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دسته: بازی‌های نقش‌آفرینی

  • The Board Game Content Ecosystem — Pine Island Games

    The Board Game Content Ecosystem — Pine Island Games



     Paid Versus Unpaid

    It’s important to note the difference between paid and unpaid content. Most review content and round ups is unpaid, while a lot of preview content is paid. Whether content is paid or unpaid will also depend on the individual creator, and the size of the channel’s audience.

    For instance, a smaller channel will likely create preview content for free (to help build its audience and have novel content), while larger established channels will charge a fee for content.

    Not all paid content is created equal, and it’s important to partner with creators whose tastes and audiences align with your design. Even when content is paid, you can tell how enthusiastic content creators are about the game they are covering.

    Getting Coverage

    There are two main kinds of coverage – coverage before your game is released or crowdfunded, and coverage after your game is published.

    I wrote up an article on how to reach out to content creators: How to Query Content Creators.

    It’s worth noting that the process of reaching out to content creators is relatively similar in each case. However, once your game is published you will get a higher proportion of inquiries for coverage, as well as unprompted coverage.

    Once a game is published, unless you are paying for specific content (like a how to play video), the vast majority of coverage will be unpaid (although you may send a review copy of your game).

    Where to Find Content Creators

    Most readers will have their own favorite board game content creators. Those are a great place to start when looking for reviewers and previewers for your game. But, it’s always worth expanding your playlists. Here are a few places to look for content creators for your game:

    Who are your favorite under the radar board game content creators?





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  • Stretch Goals & Startfalls — Pine Island Games

    Stretch Goals & Startfalls — Pine Island Games



    I like to think of stretch goals in a couple of categories:

    1. Component upgrades (ex: black core card stock)

    2. Additional game content (ex: playable character unlocks)

    3. Non-game content add-ons (ex: sticker sheets included with the game)

    4. Out of game content (ex: phone wallpapers)

    While I understand game content as a stretch goal for content heavy games that are still in development (writing quests costs money), I prefer games that have a strong baseline of component quality and include stretch goals that take a game beyond what would be expected in a retail edition – add-ons like sticker sheets, super-premium stock & finishes, or even a box insert (an expensive component for the publisher).

    Are Stretch Goals Powerful?

    Qualitatively stretch goals seem to have at least some impact on campaign success – I noticed more activity on our Nut Hunt campaign when we were approaching stretch goals (which increases visibility). However, it is hard to really know how much of an impact stretch goals have.

    My gut is that monetary stretch goals are more meaningful for smaller and moderate sized campaigns where backers understand that stretch goals are more of a sharing of economics – and the publisher doesn’t necessarily expect all goals to be hit. In this sense, I expect some backers of big (multi-hundred-thousand dollar) campaigns go into backing with the expectation that all stretch goals will be unlocked (as evidenced by big box publisher behavior of unlocking all goals after the campaign even if they weren’t hit).

    In this sense, the power of stretch goals for bigger campaigns is more in the excitement they provide for the community, and the interaction they drive, rather than as an mechanism for component upgrades or additional game content.

    Which brings us full circle to Fractured Sky

    Starfalls

    In forgoing traditional monetary (content & component upgrade) stretch goals, IV Studios has what they call “Starfall Rewards”.





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  • How Board Games are Made — Pine Island Games

    How Board Games are Made — Pine Island Games



    A lot goes into making a board game. From design to development, marketing and of course manufacture. In the past I wrote about the distribution pipeline (see our article: Supply Chain A-Z), and decided that it might be helpful to dig a little deeper into the actual process of manufacturing a board game.





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  • Lessons in Communication – Tone Matters — Pine Island Games

    Lessons in Communication – Tone Matters — Pine Island Games



    It was a frustrating experience – not just because it was money out of our pocket, but also due to the uncertainty over how it would impact our timelines. My update to backers was a no-nonsense look at what was going on, and how it might (but ended up not) impact backers.

    You can read the whole update here.

    I pride our company on transparency and things like this blog as a behind the curtain look at publishing. And, that update did hit those marks in a pretty neutral tone.

    Last week publisher Matthue Ryann had a similar problem with one of his shipments for his game Don’t Get Drunk, and I was impressed by the tack he took. Rather than be negative, or just neutral about the experience, he turned his misfortune into an upbeat and positive moment for his fans.

    [image]

    At the end of the day publishing board games is about fun. I think Matt’s response is an important lesson to keep in mind, to look to create fun in our communities even around the mundane or negative events for us as publishers. 

    Mythic Missteps

    There are a whole lot of cans of worms to unpack from the disaster that is the 6: Siege post campaign management. Here are some recaps:

    There’s a lot that could be said about Mythic’s communication – lack of transparency, apparent dishonestly about why they need more funds (hint: it’s development cost overruns not manufacture overruns), and a Bond villain-esque setting for delivering the bad news to backers.





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  • What a Journey – A Board Game 15 Years in the Making — Pine Island Games

    What a Journey – A Board Game 15 Years in the Making — Pine Island Games



    But, Sigil didn’t start with me. It wasn’t my brain child, and while I helped tighten the game up around the edges, the design fully belongs to Andy Voellmer.

    15 Years in the Making

    If you were near Montreal’s Parc LaFontaine in summer 2009, you might have seen a couple of college aged kids playing a game with maple leaf pennies.

    Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of those first plays – and I’m not sure that those first iterations would even be recognizable to someone introduced to the game as it stands today. The rules were a bit different, spells weren’t even modular, and that’s not even getting into how the game looks.

    But, the spark of it was there.  

    That spark stayed with Andy through a PHD, from Canada to California, and to New York City where we met.

    While I don’t have pictures of those first plays, I do have a picture of one of my early plays with Andy.





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  • Tips for Running a Great Board Game Demo — Pine Island Games

    Tips for Running a Great Board Game Demo — Pine Island Games



    Go With the Flow

    No two demos are going to be the same, so it’s important to make sure everyone knows your games inside and out, and to stay flexible in a teach.

    Some gamers like to skip around and ask a bunch of questions, some gamers are hands on with components, some are content to let you monologue.

    And all those approaches are ok.

    Converting a Sale

    The ultimate goal of demoing at a convention is to show off your games and get them into the hands of people who will love and play them.

    This means that you need a call to action to convert those would be fans into consumers. At Gen Con we ran a special price on Nut Hunt (since we didn’t have to pay for shipping). This was a strong incentive to buy the game now, rather than wait and mull it over, and maybe let it slip their mind on their flight home.

    Sigil was a harder sale since we don’t have physical copies to sell (we wrapped up the Kickstarter in June and were taking late pledges at the con).

    What I found worked for Sigil was to be frank about where in the process we were, and to appeal to consumers who the game really clicked with.

    This is roughly the closing script I settled on by the end of the weekend.

    “Sigil is our second game. It’s not even out yet. For context, we Kickstarted Nut Hunt last June and delivered it over two months ahead of schedule in January. We Kickstarted Sigil this June, and like Nut Hunt are targeting a March delivery. We can’t promise it will be early because obviously some things are out of our hands, but from our perspective we are on schedule.

    “So, what we’re asking people to do today is to go on our website and join the mailing list, and you’ll get notified when we open it up to late pledges next month.

    “And, what’s been pretty incredible is that a lot of people know they want the game today. They either demo it or sit down and play it. And, this is one of those games where if this is in your genre – if you like GO, Hive, Onitama – if this is your kind of game, then once you play this you’ll love it.

    “If you know already that you want the game, then what we can do today is ring you up and charge you for the base game, and we’ll get your email and when we open up the pledge manager next month you’ll already be in there with all of the Kickstarter backers and have access to the add-ons and all the Kickstarter components.

    I think the script I settled on did a couple of things really well.

    1. It gave context around where we are in the process and set expectations.

    2. It didn’t pressure people to buy now – but gave them a few ways to engage with us.

    3. It normalized late pledging in person at the convention.

    People like being part of a crowd, and by highlighting that a lot of people were taking the late pledge in person option, I normalized for our con goers that it was a good route to go.

    Stay Hydrated

    Cons are long, you’ll be talking a lot and your voice will start to go. So, stay hydrated. Take breaks when you need them. Treat yourself well and you’ll keep up that energy to have a successful con full of memorable demos with amazing people.

    What are your favorite demo experiences?





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  • Farms Race taken off of Kickstarter due to IP dispute with Stonemier Games — Pine Island Games



    You can read Jamie Stegmaier’s take in the comments section here.

    The First Amendment & Terms of Service

    Medium Brow contends that their use is clearly parody and so protected under the first amendment. While generally speaking parody products are protected there are a few wrinkles (from my non-lawyer perspective to Medium Brow’s argument.

    Here is some good reading where I am pulling the following opinions from Lott Fischer – a law firm specializing in intellectual property law.

    the creator of the derivative work, the parody, must take only so much of the original work as necessary to bring to mind the original host work…

    Medium Brow used actual icons from Wingspan (which are copyright protected), rather than using original and reminiscent iconography without directly copying Stonemaier’s card symbols.

    Humor at the expense of the trademark owner, that assaults the wholesome image of a product has, in most cases, been unsuccessful in court.

    I’m not sure how strong an argument this is, but Wingspan has a wholesome family (non-dystopian) image. Medium Brow’s representation clearly deviates from that image.

    One of the most significant changes to federal dilution law was the TDRA’s creation of an express exemption for parodies. Before the TDRA, parodies were protected by the FTDA’s “non-commercial use” defense, a catchall exclusion which courts interpreted to include a broad range of uses of another’s mark, “from negative commentary on a personal website, to use of trademarks in political campaigns, to parody and artistic expression.”

    Parody defenses are stronger when they are not for commercial use. Clearly a for profit Kickstarter doesn’t have this same protection.

    While interesting from a first amendment perspective, none of this actually matters. Stonemaier isn’t suing Medium Brow for trademark infringement, they simply reported Medium Brow to Kickstarter for a violation of their terms of use.  

    You won’t submit stuff you don’t hold the copyright for (unless you have permission). Your Content will not contain third-party copyrighted material, or material that is subject to other third-party proprietary rights, unless you have permission from the rightful owner of the material, or you are otherwise legally entitled to post the material (and to grant Kickstarter all the license rights outlined here).

    Even if the parody pack of cards would hold up in a first amendment lawsuit, Medium Brow clearly doesn’t own the copyright to at the very least Stonemaier’s card iconography – and therefore runs afoul of Kickstarter’s user rules.

    Thoughts from an Indie Publisher

    We’re too small for anyone to want to steal our IP for parody purposes, but this is my blog, so I have thoughts.

    1. Owners of intellectual property 100% need to protect their IP. This isn’t a matter of Stonemaier stepping on a smaller creator, but failing to protect your IP can weaken your claim on it – or you can even lose your IP protections entirely. For a property like Wingspan this would be an absolute disaster.

    2. This is probably a net positive for Medium Brow and Farms Race. While getting a successful (on track to be six-figure) Kickstarter pulled 3-days into the campaign sucks, my gut is that this will settle out to be a net positive for Medium Brow and Farms Race. They still have all their initial marketing contact lists (I assume), possibly their Kickstarter backer list, and they’ve gotten a fair bit of publicity out of the conflict.

     

    What are your thoughts – should Medium Brow have made their parody packs in the first place, and should they be allowed to publish them as part of their campaign?





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  • The Four Stages of Board Game Prototyping — Pine Island Games

    The Four Stages of Board Game Prototyping — Pine Island Games



    Initially, you’ll mostly use free or stock art in this stage, and although different implementations both prettier physical prototypes along with digital prototypes (I prefer Tabletop Simulator) will allow you to playtest more broadly with other gamers and designers.

    This stage of prototype can cover a long period and involves most of the playtesting polishing your game system and mechanisms. This is when you’ll balance your game, make sure the complexity is right, trim the fat, and learn how to onboard players to a smooth experience.

    Stage 3: Custom Components

    The third stage of prototyping involves sourcing custom components for your game. For many designers this is  the final stage before a crowdfunding event and includes assembling review copies. That said, we skipped this stage of prototyping on our most recent project (Sigil), and I expect us to skip this stage altogether going forward.

    Since we know we are making manufacture prototypes for reviewers (see Stage 4), it’s more economical for us to source our custom components directly from our manufacturer.

    There are a lot of great options for sourcing custom components including print on demand solutions if your goal is to have a modest print run and are willing to accept the high per unit cost.

    Some that I’ve used in the past and have had a good experience with are:

    Keep in mind that there are some limitations to sourcing custom components – for instance, I found it extremely difficult to source custom wooden meeples in the US.

    Stage 4: Manufacturer Prototype

    More indie designers should be taking advantage of this option for prototyping. Once your print files are done, you can send them to your manufacturer (see How to Find a Manufacturer) and commission them to print some copies offline (they won’t shut down a full inline printing press).

    You can have copies of your game made to your actual specifications – with all of your custom components, and all of the finishes you can expect in your final production run.





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  • Bazaar Diaries – Froggy Bazaar – Pt 1

    Bazaar Diaries – Froggy Bazaar – Pt 1



    I think an approach that is more useful to most designers is to get pen to paper as soon as possible and start playing, and tweaking, and iterating.

    Either way, eventually I get my components out in front of me and I get to ask myself the most important question: is it fun?

    And, if you haven’t realized it by the fact that I am writing an entire series on publishing this game, Froggy Bazaar is fun, it is a lot of fun.

    It also works, right out of the bat the gameplay was smooth. There is still a lot of work to do, but I’m already confident that we have something on our hands that people like (although we’ll eventually need blind playtesting to really solidify that assumption).

    Quick Overview

    Within the next few weeks I’ll have a Tabletop Simulator version of Froggy Bazaar up for general playtesting, but for now I think it’s worth giving a brief overview of what this game is mechanically.

    Froggy Bazaar is a tableau building and movement game, where you play a frog hopping from lily pad to lily pad collecting bugs (dice) to add to your rucksack. End of game scoring is based on secret and public bugjectives based on the pattern of dice (numbers and color) in your rucksack.

    On a player’s turn they have three optional actions

    1. Hop to an adjacent lily pad – collect the die on the tile to add to the top row of your tableau. Then replace the die with a random die from the bag.

    2. BIG hop – re-roll all dice on the top row of your tableau and re-distribute them (get one bonus froggy buck).

    3. Go to market – trade dice the top row of your tableau with the communal market.

    The game ends at the end of the round when a player fills their rucksack (12 slots). Whoever has the most points wins.

    Early Playtesting

    In early playtesting with my closest circle, I’ve answered two of the most important questions about Froggy Bazaar – 1. is it fun? and 2. does it work?

    I am in the process of making a basic Tabletop Simulator version so that I can test the game with a broader group of people – like our Pine Island community, and a broader group of friends and colleagues.





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  • Introducing… The Treehouse Blog + Podcast! — The Treehouse

    Introducing… The Treehouse Blog + Podcast! — The Treehouse



    Here at The Treehouse we’re lucky enough to have staff who enjoy what they do. Our front-of-house team all share a love for games and a desire to share this with the world, not to mention a massive amount of expert knowledge on the subject, which is only building and developing as time goes on. 

    As we approach our first birthday, some of our staff have decided that recommending and teaching games to customers in the cafe just isn’t enough of an outlet for their enthusiasm. So, they’ve decided to create both a brand new blog and a Treehouse podcast to share their thoughts on all things games-related with the world.

    Introducing Patrick Lickman and Matt Turner, the instigators behind what you’re about to read/ hear. They’ll no doubt be familiar to many of you who’ve visited the cafe, as they’ve been with us from the start and are here rather a lot! Patrick is the main author behind the blog, while they’re very much co-conspirators on the podcast.

    If you find the results suspiciously professional for a first-time effort, that’s because Matt is something of a podcast veteran, with 185+ episodes of his excellent Life’s a Pitch podcast already under his belt. The Treehouse podcast will also be featuring other members of our team, starting with lovely games guru Jenny episode one. 

    We hope you enjoy their efforts! If you like what you hear, please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. If you have any feedback for us on the content, we’d love to hear from you via Facebook or Twitter, or by email at contact@treehousesheffield.com.

    Happy reading and listening!

    The Treehouse xx



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