Stop getting IGNORED! How to create a board game which grabs publishers' attention.
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- Опубликовано: 2 окт 2024
- Using Adam Porter's 'Five S Model', The Hook Generator is a method for describing compelling hooks for prototype games. A strong hook is the key to getting interest from publishers and purchasers alike.
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The Adam in Wales: Board Game Designer Journal is available worldwide, via Amazon's print on demand service.
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The journal provides a multitude of reflective tools to help you develop as a tabletop game designer. This is not a playtesting journal. That is to say, the journal is not focused on one specific game or project. It is focused on you. You are the project.
The journal is broken down into logs, with prompts to guide your reflections.
You will be guided to reflect on:
Your own definition of success
Your gaming preferences and those of the market
Games you have played and what you learned from them
The people who support you in game design
How you support other designers
Your design ethos
Your goals and ambitions
The journal contains a selection of tools to help you analyse your prototypes in development.
The Hook Generator - to help you create concepts which will catch attention
The DARE Model - to help you prioritise your ideas
The Ladder Model - to help you determine how engaging your game is
The Idea : Execution Matrix - to help you determine how likely your game is to achieve commercial success
Player Journey Maps - to help you identify the pain points in your games
These tools are all based off of models and matrices developed and discussed on the Adam in Wales RUclips Channel.
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The idea of the three pigs dexterity game sounds like fun. Maybe you each build a part on a base and move it to the next player to add their element using components specified by the cards or their particular role?
Yes, I like that idea! Always fun in a stacking game when you have to move a precarious structure without it collapsing!
@@AdaminWales That's why your videos are such great value. I always end-up with even more ideas than when I started.
I just saw "Board game design : What makes a GREAT hook?" This feels like part two.
When are the booster packs coming out?
I agree that a hook is very important, but what I've learned from making hook focused games is that it's equally important for your game to fit within a target market and that can make money for the publisher. For example, even if you have a great, attention-grabbing hook but it's a game that appeals to only a few people - let's just say it take 10 hours to play or it has too many expensive components - it's going to struggle to find a publisher. I also think it's helpful to think of different categories of hooks. A hook can be a story (a game designed by a kid), a name (Exploding Kittens), a solution to a problem (like Wingspan but no downtime), a physical element that gets your attention (the tree in Everdell), or a branding element, something like using the Marvel license or a Splendor spinoff that builds on an existing, popular game. It's even better if your game includes multiple little hooks in addition to the main hook. And it's best if you can combine a great hook with a game that fits within a type of game that will sell, and that also fits a publisher's lineup.
This is all very sensible advice :)
I can confidently say I am creating something truly unique that hasn't existed in any other board game
What’s your hook?
I am currently struggling with the hook for mine so this video came right on time!
Do you think it's a good idea to pitch your idea as x but reimagined as y? Poker but it's a a deck builder game now!
Or drawing comparisons to other games? It's like monopoly but mixed with dungeons and dragons! (Not my idea but you get the point.)
I think it can work, but you have to remember your final audience. You might pique the interest of a publisher with a complete twist on a mechanism (deckbuilding for example) but for many purchasers that hook is meaningless because they haven’t yet encountered deckbuilding games! If your end user is likely to be a hardened gamer though then a twist like that might work well.
about collectible game about realestate that has dexterity elements.
I'm thinking something in the realms of Junk yard, but as a surprise an earthquake could be one. by rolling a dice players resolve how strong is the earthquake and which parts of the building will collapse 😁
the collectible part is a tricky one 🤔 maybe parts are in different colors, and for every X pieces of the same color brings you X amount of points. or you collect/build with X amount of materials...
neat! loved the idea for your book. shame I don't design games. I just enjoy learning how people do 😅
Thanks! Glad it got you thinking! :)
lol adam, you put out an election time during the worst time in UK and US politics - a hook is just as important as "timing"
Are you talking about “Ballot Battle”? It’s a remake of Kompromat (our popular 2020 spy-themed game) re-themed by the publisher specifically for the US market. As far as I’m aware, the timing was quite deliberate! It’s too new for me to know how it’s gone yet though :)
The hook is a “2-player head to head blackjack game”. The theme is really a secondary consideration with this one.
having an established name in the industry (any industry) sure helps a lot! human ego aside and wanting your name to be known and revered, what do you think about bringing along another - much more well-known - board game designer? not as in actually co-designing a game with them, most designers likely won't accept since they don't know you (not ''you'' you, a random new designer), even if it's like 90% you and 10% their input at the end, but as in pitching the game to them first instead of to a publisher and offering them a percentage of the royalties so they can pitch it as a co-designer (or even sell them the game outright and keeping some percentage of the royalties on a ''secret'' side deal) increasing the likelihood of the game getting picked up and published and therefore making money. with books it sure happens a lot, with many known authors not actually having written their books and having ghost writers with signed non-disclosure agreements do it for them. great video as always.
I think there is a lot more to game design than the actual “design of a game”. I made a video a few months ago about the skills needed for game design which are not actually “design”. Things like crafting, organisation, resilience, pitching, communication, IT-knowledge. I’m sure there are situations like you describe where one person does the bulk of the actual design work but the other carries the project - and both are credited equally. I’m not aware of any “ghost-written” games as such (though they may exist).
One scenario which definitely does exist is “ghost-written” expansions, or sequels. For example, if a new designer were to present a prototype for an expansion to an existing popular game, the publisher and original designer would probably both want the original designer’s name credited as co-designer on the box, even if they did nothing towards the expansion/sequel. It may even be written in the contract of the original game that this is the case (the designer will be credited as co-designer on any related products regardless of their actual input).
Example of expansions/sequels with co-designers:
- Carcassonne the Castle
- 7 Wonders Duel
- Roll for the Galaxy
- Takenoko Chibis
- Pandemic: in the Lab
I have no inside information at all on any of the design processes for these games (they may be straight up 50:50 contributions and I don’t want to cast aspersions) but you could easily imagine that the new designer brought in for an expansion/sequel might have contributed more “design” work.
@@AdaminWales I had no idea that was even a possibility, pitching expansions for another designer's already existing game. as always, thank you for replying and sharing your knowledge.
Cheers Adam!
hook as in h o o o o o oO Oo o k