2,000 games produced and shipped around the USA and Canada, that's a rather SMALL quantity to *sell*. My guestimate is that the next 5,000 games might be sold easier, IF the players of the original 2,000 games like the game and recommend it.

That's why I'm selling Player Sets: each player uses his OWN set and parts/components are NOT shared. What this does is lower the cost to buy the game and encourages more sales because each player need his own set. So I Tommy likes the game, he can tell his friend John to buy it so that they can play it TOGETHER. The game supports one (1) to four (4) players. So there is a advantage to this model in that more players = more sales.

Kickstarter volume is LOW

The other point I wanted to make, is if the average Kickstarter has 300 contributors, that's only 300 game sets sold. Nothing to really brag about. Considering the SIZE of the Internet and the amount of people on it, 300 persons is less than 1%. Maybe less than 0.1%

Good Kickstarters have around 500 contributors. Again nothing really fantastic. But the jump from 300 to 500 is almost double.

That's why IF I ever Kickstart a game, I will rely on Mailing Lists of gamers that have over 5,000 avid gamers. These lists are DIRECT matches for people who want to buy games. 500 gamers translates to 10% which is rather realistic (surprisingly). But still 500 is 1/4th of a First Production run for a Publisher... So now you know why I want to have my game Published.

We have decided to move forwards and have some *blind* playtesting done. We'll see what people think about the game and the rulebook. This will be an honest assessment and a factor in determining how we should proceed with the game (in general).

Realities

Many wargame publishers now start with 1,000 copies in print. Some of those are long-established companies. 2,000 is actually a lot.

Other kinds of games may see slightly higher runs, but with over 3,500 new games a year, the market is highly diluted.

My experience with a college game club is that very few of the people buy their own tabletop games. One reason why they go to the club is that they can play the club's games. F2P video games have "trained" people not to spend money on games, when they are happy to spend large sums going to movies or having a coffee at Starbucks.

Yes, KS volume is low, and I understand some retailers don't want to stock KS games because they think interested folks have already bought a copy.

Even from a mailing list of 5,000 - where do you think you'll get such a list???? - a 10% response is very high. Only an established publisher using their own list of past customers could expect 10% or more.

Community efforts

lewpuls wrote:
Many wargame publishers now start with 1,000 copies in print. Some of those are long-established companies. 2,000 is actually a lot.

I was told that 2,000 is not an exorbitant amount. Typically US brokers deal with small quantities such as 500 sets and quote for 1,000 and 2,000 sets. If you run a Kickstarter it's either 500 (pricey) or 1,000 (better deal).

lewpuls wrote:
Other kinds of games may see slightly higher runs, but with over 3,500 new games a year, the market is highly diluted.

Yes - I agree many people with many games. That's why I was questioning HOW a Publisher goes about *promoting* a game...

lewpuls wrote:
Yes, KS volume is low, and I understand some retailers don't want to stock KS games because they think interested folks have already bought a copy.

Well I'm not sure about the reason. However we have established that the KS community is maybe only 0.1% or less of the gamers market. We could qualify these people as gamers who enjoy the latest/newest games.

lewpuls wrote:
Even from a mailing list of 5,000 - where do you think you'll get such a list???? - a 10% response is very high. Only an established publisher using their own list of past customers could expect 10% or more.

True - guess I have done a lot of research to comprehend the benefits of partnering with a Publisher. I did not want to do it alone... I already went down the *self-publishing* route. A WASTE of time, money and everything else. You can blog all you want - the sales are not there. And maybe because it was my first game, I had a LOT to learn.

However I'm still uncertain what a Publisher will do to TRY to make a game successful. :( Less than 0.1% is NOT the market, it is HIGHER.

And from what I have seen *before*, the BEST is having a CREW of people who will create a Community around a game. I don't have this. But I have seen it and it's another way of making a game more popular. Basically you have a community of people who design forums about the game, organize tournaments, etc. They ensure people are playing the game. Further extension is having more than one (1) designer who is designing game expansions for a game! It's sort of like *flooding* the market with a GAME and a corresponding community.

Who told you 2,000 isn't a

Who told you 2,000 isn't a large amount? Game *manufacturers*, apparently, who are interested in larger orders. What counts, of course, is what game publishers think they can sell. Print 2,000, sell a thousand, you lose a lot of money.

Some small publishers have bought print on demand equipment so that they don't have to concern themselves with the size of the initial "print run".

A community should certainly help sales of a game. But the game has to be of a certain quality, and sales, before much of a community will be established. The designer can help by being active on BGG and elsewhere, but it's hard to manufacture a community.

Keep in mind again, even if there are lots of people talking about the game, designing variants, blogging, it's still a very small part of the overall game community. There is NO "*flooding*" going on.

If publishers had sure-fire ways of marketing, then the established publishers would be doing better, wouldn't they? Selling games is such a big problem these days that many video folks have gone to F2P (free to play), not really an option for tabletop.

What's going on?!?!

lewpuls wrote:
Who told you 2,000 isn't a large amount? Game *manufacturers*, apparently, who are interested in larger orders. What counts, of course, is what game publishers think they can sell. Print 2,000, sell a thousand, you lose a lot of money.

For a Kickstarter, 2,000 is *impossible*. 1,000 is even *high*, but if you sell 600 game sets (which is possible), you're going to have to buy 1,000. 500 would be *ideal* but then again I LOSE money if I only sell 500 units! :(

lewpuls wrote:
Some small publishers have bought print on demand equipment so that they don't have to concern themselves with the size of the initial "print run".

Well my understanding is that print-on-demand is only done by services like "The Game Crafter" not publishers that deal with the traditional sales channel (distribution, brick & mortar).

lewpuls wrote:
A community should certainly help sales of a game. But the game has to be of a certain quality, and sales, before much of a community will be established. The designer can help by being active on BGG and elsewhere, but it's hard to manufacture a community.

I have seen this on the NET before: a person who has a lot of connections or knows of somebody who does and the foster a community that promotes the product. I have seen this in video games and one card game (South American game).

lewpuls wrote:
Keep in mind again, even if there are lots of people talking about the game, designing variants, blogging, it's still a very small part of the overall game community. There is NO "*flooding*" going on.

That's because you haven't seen community projects before. They get a TON of artists to participate, 3D Modelers, Sculptors, Illustrators, Graphic Designers and they create SEVERAL websites about the game. Most projects don't do this - they don't have the connections or sufficient know-how or talent to do so... But still I wonder how these people manage to convince people to embark on their project. I don't know! :(

lewpuls wrote:
If publishers had sure-fire ways of marketing, then the established publishers would be doing better, wouldn't they? Selling games is such a big problem these days that many video folks have gone to F2P (free to play), not really an option for tabletop.

There are non-traditional methods to earn money when dealing with F2P especially in Video Games or Cellular Phone Games. I know this because I am involved in such a project: downloading is FREE, playing is FREE also. How we make money is by selling in-game credit (Mana crystals). The game has unlockable items which sometimes require Mana - plus we give each player 100 Mana Crystals for FREE also. The goal is to have players PLAYING the game. If you play you gain Experience and you can level up. If you buy/use Mana Crystals it will take you LESS time to level up and you will probably be a more competitive player...

I have seen very active

I have seen very active communities for video games. But you cannot cause them to occur, and they only occur if the game is good enough for that (and many are not).

"Well my understanding is that print-on-demand is only done by services like "The Game Crafter" not publishers that deal with the traditional sales channel (distribution, brick & mortar)."

Lost Battalion and Avalanche, for example, small but long-established publishers, both do their own POD. That's probably all that's keeping them in business. They try to get traditional distribution, but that's hard for any small publisher nowadays. Game shops want something that will sell in big quantities in first 90 days, then unless it continues to sell very well (unusual) they move on to something else.

I don't visit game shops much, but the ones I've seen lately seem to emphasize games using miniatures, because the profit margins are (much) higher for the amount of space they take up. I'm astonished at how much people will pay for minis. But it's proven to work.

Of course, if you can sell your games direct, you make a lot more $$$$ per game. The problem is persuading people to buy via Internet (or at conventions, but the expenses there make this not very profitable).

Book publishers do their own POD too, e.g. McFarland (over 400 books a year). POD is a way for a small publisher to stay in business (though McFarland is not small, it must be said, but their total print per book tends to be small). Most likely we'll see more and more publishers of all kinds of printed material doing their own manufacturing to save money, albeit for limited print runs where the cost difference between POD and traditional printing isn't prohibitive.

CCGs aren't free-to-play, but rely on players spending lots of money after their initial buy. Yet I read that retailers want to avoid new CCGs because game buyers don't want anything to do with more "publisher's hand in your pocket" games.

For board and card games, Kickstarter isn't real publishing, it's smoke and mirrors, selling dreams. (Hence small numbers.) Traditional publishers will use it when they can, but don't rely on it.

About Kickstarter

I haven't yet kickstarted any game yet but I've backed a lot over these years. It is my understanding that kickstarter Is used in 4 ways:

1) if you are a person/group of people who have designed a game that they really like and they want to get it "out there".

2) if you are a beginner publisher who wants to start off in the publishing business. You might make a small print run after if the campaign is overly successful too.

3) you are a well established publishw
er trying to advertise your game by crating an atmosphere through KS and by giving exclusives and special prices or to raise some extra funds for later print runs.

4) If you are a designer/s who has designed a game and is looking for funding to get professional art. But you tend to see this very rarely these days as KS has become a huge and competetive place. People want to see a finished product and some people might only back if it is at least somewhat attractive to the eyes.

Anyway you use it, it is definitely not with any intention to "publish" it there. A very few people use KS for selling thousands of copies and commercialize the game. It is, as the name suggests, to give a creative project a 'kick-start'.

That's just how i percieve it though. And this is, in my opinion, bound to change in the near future.

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