*COVERS FACE* Board Game vs. App/Software - Profitability?

Would your app be multi-player or single player vs AI? That affects both the programming and the game length since AIs should play faster than humans.

On the surface the play length (45-90 mins) seems to be at odds with the target demographic (9-13 years). The strange thing is kids will spend hours and hours playing the same mindless sequence over and over (e.g. first person shooters), but ask them to spend an hour playing a board game with real humans and they don't have time for it. If you had a single player vs AI version of the app you might be able to bring the play time down. Or even a multiplayer version of the app might be faster than the tabletop version if it cuts down on physical manipulation of components.

Regards,
kos

Don't get into games for the dough. There is very little money in making games and usually you'll be throwing money away.

Keep in mind, I've worked on both video games and board games professionally. I know the Ramen diet well.

Anyways, there are advantages to both apps and going with a publisher for tabletop game.

Apps:
Pure profit. There are no costs to manufacture the item and no publisher to take the whole pie. This means that even a 99 cent app will pay you a good chunk of change.
In addition, there are very few requirements that go into building it so that it's relatively easy to do.

But A MAJOR NEGATIVE is that it's a competitive space and you need to do all the marketing yourself. Last I knew, something like 99% of apps lose money.

Board Game Publisher:
The advantage to a publisher it that they know the industry, the manufacturers and they have an established reputation. With a publisher involved you are FAR more likely to get sales.

But, the profits will be crap. Unlike an app-store game, you won't be anywhere near 70% royalties. You'll be getting a minuscule fraction of the profits.

But again, tiny percentage of some sales will exceed %100 of no sales. Publishers are expensive, but they have experience that will benefit you.

- - -

My personal opinion is that you're creating a game that parents will want to play with their kids. Apps are generally played by a single person and that'll lose alot of the "family" appeal.

I'd send the game to publishers to see if you can get a bite. They are likely know whether a market exists for the game you've created. If they don't, they'll can
give you some hints on how to make it marketable.

While you won't get much money out of it, you won't be responsible for marketing it alone. Their knowledge will help you get started in the industry.

Eventually, you'll have your own audience and platform to self market, but it's MUCH harder than it sounds.

Ian Richard

...Really? Come on, man.

Do you think there would even be an online game if Alan Moon's physical design wasn't already popular to begin with?

TtR is a popular game because it is a good, accessible design, Alan Moon partnered with an excellent publisher and (let's be honest) it won the market lottery. The fact that it has a digital version now is not why it moved units.