I've got a great game (in my opinion) that has gotten rave reviews from playtesters, enough to where some want to be a part of the future of publishing it (and I'm sure some of the profit...). ;)
My hard spot right now is that the game is averaging 6 hours per game. I've read the board comments on "If the content is right, it doesn't matter how long the game is", but if you have the choice of purchasing one game over the other, you may never try the game if you think you can never dedicate that much time to a game.
It's half way between a casual board game and a wargame, so it could appeal to a mass market with dedicated players, or wargamers looking for some lighter fare for the afternoon. Being right in the middle, though, I'm wondering if I should revise the game down to a two hour game to appeal more to the mass market.
I would have to take out a major part of the play, and revise much of the remaining part, but the core mechanics and hook would still be present. In fact, it would go from a board and card game to just using the card element. (non-collectable)
1) Does anyone have any appreciation for the size of this middle market? I think I'm a typical candidate, since i don't have time for an all weekend wargame, yet I get bored with the common fare out there. I guess I'm the RPG player with a full time job and kids... Is there anyone else out there like me?
2) Does anyone have any marketing trends of board vs. strictly card games? Is there a preponderance of one right now, or a real hole in the market? (again, non-collectable)
3) How about length of time that each market is willing to play? mass-market, wargamer, and middle-of-the-road? Is there any statistical data (like boardgamegeek) on game play lengths?
4) Opinion question here: Should I spend the time to try to revise the game and play both versions? Or should I submit it to a publishing company, and revise it only if I get the "too long" comment. For those of you with publishing companies, in today's video-game-attention-span market, would you take a chance on a 6 hour game?
Any comments are greatly appreciated.
Thanks for the comments.
-I hope it's interesting. I sure think it is.
- Downtime is non-existant if you are being attacked by someone else. If waiting for two player to battle it out, your down time will be 3-4 minutes, where you can be working on your next move, and your next power-up choice.
- The game is highly variable since it all depends on counter-acting your opponent strategies.
- The are many options per turn, and the entire game revolves around player interaction.
- A good player can take the lead, but will have every other player nipping at their heels, with many chances to overtake each other, and with neck and neck finishes between the top contenders common.
- So far, all playtesting has been with family, and friends, some distant, but I will be sending the game to a friend of a friend (someone in the gaming industry) who will be playtesting it as well. That will be an interesting test.
- My local group begs to play it, almost every weekend, even when I would rather be working on the art. My distant friends wanted me to leave a copy with them so they could keep playing, and I've had requests to mail out copies.
- Would I buy it? I probably would, if I read a good review first.
I've done this, and the short version takes out a lot of the options, but lasts 30 minutes. It's just that I would like the full flavor of the game, but think 2 hours might be a better target. I did adjust the rules to speed up the game for one play session, but everyone complained, including myself, that you lose too much of the in-between, and the victory was hollow.
Oh, I'm so confused! Thanks for the quick feedback...