With the advent of crowd funding we are seeing a rise in independent publishers and designers. Now, an application to the holy land of game fame can be sought by simply signing up to a Kickstarter or Indiegogo account. But with ease of accessibility comes a gamut of quality: from glorious masterpieces to thoughtless endeavors.

Tasty Minstrel Games‘ Michael Mindes gave us his comments and advice on creating a successful and lasting project.

I started Tasty Minstrel Games (TMG) in March of 2009.  Our first games came into distribution in January of 2010.  Since then I have been doing everything I can to bring success to TMG. This means replacing my income and being able to support my family (of now 6) on publishing profits alone.  A tall order, but I am so close that I can smell it!

Why did I tell you this?  Because I am proof that it can be done.  Because I get asked how.  Or maybe it is because if you want to follow this path, then I want you to pay attention.

So, today, I want to cover the very simple steps to creating a game that will have lasting success in the marketplace.  While the steps listed are very simple, the proper execution of these steps is difficult.

The Formula For Long-Term Board Game Success is:

  1. Lasting success comes from board game quality and short term success.
  2. Short term success comes from a fan base, being able to reach them, treating them right, and the game’s appeal.
  3. A fan base comes from being a part of the community, providing value, and becoming friends with others.

Three very easy things to say, but they are not easy to do.  While this is probably trivial, I want to make sure we are thinking about these terms in the same way:

  • Board Game Quality – This is the sum of the entire game.  Game play.  Art.  Rules.  Depth.  Accessibility.
  • Short Term Success – Getting the game into as many hands as possible and played by as many people as possible.  Also, generating sales.
  • Fan Base – People that love you, your company, or anything you do.
  • Reaching The Fan Base – Email marketing, traditional social media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube…), and non-traditional social media (Board Game Geek, Purple Pawn, other reviewers, Kickstarter…).
  • Treating Them Right – Treat them the way you would like to be treated.  Give them high value at every turn.  Don’t waste their time.  It is better to be a little too concise than to be overly verbose, unlike this definition.
  • Community – Online, offline, and non-line.  I concentrate in online communities, because I can reach more people per unit of effort, which is critical because I have significant demands on my time (family of 6!).
  • Providing Value – At every turn…  Provide more and more value.

How I Would Start A Publisher Now

So, I could elaborate further on each individual section here, but in the interest of brevity, a lot of it is covered on my blog at the TMG website. Instead, I think it would be more beneficial to tell you how I would proceed today if I wanted to build TMG from scratch.

First, knowing that I am not a game designer (I won’t put in the tons of work to design a game up to my quality standards), I would find a game designer or several game designers to partner with.  In my experience, it is beneficial to be starting with a team of 2 people, 1 game designer and 1 game marketer.  I can do marketing…

Second, I would determine where I could provide value to the board gaming community.  For me, this would probably be in the role of an aggregator of quality information.  In this case, game reviews, news, design theory, publishing tips, retailer tips, and so forth.  Of course, I would add my own personal commentary periodically.

Third, I would provide that value on a consistent basis.  I would give people the opportunity to follow and interact with me on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube (if doing videos), and Board Game Geek.  I would seek to have guest posts on other influential sites (like Purple Pawn) on a regular basis, maybe monthly.  Preferably, doing this with a branded or brandable website.

Fourth, I would start collecting double opt-in email addresses, and using them to regularly keep my subscribers updated.  There is a gigantic industry surrounding this topic, go to Mailchimp and devour all of their tips, then sign up, it is free up to 2,000 subscribers!

Fifth, I would continue to leverage my brand and audience to grow my audience further.  While continuing to provide value.

Sixth, I would let my audience know that there is a game design coming.  Also, always remembering that every person that is subscribed is an actual person at the other end.

Seventh, I would use Kickstarter, launch my project, and get started as a publisher.

Eighth, I would continue to repeat the process and figure out in what ways I could provide even more value to the community.

Conclusion

There are a number of different ways to go about successfully becoming a game publisher.  That is how I would do it.  If you want to be successful as a game publisher or game designer, then those 3 simple things are the way to go:

  1. Lasting success comes from board game quality and short term success.
  2. Short term success comes from a fan base, being able to reach them, treating them right, and the game’s appeal.
  3. A fan base comes from being a part of the community, providing value, and becoming friends with others.

Executing those is going to be more difficult to do than to say.

Now, for me to provide some extra value to the community.  On Reddit, I will be doing what is called an “AMA” or “Ask Me Anything”.  Where, you guessed it, you can ask me anything you want and I will provide the answers.

It will be on Friday, April 27th, 2012 and will go from 1 PM to 4 PM PST.  At that time, I will be actively on Reddit answering all of your questions.  If you would like an email reminder when it happens (that will be the only email I send to you and then I will delete this particular list), then please signup here.