Eric Slauson is the designer of Tattoo Stories, MonsDRAWsity, Nerd Words: Science, and more! Eric is known for creating party and social games and games that can create social bonds.
Watch the live chat below:
Reasons to Work with a Publisher
There are several ways to make a game, but the main two are either publishing the game yourself or pitching the game to a publisher. There are also agents that you can get to pitch your game for you, but using an agent tends to happen a lot less.
Between the two main methods, the question you want to ask yourself is this: do you want to have a full time job publishing your game? Eric is a teacher, so he could plan to do a Kickstarter in the summer or during the winter break, but the effort of publishing would bleed over into the time when he has to focus on his day job. If you’re a publisher, you need to have the time and drive to make your game your entire day for months and months.
Depending on the publisher you pitch your game to, you might have close to a full time job merely helping to get your game published, as some publishers are really active in their discord or slack channels or on Facebook chat.
What to Look for in a Publisher
For Eric, he really wants the publisher to have a similar vibe as him.
The game will usually determine what size of publisher you should go for. If you have a game that is really accessible and mass market, you should try to find a large publisher for it. If your game is really niche, like a weird solo RPG, then a small indie company would be a good fit.
You want to think about your game’s audience and how that compares to the publisher’s audience. If a publisher has several games that are similar in size, weight, and game feel, that publisher might be a good fit for pitching a specific game to. If you have a party game, you probably shouldn’t approach a company that focuses on heavy war games.
Another aspect to think about is the publisher’s connection to retailers. Not every company can get a game into Target or Barnes and Noble, and some companies don’t have access to regular distribution (the way most games into board game stores) either. Just because a game company doesn’t have a great way to sell your game doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t sign your game with them, but it’s definitely an important consideration.
Sometimes companies will approach you, but you still want to think about what will be the best home for your game.
Sometimes companies will approach you, but you still want to think about what will be the best home for your game. When making that decision, Eric usually takes a week or so to consider the business conversations that he has with the publisher – like when they see the game coming out, what level of involvement the publisher wants him to have in the development process, and even how those back and forth communications go. He’s only passed on working with publishers in two situations where there was nothing bad, just a gut feeling of them not being on the same page. If you don’t seem to be on the same page with the publisher, any future problems will only get bigger.
Before Approaching a Publisher
Initially, Eric only pitched games that were complete to him, then later found out that they were only about 80% done through the development process with the publisher. If you’re a new designer, it’s recommended to not pitch a game to a publisher if you know there are issues with it.
However, once you start building a solid reputation as a designer, you can pitch games that are less and less done.
Pitching Game Concepts
Eric has also pitched concepts of games. This can happen when the publisher has an IP or an idea for a game, then they approach you to pitch a few concepts. You might start with 5 basic ideas for the game, and then the company may choose their two favorites, which you then develop further while incorporating their feedback. If this goes well, you could end up building a game together!
For example, with the game Nerd Words: Science, the publisher reached out to Eric and requested a specific feel for the game. When a publisher knows that you’re good with X and they have the Y and Z, together you can make XYZ! Playing on everyone’s strengths can create an awesome partnership.
Pitching game concepts requires excelling in a certain design niche. For example, because Eric is great at creating party games, hitting specific player feels, and high interaction games, these are the types of games that he’s typically approached to pitch game concepts.
Creating a Niche
Creating a hit game definitely helps with this, but it’s not necessary. If you start networking and frequently talk about your niche, people will see what you’re passionate about. Believe it or not, Eric actually got to work on Trekking the World and Nerd Words: Science before he had any games published! Eric is proof that it’s not necessary to have a big hit or even a published game to start being known for something.
One way Eric presents his passion is by talking a lot about party games on podcasts, at conventions, and on social media. He posts about playing party games and makes it crystal clear that those are the types of games that he’s interested in.
Some designers find similar success by being a playtester on a certain type of game. Eric used to hang out with North Star Games a lot as they were relatively local. He became close enough with them that if he sent them an email, they would most likely recognize his name. Playtesting with a publisher can give you an idea of what kinds of games they make and the direction their line is going in.
You can also volunteer to work with a publisher at conventions, as that’s a great way to learn their products and meet a variety of people in the industry. During booth downtime, you can talk with people, get to know them, and even hang out with them after the booth hours are over.
If you can’t volunteer at a convention, there are still a ton of ways to network while you’re there. For instance, I met Eric while playing Point Salad at the Big Bar on Two at Origins. During the game, I asked why he hadn’t pitched me a game yet, and the conversation went from there. We’ve since worked on a codesign together, so it can definitely work out in your favor to go to the late-night hangout spots at conventions and just talk to people and play games!
You don’t want to undervalue the social aspects of networking, as not all talk with a publisher will be about business. And while publishers might not be currently taking pitches due to their release cycles, creating a relationship means that something can happen in the future.
Finding Publishers During a Pandemic
While you can’t go to a traditional convention during a pandemic, there are other ways to meet publishers. For example, you can be a guest on podcasts and live shows and talk about your niche to get more well known.
Eric is all about Facebook groups and posting in them as a way to meet new people. After seeing a person’s name repeatedly in threads, he might start investigating who they are if they share similar opinions on games. Sometimes the person ends up being a publisher, and they would be a great person to keep in mind for future pitches.
Some publishers are also looking for someone to look at rulebooks or to do playtesting via social media, so that’s another avenue to get closer to publishers.
Sadly, while all of these tactics are terrific, nothing during the pandemic has been as good as meeting people in the after-booth hours at a convention.
Warning Signs
Do a Google search on the publisher, and make sure there’s no bad news about them. For instance, have they been sued for anything? If the publisher uses Kickstarter, you also want to check to make sure they’ve funded and successfully delivered the games.
A distance in communication is also something that bothers Eric. For example, look out if they respond to emails with one-worded answers to questions, if they’re slow to respond to communication, or if they’re noncommittal about when a game will come out
How Much Work
Every publisher is different in regards to how they work with designers. Eric would prefer to be at either end of the spectrum; either he wants to work closely with the publisher on the game or he wants to hand off the game and be done with it. Here are some things that a publisher might want the designer to do:
- Work closely during the development process
- Playtest
- Make updates to the game in response to playtesting feedback
- Support the game at conventions by running demos or offering to sign the game at a Meet and Greet
- Help with brainstorming on how to market the game
- Art direction feedback
- Help promoting the game via interviews
Each company is different, so asking about what is expected of the designer before you sign the contract is definitely important.
Get it in Writing
Contracts are really hard as nothing is standardized between publishers. A publisher might tell you that they’re giving you their standard contract, but that just most likely means that the contract is standard for that company specifically. You really have to read and look at what’s in each contract to understand what the contract is saying.
Here’s a list of what matters to Eric in a contract:
- The number of copies the designer receives.
- Is there a way to get more designer copies? If so, what is the cost of them?
- The amount of time before the game has to be manufactured.
- How many units need to be sold over what period of time for the publisher to keep the license for the game?
- The royalty structure. Is it a straight number or is it based on a certain amount of copies sold? What percentage is the royalty based on?
If you’ve received a contract and don’t know what you’re reading or if you’d just like a second opinion, it’s a good thing to blur out the publisher’s name and ask another person—either a designer who has signed a number of games or a publisher—to go through the contract and see if they can find any red flags. Eric has sent out a number of contracts to friends, and there’s always something in the contract that the friend has pointed out as weird in some way. This really shows just how different each contract is.
Don’t forget: it’s perfectly acceptable to ask for wording to be clarified or for aspects of the contract to be changed.
Years to Wait
The contract will usually have a length of time included where the rights to the game will be returned to the designer if the game isn’t published in that timeframe.
The number of games that a publisher has and their size can be an indicator of whether they’ll actually get to publishing the game they’ve signed or not. Small publishers tend to focus on one or two games at a time, while large publishers have lots of games signed and several teams all working on them at once. It’s the middle-sized companies that are juggling more games around that are hard to figure out; things can get dicey as to when a certain game will come out.
A publisher might move games around to fit what the current market is, but that might result in your game being consistently pushed to the back of the line, which isn’t great for you. If you sign a game with a company and they keep pushing it back, you might end up in a situation where you have the rights to the game back, and you need to start the pitching process all over again.
A contract can be renegotiated once it’s expired, but whether you should renegotiate your contract or not really depends on how much the game has progressed and how much communication the publisher has had with the designer.
For Eric, it depends on how much emotional attachment he has to a game and how well he thinks the game will do. MonDRAWsity and Tattoo Stories were his babies; because he wanted them to get out into the world as soon as possible, he couldn’t wait 3 years for that to happen. If it was a game that he was less invested in, he would’ve been more willing to wait longer for it to come out.
Effect of the Pandemic
The pandemic is definitely having an effect on publishers. Eric has noticed that publishers that were sending out quarterly pitch requests or designer newsletters are now coming out with those less frequently.
The pandemic has made it harder to playtest games, especially with safety concerns. Unfortunately, the slower you playtest, the slower you can publish. Even if a publisher can get a game into Tabletop Simulator, it’s still harder to plan to meet digitally, and it takes more of an emotional toll on everyone involved.
However, Eric is still seeing solo games get picked up, in addition to roll and writes and games that are easy to play over video calls or to print and play. RPG communities are really good at hopping on a Zoom call and doing a one-shot game, so those are really popular.
Wish You’d Known Earlier
One thing that Eric learned the hard way was that not all games that are signed will get made. Knowing this would have saved Eric some heartbreak early on in his game design career. Some companies might sign a game just to make sure a competitor doesn’t get it. Others may have intended to publish it, just to have their plans change due to the market or other outside influence.
Another aspect that Eric has learned since starting game design is that every publisher acts differently, has a different corporate structure, and may or may not have a handler for each designer. For instance, you may only work with Tommy, and he’s the one you talk to all the time, or you could be in a group chat with 20 people or on a Slack/Discord server with a variety of specific channels. It’s completely different every time.
Percentages can also be hard to understand initially. There can be a huge difference between 4% and 5% or between having the percent on the wholesale price, sale price, or MSRP of the game.
Always self-advocate. If you don’t do it, you might always be wondering down the line what would have happened if you did. You shouldn’t be afraid to ask for a higher percentage or more designer copies in a contract, as the worst the publisher can say is no (hopefully with an explanation).
You can follow Eric on the following:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/slausondesigns
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/slausondesigns/
- MonsDRAWsity preorder: https://oxeyemedia.com/collections/pre-orders/products/monsdrawsity-preorder
- Nerd Words: Science and Tattoo Stories are on amazon: https://www.amazon.com/shop/weirdgiraffes?listId=1VQLNK0DIE4V9
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