Transcript Business of Game Design: Funding & Self-Publishing Dr. Lewis Pulsipher Copyright 2013 Lewis Pulsipher Pulsiphergames.com.

Business of Game Design:
Funding & Self-Publishing
Dr. Lewis
Pulsipher
Copyright 2013 Lewis Pulsipher
Pulsiphergames.com
Note about the slides
 Slides are provided primarily for
those who want detailed notes later,
not as an accompaniment to the talk
 Consequently, they are “wordy”
 Available at
http://pulsipher.net/teaching1.htm
 Or just go to pulsipher.net (not
.com) or pulsiphergames.com and
look for teaching material
November 7, 2015
Who am I
 Designed my own games while a teenager
 Began playing commercial wargames in
1963
 Played the original Atari 2600 and have
played some PC games heavily, but rarely
play any video games these days; never
owned a game console
 My favorite game is “the game design
game”
Who am I
 Designer of several commercially-
published board wargames (most
recently January 11), more games to
come
 Active designer of board and card games
(playtesters solicited!)
 Book “Game Design: How to create video
and tabletop games, start to finish”,
McFarland (booth at GenCon)
 Wikipedia: Lewis Pulsipher; Britannia
(board game); Archomental
Some of my games
We’re talking about business,
not about game design
 But if you want to make money, you
have to know the business
 It’s hard to find a publisher these
days
– Many have in-house staff, others are
self-publishers
 As a last resort, you may want to
fund and publish your game yourself
– But then you become a publisher, not
a game designer!
Reality Check
 Almost no one makes a living designing
(or selling) games
 Most who do, work for a game company,
not freelance
 Publishing is risky – but that’s why
publishers make a lot more from a
successful game than the designer
 Many publishers began as self-publishers
– Including Fantasy Flight (once they got out of
the comic distribution business)
Reality Check 2
OK, How much do you
make if you do find a
publisher?
 In my experience, royalties are a
percentage of the publisher’s actual
revenue
– 5% is most common, range 4-8%
 Publisher sells to distributor at 40% of list
price or less; distributor sells to retailer
for 10% more
 Internet sales are becoming significant—
then publisher makes 100%
 Shipping costs may be subtracted from
revenue
Royalty example
$40 list game, 5% of $16 = 80 cents
Per 1,000 copies, $800
$20 game, $400 per thousand
Wargame typical print run is <= 2,000
“Euro” games might go up to 10,000
Most games sell poorly after first six
months, most are not reprinted
 German “Game of the Year” might sell
250,000 or more, after award
 It’s a hit-driven industry. How many hits
a year, compared with hundreds of
games published?
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What about the biggies?
 In general, the really big companies have
staff to design their games
 Many will not even accept outside
submissions
 Virtually all will require you sign a
statement relieving them of all liabilities
 At least one only works through agents
 In USA, Hasbro owns all the traditional
boardgame publishers such as Milton
Bradley, Parker Brothers, Avalon Hill
Publishing alternatives
 All these methods require considerable knowledge to put
game together in correct format, to hire artists/editors
 Spend the money to self-publish traditionally
– Expensive
– Risky
– Requires constant attention
 Use a third party to help self-publish traditionally
– Fulfillment companies
– GameSalute no longer offers their more extensive service
 Self-publish through POD
– TheGameCrafter.com and others
– Requires virtually no funding
 PDF/desktop publishing/Print n Play
– Requires virtually no funding
 “P500” – preorders
– Generally only established publishers
 “Ransom”/crowdfunding model—kickstarter.com,
Indiegogo
Distribution methods
 Traditional distribution/aggregator
– You get only 33%-40% of list price
 Internet distribution through your own Web
site
– You get 100% of list, but will your target market
buy this way
– Not mass-market, for example
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Online PDF distribution sites such as RPGnow
Thegamecrafter.com or other POD
Sell at conventions
Give it away and hope for a deal with a
traditional publisher
Funding
 Self-funded
– I’ve heard of people taking a second
mortgage
 Friend/family funded
 Publisher funded
– But then we’re not in self-publishing
any more
 “Ransom”/crowdfunding model
“Ransom”/crowdfunding
 Ransom: If I get $X I’ll give this
away to everyone
– Originally for fiction
 Crowdfunding
– Kickstarter
– Indiegogo and others
Kickstarter
 Even traditional publishers use
Kickstarter
– For them it’s a “gauge the enthusiasm”
and pre-order system
 Costs nothing to try it
– Well, except for your time
 KS (and Amazon) take a chunk of
the successful funds
Indiegogo
 Much newer than KS but may be
available where KS is not
 Big difference: if a project is
partially funded, you get the partial
funds (KS: no money changes
hands)
 Not as well known/frequented as KS
Creating the Look of the Game
 Hiring artists, unless you are one
 Hiring for editing and layout, unless
you’re good at it
Creating files to be printed
 Requires both understanding and
computer-technical skill
 Some programs are free, the best
cost a lot of $$$$
 Time-consuming to learn
Using traditional publishing
methods
 Finding a suitable printer, arranging for
shipping, arranging to house inventory
(unless you have a BIG house…)
 Sales, shipping, promoting, customer
support
– “Discoverability” is a big problem now –
people won’t buy your game if they don’t
know anything about it
 Fulfillment house can take care of storing
inventory, perhaps even of customer
support
Online resources
 Boardgamegeek.com (along with sister
sites for RPGs and video games)
 Sloperama.com – good advice about
getting into the video game industry
 Board game designer’s forum
 GameCareerGuide.com (video games)
Questions?
Comments?