Business of Game Design: Funding & Self-Publishing

Dr. Lewis Pulsipher

Pulsiphergames.comCopyright 2013 Lewis Pulsipher

April 19, 2023

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

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?

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

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?