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Tue, 01/03/2017 - 16:34
dsals
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Joined: 01/02/2017

Happy New Years everyone,

My name is David and I live in Salt Lake City, UT. I've been messing around with game development for many years and am finally deciding to get serious about it. Just found this board and am seriously impressed (and a little overwhelmed) by the breadth and depth of resources available here. What a great community!

I pursued screenwriting for some years and get the sense that the game development community is similar in a lot of ways: There's a ton of creativity out there, and opportunities abound but it's not necessarily the easiest to break in. Everyone has an idea for a game, and most people don't understand what it takes to really develop (and produce) a quality one. And my sense is - like with screenwriting - perseverance tends to pay off eventually, but it can take a while. Sound about right?

I've been developing and play-testing a 2-person alternate move strategy board game for several years and am ready to take it to the next stage but unsure exactly what that should be.

I've also got some card games that I'm batting around and an idea for a board game that came to me last night which I'm going to be exploring. I'm looking forward to getting involved with this group and learning and contributing as much as I can.

Cheers,
David

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Tue, 01/03/2017 - 20:53
#1
BHFuturist
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Joined: 11/01/2008
Greetings

Welcome to BGDF!

dsals wrote:
I've been developing and play-testing a 2-person alternate move strategy board game for several years and am ready to take it to the next stage but unsure exactly what that should be.

You are looking for "strategies" for the "path to victory" in the game of "let's design a game!". Wait for someone with more publishing experience to answer! But as food for thought... try:

1. Get the rules as "clear and concise" as you can into a PDF
2. Make the best prototype you can (or have one made)

From there you need to do any/all of the following:

  • Communicate with "willing publishers" with "cover/sell sheets"
  • Join groups like this forum and get the idea circulating.
  • Make a Board Game Geek page for the game.
  • Make a "how to" or "what it is" video with the prototype from above.
  • Send out nice (but low cost) prototypes to well known "reviews" (and hope they take notice)
  • Attend a game or board game convention and pitch your game to people (make appointments with any that you can rather than ambush them)
  • Lunch a Kickstarter once all your ducks are in a row and there is enough built up interest from your online and in person advertising.

YES! Your concept for "how things are" is correct. To have an idea is easy, doing the work to see it realized is only for the hardworking few that are brave of heart!

"Always remember to think outside the box so your games will fit inside!"

-Eamon

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Wed, 01/04/2017 - 20:05
#2
dsals
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Joined: 01/02/2017
Thanks Eamon!

Thanks for the great list of suggestions. I'll start working on them.

Regarding prototyping - I have a very playable prototype and rule book but they use artwork that I don't own (and I haven't been able to get hold of the artist to get permission). Is that okay for a prototype? Or is this the point where I want to start thinking about finding an artist and getting some original art?

- David

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Wed, 01/04/2017 - 22:03
#3
BHFuturist
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It is fine to use art you

It is fine to use art you don't own in a prototype for personal use or even to show a friend.

You do start running into ethical issues with using art you don't own when that prototype is used to "ask for money" in any way at all.

I am not saying just outright selling the prototype (that is bad), but also just "showing" investors or people/companies who might make the game (also bad).

Personal use only - Zero commercial use.

It is just cleaner and safer to convert to "public domain" art if you can, draw the art the best you can, or "hire" the "best" artist you know for cheap (keep in mind you get what you pay for and the time will be longer that you think for them to do all the art, or the artist might loose interest in finishing if they are not a pro)... sidetrack.

It would be just fine to just "insert" text only descriptions in boxes where the artwork goes. A first prototype can be clean looking and light on art, no one (worth anything) that is in this business will "judge" you negatively for not having "pro" art in the first prototype. But make it as nice and clean as you can!

But by the time the game makes it to the "show publishers" stage, at say, game conventions (it would be nice but still not "required") if there was some "place holder" art (that was legal for you to use).

I hope that helps some

-Eamon

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Thu, 01/05/2017 - 02:00
#4
Rick L
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David, I'm originally from

David, I'm originally from Salt Lake as well! I've been in South Texas for the past few years but will be moving back next summer.

I did the same thing as you for my first prototype, using "borrowed" art from the web, which I sent to a cousin in Mapleton for more play-testing. Sometimes, with a disclaimer, you can send something like that as a "mock-up" for a publisher (so I've been told by a friend who has 2 games published by Z-man games!)

Personally, after I sent my first prototype off, I started collecting public domain stuff, labeled for reuse with or without modification, and re-did most of my card art. I uploaded all that to the Game Crafter so I can get a couple nicer copies of my game ready to send out for competitions this year.

My game has a Steampunk theme, so I used a bunch of royalty free archival type photos from WWI for battle cards, a few photoshopped images of textures I photographed, and other textures I came up with messing with Photoshop.

It's been recommended to me to hire an artist to just do one "showcase" piece, like a gameboard or box cover. I still haven't done that yet, but hope to soon.

Hope that helps, or gives you some ideas!

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Thu, 01/05/2017 - 18:40
#5
dsals
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Joined: 01/02/2017
Art

Super helpful, thank you!

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