Right now, I have a compelling design for this game. It has a lot of "technical" challenges for the Players and is pretty SOLID as a "concept" alone.
What I mean is that I don't YET have a prototype to PLAYTEST the game. So all of the though has been put into the "concept" and I LIKE the overall outcome of this mental exercise.
It has "tight" mechanics and makes sense as a "whole" too.
But my problem lies in how to make this project "profitable"... While The Game Crafter offers great value with Poker Cards and allows for randomization too... The price point in USD is a killer when converted to Canadian funds. $4.17 USD @ 80 Packs is not that bad. However if you do some number crunching, Retail is +50% wholesale or maybe +40% (a bit lower), you still get a price point in the $10 CAD range. Now if it is carried in stores, you need to ADD taxes (another whooping +15%) brings the cost of ONE booster pack to something like $12.00 CAD.
That's a joke. $12.00 CAD for ONE (1) Booster pack... Unimaginable. Nobody would pay so much and in no way does it make the project feasible.
And so... I am still working on finding a WAY to make this game DO-ABLE!
Comments
Also don't think I am "focusing" on profitability
No that's not really true: what I am focusing on is SUCCESS of the Brand! If the game is to succeed there needs to be a PLAN for Go-To-Market. Meaning that the game needs to be able to be BOUGHT in FLGS around the world (or at least the USA and Canada). Otherwise even with a SUCCESSFUL KS campaign ... There is no way to get the product into stores and make some profit while offering a reasonable price like $6.99 CAD + 15% Tax. Which means about $8.00 CAD in the end. Not TOO BAD!
Again it's all about SUCCEEDING in the market. A KS campaign might be able to FUND the game and all its artwork (which is AMAZING!) But it doesn't make for a successful Brand (which needs to be selling IN-STORES).
Maybe I am focusing on the wrong things, but from my own perspective with the First Edition of the game being a near total loss... I know NOW that there are ways to "Go-To-Market" which are imperative... If you want your game to survive and be played by gamers around the globe.
Cheers!
After some discussion on Facebook...
I have come to the conclusion that my "Magic Number" equals 9.
How so??? Well it just means that given a 54 cards/sheet that goes well into counts of nine (9) cards. As such my Common cards will be 18 per Class followed by my Uncommon cards which also will be 18 per Class followed by my Rare cards which will be 9 per Class.
Using this distribution, the total amount of Boxes is three (3) with 36 Booster Packs each (ATM). Which equals 108 Booster Packs (3 x 36).
That's what seems to work. I'm not sure I am 100% comfortable with the randomness of the distribution, I mean 3 Boxes and you get all combos of cards. Not really that great... But it's what I have (ATM).
Again more thought will be put into this Project... And this is quite a ways to go before... I can even wrap my head around this Project!
Cheers.