October 20, 2018
Recorded at Metatopia 2017
Presented by Michelle Lyons, Danielle Lauzon, Pete Petrusha, Maury Brown, Cam Banks.
It's relatively easy to make a game in this day and age. Making a business is harder. How much effort do you want to put into bringing a game to market/getting some revenue for your work? What are your options? How will you know what you want until you do it? Come join us for a panel discussing the whys and wherefores of game publication and where people choose to land on that spectrum.
Apologies for sound quality issues.
October 13, 2018
Recorded at Metatopia 2017
Presented by Jason Walters, Brennan Taylor, James Dagg.
We'll talk about how to accept that your game will never be perfect and how to know when it's ready to publish anyway.
September 29, 2018
Recorded at Metatopia 2017
Presented by Jason Pitre, Jim Crocker, Jason Walters.
Congratulations on producing your game! Now, you have to decide how you want to sell it. This panel will talk about all of the different ways you can sell games and the costs associated with each of them. We will help you pick which options are best for you, based on your product and priorities.
September 8, 2018
Recorded at GenCon 2018
Presented by Jason Pitre, Anna Meade, Jerry Grayson, Eloy Lasanta, and Sarah "Doombringer" Richardson.
This panel serves as a welcome introduction to the twin fields of roleplaying game design, and publishing. It features a long discussion on how and why we design games, how games have to be about something, and how we can practically turn our ideas into products. This was a two hour panel full of brilliant insights from the panel speakers and has some fun banter to boot.
Note that the audience submitted a number of questions in advance of the panel, which we will be responding to in next week's episode!
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!
