Hello all, I've finished the design of my first game and created a working prototype using the services of Printer Studio. My game, Lono 15, is a card game that consists of a box design, rules, two decks of cards, tokens, and 4 D10.
I was wondering what the best way to present a PNP? Should I create a PDF with all the card fronts and backs, and rules? Does anyone one have a good example of a PNP for a card based game that they can direct me to?
However only 6% (I believe is the percentage I got from another Designer) of your game's buyers would be willing to take the time and effort in producing a PnP game.
So if you have 100 buyers, only 6 would be willing to take the time in printing/cutting cards for a PnP version.
Like I said, not to discourage you, however the amount of people who are interested in PnP versions is rather limited...
Personally I would feel that 6% is high and that it would be closer to 3% or 4%...
But if you want to offer a *free* game, that is the best option.
And to help you along, most PnP games are created using PDFs, 9 cards per page. Most PnP versions I have seen do not concern themselves with card *backs* (because aligning cardstock in a printer is *difficult*). Having to print only one-sided is the best option for PnP. Player's won't like to print on one side, only to have the other side mess up things (because of aligning problems with their printer - it has nothing to do with your PnP PDF file...)
The other ALTERNATIVE is using The Game Crafter (http://www.thegamecrafter.com/) and price your game at a very inexpensive price point. So if it cost $14 to make, you could price it at $15... Something like that. A low priced game on TGC helps reduce the frustration of having to print and cut cards... Plus TGC cards are professional looking cards (nice printing/colour and die cutting).
You don't print on two sides of the same sheet and hope the printer will align it. You print on two sheets, cut away the margins on at least two sides, then glue the parts together.
But really make second side optional for any pnp. For cards there are protectors with opaque backs to recommend.
But really make second side optional for any pnp. For cards there are protectors with opaque backs to recommend.
I agree with Pelle's assessment. You should give your users the option to print the backs if they'd like or not. Some will just print out the front and use opaque backed card sleeves. Others will print out both sides and put them in transparent card sleeves. It's free so they can't complain about the backs. If they would complain, they're probably not the people printing off PNP games anyways.
Mnay years ago I wrote 2 guides regarding PnP.
The first one is more a pratical guide to physical assembly
http://bgd.lariennalibrary.com/index.php?n=Guide.PrintAndPlayIndex
The second guide is more related to the graphic design of the components:
http://bgd.lariennalibrary.com/index.php?n=Guide.PnPGameDesignIndex
Hope it answer your questions.
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Thanks for the reply. The game would be for free, and possibly feedback from other people playing it other than the people I've played and tested it with. Since it was my first game design, I made it mostly for family and friends to enjoy. Now I think the rest of the gaming community should give it a shot.