Well I have finally received news from the Publisher we had contacted for "Tradewars - Homeworld" (WIP). It was good to receive some news about our rulebook and artwork. After four (4) months, we received excellent feedback:
-They are interested in the game and want to play prototypes!
They also said that our preliminary artwork was "Great"... Of course we are happy that this particular Publisher is interested mainly because they deal with Card games.
Our game is also a Card game with dice and wooden parts. The game has a Player mat but NO board.
They also had a series of questions regarding game play and the rulebook. We will be taking a couple of days to review and address each one of these questions.
But things look OPTIMISTIC in terms of progression and interest. We will of course be making arrangements to send a couple prototypes to the Publisher's offices!
Stay tuned! :P
Comments
Great news!
Great to see updates like this here. Glad to see the game is moving along the destined path.
Best of luck the rest of the way!
Luis
Thanks!
This is very good news knowing that the relationship with the Publisher will be continuing forwards! :)
Great
I am glad to hear this Kris. Good luck as you proceed.
Q&A tomorrow
I have spent the last couple of days reviewing the Publisher's e-mail to address the various questions, concerns and comments they had. The rulebook for the game was read by both the President and Lead Game Tester. So we got some interesting questions, concerns and comments.
I'm glad that our submission was taken so seriously and that they are interested in pursuing by wanting to playtest the game.
Comments as I mentioned were on the artwork and specific facets of the game like Role Selection and Starship configuration. Some concerns were runaway leader problems, player elimination, proper game balance, etc. Questions were specific such as the need for dual-sided cards, balanced roles and game strategy.
So that's why I took the time to review the e-mail and give the right amount of time to address the complete content of the e-mail. I also wanted to cover (or talk about) game expansion and how the game could be fresh and new with smaller sized expansion sets that vary the game play.
In any event, I hope to have that big *response* sent out by tomorrow!
It is done
So I sent of my e-mail with the Q&As and as well with some of my comments on certain things such as *expandability*. It was a bit lengthy because there were quite a few questions and concerns that needed to be addressed.
I hope to hear back from them soon... So I can mail them the prototypes for them to play!
Update: Blind Playtesting
Well it turns out the two (2) prototypes have been received and are currently being playtested by a Developer working for the Publisher. They will provide feedback about the game and how well the rules have been written.
Since I have been present at all the playtest sessions (and we had many - since there are 11 versions of the game), this will be the first time that the game will be "Blind Playtested".
I must admit I'm a bit *nervous* - because I don't know how they will perceive the game after having read the rules and seen some of the artwork. All feedback has been very positive up to this point. But the game is solid enough to stand playtesting outside my playtest groups.
We had to introduce new rules to avoid players simply battling each other with the simple goal of destroying each other. These are some of the details that I want to know if the game is rich enough in strategy knowing some rules are designed to *suggest* players play a certain way...
So it's pretty *nerve racking* to know that the fate of the game lies in someone else's hands. I guess I'd would have liked to be a fly on the wall (just to see how the players enjoy the game). But it's "out of my hands" (so to speak) and I'll have to wait for the final verdict!
Nice to hear about the
Nice to hear about the progress! Do you know how long it takes for a publisher to playtest?
Not certain
I have been dealing with this one Publisher since December 2013. They have been very meticulous in taking a detailed look at my rulebook and preliminary artwork. So my guess it will take them some time to playtest (since there are several people involved in the blind playtesting).
What they have told me is that one of their Developers (in-house designer) will be playtesting the game as well as my contact for publication.
So with a few people blind playtesting and they might really want to be thorough because they probably want to see if the game is well balanced, things that could need to be improved, rules that might need to be changed, etc. They are really looking into the game to determine if this is a game they are willing to invest in for Publication.
It's a process as you know. It's not instantaneous.
However I have heard of other designers that demo-ed their game at a conference and the people who playtested the game really like it and they said they would have a contract within a month. But I don't think that's the norm... He's a pretty lucky guy.
But I'm not complaining, I'm happy they are seriously taking a good look at the game and rules... It's very gratifying and a blessing that the game is getting reviewed by the Publisher.
moving forward
That's great. Hopefully all will be well and many checks will be heading your way.
I'll be happy if they choose the game!
If they decide to Publish that will be great. There is still a lot of things that need to happen before this occurs.
I know I will need to make some "deal", if I want the artwork to be accepted. I know the average budget and there will need to be some negotiation on that side. I think my artist is great and can do real cool work - but we need to see how we can *smooth* things out!
Again that's assuming that information I got is 100% accurate. It might be wrong and people (as in Publishers) have completely different budgets...
We'll cross that road once we reach it...