GAMA Trade Show brings together publishers, distributors, and retailers, and other industry professionals, offering them education on how they can run their businesses better and improving communications between all members of our industry. GTS is seen by retailers and distributors as the place to find new products for their stores and learn about important new releases from game publishers. Publishers and distributors use the show to find new customers for their products and support relationships with existing customers.
Industry Resource Lists: In addition to our Member Directory, GAMA started lists in 2005 of distributors and vendors on our Web site for members to access to help them in their businesses.
Industry Service Awards: Honoring those who have made significant, selfless contributions to the hobby game industry or GAMA
I’ve Designed / I’m Thinking About Designing A Game
This page is a free service to people who have designed a game or who are thinking of designing a game. We provide this information free of charge because what you do with your game idea is important to our industry. For a healthy game industry we need well-designed games supported by solid companies. If we have poorly designed games in our industry, then our distribution channel is filled with dead product. That dead product holds up much-needed cash. Poor product also makes customers reticent to try other games. If a company is not solid, then a product that could be successful will not have the marketing or operations support to get known and be produced properly.
There is enough information on this page to answer a number of initial questions. For deeper questions and many resources, please join GAMA. As an individual you can join GAMA as a Communicating Member and receive all of the resources you need to successfully publish your game. (There are additional, common questions answered at the bottom of the page.)
Designing a Game
There are a few simple steps to designing a game. Okay, they are very complicated but listing them is simple. We can not stress that each of these steps is very important, though they are not always take precisely in this order.
1) Have an idea
2) Decide on the target audience of the idea
3) Use that information to design a game, based on your idea, that will sell to your target; considering game-play (the rules), player interface (the way the player interacts with the game), and price point (five to seven times the cost of making, selling, and marketing the game)
4) Look at your design and cut back out of the rules and player interfaces that are not needed to support the core of the game
5) Do not get attached to your game design. Be willing to change it now that you…
6) Play-test, play-test, play-test
7) Give the game to strangers to play-test it without your help. LISTEN TO THEM
8) Show the game to game retailers, distributors, professional game seller or buyer, or at least to some published game reviewers to get their opinions. LISTEN TO THEM
9) Finalize game design considering all of the above
If you have already designed your game and you now you see that you skipped a step or two, go back and do those steps now.
Sell / License Your Game or Self-Publish?
The benefits of self-publishing are that you have control over the product and retain all of the profits. The challenges are that you take all of the fiscal risk and that you must know about the game industry and business in general. The benefits of selling your game to a publisher are that you don't have to know about the game industry or business or take any risk. The challenges are that you don't have control over what they do with the product and that you're likely to only get three to 10 percent of gross sales for each game sold (very, very likely closer to three percent).
Sell / License It:
Trying to sell or license a design can be very difficult because most companies have designers, or the principals of the company ARE the designers. Additionally, game publishers receive hundreds of submissions each year and only publish a few of them. If you have followed the steps above in designing your game, then you are light years ahead of the vast majority of other designers. Here are your steps to sell your game to a publisher:
1) Make an attractive, playable prototype. It's hard to give you exact notes on how nice to make your prototype without knowing about your game or about who you are showing it to. That said, a good rule is to make your prototype look and feel as close as you can to the final product. Box art is not necessary unless it's integral to the game. Art on cards and boards is nice, if you can borrow some art or get some cheap. This does not have to be final art, but some art of some sort will help give the potential publisher a better feeling for the game. The components are the most important part in making the prototype feel like the final product. If there are going to be wooden cubes in the game, use wooden cubes in the prototype. Use some Filo dough to make pieces that you can not buy at a craft store. Home-made is okay--in fact, it's the best. Do not spend a lot on your prototype. $100 or less is a good rule, though it will vary depending on your game’s components. Do not bother going to a professional service to have your prototype made (unless it's going to cost you the same as if you made it yourself).
2) Research, research, research publishers. Get a copy of the Greater Games Industry Catalog <GQCproduction@comcast.net> and look to see what companies you think would publish your game. (The Greater Games Industry Catalog lists mostly hobby and specialty games. For mass-market game companies, go to toy stores to make a list for yourself.)
a. Look on their Web sites for game submission guidelines
b. If there are none on their Web site, e-mail or call them asking for their submission guidelines
c. Follow their guidelines exactly
d. Unless their guidelines ask you to ask them, do not ask them to sign a Nondisclosure Agreement (NDA). Publishers so rarely steal ideas that it’s not worth trying to protect yourself against it. It’s a bad idea for a publisher to steal—they will not get any other designers to work for them.
3) Make sure that you show your contract with a publisher to a lawyer.
a. Some publishers will offer to license your game for as long as they keep it in print. Others will want to buy the game outright from you. You must decide which option you are okay with.
b. When licensing a game, a publisher will offer you between three and 10 percent of gross profits. Their offer will very likely be between three and five percent for a new designer.
c. When purchasing a game, a publisher will offer between $100 and $5,000
Note: You could also hire a broker to do all of the work for you. A broker will take between 10 and 50 percent of your royalties.
How do I publish my own game?
GAMA offers the Publisher’s Handbook, a book that covers many of the ins and outs of game publishing, answers the most pressing questions, and teaches you the most important things about the game industry and its requirements. We highly recommend either purchasing a copy of our handbook or becoming a Communicating Member and getting one for free as a member. As a member you will also have access to our list of publisher resources, such as printers and parts manufacturers; our list of retailers and distributors to sell to; and our many other benefits. You should also attend GAMA Trade show to gain contacts and receive education.
Short of that, here are the things that you should do (not necessarily exactly in this order):
1) Create a business plan
2) Raise capital. Do not put yourself in too much debt to do this. Figure that a board game is going to cost about $50,000 to get to market.
3) Follow the steps in designing your games
4) Have at least three games when you start your company. Distributors, retailers, and game enthusiasts look at companies with just one game with suspicion. A one-product company is likely to be a vanity press and most vanity games are poor products. Having a line of games to start with shows commitment that is usually accompanied by professionalism. Have a few games in the pipeline as well.
5) Plan and arrange the production, shipping, and storage of your products
6) Create a marketing plan (Make sure to include GAMA Trade Show and Origins Game Fair)
7) Show your games and marketing plan to distributors and retailers. Get their opinions and LISTEN. You can show a number of people in one stop by attending GAMA Trade Show. (Though you need to be aware that they're busy selling and promoting their products so their time to talk with you may be limited.)
8) Make arrangements with distributors to offer your products
9) Pre-sell your products to retailers through the distributors
10) Don’t over print your games. Follow product code and labeling standards
11) Support your products and continue to publish solid games with good marketing
Some Common Questions:
What do I need to do to protect my designs?
Have you shown the game to any professionals? Have you play tested it with strangers at schools and/or conventions? Do you have contact information for those people? If the answer is yes to all those questions, then you're safe as you're going to be. Don’t waste money on patents or the like.
How many games are designed each year?
Literally thousands of people design a game every year. A lot of creativity goes into them, and it's a blast to create them. That was the fun part. If you want to take it farther it's not nearly as much fun.
How many games come out each year?
About 1,000 games come to market each year. That sounds like a lot doesn’t it? You don’t see that many new games, do you? This is a good point that you should think about when getting into game design. Very few of those thousand games make it to store shelves. Of those that do, most don’t make it on many shelves. The game market is a wonderful and fun market. It’s also very full and hard to sell into.
How many games “make it big”?
Of the thousands that are published each year, only two or three really sell enough to be considered a big hit by the industry.
Where else can I go for advice?
Check out this page for links and articles:
http://www.fbgames.co.uk/links/design/design.htm
Head here for a free book on running a game company:
http://www.starfleetgames.com/book/
![[]](/extras/spacer.gif){kind=spacer}
