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Article on up and coming game designers...

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Anonymous

Something I have been kicking around...

To kind of increase exposure to the boardgame companies for new designers that are trying to break in... I was thinking about writing an article or two showcasing new designers and their creations.

I'm taking a short hiatus from writing until some things get worked out... but when I return, this was one of the ideas I was kicking around.

But first, I want to see want the interest is from the people (you guys/gals) who would supply me the fodder to potentially write about the subject?

Is it something this community would be interested in? If so, why and how would it be beneficial? And excluding my own preference biases for a moment, there is also the problem of logistics...

Ryan B.

Dralius
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Article on up and coming game designers...

I would certainly be interested in seeing any article that would bring publishers and designers together without a middleman (agent/broker). This brings up Protospiel; what would be most beneficial to the game design community is anything that would encourage publishers to attend this meeting if only for one day. So far only one publisher has had the foresight to go where the designers are to help encourage, direct them and dispel myths about getting published. This also gives the publisher a smorgasbord of games to pick from if they are looking for the new and different.

If you’re interested in writing about Protospiel let me know. I am helping organize it this year but I’ll probably put you in touch with Mike Petty since he is the one of the founders and has a vision for its true potential.

Anonymous
Protospiel etc.

Some of you may have seen Rick Thornquist's announcement on BGG. Any potential article would reside there, so I would think an aspiring game designer would have an opportunity at some pretty good exposure, perhaps?

But seriously, for all of you new game designers out there, the extent of interest in garnering some press for your creations so far is just one person?

Wow.

I can certainly look into protospiel, but I have to admit I am cooling on the whole idea at this point.

Dralius
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Article on up and coming game designers...

I am certainly surprised you were not flooded with designers stepping up to bat for this one. I would be more that happy to talk about designing in general or any game that I have already made public including those listed at my website on the in the works list as long as they are not currently being offered to publishers.

Come on folks, i know that there is a huge amount of talent here. No need to be shy about it.

Brykovian
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Article on up and coming game designers...

I completely missed this post (seems to be happening a lot for me over the past couple of months).

I'd be very happy to help you out in any way on this type of topic. I agree with David in that covering/promoting the Protospiel, Pow Wow, and other regional designer get-togethers would likely give you some very good material.

Have you talked with any publishers about if they'd find this type of "profiles of the up-n-comers" articles to be worthwhile from their viewpoint?

-Matt

jwarrend
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Article on up and coming game designers...

I think the idea of an article about "up and coming designers" is a good one, but the concern I would have would be the validity of an article where the designers are self-nominated. To me, it depends on the angle you take as a writer; if it's along the lines of a human interest story about some designers who are trying to break into the business, that's well and good, but if it takes the perspective of "hey, games industry, these are the guys to watch!", I don't think that claim can be sustained without the writer playing some of the games, etc (not that I'm trying to create more work for you!).

Also, as a general rule, one shouldn't necessarily take silence as lack of interest; the weekend is a particularly slow time on this site. I'm sure you'd get lots of interest and cooperation when you begin the endeavor; perhaps if you could be more specific with what you'd be looking for from designers?

Good luck with the project, it does sound very interesting!

-Jeff

Anonymous
Article on up and coming game designers...

I had earlier talked about logistics as an issue. It was precisely addressing the concern you stated... which is making sure there is validity where the designers are self-nominated. The logistics part comes in truly finding a way to flesh out designs, so we know if a project or designer is really "up and coming." I know some game company heads that are located down here in Florida... they probably would be willing to help me if I asked.

BTW, I like the idea of "designers trying to make it" as a human interest story. I tend to focus on personalities in my game writing as opposed to the games themselves. In this case, however, I want to help new & aspiring game designers in obtaining tangible recognition that they may not otherwise get.

Dralius has some good ideas in my opinion and he has set me thinking. So we'll see. I'm glad to see a few people are now recognizing this as an opportunity. As for the speed of response, I think Dralius put it best, so that is my response too. Right now, I very general in what I am looking for because it is too early to be pigeon-holed at this point. Again this is an exercise in determining initial interest. If it looks good, I can make something happen. I'm pretty confident about that.

Someone also asked me (I think it was Matt) if any publishers would find "profiles of the up-n-comers" articles to be worthwhile from their viewpoint?

I think "helpful" is the better term. To further answer that question, I'm sure publishers show up here from time to time to see what you all are doing. Boardgame journalists take a peek here too. Publishers are gamers and fans of games at heart... they read game news, blogs and opinions about games they want to buy... the same as all of you do.... the same as what I do. Anything that will help a publisher perk their interest in something game -related can't be bad, right?

Potential game designers should always assume someone might take a look at their work at any time and be ready, willing and open-minded... if and when an opportunity arises. But that's just my informal opinion of how I would operate if I was a game designer. I'm an aspiring game publisher myself... but that plan is far, far down the road to be essentially inconsequential to these discussions.

My formal opinion, having contact with many publishers in business now, is that I would say that anything that helps them in grabbing their attention is going to be helpful for them in sorting through the wheat from the chaff.

Personally, I have seen some good potential in designs being floated around here... one game in particular looked very good. So much so, it actually inspired me to think about helping the community here out. I thought why should all the Alan Moon's, Reiner Knizia's and Bruno Faidutti's have all of the fun? (LOL)

At the same time, just understand that these guys are the best in the business and deserve ALL of their news and plaudits... so if I were to undertake something like an "up and coming designers" article... the product needs to be polished and worthy of mention. That would be my main requirement.

Ryan B.

PS. I tend to do my edits for spelling etc. AFTER I post on forums like this... so I apologize in advance if the wording changes slightly.

markmist
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Article on up and coming game designers...

Ryan,

I sent you a PM concerning your request. Just so it is clear in my head and other designers here, are you looking for someone that has designed finished products (games that have completely playtested and are submission ready?), or would you consider someone that has some designs that are playtested to a degree, but are still in the midst of the design process?

Your comment that the product be polished and worthy of mention is a little vague. If one of my games is not these things yet - it is very very close (I hope).

Also, since I am local we can meet and talk about this. Maybe we can set up a playtest to see how far along I really am. Send me a PM.

Thanks,
Mark

Anonymous
Definition of polished

Mark wrote me on PM to say:

"My definition of a finished product is something that is completely done... being playtested and the designer deems it ready for submission or publication (whether they do that or not)."

Folks, that is as good of a definition as any. The art doesn't have to be great or even finished; just playable. But the design has to be finished, however.

seo
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Article on up and coming game designers...

That's exactly why I didnt respond before. I found the idea extremely interesting, but I don't have any finished (or nearly finished) design, so I don't think the offer applies to me. Maybe many people is in the same situation.

Seo

Anonymous
Article on up and coming game designers...

Seo,

Thanks for the important input. I would just say that even if I undertook the article, that it would, of course, not be written immediately. Perhaps in three to six months, perhaps. The idea would be to give interested designers a chance to "polish" their creations so they would be enabled to submit.

If I did such a thing, I would have a panel to assist... my own opinion alone is hardly an effective criteria to judge by. I merely would write the article and lay out the base criteria beforehand. In fact I have put out feelers for a panel and I already have an affirmative response. Speaking of ideas: perhaps we publish just ahead of one of the major conventions so those so-noted individuals have press to leverage in conversations with publishers.

As to my earlier comments, I apologize if it all sounds too vague but it is an idea in progress... am still trying to guage potential general interest. Hopefully this helps clarify things just a little bit.

Anonymous
Article on up and coming game designers...

Hi,

this BGG geeklist might be interesting for you:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist.php3?action=view&listid=11140

Best Regards
Heinrich

Anonymous
Upcoming game designers

Definitely an interesting post.

slam
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Article on up and coming game designers...

Also see This Thread

Triktrak
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Article on up and coming game designers...

Thanks for the interesting topic and posts. I do think some people would crown themselves up-and-coming game designers without a real case for it. In fact I would like to nominate myself. Seriously, I like the BGG criteria, and think it's a pretty good standard to use.

Once a game hits a certain number of ratings on the geek it gets on the radar screen. It seems that the real problem for many of the self publishers is getting enough people to rate their games, even though many are available for free download. The cause of this is probably two fold.

1) Advertising
2) People tend not to value things that are free.

What we could do to help each other is make it a point to play and rate each other's finished games. If a game is indeed very good and has the ratings to be recognized, there should be little problem in getting more people to take a look and try it.

If we can coordinate this, we also have to be careful of revenge ratings, and ratings that are too chummy.

Dralius
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Article on up and coming game designers...

Triktrak wrote:
What we could do to help each other is make it a point to play and rate each other's finished games. If a game is indeed very good and has the ratings to be recognized, there should be little problem in getting more people to take a look and try it.

I would love it if I could get some more ratings for my game Cannon on BGG. It can be played for free at www.superdupergames.org . I know this is likely to bring the rating down since it has mostly been rated by abstract games enthusiasts who are more inclined to give this sort of game a high rating. With that in mind I welcome the input and exposure.

Triktrak
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Article on up and coming game designers...

I will download it, print it out and play it soon. I have a friend who is very much into abstract games, so I will wait till he is available since he may be able to point out it's strengths and weeknesses better.

Anonymous
Slam's note...

slam wrote:
Also see This Thread

Slam, thanks for this. I plan on coming back to this topic soon now that we have www.boardgamenews.com up and running.

Ryan B.
www.boardgamenews.com

phpbbadmin
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Re: Slam's note...

Ryan37 wrote:
slam wrote:
Also see This Thread

Slam, thanks for this. I plan on coming back to this topic soon now that we have www.boardgamenews.com up and running.

Ryan B.
www.boardgamenews.com

Ryan,

Great to see your site online. Hopefully you can fill some of the void left by the recent closings of Gone Cardboard and The Games Journal .

-Darke

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