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Champion of the Small Designer

The Game Crafter - The Leading Print On Demand Game Publisher

The Game Crafter got into this business to help the small designer realize his or her dreams. We’ve been working hard over the last 6 months to introduce new bulk and crowd funding features that provide great discounts, save time, and are genuinely useful to designers. We originally thought we could extend these discounts and benefits to designers with really large orders, (500+ copies), but we’ve come to the conclusion that these folks are better served by companies that specialize in large orders. Companies like Quality Playing Cards and Games are able to make really high quality games at excellent bulk rates.

Today we are reaffirming our commitment to the small designer. We’re happy with the new bulk order features we’ve developed and now we’re ready to continue releasing the features, parts, and printed components that you all love! In fact, we’re even going to change our bulk system to be a little more small-designer friendly. Here’s how:

- Forty-five days from now we will change our bulk pricing model to stop at 250 copies. However, we’ll raise the discount you can get at 250 copies to 35%. That’s a full 5% more than you can achieve currently at 250 copies! The reason we’re waiting 45 days is that we don’t want to hurt anyone that already has a game in a crowd funding campaign. Once the pricing changes, it will be permanent, so don’t launch a campaign today expecting to get the current pricing.

- We’ve also changed our crowd funding promotion agreement to let you out of the contract if you sell more than 400 copies through your campaign.

Our goal at The Game Crafter has always been to give the fledgling designer the tools they need to succeed. We feel that we’re in a great place right now because we’ve got a wide range of products, features, and services that cater to the diverse needs of our community. We’ve got a ton of great things ahead for 2014 so hang on and enjoy the ride!

Comments

What would help me as a small

What would help me as a small game designer would be when I order a small order (a few pieces) that might take 10 min to assemble, I wouldn't have to wait behind these big orders and wait a month to get my order. A change in that system would be great. Print and Play does this. Thanks!

@Seth: that has already been

@Seth: that has already been asked for and I believe implemented.

Or you could maybe add a comment to the following:

https://www.thegamecrafter.com/idea/182636CC-B173-11E3-859D-69FA5CEB4EFA...

Or maybe spend 15 Crafter points...

New types of integration

I was thinking that perhaps TGC could introduce some new forms of integrations with say people in alliance with TGC. Such services with proof of merchandising could be great deals to designers.

Obviously I'm not suggesting everyone. But coco's model of "author-ware" is interesting and may be viable for TGC. The designer bulk orders TGC products and has them delivered. Then an automated process takes over for fulfillment of said orders.

Obviously there would have to be a contractual agreement for quantities. But having a SOLID relationships and a some form of agreements (say managed by TGC).

The only thing missing would be engagement with other people such that TGC's overall business and business model can grow.

What do you think JT???

On second thought...

Forget new types of integration, the sheer volume of orders could probably not be handle by any partners.

On another note I hear Game Salute offers fulfillment options for designers. Maybe an independent process might be better...

Like on a case-by-base basis. I think it would be too hard to integrate 3rd party services into TGC...

Sorry I misspoke too early.

Note: Also all designers would want a piece of the action and the sheer volume would probably break the business model.

Perhaps other forms of marketing might be another way to go. If we can't drive more traffic by selling more games perhaps we can channel more visitors to the TGC website in order to sell more games.

Or instead of having only one website, perhaps the time has come to have a second website, one where submissions are marketed on a pay-per-view basis. Not exactly sure how, but a dedicated promotional only website might be of value.

Another idea I have is special "filters" for searching. Something that randomizes or sorts games such that the displayed results are more balanced. This could be real freaky! Perhaps designers need to opt-in to benefit from this feature. And then maybe you can have the usual pay-per-click (business as usual).

Not exactly...

questccg wrote:
@Seth: that has already been asked for and I believe implemented.

Or you could maybe add a comment to the following:

https://www.thegamecrafter.com/idea/182636CC-B173-11E3-859D-69FA5CEB4EFA...

Or maybe spend 15 Crafter points...

Well this idea is different. This idea is that if you pay a little extra you get special treatment or put on a smaller queue. What I'm suggesting is that smaller orders should always be on a different queue than bigger orders. If my order take 5-10 min to put together does it make sense that I have to wait behind a 1000 copy game that may take several days to fulfill.

Many other retails use this model. If you go to a store you have the 10 items or less lines and the full lines. If things don't change I don't see while I would order small orders from you because they take so much longer, and when I have a bigger order, I might as well stay with the people who do a good job at fulfilling my small orders.

Now, I like TGC. I think you do a good job, but I think a single queue is a little silly. I hope you have tons of success, but until this is changed I probably shop else where.

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