Madison, Wisconsin--Sept 1, 2011--The Game Crafter officially announces TGC 2.0, the next generation of its web-to-print game publishing system. Completely rebuilt from the ground up, TGC 2.0 includes hundreds of new features that allow board game and card game designers to take their products to the next level.
“We always knew our success as a company would be determined by the success of the designers in our community,” said JT Smith, The Game Crafter’s CEO. “After analyzing 2 years of community feedback, we found that we could solve most problems by using the latest technology on the web. TGC 2.0 is the culmination of these efforts and we’re excited to see what game designers can do on this new platform.”
At the heart of the TGC 2.0 release is the new game editor. This wizard-like interface simplifies the design process and makes it easy to upload artwork, include rules, choose game parts, and add custom printed components to a game.
The new shop helps visitors quickly find the games they’re looking for. Visitors can now browse through games by thumbnails, search for games using keywords, or filter and sort games by taxonomy. In addition, each game in the shop features a new sales page that’s both informative and visually stunning. Visitors can view the game description, download rules, view action shots, submit a rating/review, and use a variety of social media networks, (Board Game Geek, Facebook, Twitter, Google +1) to spread the word.
“Our goal for TGC 2.0 was to provide better tools and more flexibility for game designers,” said Tavis Parker, The Game Crafter’s Vice President of Marketing. “Better tools allow designers to create higher quality products and greater flexibility expands the range of games that can be produced through our service.”
Game designers have a lot to be happy about with TGC 2.0. Profit sharing for designers has increased from 50% to 70%. In addition, equipment upgrades and software enhancements have allowed for further reductions in cost. Playing cards are now printed 18 per sheet, (instead of 16), and this allows TGC to print a 54-card deck with only 3 sheets of paper. Many game parts have also decreased in cost due to the bulk discounts that TGC 2.0 applies.
Additional new features in TGC 2.0 include:
- Fully Accessible Web Service API
- Streamlined checkout process with guest checkout
- New low-cost international shipping option
- Discounts are automatically applied when purchasing game parts in volume
- Orders are now packaged in professionally printed TGC game boxes
The Game Crafter launched in July 2009 and since that time the community has grown to over 8000 people. Using our website, people from around the world have been able to design and upload nearly 6000 games. Many designers have achieved great success through the The Game Crafter. Matt Worden, owner of Matt Worden Games, created a game called Jump Gate and it was named the “2011 Traditional Game of the Year” in Games Magazine. This was a huge accomplishment for a game that was not being represented by a large game publisher. Other game designers, like Kevin Lanzing (and his game Flash Point: Fire Rescue), were discovered on The Game Crafter and have since signed deals with traditional game publishers. Other products like Rejection Therapy have become a best seller on The Game Crafter and have been featured on prominent publications such as The New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle. Even educational games like Mathino, a card game designed by Oak Norton, have done very well and become best sellers. The success of the community has been amazing so far and the new TGC 2.0 platform will help accelerate this in the months ahead.
The Game Crafter is the world’s first print on demand game publisher with a web-to-print game publishing system. Originally launched in July 2009, the goal was to test web-to-print technology and measure demand for such a service. In the first year, The Game Crafter worked with over 1200 customers to produce thousands of tabletop games and sell tens of thousands of game parts. Today, The Game Crafter remains the leading print-on-demand game publisher and offers the most powerful web-to-print game publishing platform on the planet.
Website:
www.thegamecrafter.com
Press Contacts:
Tavis Parker
The Game Crafter, LLC
pr@thegamecrafter.com
