July 7, 2018
Recorded at Metatopia 2017
Presented by Kiva Fecteau, Beth Rimmels, Doug Levandowski, James Dagg, Nicole Perry.
From Imposter Syndrome to Arrogance - Knowing When To Step Back. How do you measure your success in a field where most people don't have salaries or corporate titles to compare, "bad" games can be hugely popular, and the timeline of creative spark to marketable product can often be years? In other words, when are you an "Industry Pro?" No matter how much they've done, some people continue to feel that they haven't yet hit the mark. Yet others who are completely new to the industry may feel that they have all the answers. Both attitudes can hold back your ability to flourish in the gaming industry
June 30, 2018
Recorded at Metatopia 2017
Presented by Jennifer Gutterman, Joshua Yearsley, Melissa Lewis-Gentry, Zev Shlasinger.
You made a game! Congratulations! Now explain your incredible game in one sentence. That isn't as easy as it sounds. You want people to buy into your game as players, as investors, or as retailers. You will only have one chance to make that first impression. It needs to have impact. If you want to see your game successful on a crowdfunding site, or sold by your local game store, then you need to know what kind of pitch types and styles to maximize both what you say and target the right audience. This panel will cover it all, from the one sentence pitch through pitches for retailers, and the many options in between.
May 19, 2018
Recorded at Metatopia 2017
Presented by Brian Dalrymple, Jason Walters, Melissa Lewis-Gentry.
Getting your game(s) into stores usually means dealing with distributors. How do you get their attention? What do they expect from you? If you're planning on going direct to retailers, what's the best way to do that? If you're planning on operating outside of traditional distribution, are you leaving money on the table? This is panel gives an overview of the 3-tier distribution system, including its strengths, weaknesses, and alternatives.
April 21, 2018
Recorded at BreakoutCon 2018
Presented by: Sen-Foong Lim, Rob Daviau, Allysha Tulk, Nicole Hoye
Moderator: Daryl Andrews
Have you ever wanted to be a boardgame designer? Join our wonderful panel of guests to discuss what it takes to get started down this path!
January 27, 2018
Recorded at Metatopia 2017
Presented by Michelle Lyons-McFarland, Jason Pitre.
Professionalization has been defined as "transformation into a profession of the highest integrity and competence." Integrity and competence are laudable goals for the profession as a whole, but how do we get there? What practices should we pursue? How do we differentiate between industry/business/community relationships, and are we willing to do so? This roundtable will try to hit on some best practices and identify the obstacles that stand in our way.
December 23, 2017
Recorded at Metatopia 2016
Presented by Fred Hicks and Chris Hanrahan.
Innovation and new ideas are fantastic in game design, but designers have borrowed, stolen, and adapted other people's ideas for as long as we've been making games. Let's talk about whose works have influenced us, how we can best credit and pay homage to that work, and what we might not understand about ourselves as designers based on the works we ourselves have created.
Note: This is a short episode with mediocre sound quality. The content is good though!
December 9, 2017
Recorded at Metatopia 2016
Presented by Emily Dresner, Fred Hicks, Rob Donoghue.
You're a successful indie publisher! You did a great job wearing all the hats - game designer, writer, editor, artist, and graphic designer. Now, you want to create something bigger and more grand! You discover that, without years of time, you cannot carry out your vision yourself. You need other people... and that leads to new headaches. We'll talk about tools, techniques, schedules, planning, effective communication, using freelancers, and even a little Agile on how to turn yourself from a one man band into product making machine.
April 16, 2016
Creativity In Business: Pixar’s Success and Lessons For Tabletop Publishing
Recorded at Metatopia 2015
Presented by Jeff Tidball, Cam Banks
Managing a company of creative people can be challenging. New ideas are always being introduced into structured spaces that resist change and fear innovation and imagination. Tabletop game publishers and managers can learn from the success of Pixar, Inc, who have mastered the art of ushering in and protecting the new, releasing their employees from common limits on creativity, and not being afraid to try things in often radically different ways to create bigger and better projects
As a fine example of creativity in business, the kickstarter for Unknown Armies 3rd Edition is currently up. Dig into the occult weirdness from Atlas Games!
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March 31, 2016
Project Budgeting For Tabletop Games
Recorded at Metatopia 2015
Presented by Jeff Tidball, Cat Tobin & Justin Jacobson
The process of producing a board game, card game, or role playing game is lousy, with opportunities for financial disaster. Learn what financial factors you should take into account when planning a game production, and walk through a spreadsheet that’ll help you plan your own projects by estimating their profitability (or lack thereof).
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March 16, 2016
Formalizing Your Game Business
Recorded at Metatopia 2015
Presented by Fred Hicks, Steve Segedy, Darren Watts and Brennan Taylor
Is your company ready to take the next step? We’ll discuss how to turn a tiny game company into a slightly-larger game company.
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