Hey Durdle fans it’s been a while since we talked. Don’t worry though it’s not you, it’s us. You see we’ve been deep in the game catacombs working hard on Durdle releases for the past few months. It’s dark and damp down here. The wi-fi is spotty. Even Door Dash refuses to deliver after “the incident” in 2022. But that hasn’t stopped us, we’re still on that grind and today’s post is going to be one part Durdle update and one part design discussion.
Let’s start with the fun stuff. After PaxU 2023 and a couple months of talks and negotiations one of our trick-taking games found a home with a publisher. Needless to say we are very pleased with this result. The chosen publisher is one we have been itching to work with for a while now but the stars just had not aligned yet. So now that means we get to sit back and wait for the checks to roll in right? right?
Fly little game, fly…
I know this is going to come as a surprise but reality is the opposite of sitting around. After a design is picked up by a publisher the whole situation gets very real. Your game idea no longer has the privilege of being an academic exercise. Now your game has dollars attached to it. Your game now has timelines and art contracts and social media pushes and production windows and distribution channels to deal with. The fun part of playing fast and loose with ideas is over. Now each idea could turn your game into a success or failure.
So what does it look like working with a publisher on a game after it has been signed? Honestly, it’s the answer you probably least want to hear- “It depends”. Some publishers will take the design in house and have their development team work on it until it is completely wrapped up and ready to go to market. You might get appraised of the changes along the way but realistically they are just doing that as a courtesy. They got the design, now they’re going to put in the work to jump the final design hurdles to bring the game to market. And I’m going to say this loud for the people on the back- “THAT IS OK!”
Other publishers go about game development in the polar opposite way. They want to have regular meetings to keep you up to speed on the games progress. They want to pull you into playtests. Sometimes they want you to continue development on the game and are willing to pay for your hours. You get to be involved in the finest of details right until the artwork is sent off to the printer. Once again, I’m going to say this loud for the people on the back- “THAT IS OK!”
So which style is better? Which one does Durdle Games prefer? Why do you ask when you know the answer? The answer is “It depends”. Both are perfectly legitimate styles of development and depending on the game and agreement we are fine engaging in both. If the game is taken internal we get the time to work on our next big game. If we’re in the final dev process we get to steer the product closer to our original vision.
If you are into game design and you have a publisher wanting to sign your game make sure to ask the questions around the games development process after being signed. It’s OK to ask if you get to be involved in the process. Some publishers prefer to get a third party involved in the final development because it’s a fresh pair of lesser biased eyeballs on the game. If they want you involved in the further work understand that it can be substantial. You could still be 100+ hours away from getting to the games final iteration. If you feel like that’s a commitment you can’t make be up front about it and let the publisher know they will need to take that work internal. Remember you can’t set expectations if you never say them out loud.
If you are interested in a Durdle design send us a message through our Contact Page.