DToW #9 (Working With A Publisher)

So are you some kind of expert in working with all publishers?

No.  I only have experience working with two publishers on games, but I thought it may be helpful to share my experiences.  I know some people want to go out and publish their own games, more power to you, but there are some benefits to working with a publisher.

What benefits?

The biggest one for me is that I don't want to deal with art coordination, printers, Kickstarter, BGG advertising, Convention booths, logistics, and everything else I don't even know about.  I want to design games.  I want to design games.  Some people love the other stuff.  More power to you, I will send you some of my prototypes to publish, but for me the fun is in the challenge of design.

What else?

Publishers think differently than I do.  Even AJ, who is a designer himself, will look at the number and type of components.  How to best do layout.  Ideal number of Characters to include in the box.  As a designer, I hope to start thinking about these things, but they definitely aren't at the front of my mind right now.

Also?

Sometimes you are so close to a game you can't see it's warts.  It takes that outside set of eyes to look at it, and make it better.  Play testers are great, but they don't have a financial incentive to keep pushing the design forward. 

A lot of times it is cutting the extra bits, but sometimes it is something little that makes a huge difference.  A perfect example is when we started working with AJ on Salvation Road, one of the first suggestions he made was to start with the locations face down.  We use to just deal them to the board face up.  Doesn't seem like a big change, so we tried it.  Wow what a difference it made.  First off it made explanations to new players easier.  They didn't have to look at 3-5 locations before deciding what to do.  Also, it made the first turn much more exciting, and less calculated.  You get the feeling of discovery as you go out.  Also, you may need to move people around so they are at a more ideal location so the game becomes more dynamic.

I am sure that publishers who have no design experience would be just as helpful in the development process.  It isn't necessarily the same skillset, so I don't think you have to have a design background.  Chis with Dice Hate Me Games is great at development, even though he doesn't have a design background.  I am sure there are countless other examples of this as well.

How do I find a publisher that will help me with my game?

Well that is an interesting question.  And one that will take a lot more than one post to cover, but I will quickly give you my general thoughts here.

If you are looking for a publisher I would start with people who make games that you like.  If you like their games they probably publish the kind of game you are making.  Also, don't get discouraged if you get rejection, this will happen a lot.  It isn't necessarily your game there are a lot of factors that go into their decisions.  Sometimes it is though, so take their feedback seriously.

You may have to dig a little deeper, most of us won't be published by Fantasy Flight for example.  Check out the publishers website and see if they have a submission policy.  If they do, follow it to the tee, this isn't the place to get creative.  Publishers want to know you can follow directions so when they work with you they have a good idea you will be reliable.  Better yet, see if they will be attending any conventions you will be going to.  Try not to just approach them at their booth, send an email ahead of time and try to schedule some time if possible.  You probably won't get a whole demo in, so have a 30 second and 5 minute pitch ready.

The more interesting part of the question is getting help with your game.  Even though publishers schedules are sometimes tight, you may get lucky and they will play your game.  Even if they don't pick it up, they will give some of the best feedback you will get.  As stated above they sometimes look at things from a different scope.  Having this insight will make your choices for developing the game more informed.

What else?

Let me know what you think?  How have your interactions with publishers gone so far?  Am I wrong, should we all be self publishing?

That's if for this week.  Next week we are going to cover play testing.  Until then, I am Peter, keep designing great games.