PRODUCTION DISASTER: HELP

From the little information you provide is hard to tell who exactly is responsible.

I work as a graphic designer, and through the years I've seen lots of this situations. The usual and safer way to avoid this from happening si for the client to sign an aproved proof (usually an inkjet or color laser print) before anything goes to the printer. That signed proof frees the designer from any responsability (it is YOUR responsability to check EVERYTHING is OK), and passes the burden to the printer, who should match that proof.

I know this might sound as bad news for you, but it's the best advice I can provide. :-(

Seo

It sounds like you DID try to fix the proof, so if it didn't get fixed, seems like the printer might have made a mistake. If the proof were not offcenter then I think that supports it.

I don't really know how dealings with printers go, but I would think you need to go to the printer with a copy of the proof and a sample of the finsl product and show them the problem.

- Seth

Yikes! That's definitely a bummer. Your story reminds me of an article I read by Jim Doherty of Eight Foot Llama games. The article is here. The salient section:

I think you're on pretty stable ground sending the cards back and insisting that the cards be printed to your original specifications. Of course, I think you've lost some of your leverage by paying up front, and I'm not sure why you had to do that; I'm not at all experienced in this area but it just seems like it would be normal that not all of the money would change hands until the job was done. Still, a reputable company should recognize that it's in their interest to do the job to your specs if they haven't done so the first time through, and as long as you can document that they have failed to do so, you should be on pretty stable ground.

By "design company", do you mean a game design company (like MJS Creations or GamesPlayUK, eg) or do you mean a graphic design company?

Hmm, you must have spent more time in the production forums than I have; I definitely couldn't name a single company that I could say has been "highly recommended" on the site (or, for that matter, a company that has been highly panned).

I think that a general guideline is probably in order, although it comes too late to help you, I guess. This site is a gathering place for designers, and if you need help balancing a combat mechanic or being told not to worry about copyright, we're great for that. Publishing a game is a major financial decision, and you shouldn't construe the responses that people post in the forums to constitute advice that you should follow and base thousands-of-dollars decisions on. Moreover, today is the first time we've heard from you, so clearly you haven't asked questions on the forums about the design company you used; did you contact the people who recommended the company off-line, ask many specific questions about their experiences, ask the company for references, chase those down and verify that those clients had good experiences, get samples of the company's work, etc?

I don't like the implication in your post that it's somehow the site's fault that this happened to you. I understand that you're frustrated, and I do sympathize with your predicament. But finger pointing is not going to help you now. (Neither is my giving you a hard time, of course). It sounds like it's either the fault of the design company or the printer or both. They are the only ones who can make the situation right. I really hope that they choose to do so; at an ethical level, they really ought to.

Best of luck.

-Jeff