Do you have advice for a card game developer?

edited in Questions and Answers
I am in the process of developing a few card games and I am looking for the least-expensive way to get them published when they are done.
Finding a local publisher would be great.

Any advice regarding this would be highly appreciated:)

Comments

  • I've used https://www.thegamecrafter.com/ before, and @Tuism has told me about http://www.drivethrucards.com/

    I'm sure there are others. These aren't local, and I'm not sure how @Tuism's suggestion works, but TGC has an online store, where you get something like 70% per sale.
    Thanked by 1Jurgen
  • Thanks @Denzil. I'll look into it:)
  • edited
    Publishing any physical work is a huge obstacle generally speaking, as it represents a big risk in putting in money into:

    1. Art + design (easily underestimated, but is a huge thing)
    2. Printing + materials (the more you print the cheaper per unit, the more you print the bigger the upfront cost)
    3. Warehousing
    4. Distribution (shipping is not a simple matter of paying postage as without a plan your price is driven up considerably)
    5. Channel
    6. Marketing
    7. Supoprt

    I may have missed some stuff above. So now the question is - what's your goal for publishing, and what can you leverage off of? Also, how sure are you that it works is is awesome?
    get them published when they are done.
    Do you know when "done" is? How do you know? How much testing and feedback have you gotten? This is key as no matter how "good" something is, if noone else thinks so it matters little, and I don't mean noone else thinks so as in because your game is bad, I mean noone else thinks so because noone else has seen it.

    At the very least, you needed to put it in front of strangers to playtest. As many as you can muster, not just friends.

    That's where Print and Play is super important - release it online into the wild, boardgamegeek is particularly good for this, and see what the response is like. Tweak and change. Respond. Even if there's nothing to tweak, involvement = hype = marketing. You need that.

    Here's a list of resources for boardgame designers:
    http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/933849/designers-resources-list

    A list of resource for self-publishing:
    http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/322382/game-design-self-publishing-resource-game-designer

    The topic is very big, if you're interested we can meetup or something :) I'm also part of a local boardgaming group on meetup.com (http://www.meetup.com/Board-Games-Joburg/) and go to various boardgame meets (wednesday night at animeworx for example). Having people to playtest is super important. And no it's not easy.
  • Thanks for sharing that @Tuism :)

    @Jurgen Share your prototype with us.

    The one thing I have learnt through boardgame/cardgame development is art is last. Tuism is the exception here as he's a designer anyway, but for the rest of us plebs, leave that to the end. There's no point printing out beautiful cards on expensive card with great design only to find that the cards need to be redone and the board needs rethinking.

    At least one of my projects never got finished because I rushed to get it looking good - and now it's this awkward brainchild that's half developed that I'm pretty sad about, and I feel like I can't go back to the drawing board with it to redesign after all the work the designer put in.
    Thanked by 1Jurgen
  • What, no. Art is LAST. The only time art comes first is if you're A) Making REALLY SIMPLE ART or B) you're making something so simple that you need art to attract people C) You're already known for doing art first and making simple games.

    I've not done any art for Cartel or any of the card games I've designed. Art takes a LONG TIME. And that's most likely time wasted until you're sure where everything goes.

    Art = black and white stuff cut out sleeved so it's playable.
    Board = big piece of cardboard with stuff drawn on.

    Don't ever try to art before your mechanic is solid. DON'T DO IT.
  • @Tuism Your Cartel cards look pretty, okay! I'm personally super jealous. My cards are currently paper with various coloured khoki pen and me drawing pretty bad icons ;)
  • Aw thanks Megs :) Hey where ARE your prototypes, show show show! :)

    I did the pencil writing thing for the design I tried before this one. My hand hurt from gripping the damn pencil. So I swore off that and went with the print + cut + sleeve route. Much much better. And anyone can do that really! It doesn't have to be illustrator and stuff. You can do your cards in MS WORD! Just draw up rough tables, and type stuff into it :)

    Cartel is an especially special case too since it needs the spatial design :P
  • Yes, cartel is certainly special ;)

    I'm showing latest prototype at MGSA tomorrow and then updating based on feedback before uploading to forums (I want to upload in a way that makes downloading and printing for people who want to play very easy). I still need to write up the rules ;)
    Thanked by 1francoisvn
  • I've got a few thoughts about making Print and Play that I've been meaning to blog up, will share that... when it's done :P I've learned lots during my time making Cartel PnP, whatever happens it'll have been worth the learning :)
    Thanked by 2dammit Jurgen
  • Thankyou all for the support and the great advice.

    I have posted my game in the projects category under the name,"Gaja's Reckoning (a one player card game)".
Sign In or Register to comment.