So you want to be a tabletop game designer…
4While many of my blogs go into the details of how to do things right once you have a clue or you already have a start on your game, they fail to answer a common question I’m asked: “Where… Read more ›
PnP Pingpong: A lesson in freebies?
11Recently we created a couple surveys (see data below) to help us understand the value of a print and play version of our games with regard to how people back and purchase our games. But first let’s cover a few basic things:… Read more ›
Games Designers Play
2When I’m explaining a new game to someone, many times I find myself saying things like: “It’s simultaneous role selection that you can share, like Race for the Galaxy” or “This part of the game is much like the auction… Read more ›
Dammit Jim, I’m a Publisher, Not a Lawyer
3The topic of law, contract, liability, and protection comes up over and over. So I’m writing this blog to point people to when they ask in the future. If this is you: “Wow, I’ve got a great idea! I wonder if… Read more ›
Dead Men Tell No Tales
17Well I’m not dead yet, so I have a tale to tell… We recently completed our 14th Kickstarter campaign for Dead Men Tell No Tales (DMTNT) and we did some things differently this time. Our campaign was a huge… Read more ›
To CCG or not to CCG? That is the question.
10Every month or so I run across another miss-guided designer making a CCG (Collectible Card Game or Trading Card Game). So again, I’m writing a blog so I don’t have to repeat myself all the time. Let’s be clear,… Read more ›
Post Mortem – I’m not dead yet!
9This post is going to be part documentary, part educational, part advice, and part apology to our Kickstarter backers. Minion Games was utterly unprepared to fulfill the logistics and customer service needs of the numerous Kickstarters we successfully funded… Read more ›
Alien – First Contract
3First let’s get this right out in the open… No one is going to “buy” your game or pay you a lump sum of money for what you’ve done so far. If you wish your game to see the… Read more ›
Hitchhiker’s guide to Game Distributors
1My post about Manufacturers was very well received and I got a request to do one about distributors. I do get asked from time to time to provide this info anyway, so I might as well make a page… Read more ›
Hitchhiker’s guide to Game Manufacturers
12I’ve personally used half a dozen Manufacturers over the last few years making our dozen or so games. I will share my personal thoughts / opinions below on these companies. But I have also contacted other publishers to get their… Read more ›
Now what the hell am I to do?
9So your Kickstarter is over and it was successful… now what? DO IMMEDIATELY Hopefully right before your campaign ended you remembered to update the story page with your home page URL and last minute info on how to order your product… Read more ›
Facebook Pages & Groups
6There are other places to get help on the internet like the BGG design forums or the BGDF, but I’ve found this year that Facebook has served me well. I personally run 3 or 4 groups/pages but there are… Read more ›
In The Face of Reality
13There comes a time when you realize your Kickstarter campaign isn’t going to make it… realizing that point and dealing with it is what this article is about. I have studied and talk to many campaigns that had failure in… Read more ›
Trimming the Fat: Board Game on a Diet
2A common problem in board game production is how can you control product production costs. One of the most critical things you can do to have a successful reboot of a failed Kickstarer is to bring the overall goal down.… Read more ›
Game Design for Dummies
9So, last weekend I drove to Ann Arbor, MI with Matt Loomis and Dustin Oakley where we attended Protospiel.org. We helped a lot of designers with their games. On the way home we complained a bit about how at this and… Read more ›
O Reviewer, Reviewer wherefore art thou!
12I run a Facebook group with over 4000 designers and run several prototype events throughout the year at http://www.Protospiel-Milwaukee.org , http://www.UnPub.net , and major conventions like GenCon and BGG.CON – I also run this blog about game design and… Read more ›
Indie No Go
15IndieGoGo.com versus Kickstarter.com UPDATE: At bit under half way we are treading toward $60k and have earned over $26k with over 700 backers so far – how can anyone dispute the power of Kickstarter over any other site? There are… Read more ›
Please Don’t Pee in the Sandbox!
3Don’t Pee in the Sandbox… I have worn many hats in my days, from retailer to publisher, from designer to project manager, from e-book distributor to Kickstarter fulfillment, from trainee to consultant. I decided I’d share some of the knowledge… Read more ›
The Enlightened Path to Virtual Popularity
9The Enlightened Path to Virtual Popularity I’ve seen many great looking games or great ideas just languish on Kickstarter and they really did a good job with their campaign page. So what went wrong? In almost all these… Read more ›
Myth Busters – Kickstarter Referrer Page?
14Myth Busters – Kickstarter Referrer Page? REFERRALS I am in the unique position of having run many Kickstarter campaigns myself and knowing personally two other prolific publishers that use Kickstarter. So I reached out to 9 Table… Read more ›
Courting a Game Publisher – DO’s and DON’Ts
21Courting a Game Publisher – DO’s and DON’Ts Believe it or not, there is an etiquette when submitting your game to Publishers. Publishers receive many submissions and just like submitting a resume for a job, the simplest things can… Read more ›
Kicking & Screaming
19Kickstarter Checklist This guide was created to help people avoid the pitfalls of, and run, a successful campaign for a card or board game through Kickstarter. Kickstarter is like a mall, the worlds biggest, they bring the customers to… Read more ›
Myth Busters – Board Game Designers episode
5I get asked the same questions a lot and I see post after post resurface on forums about some common topics. So I thought I’d get on the pedestal again and preach. In many cases the answer is specific to… Read more ›
10,000 Feet to Publishing a Board Game
23So you want to start a board game company? I could go into a page of details of each of these bullet points below (and maybe I will in the future), but for now I wanted to just take… Read more ›
Exclusive Deals Suck!
5So in 2012 hobby game stores saw a lot of growth in the board game realm. MTG is also up. We saw a new show hosted by Wil Wheaton bring some people into our hobby world. Things should be going… Read more ›
Some Useful Kickstarter Links
0Kickstarter Best Practices group on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/138469072961355/ Card & Board Game Designers Guild https://www.facebook.com/groups/320445024722916 Crowdfunding Google+ Group https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/118380390691616458392 BoardGameGeek Kickstarter Forums: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/forum/915012/kickstarter/general http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/746926/kickstarter-announcements-thread Quora kickstarter category http://www.quora.com/Kickstarter Funding the Dream podcast: http://www.buzzsprout.com/4646 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epvJtKthsCo&feature=youtu.be KickstarterHQ and the affiliated pod cast: http://kickstartershq.com… Read more ›
Kickstarter Conversations – Hegemonic Interview
0(REPOSTED FROM KICKSTARTER CONVERSATIONS) Welcome back to another Kickstarter Conversation! This time I am joined by James Mathe of Minion Games who has brought us a new board game for Kickstarter called Hegemonic. Thank you for joining us today… Read more ›
Board games by the numbers: what it costs to Kickstart, produce, and ship a new game
0(REPOSTED FROM PENNY ARCADE) Minion Games has just launched a new Kickstarter campaign for their upcoming board game Hegemonic. That’s not very newsworthy. What is impressive is the fact that this is the company’s sixth Kickstarter campaign, and they’ve finished and shipped a board… Read more ›