| Discussion Forum: Thread 310397 |
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| | | Author: | lasagna_hog  | | Posted: | Oct 5, 2021 14:09 | | Subject: | Oops! | | Viewed: | 218 times | | Topic: | General | |
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| Hi all, this is a bit to unpack so here goes:
I've recently designed and developed Oops!, a board game that uses LEGO-compatible
bricks as playing pieces. It's a "competitive puzzler" where players take
turns sticking bricks on a board to score points based on their position. I'm
getting ready to launch in the near future and I could use some input on potential
monetization strategies. Yes, I think I've earned a paycheck on this one.
The obvious "front door" in this case would be LEGO Ideas. I like this option
because I want to work directly with LEGO and it also requires probably the least
amount of effort on my part. However as awesome as this outreach on their part
is, as I understand it a 1% royalty is pretty thin for board game design. A "normal"
royalty seems to be more in the 3-10% range. I don't want to devalue myself
and other board game designers by accepting a substandard payout with no effort
on my part to bargain for something more appropriate.
Another option for me would be Kickstarter. Kickstarter is the most common platform
for launching independent board games nowadays. I like Kickstarter because it
puts me in the driver's seat, so to speak. I would retain total control over
my project in the short term and could presumably still license my game to LEGO
in the future if they're interested. If this project was to outgrow me while
I was in control, it could put me in a stronger bargaining position.
Option three would be to release the rules for free, run a Patreon, and kindly
ask that people support me there if they're enjoying my content. This strategy
could include sending customers here, to Bricklink, to get the bricks needed
to assemble a game set. Shipping orders on a daily basis isn't necessarily
something I want to get into and anyway I think there are a lot of stores on
Bricklink that would blow me out of the water in the packing/shipping/logistics
business. In this case I would be happy to maintain a relationship with sellers
along the lines of "I'll send you customers for bricks if you send them to
me to download the rules". I like idea of Patreon and I think this could work
for me; the issues I see here are that Bricklink isn't set up to deliver
non-brick peripherals and that the game plays best when some of the bricks are
glued together with (hopefully) a reversible adhesive such as Le Glue.
Any comments, advice, or thoughts on this subject would be highly appreciated.
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| | | | | Author: | MrPetovan | | Posted: | Oct 5, 2021 14:37 | | Subject: | Re: Oops! | | Viewed: | 85 times | | Topic: | General | |
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| First of all congratulations on creating a full game!
I would suggest you (or anyone else, really) to avoid LEGO Ideas. I've explained
my opinion on my blog so I won't repeat myself here: https://blog.mrpetovan.com/rant/i-dont-like-lego-ideas-anymore/
About Kickstarter campaigns: they require a lot of work over a limited timeframe.
You have to create the campaign, drum up support, set a realistic initial goal,
plan for rewards, stretch goals if it catches on, sourcing bricks to ship full
games, assemble and ship them in a timely manner once the campaign hopefully
succeeds.
About Patreon: I feel like they work better for people producing a constant stream
of content where the subscription model matches the work output. In your context,
this seems to me to be the least committal option while also offering very low
income expectations.
Good luck for whatever option you choose!
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| | | | | | | Author: | lasagna_hog | | Posted: | Oct 5, 2021 16:05 | | Subject: | Re: Oops! | | Viewed: | 70 times | | Topic: | General | |
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| Thanks!
I think I should also note that the digital rules will be free.
In General, MrPetovan writes:
| | First of all congratulations on creating a full game!
I would suggest you (or anyone else, really) to avoid LEGO Ideas. I've explained
my opinion on my blog so I won't repeat myself here: https://blog.mrpetovan.com/rant/i-dont-like-lego-ideas-anymore/
About Kickstarter campaigns: they require a lot of work over a limited timeframe.
You have to create the campaign, drum up support, set a realistic initial goal,
plan for rewards, stretch goals if it catches on, sourcing bricks to ship full
games, assemble and ship them in a timely manner once the campaign hopefully
succeeds.
About Patreon: I feel like they work better for people producing a constant stream
of content where the subscription model matches the work output. In your context,
this seems to me to be the least committal option while also offering very low
income expectations.
Good luck for whatever option you choose!
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | yorbrick | | Posted: | Oct 5, 2021 17:36 | | Subject: | Re: Oops! | | Viewed: | 66 times | | Topic: | General | |
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| In General, lasagna_hog writes:
| | Thanks!
I think I should also note that the digital rules will be free.
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I can't really see how you will make money. If the rules are available free,
and the parts are sourced elsewhere (or using an existing collection) why would
anyone give you money?
Possibly small coffee style donations if they enjoy the game, but not much else.
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| | | | | | | | | | | Author: | lasagna_hog | | Posted: | Oct 5, 2021 23:34 | | Subject: | Re: Oops! | | Viewed: | 74 times | | Topic: | General | |
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| Maybe you’re right. I’m not 100% set against charging up front for downloads,
I just think it will be hard to enforce for a .pdf. The game also plays pretty
simple to the extent that it would be fairly easy to memorize the rules. What
do you think a fair price for a digital download of board game rules would be?
Also re: this and Patreon: Oops! is the first game I’m publishing but I’ve got
a few other irons in the fire as well. I do plan on releasing other games as
they’re ready with a special focus on games that play with things that are cheap
and/or ubiquitous. My current development project is a skirmish game that in
my mind’s eye would be great with brick built models but technically plays with
just templates representing characters.
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I can't really see how you will make money. If the rules are available free,
and the parts are sourced elsewhere (or using an existing collection) why would
anyone give you money?
Possibly small coffee style donations if they enjoy the game, but not much else.
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | peregrinator | | Posted: | Oct 6, 2021 10:04 | | Subject: | Re: Oops! | | Viewed: | 33 times | | Topic: | General | |
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| In General, lasagna_hog writes:
| | Maybe you’re right. I’m not 100% set against charging up front for downloads,
I just think it will be hard to enforce for a .pdf. The game also plays pretty
simple to the extent that it would be fairly easy to memorize the rules. What
do you think a fair price for a digital download of board game rules would be?
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Perhaps you could sell it as a MOC via Rebrickable or similar? Rules plus instructions
plus parts inventory?
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | lasagna_hog | | Posted: | Oct 6, 2021 11:02 | | Subject: | Re: Oops! | | Viewed: | 36 times | | Topic: | General | |
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| I’m new to Rebrickable but it does look like it could work for my digital distribution
needs. Really getting paid for pure concept and not having to do distribution
would be the dream for me.
I’m still considering running a Kickstarter campaign for the benefit of folks
who might want a whole set pre-glued with printed rules and a few peripherals.
(I would use reversible adhesive, probably Le Glue unless someone can suggest
something that works that’s cheaper.)
Thanks for the idea! I’m definitely going to dig deeper into Rebrickable now.
| | Perhaps you could sell it as a MOC via Rebrickable or similar? Rules plus instructions
plus parts inventory?
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | lasagna_hog | | Posted: | Oct 6, 2021 11:39 | | Subject: | Re: Oops! | | Viewed: | 37 times | | Topic: | General | |
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| It also looks like BuildaMOC could work for distribution as a whole set. They’re
located in Spain but seem to be set up for global shipping. Anyone have any experience
with this platform?
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| | | | | Author: | lasagna_hog | | Posted: | Oct 21, 2021 01:01 | | Subject: | Re: Oops! | | Viewed: | 51 times | | Topic: | General | |
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| Update on this saga: My website is live. You can go download the rules free at
engramgames.com/oops. I’m selling full play sets on a monthly made to order basis
for a price I’m sure no one here will be interested in. (; I am making some rather
decent bag/dropcloth containment tools for the play sets.
fwiw you don’t need the “right” bricks to play. It’s more fun when there’s some
variety and it’s more fair when everyone gets more or less the same quality of
bricks but you can set garbage starting values for a lot of things and the game
will still move.
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USA, Washington
United Kingdom, England
