GBP (£)
EUR (€)
Join me on my continuing multi-part series as Martin and I attempt to turn our jumble of half-conceived brain sparks into our first fully functioning board game.
Part 12 – EXPOnential Growth (Part One)
What follows is a two-part overview of the UK Games Expo and my general thoughts on the seminars I attended.
I love the UK Games Expo. I’ve been going since 2015 and my first time was just after I got into the hobby, having sold my Grey Knight army and finally turned my back on Games Workshop. I’d say I have gone each year for different reasons.
In the first year I was wide-eyed, naive and welcomed virtually every type of game that wasn’t too complicated. I was fascinated by this new world and wanted to really soak it up. I went there mainly to increase my knowledge and my collection. Among others, I bought Survive Space Attack and Space Munchkin which I thought my family would like as they are sci-fi nerds. In year two it was less about buying and more about play-testing and demos. In year three I attended various entertainment events like The Dark Room and Knightmare (which I loved as a kid).
This year had a very different approach due to recently entering the world of games design. We had secured a PlaytestUK spot on Sunday afternoon for LAST STAND and while Martin worked on the CCG and Board Game Social shop, I attended the various design seminars available. I wanted to educate myself as much as possible on all facets of the industry.
First up was Ignacy Trzewiczek, designer of Robinson Crusoe and First Martians. My impression of him was someone who had worked incredibly hard and had made a lot of mistakes but learned each time...even if it cost him a lot of money. I wouldn’t say he looked weary – he was still an engaging host – but he appeared to be someone with a lot on his shoulders, suggesting his success had taken its toll. His dry sense of humour still shone through his stoic exterior. During the talk, I learned to ‘leave the maths until the end’. Given LAST STAND has a lot of calculations and algorithms behind the scenes, it was something I had concerns about. He said there were always local people who could ‘crunch the numbers’ for you, which was a big relief.
Lastly, he gave some great advice on how to describe your game to others. He suggested, rather than describing the mechanics and systems of the game, you just say what players do. I had gotten used to saying “LAST STAND is a semi co-op worker placement game where you roll dice against attacking monsters”. Now I’m more inclined to say “During the game you build a giant robot to defend the world, and the board itself, against attacking Kaiju”.
Paul Grogan, of Gaming Rules fame, was next to give his advice on how to write rule books. I was looking forward to this one as Paul had previously improved my knowledge of Baseball Highlights 2045 dramatically with his stellar rule book rewrite. He opened with saying he regarded the CGE rule books as perfect and went onto to talk about how to best lay out and organise your rule book.
My main learning points were to ‘bite-the-bullet’ and get into Google docs, use online proofing software, look out for ‘orphaned’ words, leave as much as possible for the appendix and don’t put rules in examples.
I attended the accessibility seminar and totally misunderstood the title. I thought it was about how to market your game so that it can reach as wider audience as possible. This was partially true and the seminar focused much more on how to make your game inclusive so as to not exclude people with, say, issues with colour-blindness. It was okay, but I appreciated the enthusiastic and humorous approach of the speakers.
Last was a very knowledgeable guy who talked about Intellectual Property. He began with advice about learning contract law and went on to talk about what most of us new designers are very mindful of; someone nicking your idea. Turns out you don’t need to register graphics as the copyright comes into existence immediately and lasts 70 years. Secondly, words and images are the property of the person who created it first unless there is a contract for something like commissioned art.
He concluded by talking about money and I bristled a bit as I’m sure new designers want to avoid spending money until absolutely necessary. This included a trademark attorney at the ‘small fee’ of £1-2000 and registering a design for £3-500. I’m sure if I dig around long enough in my couch, the money will reveal itself.
Having spent much of the first day taking part in the seminars, it was time to properly hit the floor and see what the Expo had to offer me. I wanted to soak it all in Saturday so that I was left free to deliver my LAST STAND play-testing session to willing members of the public.