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My future in game design

After I complete Dymino Monsters a game if been working on for 18 1/2 years and 33 other board , card and dexterity games in the the 24 years of my life, I think deep down in my heart it will probably be the last game I'll ever develop. So, 34 games will be my limit. I was striving to develop/ design create what have you, up to 100 games, but I'm okay with 34 games in my portfolio. I will be, hopefully figure out how to get these games self publish one day.

I'm just letting you all know.
I do understand that my games are not for everyone, may it be abstract, thought provoking, makes you laugh , and every thing in between with different emotions, I feel that Dymino Monsters will be my in my mind , heart and soul my last masterpiece that will be self published in the future.

I still have the novels, chapter deck storyline to write, the last 4 production manuscripts to complete. I'm literally 574 prototype index cards left to complete front and back to have my entire collection of 10,971 cards done for Dymino Monsters 2004-2022 and Beyond.

My goal is to sell 500 copies at the most for each and every game I have developed and move on.

Stay tuned for more updates on Dymino Monsters, Beyond The Horizon A Science Fiction Comedy Drama Live Stream Table Read and much more in the future.

Thank you everyone for the ongoing interest in my projects.

Bows respectfully;
Jesse

Comments

TBH ... Even if you PUBLISH ONE (1) Game...

There is nothing to be ASHAMED of... Even if it were the ONLY game you made and Published (Self or otherwise) ... It's quite the process of taking an IDEA and going the distance and TRANSFORMING it into a REALITY! That's what a REAL Game Designer does: goes from Start to Finish. Even if it is his/her only game.

Sure the popularity of the Game Designer or the Game itself may be different and we know successful designers like Reiner Knizia's philosophy on publishing a LOT of games... is what leads to success.

I don't know if this is TRUE or NOT!? Why??? Because I watched a YouTube Video about Pokemon. Pokemon's founder couldn't pay his employees and was NEARLY "Bankrupt" by all standards. But yet the game SOMEHOW "Made-it". It's a Billion dollar Franchise NOW. Considering that people were working FREE and there were very little monies to pay for the continuing of the IDEA/Saga...

So it makes me wonder that how MANY people start from almost nothing and walk away with more than seeing their ideas to fruition ... But also CHANGE the world in some way.

I'm not advocating this method of success... It just feels very REAL. And in many ways I can RELATE to it. The BOTTOM line is that whatever you DO with DOMINO MONSTER, is entirely up to you... If you choose to share it with a limited group of people that is your choice.

However if you thought about RELEASING a First Edition of the Game and all the extras required by it... Maybe you could FIND a Publisher and they could go on and Publish more of the design in FUTURE YEARS!

In any event, the choice is ultimately up to you as the Game's Designer.

But I would shop it around once you flesh-out a "Core" or First Edition!

Best.

You've far surpassed me!

I'm only on Design #3... And I've been doing it for over 10 years. So kudos to you for making more games. But I think my goals are different than your own. I think for you, designing games is something that you enjoy to do but don't feel like you need real-world recognition in terms of the games that you have made.

To para-phrase, you mostly self-publish and play those games with people close to you and family. While that is perfectly acceptable, it doesn't make for a very deep footprint in the Industry which is Game Designing.

I would encourage you to RE-VISIT some of your OTHER designs and re-play them and see if you can may get THOSE designs to be published by a Publisher. Why? Because it means that MORE people will get to play your games and you will get much better accreditation from the public than you will your own friends and family.

Again if this is a HOBBY you may see things in a different light. Which again is perfectly acceptable.

I'm just saying if you want to kick-the-old-tires and see if anything is worth more than a family playtest, maybe you have smaller designs that may be worthy of being published!

Cheers and wishing you the best on whatever road you choose to travel!

And remember: Life's a Journey, not a Destination! (-Aerosmith)

And why is this important???

I just felt that with your 30+ Game Designs ... I'm sure there MUST be 1 or 2 (at least) that Publishers would be interested in publishing! Like I said I'm ONLY on my 3rd Design... And the first one I self-published.

I won't ever be doing that again! It's a mistake. Or should I say produces the WRONG results (IHMO). Why do I say this???

Because for every dollar I invested into the GAME was a LOSS...

I never re-couped anything (in terms of monies) and so TODAY I feel like finding someone to make a few bucks and SELL the design is more of interest. I'm not saying ALL of my designs... Only the 3rd one ATM.

Again why???

Probably like your Domino Monsters, I don't have the FUNDS to make this game a SUCCESS. If I had the TEAM to make a successful Kickstarter (maybe). But I don't ... So some Publishers may want to handle the KS FOR YOU!

That would be good, no???

So maybe you can shop around one of your OTHER Designs and see if you can get some MONIES for it/them. There are several benefits in doing so:

1. Credibility

2. Reputation/Influence

3. Confidence

4. Earn some revenues from a Design

5. Help to realize the VISION of a Design

And I'm sure you can list much more than these too! I wouldn't be ASHAMED to go through your inventory of past Designs and see if some might need some polishing off to be PUBLISHABLE.

Again this is my take... And you don't need to feel like you need to SELL the FARM to pay for Domino Monsters!

Cheers @Jesse!

Take My Money

Just dropping in to say I'll gladly purchase a copy of Dymino Monsters when it becomes available. :)

Take your time with #34!

You've worked SO HARD on Dymino Monsters and now you are talking like you PLAN to Self-Publish it in ONE-SHOT!?

Why do this and RUSH it??? Take your time. Start with a "First Edition" and tease the people who are interested. I know you've done numerous playtests of your game ... But never the ENTIRE project. Divide it up into smaller, more manageable parts and start by releasing ONE (1) of those.

So maybe #34 will lead to #64 after all the editions and such have been sorted and made in TIME... For some reason, your message seems DIRE (a bit) and I hope that this has nothing to do with un-rest or un-happiness.

I think your concept is brilliant! And it deserves some nurturing.

Like I said above, TAKE YOUR TIME ... Do it justice and give the time for people to appreciate #34 to #64...!

Cheers @Jesse, we'll help you out when the time comes (if need be). I'm betting Dymino Monsters will have a DEEP IMPACT when it is initially released and further more will hopefully give you a chance to properly LAUNCH future releases of this Franchise.

Best!

And BTW ...

I think your "First Edition" whatever it is... Could be Self-Published at first and then depending on what people think, there is always the opportunity to find a Publisher AFTER the initial release (for financial purposes). What I mean is that you attempted to bring the first nugget of the game to the world (maybe to those close to you or even online) and again it's no problem to say that the game is too BIG or so EXPANDABLE that you need a Publisher as a Partner to produce the remainder of the game.

Look at TradeWars.

I first Self-Published it on The Game Crafter (TGC) as a 1-Player all-together Player Box. I sold around $800 USD worth of games (I think 34 or 36 people) and it was a bit slow.

But I didn't give up... At that point, I started looking for Publishers and then Tau Ceti was released and I saw that Mike & Stan were interested in publishing Sci-Fi games... So I contacted Joe (@The Professor) who I had already met and ask him to see if Mike & Stan would be interested in TradeWars.

They immediately took a look and said: "Yeah let's do this!"

And Mike did such a wonderful job with improving the Logo, making the Faction Icons, improving the Card Template Layout, Making all the assets for the KS, etc. He was a real Graphic Design Machine... Mike RIP.

So you need to find some smaller publisher that is looking to commit to a long term type of relationship to PUBLISH your ENTIRE Dymino Monsters UNIVERSE with all the various components, books, player mats, etc. And enjoy the JOURNEY!

I don't regret ever publishing TradeWorlds. I do honestly regret that we lost Mike (somehow) and how tragic that really was. But working together during the time we signed the contract and until his passing was time well spent and we did an excellent job in making the game a REALITY.

Make that your next objective: finding a compatible Publisher to handle YOUR design.

Cheers.

Note #1: And this is merely a SUGGESTION, it is of course your game and you will do as you see fit. I'm just trying to BOOST your morale a bit and show you there are OTHER avenues available to you too. What is important is achieving what is in YOUR HEART! Do it because you LOVED designing and making the game... Just don't give up if the first attempt isn't the most successful one.

Some games have like 20+ Publishers with all kind of versions and such...

You don't need to be exclusive either. Make the Publisher work for his right to publish YOUR game.

It is very admirable

That you are still going for the completion.
18,5 years is a long time.
And I myself have something similar in terms of time.

I hope you enjoyed the journey as well.
Just like how I did with my wargames.

But you set your goals right away.
And got so far. Just a few more steps. And you can celebrate the completion. I wishfully hope that it is a succes right away.

Cheers, X3M

I have a LABOUR OF LOVE project too...!

What I mean is that the game is COOL but I'm doing it for a few reasons:

1. I want to showcase how far I have come from the ORIGINAL "Quest".

2. I want to commission more art with one of my artists. And there is a LOT of art to be done. I'm sure he would be more than happy to work on it given that it's a larger sized project.

3. I want the name "Quest CCG" to be synonymous with a COOL game that is original and involves the SPIRIT of that name.

So I understand MASSIVE or HUGE projects. Maybe your 10,000+ cards is similar to my 350 illustrations (and cards).

That's why I get where you are coming from. Us Game Designers are not much different from one and another. We all have struggles with certain designs, we battle to get our games to market, we treat them like our children and want to nurture them to the fullest, etc.

I'm just saying MAYBE(?) your process of doing #34 is the beginning of the NEXT CHAPTER in "Game Design": publishing it. You may want to do it ALONE (and while I respect that ... I know from experience it's a tough road - EVEN when you HAVE the resources and finances ... That doesn't make it a success) and I would recommend that IF you WANT to go that route, SELF-PUBLISH a "fraction" of the game.

Something to TEASE the WORLD: "Here's a BIT of what is possible in my game!"

That's perfect to SELF-PUBLISH because it WON'T cost an ARM & LEG and you might actually ENJOY doing this... Streamlining to some "core/basic/first edition" and then PEOPLE may come to YOU!

But if they DON'T, the journey need NOT end there...

You can approach people with your "core/basic/first edition" and create a SELL SHEET (or have one done with a Graphic Designer) and start showing it HERE on BGDF.com (and we'll comment and help you perfect it...)

And then you can PITCH the project to anyone who wants A LOOK-SEE.

I so WANT you to succeed... It's good for BGDF.com because you are an ACTIVE MEMBER and it shows that dealing with the GOOD folks over here... Helps in making DREAMS a REALITY. All the designers wish you WELL (I'm pretty sure about that...) Look at Steven ... He wants you to take his money! LOL

I think IF you start to think as #34 as the FIRST in a line of products ... #64 will probably become very apparent to you... And you'll be in a DIFFERENT MODE... Bringing it TO LIFE and making it REAL!

I don't know if you have published any of your other designs... I do fully encourage you to TAKE YOUR TIME with Dymino Monsters... No reason to RUSH it. But BE REALISTIC as to what YOU CAN ACHIEVE ALONE and what you can DO with a Publisher (as some kind of partner).

Who knows... Like TradeWars, they may want to Kickstart it... And with the right people, that means the potential to REACH a lot of people who LOVE games.

All that can be figured out in TIME... As you work to figure out HOW you want to be able to make SUSTAINABLE "chunks" of this massive enterprise and universe.

I want to fill you with confidence and know that you CAN find people to work with... I'd personally would love to see a franchise of 20+ expansions. Why? Because I'm like that... I don't want to compete with bullies and jerks. I want to work with people who enjoy their craft and want to help me with my works too. Plus it will take you on a journey that is MUCH different than working at home on your designs...

And believe me ... We all do this.

But when it's time to BRING it to LIFE... That's different and I've done it twice and I'm still learning. The 3rd one will be different too... Another journey, another road to travel. My hope is that this 3rd design doesn't die. That someone will take it and continue to improve upon it, knowing that I cannot financially do so.

So we all have monies issues too... And LABOURS OF LOVE which require so much monies in art & illustrations... There are many of us working with these constraints. Don't feel like you are ALONE... You are NOT.

All this to say... Take baby steps forwards until you catch your stride. Maybe you might have some bad experiences... Try other PATHS and then you can continue to GROW your Franchise.

I wish you nothing but SUCCESS! Cheers @Jesse... I know at times I may seem critical... That's just the way I am. But TBH, I get up every morning for all of you and check what's new on BGDF.com. The community may be small but the list of Published Games isn't so SMALL! We are a larger community than most believe... And if anyone has stepped away from this industry and wants to come back... Start with BGDF.com ... Share with us your renewed interest and passion.

I hope you understand my "ramblings"... There is a whole section RESERVED for Publishing... Hehehe... Plenty of more news, lessons and tales to SHARE!

Something to consider

Stormyknight1976 wrote:
...My goal is to sell 500 copies at the most for each and every game I have developed and move on.

Stay tuned for more updates on Dymino Monsters...

Thank you everyone for the ongoing interest in my projects.

Bows respectfully; Jesse

There are two (2) schools of thought when it comes to Publication:

1. Go with your BEST Design and try to get AS MANY People/Gamers to BUY IT.

2. Start with SMALLER Designs and work your way from a FEW People/Gamers to a LARGER community with more people BUYING into IT.

While 500 might seem like a good GOAL. Maybe not all your designs may fit into that category. There may be unbalance such as POTENTIAL REACH given a design of 18.5 Years as compared to a 1 Month Design...

Where your 18.5 Year-long Project could NET like 10,000+ Supporters and smaller 1 Month Design may yield under 100 or so Supporters.

And so your goals needs to moderated with which of these two (2) schools you would adopt. Not all designs may find people interested in buying. Cherry picking your designs might be a worthy PLAN. And would sort of go into philosophy #2: Smaller designs and grow with larger ones.

But your 18.5 Year-long Project is probably the MOST EXCITING one to publish. And there are people who believe philosophy #1: Hit them with the BEST that you can give them! Is also a plausible alternative.

Your 500 supporters per game could be more in-line with #2.

And it makes me think of projects like P500 where you try to get 500 people to support a project and take it from there. Once you have 500 people interested, you make the game and release it to them!

https://www.gmtgames.com/s-2-p500.aspx

There's a link there to more information on P500 and GMT's publishing methods.

My own take on it is... HIT'EM with a game that is EXPANDABLE! So I encourage option #1 and focus on Dymino Monsters and work on how you plan to RELEASE it to the public.

That's more my take on it. TradeWorlds has already released 3 expansions ALREADY from ONE (1) Kickstarter... There are still three (3) other possible expansions that I have yet to explore in this Franchise...

Anyhow... Whichever you feel is best for you... Follow that journey and see if you need to re-think your goals and aspirations.

Cheers!

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