Love to Hate: Contracts!

So, I left off the last post at the point of the wonderful folks at Green Ronin wanting to publish Love 2 Hate.

I don't think they would mind me saying that Green Ronin are predominantly an RPG publisher, so card games were new enough territory for them and, of course completely new territory for me!  They asked me what I expected form the contract and I must confess that I blinked at the email blankly for some time.  Wow... I had no idea.

After a lot of time flicking through Google, I found a few useful sites about board game contracts, offered here without any associated recommendation or judgement, but solely as the ones I looked at:

www.leagueofgamemakers.com,

https://inspirationtopublication.wordpress.com

And, of course, www.bgdf.com and boardgamegeek.com

Not an exhaustive list, but they all seemed to have the same basics.  In addition, I approached people in the industry I had gone to know over the years (see previous post) and asked them the basics of board game contracts – obviously, I would never ask how much in terms of money, but such conversations were very useful indeed.

 I found these sites useful, so I thought I might emulate them briefly.

 So, the basics of a contract, in brief, from a designer's point of view:

 

1.      Designer's Rights:  In short, you are selling the rights to the company to publish and distribute the game and related derivatives in return for payment.

2.      Advance: Typically, you should be offered a small payment up front, between a few hundred to a couple of thousand depending on the product and the company.  This may be offset against future royalties, but it's a sure sign of commitment and you get it even if the game flops.

3.      Kill Fee: The above advance also acts as a kill fee – that is, once money is down you cannot offer the game to any other company to publish.  On that note, most contracts contain a clause to say that, before you sign, you are not in agreement with anyone else to consider publication.

4.      Payments: Typically, you'll be offered royalties.  If the company distributes directly, you might be offered a % wholesale, as opposed to retail.  Wholesale percentages are, from what I am given to understand, typically between 5% and 10%, maybe more depending on the company and product.  Retail percentages tend to be significantly lower (as they are a percentage of retail prices, as opposed to wholesale!).  The contarct will advise how often and by what methid these payments are made.

5.      Foreign Language and onward sale: The contract should contain a clause that the designer gets a percentage of revenue if the game is translated into foreign languages or sold outright to another company, and this can be fairly generous – up to 50%.

6.      Due Dates: A good contract will have a date by which the game is to be submitted to the publisher.  The company will tend to contract in complete approval of the final draft – after all, it is their reputation on the line as much as yours!

7.      Copies: You should get a few copies of the final product for your very own!

8.      Reversion: You should make sure there is a clause that, should the company not publish your game within a time frame (usually 2years), the rights revert completely back to you

They are the essential things from my experience, but I am not a lawyer and feel free to have legal people look over the contract before you sign.  Also, be sure to get a copy signed by all parties!

 In terms of contract negotiation, in every contract there is always scope to argue for more, but be sure you make a reasonable and reasoned case – if you ask for more in one area, be willing to compromise in others.  If you approach any contract with a "give me everything" view, you won't get anywhere.

Remember, this is the point at which the company can still walk away and say thanks, but no thanks!

 

The next instalment will look at the decision to go with Kickstarter and the journey to achieving funding!

The Love 2 Hate Journey: Beginnings

I decided that I would blog the journey of Love 2 Hate from idea to publication.  This first post is a rehash of the update I wrote for the Kickstarter campaign (with some addition).  I hope then to do a post on the development to get it to that level, the emotional roller coaster of Kickstarter, the final dev push to printing and what happens afterwards.

For now, the origins

The Origin of Love 2 Hate
I have been around the gaming scene for a long time. A long time. In that time, I have been lucky enough to work with many great committees on many wonderful cons, had the honour of taking the helm for one of Ireland’s biggest gaming charity auctions for a number of years, enjoyed spinning the discs at the after-hours events we attach to every con in Ireland, and generally had a lot of fun being involved.

On the way I met some great people in the industry, many of whom were guests at the cons and with many of whom I shared a jovial beverage or several. I volunteered as demo guy for a few of these companies and even ended up on the payroll of one for a time.
I always had ideas for games, but, like novels, unless you do the work, the ideas never materialise into substance. I felt I knew what game people seemed to like and, in the early 2000’s I began to dabble in games design, with no real positive results and one truly embarrassing (in retrospect) submission.

So, what does all this have to do with Love 2 Hate?

The preamble there contained all the ingredients for what I believe makes a good game designer, something I strive to be when I grow up. I enjoyed games; I was involved on the factory floor (as it were) of the gaming community; I was lucky enough to have met some people who gave me a little insight into what would work and I had ideas and passion and (eventually) time to work on them.
As my boss in my day job (you know, the one that pays the mortgage) put it, I spent 20 years to become an overnight success (pending). Not that I ever consciously “networked” – and I think that is key. I just love the hobby.

So, about 2008 I began tinkering with word games, not really sure where I was going. Cards Against Humanity came onto my radar in 2011 and while I enjoyed playing it, I found that it was little too in your face for some people. I started thinking – there must be a game with provides a level of titillation, or rudeness, or mild disgust that is a sort of half-way house between a game like Apples to Apples and Cards Against Humanity. I could not find one.

So, what if I could design one? But it had to offer a different gaming experience than these two games, and games similar to them. It had to have an angle, a shtick. So, ideas peculated in the recesses of my mind over a few months. I knew I wanted a sentence finishing game, rather than a version of “fill in the blanks”. I knew I wanted a card game that was quick and could include everyone. I knew I wanted it to be funny.

I awoke at 2 am one morning and hit on the Love 2 Hate mechanic. I sat at the PC that night until 5am and at the end of a frantic, exciting, exhilarating 3 hours I had somehow produced 200 cards. I was a mess in work that day but I really felt I had something.

The first version was label stickers glued to playing cards (I play poker and had a lot of old decks lying around). I had created about 400 cards at this stage and bit the bullet and began play testing it at cons with people I knew. It was a truly humbling experience to see cards that I thought were hilarious producing nothing. It was a huge rush seeing cards I really thought were funny produce laughter. It was interesting seeing some combinations people played. I took copious notes.

Over the next 2 years (2011 and 2012), I playtested it with random people, sometimes for hours at a time, sometimes a quick game in the pub. I removed cards which didn’t work, I dissected reactions and notes at home to learn why certain things were and were not funny. I listened to people’s thoughts, reactions and criticisms. I refined. A lot. And the game took shape into something about which I could actually… well, feel proud.

I was lucky enough, as I said before, to have met some guests along the ways and had a good time with many of them – the industry is blessed with good people. So I felt this polished (if not yet cut) stone could do with a professional eye. I sent it to a few folk, one of whom was Chris Pramas.  (http://greenronin.com/2014/03/ronin_round_table_the_benefit_.php ) His advice was invaluable and offered the polishing it needed. He also said that he wanted to publish it.

There were some emails about direction and feel for the game.  The GR team asked me about artwork - I had a vague colour scheme which Hal et all at the GR office turned into to an exquisite logo.  Chris and Nicole were at Warpcon, so ti was great to get some face time with them, as much to renew the friendship as anything.  There were more email and then the exciting exhchange of contracts (there will be a little more on that in the next post).

I did not until that moment realise that it was actually a dream of mine to publish a game – nor did I realise how important it was to me until that moment. When the demo decks Green Ronin produced came to my house, it was surreal. It was actually a game. Somehow, the Queen of Heart sticky labelled “Old Men” card had become a real game component, beautifully designed on real proper card stock.

Lessons learned:

1. Get involved in the hobby because you want to and because you love it.
2. Don't try to actively network with an agenda  - it certainly puts me off.
3. Ideas are great.  The will remain as ideas unless you do the work.
4. Playtests your game idea to death.  Then do it some more.  Then repeat for another year.  Listen to your playtesters.  Don't be precious - cut, chop and burn - remember that these people are your audience and this is a golden opportunity to get direct feedback from the players of your game.
5. Make sure the prototype you send it is at least passable in layout.
6. Components are not cheap - keep your prototype as simple as possible.
7. I am serious about the playtesting.