When I sat down to write this week’s notes, I thought I hadn’t really learned very much. My starting outline looked like this:
Brainstorming – Taking notes, listening, capturing info, etc.
Being the good guy – Project X (Not the real name of the project, of course.)
Targeting – Do your research! Steve Jackson: Lego dinosaurs. Project X: An elegant, engaging mechanic.
…and I started at the end, writing about targeting your game submissions at the correct publishers. 45 minutes later, there’s the formidable screed below. I suppose that means I’ll save the bits on brainstorming and being the good guy for another week.
That said, let’s discuss targeting…
Targeting –
There’s a thread on the designers’ forum at Board Game Geek that started as a designer sharing his joy and fear about sending his first prototype to a publisher. The discussion has flirted with evolving into an analysis of the game and how to make it, “less dry.” My contact with the designer of “Project X”, looking at the past submissions (accepted and declined) at SJG, thinking about how I submitted games to publishers, and learning about what games have and have not been accepted at SJG… All of these have me thinking about targeting your game submissions. I suggest the following:
Note that some of these suggestions overlap with ones I made earlier. That’s kind of inevitable, I suppose.
1) Do your research on the company.
It’s not enough to simply find out if they accept unsolicited submissions or not. Look at their past and current product line. Play at least a few of their games, if you can. Only contact the publisher if you think your game is a good mechanical and thematic fit for their company.
2) Dissect and deconstruct your game. Figure out what makes it stand out from the other games. Distill that into one sentence. Figure out what makes it most appealing to produce, from a publisher’s stance. Distill that into another sentence. Use these sentences whenever you can: In the cover letter, on your sell-sheet mock ups, on the prototype box…
3) Do even more research – this time, on the people in the company.
Everyone has favorite things – favorite mechanics, favorite themes, favorite components, etc… Find out who’s going to receive your game, or who the ultimate decision maker is in the company. Learn what that person’s favorite things are. If your game includes one or more of those things, that increases your chances of getting accepted.
Note: I’m not under any illusions about how difficult it is to do this. It’s hecka-hard, but it is not impossible. Go to conventions – especially industry-only conventions like GTS – and hang out with people in the business. Find your target and offer to buy them dinner or a drink, then have a casual and friendly conversation. I know it sounds hard to do, but it’s getting to the convention that’s hard. Politely asking someone to share their knowledge is easy by comparison.
Also, use the power of the internet to research your target. Look for blogs written by the people you’re targeting. Using Steve Jackson as an example, it’s not hard to find personal thoughts and notes he’s written, or to find articles about things he’s participated in recently and in the past. Given what I’ve learned, if someone made a Lego game about dinosaur pirates in the SCA (however preposterous it may sound), it’d have a leg up on the competition at SJG. (Note: SJG is not accepting submissions right now. Do not send a submission. All unsolicited submissions will be placed in the circular file or returned if an SASE is included.)
…The following notes are for when you send your game to the publisher…
4) Include your design notes!
This is something I wish-wish-wish I’d done for every prototype I sent. You wouldn’t send a prototype off without the rules, right? Of course not. Without them, people can’t learn how to play the game! Your design notes serve an equally important role for a publisher. They tell the publisher why you made the decisions you made. They tell the publisher that you’ve already considered the ramifications of what will happen if they change X, Y, or Z. They prove to the publisher that you’ve really worked on the game.
You are keeping design notes, right?
5) Include your playtest notes!
I wish I’d done this too, for very similar reasons. These prove that you’ve playtested your game, recorded the feedback, and how you incorporated that feedback into the game.
If you haven’t playtested your game, strongly reconsider sending it to a publisher. Playtesting is vital. It uncovers a million little flaws that are entirely invisible to you. Do it now, while you can still address and correct each flaw. If you don’t, the publisher will find each and every flaw during their playtest. You don’t want that to happen.
6) Include any special supporting tools you created to design the game.
Do you have a special spreadsheet that helps you automagically balance out point costs? Include it. Did you create a program that helps you randomly generate room tiles? Include it. Not only do these things show how much work you’ve done and how much you’ve thought about the game, they let the publisher know that these tools are available to them (making their job all the easier) if they choose to develop and publish the game.
7) Make a “how to play” or a “about the game” movie.
Two years ago or more, when I first heard about a publisher requiring a movie with every game, I freaked out and got all indignant. “What do you mean I gotta make a, ‘how to play,” video? I’m already designing the game, playtesting it, laying out the rules and components, creating the prototype, researching publishers, and maintaining a contact list! Now I have to master video production as well??? Gaaah!”
I’ve changed my tune, and it’s not because of working at SJG. It’s because of the Kickstarter project Jeremy and I created for Inevitable. If you go there, you’ll see the pitch video Jeremy and I created to encourage donors to pledge. Our Kickstarter project is much more effective for having that video than it would have been without it. Videos are not only a very effective way to convey complex game concepts, but they allow you to connect with the viewer in a personal way that writing does not.
On making the video: Relatively speaking, it wasn’t that hard. I’m using a fairly modern iBook running OS X 10.6. I used iPhoto, Garage Band, and iMovie to make the video. iPhoto, Garage Band, and iMovie are all part of the iLife suite, which costs $80. That’s a powerful tool suite that’s super-cheap. It also takes technical actions (audio and video editing) and makes them tremendously accessible. I’ll grant that I was an Apple tech support agent for 6+ years, but I’ve never had any video-oriented training. That’s why there’s no “real live action” footage in the video. It’s more like a slide show than a video, really. Still, it gets its point across just fine. If you’re computer-competent, and you’re willing to put firth a little effort, you can make a video. I guarantee that it’ll make your submission stand out from the others. Y’know how many of the submissions I’ve seen at SJG have demo videos? None.
Okay. Steps 4, 5, 6, and 7 were less about targeting and more about good game development, making your game submission stand out, and increasing your chances of getting your submission accepted by a publisher. That’s okay, I suppose. The advice is still valid. It’s also worth noting that I never followed those last four pieces of advice when I sent submissions to publishers. I truly and sincerely wish I had. If I had that advice four years ago, I bet I’d have more games under contract today.
Two more things:
1) Yesterday I was in the “Hotness” list on Board Game Geek! I was designer #13, just six steps below Matt Leacock, my current game designer idol. Woot! (Today I’m not even on there. I tell you, people are so fickle!)
2) Protospiel South 2010 is coming together nicely. I have to go raise the pre-registration price to normal pricing, but a three-day pass is just $30 – cheap! If you’re going to be in Austin, TX on Memorial Day Weekend (28, 29, and 30), I strongly recommend dropping in. I think it’s going to be very productive.
— Jonathan A Leistiko :: epiphanies : gaming
Invisible City Productions is a collective of game designers, writers, and artists who provide this as a space for the creators of secret media to come together and touch antennae.
Thanks for sharing your insights, Jonathan.
Can’t make it to PS 2010 — will PS 2011 also be on Memorial Day weekend?
— Mike Haverty May 4, 10:12 PM #