Producing a Board Game 0-100 (Product dev, Crowd sourcing, Ecommerce, Ads)

[Isaac Oh]

Hi guys, this is my first jab at ecommerce and product development. I'll be chronicling everything that goes into this project, success or failure.

The plan is pretty simple.
Step 1: Develop my prototype.
Step 2: Create a video and do copywriting.
Step 3: Publish it on a crowd sourcing platform.
Step 4: Throw some facebook, instagram, reddit ads towards it.
---Hit Goal---
Step 5: Find best supplier and fulfill orders.
Step 6: Get feedback and apply.
Step 7: Create a website.
Step 8: Run advertising towards it.

Now, I have no idea if this is a sound plan. I'm not sure if I should be finding a supplier before I start the crowd sourcing campaign. But, what I've been learning lately is that I should find demand then do what it takes to meet that demand. Otherwise, I'm 99% sure that the ideas on this post are bound to change as I learn more.

If I don't hit the goal, I'll take a look at how responses have been on social media sites and either troubleshoot my pitch and try again, or get back to the drawing board with the board game.

The Board Game
The game is a drinking board game, simple to play in any mental state haha. I originally planned to create it as an app but the server costs were an issue for me.
I'm not sure what to price it but being a fan of games and board games myself, I think I can reasonably place it in the $35-$45 range.
It's intended for videogamers who also like to drink socially.

Where I Am
Currently, I have the bare mechanics of the game down. I created this game while vacationing in Korea. I was bored for three days with a laptop and adobe illustrator and.. tada lol.
I have design ideas for the characters and the board itself but everything needs a re-design. I'll give myself two weeks from now to finish the board, finish character mechanics, and get to step 2.

Budget
I had originally budgeted around $5000 for prototyping and bringing the product up to the publishing mark. @AllenCrawley mentioned that he had developed his prototype for $500 but also mentioned that it's industry dependent. This made me really rethink my budget.

I had originally planned to hire a graphic designer, illustrator, CAD designer, voice actor, video editor, and more! Now, I'm trying to be as lean as possible and fit everything into a $1000 budget.

I'll have to leverage the skills I have and outsource the rest as cheaply as possible.

Thanks for following along! I know this is very crude...
Would love to answer questions or take any feedback!

 

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[sparechange]

I like the idea, if you execute this properly this could be a life changer for you.

There is no shortage of drunk buffoons willing to spend money, target college and universities. That's the demographic you need to serve.

 

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[Isaac Oh]

Great success


Just had a friend come over and we play tested the game as a 3 person group. By the end of the session, I had two pages of notes filled with improvements and small tweaks.

The coolest part was that some changes we incorporated this morning brought everything together and we were able to have a two hour session of the game.

The mechanics of the game are down baby!!

Now it's just adding more content and continually tweaking small things.

Very hopeful for a strong alpha by next Saturday. We'll playtest some more, send it to some other developers for testing and we'll be looking to go into full production for marketing.

 

[Isaac Oh]

Updates and Marketing Plan

Quick Updates:
- Art is still in works. 3 talented artists working on the project at full steam.
- Prototypes were received by playtesters. I only sent out 10 kits. Exactly 0 have responded. Some say it's because they haven't had the chance to find time to gather friends. Totally understandable.
- Hired an experience board game developer yesterday to overcome the point above. Will be working closely with him. Also, going back to the drawing board with the game but not necessarily overhauling everything. Just want to make sure finished product is fantastic.
- Personally, I spent the last 3 weeks working on some projects for other people. It helped me raise capital but I was suffering the whole time. Glad to be back at this. Larger budget now.

Marketing Plan (Before and During Launch):
The two most important, and therefore most difficult, challenges are (1) the quality of the board game (2) the marketing. I was putting off marketing until I had all the pieces ready to go. But I realize that was me just wasting time and being afraid of early rejection.

The biggest indicator of a successful Kickstarter isn't the quality of the product, or even the quality of the "marketing" . It depends on the quality and quantity of the tribe behind the creator.

I made it my task today to figure out how to build this tribe. The marketing I will be doing from here until launch is more focused on building up a community. Very different from the original plan of Create > Launch > Run cold traffic. Of course, I'll also be doing cold traffic before, during, and after launch.

Here's the plan. Based off of:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mh4y79DGGdg


PHASE I: Testing and Engagement
Timeline: 5-3 Months Out

Prerequisites:
- Have Website (Landing Page) Created
- Have a Lead Magnet Determined (I will be offering discounts on the final product)
- Have Automated Emails (Welcome Sequence)
- Create an INSIDERS Group (I'm considering a private Facebook Group)

Main Goals:
- Get Ads Optimized with a small budget (FB, Reddit, Google)[Ramp up budgets closer to, and especially after, launch]
- Start building leads (Paid Ads and grassroot approaches)
- Get especially interested people into INSIDERS (Send surveys out in welcome sequence)
- Create Weekly Update Emails to go along with the automated welcome sequence

Tasks Now:
- Invest $500 in FB Ads
- Invest $500 in Google Ads
- Invest $500 in Reddit Ads
- Set Up Website
- Set Up Email Systems
- Set Up 20 Welcome Sequences
- Set Up Private FB Group
- Create Survey for Email List
- Research 20 Ideas for Update Emails


PHASE II: Pre-Launch + Building Kickstarter Page
Timeline: 2-0 Months Out

Main Goals:
- Prepare KS Page for Launch
-> Kickstarter Layout
-> Kickstarter Video
- Figure out Launch Marketing Strategy (Ads, PR, Influencers, etc)
- Set Rewards and Early Bird
- Plan Goal $
- Find Cross-Promoters
- Plan Ads

Tasks:
- Research other KS pages and videos
- Write video script
- Hire voice actor
- Calculate Early Bird Discount % and Quantity (Should cover minimum goal)
- Research Cross-Promoters
- Adjust Ads and Finalize
- Create KS Page

PHASE III: Launch

Main Goals:
- Start Cross Promotion
- Ads Full Throttle
- Track Sources with KS Custom Links

Tasks:
- Have Cross Promotion Template Ready
- Manage Ads
- Track ROIs

 

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[Isaac Oh]

A little ahead of schedule. I've finished creating about 45 quests for the game besides the main quest.

I've also finished developing the concept art for the game board. It's not amazing but it should give the artist a clear idea of what I'm looking for.

I paid $5 for the software on inkarnate.com. Gotta say, it was really worth it.



It's currently protected by a strong watermark so don't even think about stealing it. Even if someone stole the map, this isn't the final version and they wouldn't know the reasons for the layout.

I changed the rectangular concept to a square map of 27.5" x 27.5". I made sure it would be ergonomic enough for the number of players it supports as well as being able to capture the large scale of our world.

Made lots of edits from the first design.

Now, with a playable "alpha" version of the game. I'm looking to send it to play testers.

Googling for answers, I found the following options:
1. Friends and family
2. Online play-testing groups on FB
3. Paying professional play-testers

These were also some good resources:

Playtesting - Board Game Design Lab

Take your games to the next level by taking your playtesting to the next level. Learn how to find testers and turn their feedback into fun.

www.boardgamedesignlab.com

Seeking Playtesters

boardgamegeek.com

I found a post from a game developer who broke his process down into 4 phases.
Phase 1: Test core gameplay loop. See if the game can reach a victory condition and how long it takes
Phase 2: Look for dominant strategies and emerging player behavior.
Phase 3: Final adjustments for imbalance
Phase 4: Final illustrations and game elements

I'm in the phase we're im looking for people to play test so I can see what additional elements I may need to add or tweak. Once that's done, we move onto creating the designs and contacting manufacturers.

While I consider how I'll be getting the game into play testers' hands, I'll be developing the rulebook so that I can get feedback on that as well.

I want to keep costs as low as possible as well as get feedback from people outside of our target market. So, I'll probably be using reddit a lot for this.

Also, it seems like in blind playtests, the testers are given the game without any input from the developer. So it's going to be a test of the clarity of my rulebook as well as the game.

I'll be referencing similar RPG game rulebooks that are highly rated. Gloomhaven, Zombicide, Near and Far, Mechs and Minions, Shadows of Brimstone, Darkest Night, Pathfinder, and DnD.

The goal's not the learn the ins and outs of every game but to just know exactly what I'll need in my own

 

[Isaac Oh]

Just received the designs for the backs of the cards

 

[Isaac Oh]

So today I did some more market research. I looked at the biggest competition, what they're offering, price points, and game play. These were some of the most recommended drinking board games across a few board game rating sites, college review sites, and reddit.

1. Pokemon Drinking Game
Price: Free
DIY Print your own type of board game. Large following on the internet. Probably the biggest competitor but should be easy to differentiate by providing something more engaging and including accessories.

2. Pass-Out
Price: $27
Extremely simple. More focused on drinking than gameplay.

3. The Red Dragon Inn
Price: ~$30
Great art style I might want to emulate. For ages 13+ haha. The premise is that you're an adventurer back from his journey and now playing a drinking game. However, it's more of a card game than a board game.

4. Drink-a-palooza
Price: $35
More of a party game than a board game meant for gamers. It seems fun but definitely for a different audience.

5. Drinkill
Price $50
Similar concept but different gameplay. Sold very well on kickstarter and their own page. Could learn a lot of the marketing from this. Definitely have to brand to differentiate here

6. Beeropoly
Price: $40+
Gameplay similar to Pass-Out. You pay for a board.

After reviewing what's out there and what's popular. I definitely do think there is a unique place for my game and I have a better understanding of how I should brand my game.

Looking at the prices and the materials I intend to provide, I may be settling with the price tag of $59.99.
I also referenced the prices from CMON (Coolminisornot) which publish a lot of the best games that use miniatures. $59.99 should give me enough wiggle room to fulfill orders based on the materials I plan on using.

Those games can sell at those prices because of the great gameplay. I'm planning on doing the same.
Well, getting back to developing the game.

 

[Isaac Oh]

Today I was a bit crunched for time, checking out the new home I'm moving into and doing some web work for clients.

I read into many of the other FL threads about board games and manufacturing and fulfillment was something best figured out early on. That way, I'm not underpricing my game and I can fulfill orders as smoothly as possible.

A few takeaways:
- Find manufacturers and receive quotes before publishing on crowdfunding. Many sources recommended this strongly.
- Price at least x6 cost (@wade1mil )

This was a great little overview on one creator's process with kickstarter and manufacturers:
Choosing a Board Game Manufacture

And this was a great resource to finding some manufacturers:
Hitchhiker's guide to Game Manufacturers - James Mathe - Entrepreneur, Designer, Publisher
(Note: It's dated 2013 so many of them are no longer in business or changed business models. Should take his reviews with a grain of salt.)

Next, I listed out all the high quality manufacturers I could find and plan on contacting each of them with a template email asking for a quote. I'll narrow it down by quality, reputation, and price as the biggest considerations.

My first email will be along the lines of:
Hello, I'm looking for a manufacturer to help me develop manufacture my board game. Would this be the right email to contact?

I'll note down response times and cut off any that respond after 2 days.

Then, I'll provide a full description and compare quotes.

Finally, I'll do some reputation research on the companies with the best quotes.

 

[Isaac Oh]

Today, we developed more of the game. We created many of the characters and their stats.

More importantly, we did some in depth analysis of about 10 similar successful board games and found some flaws and areas of improvement with ours.

We're doing another pivot, smaller this time. The board game will be driven much more with story and we're pulling it a tad away from a game focused on drinking to a game with drinking as a mechanic.

Because of this change, we're looking to creating a LOT of written material. Kickstarters with more perceived content whether it's more minis, more characters, or more story tend to perform better.

I also think this is why branding and audience is such an important factor to nail down at first. Every iteration we've made, we've asked ourselves if our audience would like it.

The game seems to be much more enjoyable to play now. It's starting to feel more like a real social board game rather than an excuse to drink.

Because of the heavy story, we may be able to raise prices while keeping costs low which is a plus. Here's a similar game that uses no custom minis (probably the most expensive cost), yet can price high because of their great story and adventure:
Amazon.com: Red Raven Games Near and Far Board Games: Toys & Games

We'll be using index cards, minis from other games, and a hand drawn map to prototype, sometime within this week.

Also, @s.wirat13 it looks like we can make a version of this game non-alcoholic! I'll make sure to send you a version if we ever print those

 

[Isaac Oh]

I'm also into the games and board games. I think it's a nice and fun business to get in. If you're going for DnD type, I think outsourcing the concept artist is a must. It takes too much time and energy to be just good. If you can find a skillful one, your world setting will be richful.

I do enjoy PVE type of board game but in my opinion, I think it's more fun to compete against each others especially when you're drunk. Anyway, it's a great idea and I wish you the best, Isaac!

Yeah, finding an artist at a good rate is going to be tough. I'm planning on getting one right after we finishing fleshing out 95% of the game so there won't be any major changes when the artist starts the work.

As for the competitive aspect, that's what I thought as well and why I originally had the PvP concept in mind. PvE just seemed like a better fit for our game and our audience. I wanted to incorporate a separate PvP map on the backside of the board but at this point, we had to commit to one gameplay and flesh that out first.

 

[Redwolf]

@Isaac Oh

PM me your email or fb page or some way to contact you, I will reach out to my former video game developer artist coworkers, if you'd like. They are crazy talented.

You might also consider fivver, freelancer.com or upwork. Send out a test job to several artists on each platform and see what you get. Worth the few bills that would cost. Some folks on fivver really under price their skills.

 

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[Isaac Oh]

Quick update.

I've finished enough of the game to play test the game and look for any 'bugs' in the mechanics. If the game plays well, it's just gonna be finishing off the content. Planned with two friends to test this weekend.

Short term goals: Play test prototype > finalize material list > find artist, manufacturer, and someone who can make the kickstarter video

A question on the back of my mind. How will I create the kickstarter video without the final product? Probably some digital render, but that might cost a small fortune.

 

[sparechange]

A little ahead of schedule. I've finished creating about 45 quests for the game besides the main quest.

I've also finished developing the concept art for the game board. It's not amazing but it should give the artist a clear idea of what I'm looking for.

I paid $5 for the software on inkarnate.com. Gotta say, it was really worth it.

View attachment 33930

It's currently protected by a strong watermark so don't even think about stealing it. Even if someone stole the map, this isn't the final version and they wouldn't know the reasons for the layout.

I changed the rectangular concept to a square map of 27.5" x 27.5". I made sure it would be ergonomic enough for the number of players it supports as well as being able to capture the large scale of our world.

Made lots of edits from the first design.

Now, with a playable "alpha" version of the game. I'm looking to send it to play testers.

Googling for answers, I found the following options:
1. Friends and family
2. Online play-testing groups on FB
3. Paying professional play-testers

These were also some good resources:

Playtesting - Board Game Design Lab

Take your games to the next level by taking your playtesting to the next level. Learn how to find testers and turn their feedback into fun.

www.boardgamedesignlab.com

Seeking Playtesters

boardgamegeek.com

I found a post from a game developer who broke his process down into 4 phases.
Phase 1: Test core gameplay loop. See if the game can reach a victory condition and how long it takes
Phase 2: Look for dominant strategies and emerging player behavior.
Phase 3: Final adjustments for imbalance
Phase 4: Final illustrations and game elements

I'm in the phase we're im looking for people to play test so I can see what additional elements I may need to add or tweak. Once that's done, we move onto creating the designs and contacting manufacturers.

While I consider how I'll be getting the game into play testers' hands, I'll be developing the rulebook so that I can get feedback on that as well.

I want to keep costs as low as possible as well as get feedback from people outside of our target market. So, I'll probably be using reddit a lot for this.

Super easy, just head to a local college / university campus, post flyers everywhere saying FREE BEER, invest in a ton of booze and hand it out along with the game for testing, then request feedback on how the game plays, problems etc.

You could even setup a few spots on campus with the game out and get people to play the game. Throw up a desk and some chairs and you've got your testing. You could even grab c

In a couple days you will find out if its a good game or not, and you'll get tons of publicity, my last marketing campaign got nearly 2,000 views. Here's the best part, I didn't tell anyone what I was doing, never asked anyone to film or photograph me, yet people allover the city were taking pictures and videos of what I was doing, people were resharing content that OTHER people made of my campaign. Free advertising for myself, from people around the community doing it for me.

Create a buzz/ruckus around your game in the college campus's. If you can make some waves people will be sharing/resharing on social media and you will become talked about. I would advise agaisnt paying any money for advertising.

 

[Isaac Oh]

Bump - how is it going Isaac?

Thanks for asking @Kid . Things got pushed back, but I've made a lot of progress. Pretty much just waiting on some stamps to arrive because I had some people from the UK ask for a copy of the play test kit.

Besides that, I've condensed the 26 page rulebook into a much more straightforward 6 pages! That took a lot more work than I thought it would.

I also heard back from the first manufacturer. The others require that I make the 3D miniature models before they can give me a quote. It's a long timeline because I'll have to have the illustrations done, then find someone else who can help with the 3D designs.

The first manufacturer quoted me at almost $35,000 for 1000 units. The game itself comes to around $27 per unit and about $6.50 for shipping (just under $32.50 total) but the flat fees of safety material tests, samples, molding fee really add up. I'll be waiting for other quotes and seeing which ones are open for negotiation. I'm also considering raising the MOQ and using a large portion of kickstarter revenue to just buy the extra games personally, keeping enough revenue to spend on ads so I can sell the rest. Not too sure yet but that'll become clear later. I'm planning to sell at around the $70 mark but I'll have to do some calculations later.

So it's going to be waiting to send out the kits, waiting for the feedback, waiting for the artists to finish the graphics and illustrations. Lots of waiting to do so I'll just work on creating more content during that time.

 

[Isaac Oh]

I had my first meeting with the game developer. He's had 4 years of experience as a game publisher. So he's seen hundreds of games published with his company. He's also created a few games to my knowledge.

The meeting was good. The feedback he gave me was blunt and continues to be blunt. But he sees potential in the project.

Here's the biggest feedback I've received.

- The current cost per unit is somewhere between $30-$40. He strongly suggests bringing this down to $8.
- The artwork I've commissioned is not fitting for a board game. I've put the rest of the art on pause. He offers to be art director after we polish out the game.
- The game itself could use mechanics that are more thematically aligned.

Some serious grounds to cover but I'm glad it's being addressed.

 

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[sparechange]

Awesome! I'm all for that


Thanks again sparechange I take your advice with a lot of weight.

Here's what I'm hearing from you:
1. Get my product out for sale as soon as possible, (regardless of how happy I am with quality?)
2. Focus on building proof of concept

The 30-40 was the cost per unit. I'd love to get it out asap but this is what's holding me back. Maybe you can help me find any blind spots I'm having:
- I personally don't feel like the game is ready, yet
- I feel like I can't build leads without a website. I can't build a website without artwork & gameplay I'm happy with.
- The biggest struggle when I met with the developer was deciding when to take his advice or when to "break the rules". Everything I've done so far was by gut. No prior experience with developing a board game.

On the other hand, I do think it's possible to start building interest with an unfinished product. I'll make a marketing plan around this.

You can market it as a beta testing phase, get people involved and excited about the project to confirm demand. You'd be surprised at how people will help you along the way, I offered my products as a tester and earned my second customer that way, they even went out of their way to offer me feedback, things I should do etc, I was pretty shocked at how someone was offering me so many inputs (after I made the sale) Blew my mind. It's important to get strangers behind your game and become disciples for this game.

You definitely don't want to spend the next few months developing a game, having a perfectionist mindset and then finding out after more months of time investment and money noone wants to buy it, it's possible to get money back you've lost but time is not.

In the gaming world as an example, Half Life & Counter-strike the makers released beta versions for people to test, can you believe it? Not only are they getting feedback from the market place & getting them to do the work in exchange for a free game, they create a sense of loyalty and pride/discipleship, making the testers proud they were involved. You should do something similar, getting people behind your project.

As for a website, there's probably some cheap options out there although I think shopify at 40 bucks a month is pretty good, I'm a total moron and built a decent looking shop, so most likely you could to.

And like I mentioned before, no marketing plan is needed. Get proof of concept first, head to the local liquor store and buy a few 24 packs of beer & goto some local college & university campus's and engage with the marketplace directly. Get emails, phone numbers, ask them to like your FB page. If you can get a few hundred people wanting to play your game then you can focus on making a profit after the fact. Break some rules if needed, think outside the box..

 

[Atu de Tank]

1. Is there a market for this? Are there people who actually NEED a board game to get drunk, or they NEED booze to play a board game?
2. Do you actually have a plan on how to compete on the market against another bottle of vodka? Your product will shrink the money spent on %. Have you seen people saying to each other: "Let's buy a board game instead of second vodka", or was it something opposite?
3. If your prototype is something you can create easily within your budget, yes, go and check it on crowdfunding. Please first check if promotion of alcoholism is permitted within your chosen portal.
4. Absolutely have a selling plan, obeying all regulations. Alcohol and its promotion may be heavily regulated field - better read twice, than spend time working to pay fines. And no, crowdfunding is rarely a selling plan - it's rather a way to check validity of your idea.
5. Is there a way you can actually sell your game as an attachment to any brand of vodka? I'm sure you have seen those packages of a bottle with a couple of glasses.

Best wishes!

 

[Isaac Oh]

@Atu de Tank thanks for the questions.

1. Yes there is a market. No there isn't anyone who needs a board game to get drunk or vice versa. No one has a hard pressed need for any board game yet it's a pretty nice market. What I do know is there are people who love to drink socially, and there are people who love to play competitive games. Mine is for the social drinker who enjoys a board game that is just as focused on the mechanics of the game as it is on drinking.

"drinking board game" has around 14.8k/mo searches.

2. I'm not planning on competing against vodka. If someone wants to buy more booze instead of a board game, I'm not gonna put in the effort to change their mind. There's people who would choose another board game instead of a bottle of vodka any day, and then there's those people in between

3. Promotion of alcoholism is a bit of a stretch lol but yeah most crowdsourcing platforms allow it.

4. Yup, so I intend to go into production only after validation. Then it'll be off the platform and sales will be done through my ecom site.

5. I'm sure it's possible, though beer would probably be a healthier choice. I'd only explore this if it was offered. Too early to say.

References:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008RQ1PSK/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20

DRINKILL™ - A DRINKING BOARD GAME FOR TRUE PARTY PEOPLE

Tired of playing beer-pong? Looking for an adventure in a box? DRINKILL - A night to remember, a day to forget.

www.kickstarter.com

Blackout | The Drinking Game

The party in your pocket! Liven up your night with Blackout - the drinking game perfect for pre-games and parties.

www.kickstarter.com

 

[amp0193]

I believe @DennisDuty has a thread here about kickstarting a board game. Look it up.

 

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[Isaac Oh]

As for the concept artist, I know one guy who do an amazing job at that. I have been following him for sometimes. If you need, I can give you his FB page of his work but I don't know about his rate but guess it will cost less here than where you are. Anyway, looking forward to your game even though I don't drink

I'd love that! Can you PM me his info?

Haha I'll keep you guys in the loop as much as possible here. Hopefully, it'll be a good blueprint for publishing any physical entertainment product

 

[Vigilante]

Watching. When you launch Kickstarter we will move you to notable and get you some publicity. Good luck! Tag me when that happens.

 

[Isaac Oh]

I think this is where the doubt sets in lol

I was designing the board and had no idea where to start. It's like an empty canvas and nothing I do will be perfect. And there will be a lot of time spent in balancing the game / making it more enjoyable with no promises.

Still, pushed through. Anything is better than something and this is what I created.

Very very far from finished but it's a start that I can work with. I expect the end result to look completely different from this.

In talks with two artists at the moment. Possibly more. Design is such a big factor, I'll have to spend a lot of energy making it as close to perfect as possible.
@s.wirat13 talking with your guy!!

 

[Isaac Oh]

Thursday and Friday were dedicated to moving into my new appartment/office building and catching up on work for clients. Back to developing the game!

We play tested the game once and found some major problems from the get go. Couldn't even make it through 5 min of playing haha. Everything feels like a web and pulling one factor affects the rest so steps forward sometimes feel like a big step back.

Looking like a week will be a good timeline for a playable alpha version of the game.

 

[Isaac Oh]

@sparechange @s.wirat13

With you guys on the ideas. One teeny problem is the covid thing here in the US.
Definitely brainstorming free/cheap options but somehow I'll have to get the board to them or online.

 

[Kid]

Coivd twist on Spare's idea:
Hang camera on to lamp above the map and do a live online group chat - infinite beta testers!

P.S. Order them free beer via some online store

 

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[Isaac Oh]

The playtest last night didn't do so well, we were crunched for time so we weren't able to play through much and one of our group was being a downer. Anyway, still got a bit of feedback from that and applied it.

The first draft of the rulebook is finished. Content is still under construction so I'm giving myself two days to push out all the content I need to actually get this darn thing into playtester's hands.

Besides that, I'm hitting up manufacturers tomorrow. Gonna be shopping around so excited for that.

For any game developers who follow this thread in the future, try this process:
1. Get the game built to bare minimum to test the market (playtest). Still, it should incorporate all the mechanics and nuances of the game as well as the rulebook. Test the rulebook! For me, my content's just not there yet.
2. Get feedback from playtesters. I'll be sending them a questionnaire with these questions

• How many people played the game?
• How many people were drinking?
• How long did that game take you?
• Did you win the game?
• What confused you?
• What did you dislike about the game?
• What did you enjoy about the game?
• What would you absolutely add into the game?
• What would you absolutely remove from the game?
• How much would you pay for a full-scale version of this game?

3. With lots of feedback, continue improving until most people are happy with the game.

-------Prototyping is done------

4. Now that you know you have something valuable in your hands, it won't need to change much. Reach out to manufacturers for quotes and a single copy of the game.
5. Find a great designer
6. Create a website with the designs and photos of the copy.

---------Marketing is ready-------

7. Start that marketing. Get some traction going to kickstarter, pre-orders, or whatever method you have for funding.
8. Plan your kickstarter campaign. Copywriting, rewards, stretch goals, etc

------Launch Kickstarter---------

9. If it's a hit, use funds to completely revamp your content/design/etc and strengthen the things that you were weak in. For example, my storytelling isn't the best so I'll have someone completely rewrite my stories. Invest more into the "bread and butter" aspects of your product that make it what it is.
10. Fulfill kickstarter orders

If productocracy isn't a myth, things should scale from there

 

[sparechange]

Some people will like/dislike your product.

The hard part will be to actually know whos opinion is valid, make sure you keep the numbers written down (who likes / dislikes) and what reasons. Then average it out and see if its worth fixing. Lots of people here like MJ's books, but if you go on Amazon and read the 1 star reviews you will find dozens of idiots claiming MJ is a scam artist, take that into consideration.

 

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[Isaac Oh]

Lots of doubt setting in. Progress is getting slower.

I just need to finish off enough content for a play test and get some feedback but I'm holding myself back. This is a reminder to myself that I will have the play test content done by tomorrow night.

 

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[sparechange]

By the words of the amazing Felix Dennis, write down your doubts and fears and hold them up to the light and carefully examine them.

You will realize it's nonsense. Keep going, not everything is sunshine and rainbows.

 

[Isaac Oh]

I just finished the final pages of 150 pages of content.
Well... it's not completely done. It's just enough to send to other people to test.
the final product might have around 350 pages of content. It's a lot but players won't be going through every page every run. It's more for replayability. It's definitely a way this game differentiates itself.

Good thing is, when I hit my goal on kickstarter, I'll be able to hire a professional to redo my writing and create the rest of the content.

Further updates, I moved forward with a graphic designer who will be helping me with most major designs for $2000 total. (500/mo)
I also hired someone to do the character art for $2000 total. (half up-front, half after)
The person doing the character art is much more conceptual and talented. I'll probably use his art for the concept, the kickstarter, and some of the major pieces of content. I'll have the first guy simplify stuff for the game itself. Should look really cool.

Something I should have been doing is posting on board game forums just as much as I have been posting here... I'm starting first thing tomorrow.

 

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