Homework: Week 10. This link takes you to the homework assignment due at the beginning of the next class session.
Be sure to study up for the fourth exam next week (30 points) on the terms, concepts, and principles from the material presented in the You and Your Game Ideas unit from Weeks 8, 9, and 10, plus Chapter 2 of the course textbook (Game Development Essentials: An Introduction). There will also be a few ‘Course Review’ questions on the exam. Be sure to study the Lesson Review Sheets handed out in class and make sure you've read all the Required Reading material found in each week's assignment links.
About This Week's Lesson:
This week, you'll learn some of the fundamental concepts of behind sales and marketing (of games or anything else) and we'll take an insider's look at the other game industry: analog (i.e., board and paper) games. These board and paper games also sell millions of copies every year, but while the size of their overall market is not as large as video games to be sure, the entry level threshold is lower, production costs are lower and, consequently, there is a lot more room for creative (e.g., "risky") ideas.
Finally, we take a look at the most important thing to hit the game industry – you. As a member of The Gamer Generation, you are a different type of person than the Baby Boomers who are leading the game industry today, and you will need to know how your generation is perceived and the best way to make progress working with aging Baby Boomers.
These links feature the supplemental material that you are responsible for knowing before the next exam. Be sure to click on every link in this section!
Articles: Board Game Sales Figures
This is an amalgamation of several short articles on the subject. Read it and you'll be amazed how much you didn't know.
Articles: Designer Suits: Incorporating Marketing into Game Development
Pocketwatch Games founder Andy Schatz (Wildlife Tycoon) and Reflexive producer James C. Smith (Wik) discuss how, "...as a game designer or artist, you are in the best position to architect your game's marketing effort", identifying a target market for your game, and building it to focus on that market.
These supplemental links are worth pursuing only if you are seriously interested in working in the game business and want to know about it in the broadest possible sense. This material will not be directly included in the exams, but if you're serious about delving deeply into the subject of game production, here's some more lessons from others who have also "been there."
Article: A Brief History of Gaming
If you're even thinking about making a professional board game (and you should), then you will want to know the hobby's history over the last 40 years or so. We're where we are today for a reason; there's a history to this hobby.
Article: Get Your Game On! Orange County Register
Our own Orange County Register looks at the local board gaming situation.
Article:
Living the Dream 1.0
The first in a series of articles about starting an analog game company: in this case Your Move Games, Inc.
Book: The Game Inventor's Guidebook by Brian Tinsman
A great overview of the analog game business, from Monopoly to Dungeons & Dragons to Magic: The Gathering, it's all explored with wit and wisdom. Well worth a read! Click here to read a review.
Article: Turning PC Titles into Boardgames Peter Suciu Newsweek
No joystick is required at this game company that has turned PC games Sid Meier's Civilization and Age of Mythology into hit board games.
Article: The Right Team for Your Brilliant Idea by Larry Hastings
The Flipcode game development site is barraged nonstop by individuals with "brilliant new game ideas" looking to create project teams for them. This handy, humorous form will let you know who the crackpots are right away.
Article: I've Invented a Board Game; Now What Do I Do? by William Maclean
This epic, insightful article shows you some of the careful design and business decisions that must be considered before you consider success in creating board games. It's like a complete business course overview in a single article and a superb resource if you're even considering having a board game idea published.
Article: Simple Pleasures Gain Ground by Mark Guarino
Why do board games continue to do well in the market even during uncertain economic times? Here's a news article on that very subject.
Video: Fear of Girls by unknown
This hilarious nine minutes of role-playing gamer stereotypes reminds me a lot of how gamers were being perceived when Dungeons & Dragons came out in the mid-1970s and during its rise in the 1980s. Of course, there's always a few of these guys around giving the rest of us a bad name, but it's still great fun to be able to laugh at this.
