This is my first time making a game and I am unsure of who to make the prototype. Any suggestions?
Where should I get my prototype from
Mon, 12/11/2017 - 18:38
Mon, 12/11/2017 - 19:03
#1
Valuable information
There are lots and lots of valuable information here on bgdf to research from.
You can check out Www.thegamecrafter.com.
Or BlueOrange Games
Bicycle Playing Card Company
Mitten Games
Green Couch Games
360manufacterservices
Print On Demand
Rpgdrivethru.com
Topps.com
Ask my friend Grant Johnson at WaywardTravlr Productions on facebook.
These are but a few I have on my list of contacts and for research for later.
Hope this helps you out in some small way.
Creator of Dymino Monsters
Founder of Twineagle Graphics Independent Game Studio
Stormyknight1976
Jesse
Mon, 12/11/2017 - 19:45
#2
We manufacture about 100,000
We manufacture about 100,000 games per year for game designers like you.
https://www.thegamecrafter.com/publish/products
Our community of over 160,000 people are happy to collaborate with you in our chat system, and our support staff are happy to help whenever you are struggling.
Mon, 12/11/2017 - 20:51
#5
^^^ This is TRUE ^^^
"The Game Crafter"'s (TGC) Customer Service is awesome. Plus they have so much to offer "Game Designers"... All their custom parts ... all amazing.
You have Boards, Boxes, Booklets, Cards (Decks), Dice, Mats, Screens, Shards, Stickers and Custom Tiles (Punchouts).
Everything you need to create a "real nice" prototype. Almost as good as final product quality (in commercial production) - which is a bit more custom but requires a MOQ of 500 - 1,000 units.
TGC allows you to BUY only ONE (1) Game. And it's reasonably priced (especially for one-off production).
Super-fantastic-awesome for "prototypes" too! (Oops I mentioned that already) LOL TGC is a great service...
Tue, 12/12/2017 - 13:49
#6
Generally speaking, if you
Generally speaking, if you just multiply all your card-sized (or smaller) components by 10 cents it will give you a good ball park.
To give you an accurate quote you'd need to put it into our system as we offer lots of different discounts based upon volumes and such. For example, if your 50 cubes are all the same color, they'll be cheaper than if they are all different colors.
Also the sizes of the cards and the cubes will make pricing differences. So the 10 cent multiplier gives you the super quick and dirty estimate, while entering it into our system will give you an accurate estimate.
Tue, 12/12/2017 - 18:07
#8
Basics
This is my first time making a game and I am unsure of who to make the prototype. Any suggestions?
Congratulations on designing a game!
You have some great ideas and suggestions from others, but I feel I just need to go off track a little bit here with a question...
How much have you playtested your game so far?
It's not clear from your post if you have "designed" a game and want to make a nice prototype for playtesting with, or if you have done a load of playtesting and development and you want a nice prototype to use for pitching to publishers, sending to previewers prior to Kickstarting, etc.
If you have not extensively playtested your game, I strongly recommend that you use whatever technology you have available to make a rough prototype and do a few rounds of playtesting to find the major problems in the game before you expend too much money on components that will inevitably need changing.
By "whatever technology..." I mean anything from using sharpies to write on regular playing cards or index cards, to using software of your choice and printing files on your home printer and cutting them out by hand. And plundering components from other games you have wherever possible. You don't need art at this stage (or just use clip art, etc) or fancy card backs, or custom tokens, you just need to be able to see if the game works how you want it to. When it does, then you can make a nicer version.
Of course, if you have already done something like this, then please accept my apologies for wasting your time! :)
Either way, good luck!
Tue, 12/12/2017 - 22:59
#10
Check out this company
Liso Toys. Its based in Hong Kong. Definitely check out the website. They work on 3d miniatures, board game designs, action figures and a whole lot more.
The director just sent me a friend request on Fb this evening. Thats cool because it is legit.
Wed, 12/13/2017 - 07:06
#11
Playtesting
At this point I've made about 10 versions of my game on index cards with like 200 cards for every version :). It's pretty refined but I still have had pretty much no one playtest it except my family and friends. Do you have any suggestions about how I can get it out for mass playtesting?
Awesome! The reason I went on about this was that we very often see new designers asking about production, marketing, etc, when they have a game that has never been player. You are clearly well ahead! :)
Playtesting is hard to get organised. How hard depends on where you live and how you hussle. I live in a small town and have a few people locally who I get together on a semi-regular basis to test games, but that has taken me a couple of years to get where I am and it is not as much testing as I would like. It is probably easier in a city.
I live in the UK and we have an organisation called "Playtest UK" which is a network of game designers who get together in various cities to playtest each other's games, and I manage to travel to one of these events approximately once a month. This is *really* useful, not just for having playtests, but also for learning from other, more experienced designers. If you are able to find some sort of game design group near where you are, I really recommend getting in touch with them.
I am also slowly building up a network of contacts from going to conventions. Some of these people have volunteered to help with remote playtesting. I have not made much use of them yet, but am planning to move more on this very soon.
Overall, as I say, it can be very hard to get enough playtesting done, particularly if you don't know a lot of keen gamers who like playing unpublished games. I think that the key is to be nice to people, show your appreciation for them helping you, make it easy for them to help, and be patient and recognise that there is no quick fix.
Good luck, once again!
Thank you soo much! This looks amazing! and I will definently look into it for my game! Also how much would a game with 250 cards and 50 plastic cubes cost