We started Thursday morning first thing at 10 with this seminar. On the way there HK and I asked a guy if we were headed in the right direction and he was headed to the same seminar. We had just met half of the twins from Alaska (shout-out to Mika and Coady!). They would show up in most of the seminars we attended. We also met Tyson Gajewski (https://www.playwithsoap.com/) and now – https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1836466/wip-sop-2017-mint-tin-design-contest-components-re as well! Go check it out and let him know what you think.
The seminar covered a lot of material, some of it (but not all of it):
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- Go where your strengths are
- Ask yourself “Why are you doing this?”
- Games should do one thing really well; a few things OK; and the rest …meh
- Finish it! – release the thing
They also mentioned some items of note –
Metatopia – The game design festival (https://www.dexposure.com/m2017.html), and
Game Chef – The Game design competition (http://www.game-chef.com/) , and
Before you come to Gencon make sure you have a business name, a great logo, business cards, a twitter account and google plus….. none of which we had at 10 AM Thursday morning…..<sigh>
They then got into the steps or phases to your first game:
#1 – Idea – You want to make a thing that does this one thing really well – now tell people this.
Ideas are plentiful – follow through is rare. (again they stressed – Finish it! – release the thing)
#2 – Start Writing – Not in order, not all perfect – just down on paper. Prototype – get a version out and start getting rid of stuff that doesn’t fit in (keep this stuff for the next game). Talk to people about what you are trying to do – what and who it’s for. Write/Develop – share the success online and grow an audience.
#3 – Editing – If it’s just a small rule sheet for a game or a lengthy book for RPG it still has to be edited – hire someone. You can start editing before it’s complete – developmental editing.
#4 – Playtest – Start with small groups and look for the emotions people experience playing the game. Ask people about the mechanics – if people don’t mention the one thing you wanted to do really well…..
#5 – Production and Marketing – If kickstating then set the amount needed to the lowest possible amount to get it published (again Finish it! – release the thing). don’t try to recover sunk costs – just get it published. Work together with your backers to have a good time.
Overall a great seminar that really opened our eyes to lots of things we weren’t doing right or weren’t doing at all. It was given by Mark Richardson who does gaming cartography and there’s a good video of him describing it here – https://www.canadiangeographic.ca/article/board-game-cartography
and an editor (hint… hint) – John Adamus who is the http://writernextdoor.com/
So the question for you is – what do you think is the most important thing when building a company/game/rule-set?
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