Is LOCATION a problem?

D3nial,

Welcome to the group! In short, I don't see why a company would care particularly where a submission would be coming from, so I don't suspect it would hurt publication chances. Self-publishing may be harder because shipping and such would be more expensive, but there are Australian game companies (look for "Sagacity games" for example), so it can be done.

However, at this point, it sounds like that's putting the cart way before the horse. If you don't yet have playtesters for your games, then you need to solve that first. There are some good posts in the forums about how to start a playtest group. Getting good, reliable, and brutally honest playtesters is the most important thing you can do. You need to playtest your games to death before you even think about taking the next step, and assuming that you're going to emerge with a publishable product is a risky assumption, because it will skew the way you interpret feedback from playtesters.

Take your time, allow yourself to develop as a designer. Be willing to invest a couple of years designing lousy games, so you can learn how to design good ones. And play as many games as you can!

Best of luck to you, and welcome!

-Jeff

I know Don Bone of Sagacity Games hasflown over to Essen the last 2 times (at least).

** OK, this post is only relevant if you were going to self-publish, which you don't seem to be pursuing, but I wrote it before that sank in, so oh-well. **

More than likely, after you do some research and contact manufacturers for quotes, you'll find that the most economical route will be manufacturing in China (or maybe India). So it doesn't really matter where you are located as a "game inventor", if you are able to communicate your game specs in detail to the manufacturer, your costs for production will be the same, and shipping won't vary that much if you are reasonably near a major sea port.

Also, you should consider where your main sales channels will be. If you plan to sell your game only/mostly in New Zeland and Australia, then you can have your games shipped there. But keep in mind that the larger markets are North America and Europe. If you plan to sell your games through retailers that mainly sell goods from those places, you will likely want to have your inventory there as well (you don't want to be shipping hundreds of games half way around the world regularly). In that case you won't be shipping your games to New Zeland, but to the US and/or Europe and warehousing them there.

So although your costs and your success is probably not all that dependant on your location if you plan well, your logistics will likely be a bit more complicated. But as long as you have a phone, email, and can send and receive payments abroad, you should be able to work with a distribution and/or sales rep partner in the US, Canada, and Europe to get your games out there.

Bill