How to propose my game

Hello Darkwood_Elf and welcome to the forum!

How you should approach a game company depends on the company. Some companies would like you to fill in a form on their website first, while others want you to send a prototype right away. The latter is not very common though! Usually they want to have a look at the rules of the game before requesting a prototype. In case the company doesn't specifically say anything about how you should approach them, you might follow the common procedure. The common procedure for submitting games to a game publishing company is as follows:

- Write an email to the company saying that you made a game that you think is worthy of publication. Most publishers get dozens of such emails every week, so explain what makes the game original/unique/different/fun, why you think they should publish it and that you would happily provide them a prototype of the game if they are interested.

- If you are lucky they are interested in the game and want to playtest it. Send them a prototype of the game. It would be nice if your prototype looks good, but you don't have to spend hundreds of dollars making it. Just make sure that the prototype is complete and playable right out of the box. Also, don't forget to include the rules, and make sure the rules are easy to understand. The main reason why publishers reject most prototypes is because of poorly written rulebooks.

Before contacting any game company, though, make sure you did your research properly. Are there existing games that are perhaps too similar to yours? Is the game up to par with the standard of modern gaming? The http://www.boardgamegeek.com website is a great resource to get an indication of what's hot and not in the current world of boardgames, although you have to take that with a grain of salt as well. Did you playtest the game with different groups of people? Did you playtest the rules? Did you have several successful consecutive plays of the game without any significant rules changes? Does your game fit into the product line of the publisher (ie. don't submit a wargame to a publishers who does children's games, etc)?

Most people tend to send a game to a publisher too early, meaning that the game is a bit too rough and that it should have gone through a bit more development. On the other hand, some designers just keep working endlessly on a prototype, tweaking small things without actually making the game better, but never ever really being satisfied enough with it to send it to a publisher for review. It's a balancing act. If you aren't sure, my advice would be to just go for it and approach a publisher. The worst thing that can happen is getting a "no", which won't do much more than bruise your ego...

Anyway, good luck!