What's your game like?

>>46642250
Glad you asked, I actually run a board game testing company along with my roommate.

Normally, the people who bring their games to us usually have their card designs in something like Adobe InDesign or Illustrator (Usually the former) and they usually will look for a professional printing company that will take care of all of that.

I would look into board game companies who have became self-published, and see if one of them would be willing to publish your game after trying it out.

I can't say that I've *made* any games, but the company we're in has tested quite a few board games that are out on the market now, along with a few TCG concepts.

>>46642380
>Glad you asked, I actually run a board game testing company along with my roommate.

Holy shit, that sounds rad. How did you guys end up starting board game testing company? I didn't even think those existed.

>>46642380
That sounds like a really cool business to work for. Please don't break my heart by saying it's just as surprisingly complicated and frustrating as video game testing.

>>46642425
Well, we didn't either. That's why we decided to make one.

It's not our job, we do it on the side, and it gives us something we can put our names on. Maybe eventually we can make some decent money off of it. (We have our names mentioned on the games we tested, just to get the word out about the company)

My roommate who started it initially did because he realized how many people have to try really hard to get people to test their board games while they are kickstarting them. Most creators don't have a ton of time to dedicate to playing their own games a lot, so testing becomes a desirable investment.

>>46642462
It isn't it's relatively straightforward. In fact, some of the larger companies we've tested for gave us criteria they wanted information on specifically, instead of letting us use our pre-made testing criteria.

Overall, fairly simple, just takes effort. No word on when it'll start paying our bills. But we get a lot of free board games out of it in exchange for them spreading the word before we roll out our payment plans.

>>46642250
Out of order:

InDesign/Illustrator are generally fine for desgining cards.
For playtesting, just throw it on cardstock on your home printer or a local printer or something.
Once you're ready to go full-scale, full-quality, call Cartamundi.

>>46642504
>>46642380
Here

Can second >>46642557's suggestion for Cartamundi. They are pretty good from some of the results we've seen.

If you're lucky you can find companies who will do single-draft creations of a board game for a pretty decent price, as well. I don't have any references on me though, they're back at my apartment.

>>46642380
Thanks for the info!

>professional printing company that will take care of all of that
Are there any companies you know of off the top of your head? I've had the hardest time locating one.

>I would look into board game companies who have became self-published, and see if one of them would be willing to publish your game after trying it out.
Which companies would probably be the best for two nobodies?

Your work sounds rad, I hope it goes well for you, friend.

>>46642335
Me and my friend wanted a battle card game that felt like an all out war. So we made a game thats lore/playstyle is actually pretty unique and has an epic feel to it, but still pass the "recess test" (the full game can be described to a kid during his recess and he will be able to fully grasp the game ideas and have fun with his friends) Our audience isnt children or kids, we just want the game to be simple so you can get straight into the fun. By mid game both players have a large amount of units on the field and you have to play really strategically to kill the other player. I dont want to give to much away haha.

>>46642594
>>46642557
Thanks for all the help guys, this is fantastic.

Do you guys know a good price estimate? We want to start putting our money where our mouth is, we just dont know how much we will need to start.

>>46642761
There are so many moving parts here that it's impossible to make an estimate without a lot more data.

When you get to printing at scale, you more or less only have two 'real' options: the US Playing Card Company and Cartamundi.
USPCC can make decent cards, but they're inexperienced in doing things with TCGs in general and are more suited to cranking out x number of 'regular' or at least 'always the same thing in this deck' decks.
Cartamundi is an expert in doing things with TCGs down to even the packaging (printing Magic and a shitload of other TCG products will do that) and has offices and printers everywhere.

Both of these is very much a 'figure out our business needs and then call Sales'. If you're just doing it casually, you most likely don't have the capital to print at scale and might want to look into various print on demand services instead. The quality is inferior, but you can get a smaller batch done, even if it's more expensive in terms of unit cost.


On top of that, I wouldn't be looking ahead so far. Figure out your game first and just get some rough playtest cards printed at your local Staples on cardstock, cut it yourself with a guillotine cutter, throw them around the table.

>>46642723

>printing companies
I really don't remember, we don't work with them much so I vaguely get any info on them. Your best bet would be to actually email and ask people who are kickstarting games where you could get yours printed. The devs can be pretty helpful sometimes.

It's been a while since I've done testing since I moved away temporarily. So I'm not up to date with who we've been doing business with. Overworld Games are pretty legit though.

Thanks, I hope it picks up to where we can make some money off of it. But the free games is still pretty legit.


>>46642860
He's got those facts.